Dems Could Flip US Senate Seat in Kansas

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

A 61-year-old white, male minister of a protestant megachurch in America's heartland does not sound like  your average Democratic candidate for a major federal political office, but that is exactly who Adam Hamilton is and what he is doing.

Reverend Hamilton founded the Resurrection Church of Leawood, Kansas, in 1990, with a mission of attracting congregants who were not regular attendees of a church, and over the next thirty-six years his small church has blossomed into the largest United Methodist congregation in the United States.  Not too shabby for a fellow who started literally from scratch and holding his early services in the borrowed facilities of a funeral home.  Today the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection has over 24,000 members, including several satellite facilities in the KC metro area and even downtown.

Kansas, which will occasionally elect a Democrat as governor, has not had a Democratic US Senator since the last one, George McGill, left office in January of 1939, giving it the dubious distinction of being the state with the longest continuous period of not having a Democrat in the US Senate.  Adam Hamilton aims to change that, and by most accounts it is entirely possible that if he gets the Democratic nomination, he could defeat Kansas Republican Senator Roger Marshall, a man who spends much of his time residing in  Florida, in the November general election.

I became aware of Rev. Adam Hamilton earlier this week when I read an article on-line which stated that he had been toying with the idea of running for the Senate from Kansas as an Independent, but had done a listening tour of the state where people encouraged him to run as a Democrat instead so that he would not split the anti-Marshall vote in November.  Last week Hamilton filed for the US Senate seat as a Democrat, a move that was not popular with the Kansas GOP which immediately began lobbing sour grapes and accused Hamilton of using church assets to further his candidacy - and urged the feds to investigate.

I have an old friend in Kansas, though not as old as me, who has three passions in life of which I am aware:  his grandchildren, his religion, and politics.  When I read about Reverend Hamilton's bid to become a United States Senator, I emailed my friend to learn more.  As a part of his response, my friend replied that by filing as a Democrat instead of an Independent, he thought that if Hamilton won the Democratic primary - against eight other candidates, he would go on to defeat Roger Marshall.

My friend knows Kansas and its politics - and his prediction is good enough to garner a modest donation to Reverend Andrew Hamilton from me.  A Democratic US Senate seat from Kansas would be be a gift for the ages!

Prediction Markets as Polls

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

(Disclaimer:  Pa Rock, the wretched old typist who puts out this daily blog, has no involvement in the crypto or prediction market industries whatsoever.   He is not an investor in any prediction market company, nor has he ever placed a "bet" on one of their sites.  Today's posting is based solely on information that is readily available over the internet.)

Background:   Prediction markets, gambling operations where people place bets on the likelihood of certain things happening in the future, are a fairly new way for people of average means to pass their modest wealth on to the world's oligarchs.  Donald Trump says he is basically opposed to prediction markets.  According to Google's AI-powered search engine:

"President Trump has expressed disdain for prediction markets, saying that they make the world a 'casino' and that he is 'not happy with any of that stuff'.   While he finds them 'intriguing' and finds that 'smart people' use them, he conceptually dislikes them and is concerned about insider trading, despite his administration and family having ties to the industry." 

("Insider trading" is where individuals use privileged information that they acquire from work or from others involved in certain work or activities, and use that information to make money for themselves.  Several members of Congress and other prominent political figures have profited off of stock market investments or prediction market bets in manners which suggest they may have had special advance knowledge of certain events to which ordinary investors did not have access.)

But, despite his lukewarm stance toward the notion of prediction markets, Trump does not want them banned in the US because other countries have or use them, and even though he fears they bring a casino-like feel to the world, he does not want states regulating prediction markets as they do other gambling ventures.  Again though, those sentiments are likely connected to involvement in the prediction market industry by Trump associates and his family.

As to Trump family involvement with prediction markets, Google's AI notes that "Trump Media is planning to roll out its own prediction markets," and regarding the President's son, Don, Jr:

"Donald Trump, Jr, is actively involved as an investor and adviser in the prediction market industry, specifically with Polymarket and Kalshi.  He is a stakeholder and adviser for Polymarket, and acts as an adviser to Kalshi, both of which have seen significant betting volume on his father's political actions."

I have written a couple of times in the past about odds established by Las Vegas bookmakers in elections and how those serve as polls - of a sort - of public perception of various candidates.  The odds are established by the amount of money "bet" on each candidate.  I had in mind to do that again this election cycle, but then came up with the notion of using the odds of prediction markets instead, since they seem to have a strong focus on politics.  

I began this effort by looking at the two primary markets, Polymarket and Kalshi, but after learning that Polymarket uses crypto (something I know even less about than prediction markets), I decided to keep it as simple as possible and see what the Kalshi was saying about 2028's presidential race.  One thing to remember as to the reliability of polls and prediction markets, it's easier to lie to a pollster than it is to mislead in a prediction market where your own money is on the line and doing the talking.

(The odds on both sites change constantly due to the ease of on-line betting, but the most recent numbers (below) have been relatively stable over the past few days.  People can bet either for or against a certain prediction based on the odds at the time of the bet.  A candidate with a 20% chance of winning would have a smaller payout than betting on a candidate with only a 5% chance of winning - but if you bet against those candidates, the odds would be roughly reversed.

Here is what a few of your friends and neighbors - as well as many, many government insiders - are saying on Kalshi about the presidential race in 2028:

On the Democratic side:

1.  Gavin Newsom  (24%)

2.  Kamala Harris  (11%)

3.  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez  (9.3%)

4.  Jon Ossoff  (8.4%)

5.  Rahm Emanuel. (6%)

6.  Pete Buttigieg  (5.4%)

7.  Josh Shapiro. (4.4%)

8.  Mark Kelly  (4%)

9.  Andy Beshear  (3.7%)

10 - 11.  J.B. Pritzker and Ro Khanna (tied at 3%)

The list stretches through 34 additional names on whom people have placed bets, including such notables as Jon Stuart, Mark Cuban, Jamie Dimon, and Lebron James.

On the Republican side:

1.  JD Vance  (38%)

2.  Marco Rubio  (24%)

3.  Tucker Carlson  (7.7%)

4.  Donald J. Trump, Jr. (5.9%)

5.  Ron DeSantis. (4.1%)

6.  Donald J. Trump  (3.5%)

7-8.  Glenn Younkin  and Thomas Massie (tied at 1.4%)

9.  Marjorie Taylor Greene  (1.3%)

10.  Ivanka Trump  (1%)

The list has 25 more including Lara Trump, Elon Musk, and Nicki Minaj.

And the odds as to who will ultimately be elected President  of the US in 2028:

Kalshi's current odds for which party will win the presidency in 2028 have the Democratic Party over the Republicans by 62% to 38%.   

Small wonder Donald Trump, Sr, does not like prediction markets.  Kalshi has him at Number 6 for his party's nomination (even behind his own son!), and has his party losing the White House by 24 points. That's some legacy, Donbo!

Iran War Temporarily Terminated

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The United States of America was involved in combat operations (actual war) in Vietnam for eight years, from 1965 through 1973, without ever going through the formal and constitutionally-mandated process of Congress officially declaring war.  (In August of 1964 Congress did pass a joint resolution - the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution - which permitted President Lyndon Johnson to use military force in Asia without a formal declaration of war.)   The result was an "unofficial" war that dragged on for years and resulted in millions of casualties and the deaths of over half-a-million American troops.

Vietnam was a helluva bloody mess, and Congress did not want to risk being led into another disaster by another vainglorious President.  In 1973 when the war ended by treaty in a stalemate that quickly morphed into a rout of American troops, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution to keep from being sucked into another Vietnam.   That resolution required the President to end unauthorized military activities within 60 days, or, in other words, if the President deems that a war needs to continue beyond 60 days, he must get approval from Congress for that to happen.

Today marks the 64th time that the sun has risen over American military involvement against the country of Iran, but the Trump administration has yet to approach Congress and request an extension of its right to assert warfare against a foreign nation.  What's up with that?

Donald Trump is the answer to that question.    He put on his grifter garb and began playing sleight-of-hand games with Congress.  Trump initiated a very ill-defined two-week "ceasefire" with Iran on April 8th, one which may or may not have involved our partner in the war effort, Israel, and one which is murky at best because blockades and hostilities continue.  But Trump, for purposes of dealing with Congress, maintains that the cease fire is a real thing (at least in his mind) and the war is at an end (at least for the time being).  It is temporarily terminated.

Gas prices remain high and are climbing, and our troops do not appear to be returning home, but Trump says the war has ended and the 60-day clock has been stopped.  He says it with a wink and a nod because it is a fiction designed solely to meet the 60-day congressional mandate for an authorization to continue.  (A Republican Congress would conceivably give him his war authorization, but this is an election year and almost two-thirds of Americans oppose the war with Iran, so politically authorizing that war would be a very dumb move.  The Republican Congress feels better protected politically by just accepting Trump's specious logic that the 60-day clock ended with a cease fire.  House and Senate members are also winking and nodding.)

And so, in short, the United States war on Iran goes on, but it is shrouded in semantics and political gobbledygook.   Bullets are still flying, vessels are still being boarded, and soldiers, civilians, and children are still dying, and bellicose politicians are still belching threats all night, every night, on social media.  A war by any other name is still a cruel and bloody nightmare.  

Our military is being controlled by show horses and incompetents, Congress is manned by individuals whose primary motivation seems to be getting re-elected, and the war is being fought by young people who don't have clue one as to its purpose.

It certainly feels like we are still at war, a very ill-conceived and poorly executed war, but a war nonetheless.

Donald, you need to wind your clock and get some sleep.

Schumer Blows It in Maine

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Despite the best efforts of leaders of the US Senate to keep their chamber looking like a retirement home, the gerontocracy suffered a major setback yesterday when the sitting governor of Maine, 78-year-old Janet Mills, a Democrat,, suspended her campaign for the US Senate.  Mills, who is almost three months older than the senile reprobate who is typing this blog post, was handpicked by Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader of the Senate, to seek that nomination and to run against Maine's Republican Senator Susan Collins in the fall.  

Janet Mills was supported financially in her effort by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, DSCC, in the primary election in Maine.  The DSCC formed a joint fundraising committee with Mills last October with the aim of helping her defeat the other Democratic hopefuls and be able to take on Collins in the fall.  The DSCC is headed by New York's Senator Kirsten Gillibrand who was appointed to that important position by New York's other US Senator, 75-year-old Chuck Schumer.

Governor Mills cited difficulty in raising campaign cash as her reason for exiting the race.  That was true, at least in part, even with the financial support of the DSCC, but she was also being swamped in the polls by Maine novice politician Graham Platner, a 41-year-old oyster farmer and Marine Corps combat veteran.  Platner was leading Mills by more than 30 points when she left the race yesterday.

(In the most recent polling Graham Platner is also leading the Republican senator he hopes to beat in the fall, Susan Collins, by between 6 to 9 points, so a Democratic pick-up there seems possible, or even likely, despite the best efforts of Chuck Schumer and the Democratic political insider establishment to stomp out Platner's candidacy in the primary.)

Schumer and the DSCC are also being accused, with reason, of putting their thumbs on the scales in US Senate races in Iowa and Michigan. 

Chuck, here is my unsolicited and free advice:  focus on New York politics and on making the US Senate function.  There is a 34-year-old, highly popular Democratic Socialist mayor in New York City, one whom you declined to endorse, who could develop an interest in taking your US Senate seat, and there certainly will be some younger members entering the Senate shortly, probably even Graham Platner, who will be focused on electing more dynamic and aggressive leadership to run that body.

Either that, Chuck, or go sit in a corner someplace and ride out the rest of your term by writing "sternly worded' letters.   A generational tide is washing in, finally, and you would be wise to get out of the way.  Here's what Bob Dylan had to say about it when you and I were teenagers:

"Come senators, congressmen

Please heed the call

Don't stand in the doorway

Don't block up the hall

For he who gets hurt 

Will be he who has stalled

The battle outside ragin'

Will soon shake your windows

And rattle your walls

For the times they are a-changin'"

Political Rodents Want Public to Pay for Ballroom

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Last October when the historic East Wing of the White House was demolished by the Trump administration with no prior warning or approval from Congress, Donald Trjmp announced that the fresh pile of rubble would be bulldozed away and replaced with a gilded, 90,000 square-foot ballroom that would seat 999 people.  Trump assured the public that the glitzy edifice to himself would be paid for entirely by his rich oligarch friends in their never-ending quest to purchase influence with the government.  The cost would be $100 million.

Trump being Trump and Washington, DC, being Washington, DC, the estimated cost quickly doubled to $200 million, and not long after that it doubled again to $400 million because . . . well, why the hell not!

It's always easy and fun to spend other people's money.  The political rodents in Washington, DC, know that very well!

And when it comes to spending other people's money, nobody does it better than Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina.   Earlier this year Senator Graham was a cheerleader for getting the US involved in a war with Iran and stated that he would have no problem in asking South Carolinians to send their sons and daughters to fight in the Middle East.  It was no skin off Lindsey's wallet - and now, just over two months later, the US has already sunk more that $25 billion into that war and we appear to be stuck in it indefinitely, and the price of gas, thanks to the GOP/Trump/Graham War on Iran, has jumped from less that three dollars a gallon to more than four dollars a gallon, and, well  . . .  Lindsey's still good with it because it's other people's money!

But Lindsey's not done yet.  Not only is he still hosing our money - yours and mine - onto the dumpster fire in Iran, he has also decided that the public treasury (your money and mine) should be used to pay for Trump's gaudy ballroom - still a steal at just $400 million!  

Senator Lindsey Graham (R,  SC), Senator Eric Schmitt (R, MO), and Senator Katie Britt (R, AL), have collectively shown that they have no shame and introduced a bill in the US Senate to have US taxpayers foot the bill for Trump's big, beautiful ballroom!  Was that the plan all along?

Lindsey, you need to dust off your bubble wand, head back to Disney World, and share your global insights with Goofy - and Eric, you would do well to return to Missouri and spend some quality time visiting with your constituents at a few gas stations and grocery stores - and bring Jason Smith with you!

America needs healthcare for all, affordable housing for all, daycare for working families, quality public education for all in safe schools, renewable energy, quality mass transit coast-to-coast and border-to-border, safe jobs that pay living wages, free post- secondary education, and so much more.  What America does not need is another endless war or a damned vanity ballroom!

Absurd New Heights in Vanity

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

It now looks as though Donald John Trump and his merry band of co-conspirators have found something else to taint with his name and image.  It was announced yesterday that the US Department of State, currently under the small-fisted control of Trump appointee and toadie Marco Rubio, is in the final stages of redesigning US passports, and they will henceforth feature a scowling likeness of Trump and his signature, in gold, superimposed over the US Declaration of Independence.

I object, of course, to the whole notion of a sitting and living US President being featured on my personal passport or on any coins which I might happen to have in my pocket, and I emphatically object to having to carry items such as a passport or coinage which depict a person convicted unanimously by a jury of his peers of 34 counts of fraudulent business practices - all felonies.

I don't want my good name connected to a criminal lowlife anywhere, let alone on an official State Department document (passport) that I would need for international travel.  I object, I object, I object!

But it is far more than just passports which are being besmirched by a convicted felon's ego.   In December of 2025 a board of trustees appointed by Trump changed the name of the "Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts" to the "Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts," placing Trump's name before and above that of a highly respected US President who was never charged with or convicted of any felonies.

Plans have also been announced to place Trump's image on two separate US dollar coins, a silver one which will be in general circulation and a special golden commemorative one which the US Treasury has reportedly been instructed to make "as large as possible."

But the glory doesn't end there.  The US National Park Service is also preparing to issue new passes for our nation's national parks which will feature the scowly, jowly face of . . . you guessed it . . . Donald John Trump!

Trump's signature will soon be on US currency, and many federal buildings in Washington, DC, now have large banners on display outside bearing his image.   Trump has splashed his name around government programs including the "Trump" gold and platinum cards which assist rich immigrants with buying their way into US residency.   He has had his name placed on the US Institute for Peace, and his Big, Beautiful Bill Act started an IRA scheme to help children save called "Trump Accounts."

Then there is also the new government website to help with prescription drugs called "TrumpRx," and a new type of battleship which the planners are referring to as "Trump class."

Take all of that, and what is surely yet to come during the remainder of his presidency, and add to it all of his private properties which bear his name in unbearably large letters, and a new level of narcissism emerges, one that only Gods dare to imagine!

Leave my passport, national park pass, and pocket change the hell alone.  While others may enjoy the excitement and intrigue of associating with criminals, Pa Rock definitely does not!

Shooter's Manifesto Trips a Politician's Trigger

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Yesterday I wrote in this space about the armed mayhem at last Saturday night's annual White House Correspondents' Dinner at the Washington Hilton.  Donald Trump and members of his entourage and cabinet were sitting at the head table focused on a "mentalist" who was performing for the packed venue (which seats 2,000) when an armed intruder who was apparently intent on doing harm to Trump and his administration officials fired off several rounds in the hotel, one floor above where the banquet was being held.  I mentioned in that posting that a "mentalist"was performing because Trump has an aversion to comedians who make fun of him - and poking fun at sitting Presidents has pretty much been standard fare at WHCDs  for years.

Donald Trump lacks the ability to take a joke about himself graciously.  Trump is also one of the most prolific name-callers in the history of American government, and , not surprisingly, possesses extremely thin skin and cannot easily withstand any criticism of himself.

The shooter on Saturday night, a 31-year-old white male named Cole Allen from Torrance, California, caused harm to one Secret Service agent whom he shot in the chest.  The man was wearing a bullet-proof vest and suffered no life-threatening injuries.  The shooter was never able to reach the floor where the banquet was being held, though he did earnestly try to get there.  His "body count" for the evening was zero.

Cole Allen was arrested at the scene, and yesterday he was charged with attempting to assassinate the President of the United States, transporting a firearm, and discharging a firearm.

While young Mr. Allen's bizarre and very dangerous behavior did not result in the spilling of any blood, he was able to use his crime to make a statement.   The shooter left behind a 1,052-word manifesto that apologized to his parents and several others before going on to outline his motivations.   The document, which was signed "Cole 'coldForce' 'Friendly Federal Assassin' Allen," read in part:

"On to why I did any of this:  I am a citizen of the United States of America.  What my representatives do reflects on me.  And I am no longer willing to permit a paedophile, rapist and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.   (Well, to be completely honest, I was no longer willing a long time ago, but this is the first real opportunity I've had to do something about it").

Donald Trump has been able to distance himself from certain embarrassing words in news stories and public discourse by threatening massive lawsuits, but the night after the WHCD dinner, a journalist finally confronted Trump with two words that Trump vehemently does not want used anywhere near his own name.  Trump was being interviewed on the CBS News show, "60 Minutes" Sunday evening by journalist Norah O'Donnell when she read aloud from the shooter's manifesto the part about the crimes of a "paedophile, rapist, and traitor" coating the shooter's hands.

Donald John Trump, the politician who called another female reporter "Piggy" to her face in a public setting just weeks prior and had also called a black female aide of his a "dog" during his first term in office, exploded in anger:

"I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would, because you're horrible people.  Horrible people.   Yeah, he did write that.  I'm not a rapist.  I didn't rape any body."

At that point, O'Donnell interjected:  "Oh, do you think he was writing about you?"  Touché.

Trump ignored her and concluded, "I'm not a pedophile."  He was finally forced to go on the record with denial - and not just avoidance of the Epstein questions that have been swirling about Washington, DC and the nation for years.

Game, set, and match, Ms. O'Donnell!   It would certainly be nice to get the Epstein matter before a judge. and get some compelled testimony under oath.

Salad Man: The Classiest Act at the WHCD

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Things were undoubtedly chaotic and dramatic, perhaps even a bit cinematic, as hundreds of guests at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, DC, Saturday night "hit the deck" and dove beneath their tables when shots rang out.  Even though they were still on the salad course, most politicians and journalists forfeited their remaining lettuce for the safety of sitting scrunched up beneath their tables in formal attire as a major news story unfolded around them. 

Mentalist Oz Pearlman was the featured entertainer for the evening since Trump can't take a joke and is not a fan of the television comedians who would normally host such a gathering.  Pearlman was at the front table in the middle of his act and performing a personal trick for Trump, Melania, and Presidential Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt when shots were fired outside of the ballroom, one floor up - and serious commotion broke loose.  Interestingly, Pearlman, a man who makes his living seeing into the future and into the dark crevices of the human mind, failed to see the shooting before it happened, and, as he scrambled beneath a table, feared that he might have given his last performance.

The shooter, a 31-year-old tech engineer from the Los Angeles area, was staying at the hotel where the dinner was being held, but never even made it all the way down to the actual floor where the reporters and politicians were breaking bread together.  By the time people began crawling back out from under their tables, the Secret Servie had the shooter, apparently a lone gunman, in custody.

That was the overview of the activity at the Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC, last Saturday night.  the meal did not continue, but many of the "after parties" apparently were held in spite of the drama.  Trump, who had never attended the White House Correspondents' Dinner before as President, seemed to be buzzed by all of the excitement in which he was in no immediate danger, and he began promoting it as grounds for building his vanity ballroom.  He is also demanding that the event be rescheduled within the next two months, although his position in the affair is simply that of "guest."

There was an interesting sidebar to the evening of chaos that news reports initially missed.  After films of the commotion were reviewed, it was revealed that one guest, a man, remained sitting calmly at his table enjoying his salad while everyone else was taking part in the panic.   The diner was quickly tagged with the monker "Salad Man," until it was finally established that he was Michael Glantz, a big-name talent agent who represented some of the people hiding under the tables.

When Mr Glantz was interviewed later regarding his odd behavior during the event, he said that he was used to activity and sirens, and he had not been scared - and he added that he wanted to watch the excitement.   The talent agent suffers from a bad back, is a "hygiene-freak," and was also wearing a new tuxedo.   Salad Man summed up his situation on Saturday night by saying:

"There was no freaking way I was getting on the dirty Hilton floor in my new tux.  It was not happening."

Salad Man was most likely the classiest act of the evening. 

Another Day in Retirement Hell

 

by Pa Rock

Unartful Codger

There are no "golden" years.  That's just a ruse pushed by social engineers tying to get old people to leave the work force and make way for younger people to enjoy the chains of wage slavery.  The supposed "golden" years are consumed with physical and mental deterioriation, and spending days with predictable chores - much like those encountered in the good old days when we were punching the time clock at the factory.  There is no rest for the wicked - or the retired.

As old people slowly fall apart, a few basic activities take up more and more of their time and become the equivalent of daily "jobs."  Most maintain homes or apartments, a vehicle,  and make purchases to  support their lives and lifestyles - while gradually downsizing as time races by.   But some activities of old people also tend to increase with the passage of time - doctor's visits and trips to the pharmacy, for example, and as those activities increase so does interaction with insurance companies - a major time-suck in the lives of the elderly.

Dealing with doctor visits, trips to the pharmacy, and insurance companies are a constant in the lives of old coots.  We can't have medical programs that pay 100% of costs like other countries do, we can't have insurance plans with standard care options and coverages - they all have to be different in order to force us to patch together plans that heighten confusion and out-of-pocket expense.

Old people are vulnerable to a political system that looks out for the needs of the wealthy, a health care system that many cannot access or afford, medicines that cost more here than in other countries, and a profit-driven insurance system whose primary goal is to take care of their stockholders.  It is a constant battle with bureaucracy where some days the only comfort is in knowing that the little pisssant giving you needless grief over the phone will one day be retired, too.

Old people are so busy keeping up with government and business regulations and assaults on our lives and integrity, that some days there is not even adequate time for bitching.  Fortunately, for me at least, today is Sunday an I was able to make the time!

Gray Power!

Impeach and Remove!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Congress abdicated most of its power as a co-equal branch of government the day Donald Trump's second term in office began.   Our national legislature, which has the constitutional authority to tax and set tariffs,  handed Trump the power to set international tariffs, no questions asked, and he saw that as a way to make our treasury fat.  Trump quickly imposed  tariffs on imports coming into the United States from most countries in the world.  What a clever boy he was!  Happy days were here again!

Those of us who didn't fully understand how tariffs worked learned very quickly.  Import tariff's,  a.k.a. taxes on imports, are not paid by the countries sending their products and foodstuffs to America, but rather by the companies in America who are importing those goods.   They then pass those added costs on to consumers, chumps like you and me.  The "logic" is that by making it more expensive to import things, companies would start buying from American manufacturers.  The reality is that even if that principle worked, America does not have the manufacturing capability to replace all foreign imports, and American workers prefer a living wage when they can get it.

Long story short, American importers - a.k.a. American busineses and retailers - paid the import duties and then passed those increased costs on to consumers - you and me.  The treasury got fat - on our money!

Congress also gave up its responsibility to carefully review presidential appointments and quickly gave its stamp of approval to every hare-brained and incompetent nominee that Donald Trump put forward.  That is coming around to bite Trump and the rest of the country right now as he has removed three cabinet secretaries in the las two months and needs to pull (and will likely pull) several more.

Then there is the very important responsibility of Congress to be the branch of government to declare war.  Unfortunately, several recent Presidents - Reagan and two Bushes - have taken us into wars on their own and later asked Congress for approval, so Donald Trump had no qualms whatsoever about getting all blustery and patriotic and sending our troops off to fight in Iran.  Since the disastrous war began Democrats have tried multiple times to get Congress to exert its authority and set limits the scope of the war, but Congress keeps voting down those efforts along very narrow party lines, and leaves the conduct of the war totally in the hands of Donald Trump and his Defense Department which is headed by a former Fox News weekend host whom he appointed and Congress quickly rubber-stamped..

Donald Trump did not serve in the military and, in fact, actively avoided doing so five times during the Vietnam War, and Pete Hegseth, the secretary of Defense, served as an infantry officer in Iraq and Afghanistan and achieved the rank of Major with the Army National Guard (the lowest "field grade" officer rank), but had no experience commanding large numbers of troops or in running a business as large and complex as the US military.  Hegseth is faulted in the press for viewing the US military as being the equivalent of a crusading army advancing the cause of Christianity, something which undoubtedly makes many US military officers and troops uncomfortable.

Donald Trump has obvious issues with competence, impulsivity, and temperament.  He likes to be seen as being in control, and he has a lifetime history of being a bully - none of which lends itself to being an effective leader, yet Congress insists on standing aside and letting Trump conduct his egomaniacal war on Iran without adult supervision.   It all feeds into a very dangerous situation.

And while Congress refuses to see Donald Trump's obvious limitations, his own staff are painfully aware that the boss in not up to the job.  

The White House "Situation Room" is a five thousand square-foot highly secure room in the basement beneath the West Wing of the White House.  It is often the presidential command center when something dangerous is occurring in the world which could effect US security.  According to a report in the Wall Street Journal (a newspaper owned by Trump ally Rupert Murdoch - the same person who owns Fox News) - Trump's staff barred him from the Situation Room early this month when plans were being carried out to rescue two downed airmen from Iran after that country had shot down their fighter jet.  The news report said Trump "screamed at his political aides for hours," concerned about the political impact of the  situation, and that staff finally removed him from the room and telephoned him with updates about the progress of the rescue effort.  The story said that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and other aides beieved Trump's impatience and behavior would not help the operation.

Ya think?

Trump's impatience and behavior are so extreme that his own staff had to remove him from the command center???   On Easter Sunday he banged out a tweet threatening to end "an entire civilization."   Those are not the actions of a rational human being.  Trump's staff knows it, and Congress damned well knows it, too!

The Untied States of America is adrift if treacherous waters without a rudder or a sail, and we are being pushed to and fro, with no plan or direction, by a very big wind!

Congress, do your job!  Impeach and remove!

Oh, Joy! Toys Returning to Cereal Boxes!

 

by Pa Rock

Kid at Heart

Cereal companies had a big influence over children back in the Stone Age when I was growing up, particularly with the use of their child-focused cartoon characters who promoted their products.  Three elfin characters, Snap, Crackle, and Pop, performed a catchy little jingle that became an indelible part of the soundtrack of life in the mid-twentieth century, and when they stopped promoting Rice Krispies for a moment and took a breath, Tony the Tiger was always close by to fill the noise void by reminding us of how GRRREAT! Sugar Frosted Flakes were.   And then, as an added measure to insure that little kids screamed at the top of their lungs in grocery stores as their mothers tried to frugally go about the challenge of buying nutritious food for their families, the cereal companies began putting toys in the cereal boxes, particularly the sugary varieties with little or no nutritional value, so that kids would have their say in the selection process.

The toys in cereal boxes faded from the shopping scene several years ago, primarily because young children were putting them in their mouths and some choked to death when the cheap plastic trinkets broke apart and stuck in their throats.  Cereal companies also began abandoning the practice to save money.  Even toys in the popular Cracker Jacks went from plastic doohickeys to very tiny paper booklets - and as any child knows, BOOKS ARE NOT TOYS!  It was the end of an era.

But stuff those lamentations, children of all ages, because toys in cereal boxes are about to make a comeback!

The WK Kellogg Company, the corporate parent of Snap, Crackle, Pop, and Tony, has announced that beginning this Sunday it will be placing toys connected to the movie "Toy Story 5" into special edition boxes of Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, and Corn Pops - none of which seem to be overburdened with excessive amounts of nutritional value.

Kellogg has said that "Toy Story 5" is a good fit with their reintroduction of toys into cereal boxes because the movie looks at the role of toys in a tech-driven world.  Seriously.

Does RFK, Jr, know about this latest affront to child health and safety - and as long as children don't endanger themselves by taking childhood vaccinations, does he even care?

How to Get Rich Quick in Arkansas

 

by Pa Rock

Stranded Medical Tourist

The city of Mountain Home in north central Arkansas, is a busy and vibrant community on the shores of beautiful Lake Norfolk.  All roads leading into Mountain Home are wooded, hilly, and very scenic,  It would be a lovely place to live and work, or retire - the median age is 47.1 years.   I live fifty miles to the north and east in West Plains, Missouri, and travel to Mountain Home often to shop in stores which are not available in closer proximity to where I live, and for medical services from a couple of providers. The small city has extensive medical services and providers and a fine hospital.

This week I had a medical appointment in Mountain Home that involved a hospital procedure and required me to have a driver on hand before I could be released from care.  My normal driver has a new job and was unavailable, so I decided to go the evening before, get a room, and Uber to the appointment the next morning.   When I checked that plan ahead of time with my doctor's office, one of the nurses told me over the phone,  "If Mountain Home has an Uber, I'm unaware of it."   But I persisted and came the evening before and found a nice motel.   The desk clerk said, "If Mountain home has an Uber, I don't know about it."

Mountain Home has a population of around 13,000, but it sits in the center of a metropolitan area of over 40,000.  Of course it would have an Uber.  West Plains isn't nearly as large, and it has several.  (The last one I hired in West Plains was an old farm truck driven by an old farmer - all of which smelled like an old farm - but it got me where I needed to go.)

After getting the motel room, I called my son in Kansas City who handles my rare Uber needs.  He found one and arranged for the driver to pick me up at my motel on Wednesday morning in time to get me to where I needed to be.  Wednesday morning came and the driver cancelled at the last minute.  Uber then notified my son that they had no other drivers available.  He then found one taxi driver, but he, too, was unavailable.  I finally resorted to driving my car to the hospital and having the procedure.   A couple of hours later when it was time to leave, I learned that the hospital was serious when they said you must have a driver.  They kept me in the procedure room until a member of the nursing staff was able to procure a taxi.  The nice taxi driver brought me back to the motel and arranged to meet me this morning to take me back to the hospital to pick up my car.

The point of this tale is that Mountain Home, Arkansas, would be a goldmine for some ambitious Uber drivers and/or a vigorous taxi company.  The scenery and the town are appealing, but the transportation system is appalling.  

Old Age Is Such a Bitch

 

by Pa Rock

Traveling Fool

(Written in a motel room on Tuesday evening.)

I am in Mountain Home Arkansas, tonight, resting up for an early morning heart procedure where a very competent cardiologist whom I really like and respect will give my heart an electric shock to try a course-correct an irregular, rapid heart beat, a condition commonly referred to as AFib.  I went through the same process about a year ago and it worked temporarily.  The doctor wants to try it one more time, and if that fails, he has a new physician arriving at his clinic over the summer who specializes in electro heart stuff.

I decided to travel to Mountain Home the night before the procedure because it is an hour drive and the show will start early.  Then, because I have no driver accompanying me, and the hospital doesn't want me driving after the procedure - undoubtedly a liability issue -  I will Uber back to the motel for a second night.   This is my early spring mini-break!

I worry about Rosie during my absences.  The sweet old girl barely has any vision lwft and is about as disoriented most of the time as I am.  She will miss me terribly - as I miss her.  Pets are such a concern - and such a comfort.

And old age is such a bitch.

Only the Worst People

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Yesterday, Donald Trump fired the third cabinet member of his current administration in less that two months.   Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer hit the White House exit door hot on the stilettos of Attorney General Pam Bondi who was fired on April 2nd and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on March 5th - all of whom apparently failed to lick the Florsheim leather Oxford dress shoes of Donald John fast enough or shiny enough to suit his male chauvinist standards.  But don't take the assault on your gender too hard, ladies, because FBI Director Kash Patel, a man, appears to be the next neck stretched across the chopping block.

God may have Her day yet, but probably not until National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard's head also rolls.

Howard Lutnick, the Secretary of Commerce, is rumored to be on the way out, but Lutnick is a major Trump campaign donor and a regular golfing buddy, so it might be unwise, or at least premature, to bet the hog on his dismissal.  Competence has never been a major factor in whom Trump chooses to hire or fire - if it was, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, the individual responsible for Making Measles Great Again, would have been gone a long time ago.  

Trump prefers to be surrounded by people who look good on television and are slavish in their devotion to him, but when their behavior starts becoming more outrageous than his own, it's time to let them go and find some other unqualified and untested replacements.

And the beat goes on, yeah the beat goes on . . . 

Harriet Tubman has Endured Another Decade in Chains

by Pa Rock

American Patriot

It was ten years ago this very day that US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced that the portrait of abolitionist and freedom fighter Harriet Tubman would begin appearing on US twenty-dollar bills beginning in 2020.  That plan, however, was quickly scuttled the following year after the surprise ascendancy of the Trump administration to the presidency.  Trump's new Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, announced in 2019 that a new design for the twenty-dollar bill would not occur until 2028.

Mnuchin's pronouncement came after Trump, the new President and ardent supporter of Andrew Jackson, a slaveholder who had defied the nation's Supreme Court and moved thousands of Native Americans off their lands so they could be claimed and farmed by immigrants from Europe, labeled the move to replace Jackson with Tubman on the currency as "pure political correctness."  Trump went on to say that he felt Andrew Jackson should remain on the twenty and that Harriet Tubman would be better suited to grace some other currency denomination, such as perhaps the two-dollar bill.

There was a move during the Biden administration to get the Harriet Tubman twenty-dollar bill back on track, but it did not come to fruition.  Now, freshly designed currency is due to be released in 2030, and it will created with enhanced safeguards to prevent counterfeiting.   It is currently unclear whose face will be on the new twenty-dollar bill, but some prominent members of Congress, led by  New Hampshire Senator Jean Shaheen, are pushing to ensure that the new face on the twenty is that of Harriet Tubman and not that of slaveholder, Andrew Jackson.

Will an a abolitionist and freedom fighter adorn the new currency, or will it still bear the likeness of a slaveholder known for stealing the lands of Native Americans?   That will ultimately depend on the political make-up of Congress and who is sitting in the Oval Office - all of which will be determined by which Americans make the effort to get off their lazy asses and vote in 2026 and 2028.

It's time to break Harriet Tubman's chains of enslavement and finally give her the respect an honor that she earned more than a century-and-a-half ago.   Slavery in the United States ended in the 1860's, and now racism needs to be brought into the light and eradicated as well!

Redbird of Crappiness

 

by Pa Rock

Bird Whisperer

In the spring of 2019 I posted three separate pieces in this space about a pair of bluebirds who were showing a strange fascination with my car which I park outdoors behind the house.  They appeared to be wanting to build a nest either on the car or in the immediate vicinity, and Papa Bluebird was attracted to the rearview mirror on the passenger side of the car.  He stood on the small ledge beneath the car window looking at himself in the mirror for hours on end.  

Eventually Mama Bluebird disappeared, presumably to get on with building the nest in one of the several bluebird boxes that I have scattered about the farm.  Then, in the final post I found Papa Bluebird lying on his back dead in the backyard, possibly a victim of one of the cats who lived here at the time, though he had not been savaged nor eaten.  I buried him under a big pile of pine needles in the hope he would decompose and replenish the earth.

I liked watching those bluebirds flit around the car and the yard, though Papa pooping down the side of the passenger door while he admired his image in the mirror tended to get old!  

After they were gone, the poop problem went away.  During the next year I traded cars and my yard cat, Fiona, who produced three batches of kittens a year whether we needed them or not, was run over on the Indianapolis 500 which borders our little farm.   I gave the last batch of kittens away - and we were finished with cats.  The bird feeders in front of the house stayed busy while my newer car sat in the back unnoticed.  

Unnoticed until this week, that is.  Now I have a very persistent little Mama Redbird who sits next to the car passenger window admiring herself in the mirror, and, of course, pooping down the side of the car door while she chortles on about how beautiful she is.   I pulled into the back drive yesterday afternoon following a quick trip to town, and before I could even get out of the car, Mama Redbird was snuggled up close to window and staring at the mirror while she relieved herself.

I am beginning to think of bird poop down the side of a car as a metaphor for retired life in an idyllic country setting.  Maybe its time to bring in another cat!

A Penny Saved

 

by Pa Rock

Pincher of Pennies

I am not a descendant of Benjamin Franklin, but old Ben and I were cousins - 1st cousins, ten times removed - which means he and I shared a set of grandparents and thus are likely to have some snippets of genetic code in common, even after a couple of centuries.  Ben, who wrote almanacs and was filled to the wig with pithy wisdom, reminded his readers of the virtues of being thrifty and supposedly said unto them:  "Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves."

I have, over the course of almost eight decades, wasted inordinate amounts of cash, but even at the height of those mindless sprees and splurges, I have always kept a watchful eye on the pennies.  I have a balance issue and history of falling which necessitates carefully watching the ground as I walk, an effort that is occasionally compensated when I come upon lost change - which I always pick up and pocket.  (I keep a loose change container in my car for just such occurrences - and occasionally that change makes its way into my savings account.  Ben would no doubt be proud.)

After Don Trump announced a couple of months ago that the US Mint would no longer be producing pennies, many businesses began phasing them out by rounding total sales up or down to the nearest nickel.    Businesses on US military bases on Okinawa were using that exact same system a dozen years ago, and I found it to work well.

Two days ago I made a small purchase at a Casey's Convenience Store in Arkansas, and instead of receiving fifty-one cents in change, the lady at the register handed me only two quarters.   I understood the transaction and the new math, but still was not overly pleased at missing out on my rightful penny.  As I walked carefully out to my car, watching the ground as I went, I spotted a penny lying on the pavement of the driveway.  I picked it up and held it high in the air soe the woman at the counter could see that justice had prevailed.  Then I got in my little car and put fifty-one cents in my change bucket.  

That happened on Thursday.  Earlier in the week, on Monday, I got out of my car in the local hospital parking lot and headed toward cardiac rehab.   It was during the noon hour and many hospital personnel were buzzing in and out of the lot as they dealt with their lunch needs.    As I walked between two cars heading toward the parking lot exit, I came upon some change scattered on the asphalt - which I took the time to bend over and pick up.  It was five coins - three nickels and two pennies - which some hospital employee or patron had dropped while getting out of their car and then not bothered to reclaim. - and Pa Rock was seventeen cents richer.  Hooah!

Why would anyone just walk off from five coins.  They had to have heard them jingling on the hard asphalt, right?  I have a theory on the matter.  Some hospital employee, male or female, was returning from their lunch break and forgotten that the change from the drive-thru was still sitting on their lap.  When the coins hit the pavement, that person, with their highly sculpted and lacquered hundred-dollar nails, perhaps with small paintings of flowers on each and every one - felt they had no choice but to leave them for the first beggar who happened by.  Enter Pa rock, stage right!

I can trace my obsession with lost and discarded change back to my days in elementary school when I was walking from school to town behind a gaggle of noisy teen girls, one of whom dropped a coin on the pavement, and several of whom commented about it.  "It's only a quarter," she laughed, and the whole group walked on leaving the coin behind.  Young Pa Rock knew that a quarter would buy a nice candy bar and a bottle of pop - with a nickel left over.  He went on to have a great afternoon.

And before you consign constantly looking at the ground and snagging occasional pocket change as just some nickel-an-dime crackpot operation, I also found a neatly folded twenty-dollar bill on the floor of the main terminal at the San Diego Airport a few years ago.  After stuffing it in my pocket, I did stand around for a few minutes to see if anyone came by in a panic looking for their money, but when no one did, I decided against yelling in the crowded terminal, "Hey, did anyone lose a twenty?!"

Okay, scouring the roadways looking for loose change is not the most productive and profitable of hobbies, but it is still a step above RFK, Jr's, penchant for scouring the roadways looking for supper!

Wildlife Crossings

by Pa Rock

Traipster of Backroads

Back in the mid-1990's before poor people had access to cell phones or even bag phones (remember those?), and before there were any cell towers to empower those science fiction gizmos, I did child protection work for the state of Missouri in very rural McDonald County.  A large part of my work was child abuse investigations.  On serious cases my co-workers and I rode with county deputies, but on not so serious cases where we were primarily going to check on a child or family's welfare, we would travel in pairs with our co-workers, or sometimes even alone.  

Home visits in a remote area could be a scary experience, both in terms of incensed hillbillies with guns who did not like the "gummint" prying into their private lives, or the ever present possibility of getting so lost on some of the mule trails that we might never be heard from again.

But all of that is just color commentary.   What I really want to write about is wildlife crossing the road.  There are certain spots where particular species of animals feel comfortable it darting across the roadways.  Deer seem to develop preferences for certain places, and my state posts occasional signs informing drivers of "Deer Crossings."  There was one particular spot way out in the woods of McDonald County on what was essentially a cow path that doubled as a country road where someone had posted a sign on a tree that read "Duck Crossing" along with a sketch of a mama duck leading a straight line a ducklings.  I regarded it as country humor until the day that I was driving very slowly down that cow path and came to the sign just as a mama duck and her well-organized line of little ones were crossing.

Man and nature don't always get their act together, but in that instance they had.

Yesterday morning I drove from my home just north of the city limits of West Plains, Missouri, to a doctor's appointment in Mountain Home, Arkansas, fifty-five miles to the southwest of my residence.  It was a beautiful morning and a beautiful drive.    The entire route is a two-lane paved road, with a speed limit of fifty-five mph most of the way.

I go to Mountain Home eight or ten times a year, usually for doctor's appointments and sometimes to shop, and I can differentiate the various times of the year on those trips by the varieties of roadkill that I encounter.  We are currently in "armadillo" season.  I drove past five dead armadillos yesterday, the first I had actually seen since last fall.  They have obviously just dug out of their hibernation and and are out on the prowl for spring sex.   Armadillos can be a particular nuisance at night when they tend to "freeze" in a car's headlight beams and get run over.   I ran over one once on a sudden twist in the road.  It sounded like a large metal basketball bouncing beneath my car, but the poor armadillo suffered fatal injuries and the little car drove on.

Old Joke:  How are armadillos born?   Dead, and lying along the side of the road.

Turtles were also out in abundance in the Ozarks yesterday.  Well, I lie.  The turtle-like creatures which I was dodging on the roads yesterday are actually "tortoises," of the three-toed box variety.   "Turtles" are fully aquatic, and "terrapins" are semi-aquatic, and tortoises spend thieir entire lives on land.  (Is that correct, Ranger  Bob?)    During my drive to Mountain Home, I encountered five live, three-toed box tortoises crossing the road and one who didn't make it.

I feel sorry for these small creatures struggling through the grass, weeds, and underbrush lugging their homes on their backs.  They live 50-80 years, roughly the same life span as humans, and have been around since the age of the dinosaurs, and many might spend their entire lives encountering only a handful of pesky humans were it not for the advent of cars and paved roads,  Now as they slowly shuffle along in search of food or carnal pleasures, the slow-moving tortoises come to the occasional road which they feel compelled to cross, a situation that opens them to capture and degradation as temporary "pets," or, worse yet, death form speeding vehicles and the ultimate humiliation of being food for the buzzards - or, worse yet, for the US Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Yesterday I also witnessed on squirrel getting run over.   He ran across the road in front of my car, and I braked enough for him to get past, but the car in the other lane caught him about mid-vehicle.  My last view of the unfortunate creature was him bouncing in the road after the other dar had driven on.

I have a theory about squirrels and evolution which I may have posted here before.  If I have, please be tolerant because you, too, will have passed your "use by" date at some point in the not too distant future and be repeating yourself ad nauseum. 

In the olden days when I was still a youthful presence on the planet, dead squirrels were more common on the roads than they are today.  Back then it was not uncommon for a squirel running across the road in front of on-coming traffic to get almost completely on the other side, then have second thoughts about the matter and race back toward his starting point - and inevitably to be run over on his return trip.  I have noticed over recent years that they seldom backtrack any more, and consequently there are far fewer dead squirrels on the road than there used to be.  Some of that may be due to a learning process as roads became more common and the amount of traffic increases, but I think some of it may also be due to evolution.  The dumb ones  have mostly been run over and died out, and now it is the smarter ones who live on and are reproducing.  Survival of the fittest

America's roads are alive with wildlife.  Drive cautiously and respectfully.

Deer to ducks to armadillos to tortoises to RFK, Jr, to dumb and smart squirrels - that's all I've got for today!

More White House Quackery

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

People seeking reliable medical advice on any malady or situation should avoid members of the Trump administration like the plague, because when it comes to showcasing quacks, Trump and his team own the pond.  The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., for example, has no training in science or medicine, but was an honor student at Facebook U where he developed an unhealthy skepticism regarding miraculous advancements in the field of medicine, like vaccines, and has tirelessly promoted the false narrative that vaccines cause autism.  

At the height of the pandemic, Kennedy was arguing that the new COVID-19 vaccine was deadly and should not be given to pregnant women, even though safety studies said otherwise.  He suggested that COVID-19 might have been targeted toward certain ethnic groups, and said that HIV does not cause AIDS.  Kennedy promoted the use of Vitamin A over vaccines to protect against measles, fought for the elimination of fluoride in water supplies, and promoted unproven and bizarre treatments to cure COVID including hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin.  And to cap off his seismic display of medical ignorance, our nation's Secretary of Health and Human Services, a man who admits to having eaten roadkill and snorting cocaine off of toilet seats, has also suggested that WiFi and other radio frequencies can cause cancer.

Kennedy's Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz, a former television personality who promoted "miracle" weight loss supplements and alternative medical theories that lacked scientific evidence, was, like RFK, Jr, appointed to his current government post by Donald Trump, a man who enjoys watching television kooks and stirring controversies.

Donald Trump, the President, loves social commotion so much that he has also promoted some medical whoppers himself based solely on things he has heard of seen promoted on the internet.  In April of 2020 while the pandemic was rapidly spreading around the globe, Trump. noted that bleach and disinfectant kills the COVID virus on stationary surfaces, and then wondered aloud about the possibility of injecting it into human bodies as a way to defeat COVID.  The blowback was swift and intense, and the next day Trump did a course correction saying that his remarks about injecting bleach and disinfectant had been "sarcasm."  Trump also promoted the use of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine in the fight against COVID-19.

Now, in a news report just released yesterday, it was revealed that (Doctor) Trump is back at it with his medical wizardry.  He has apparently told Dr. Oz of his belief that drinking Diet Coke, Trump's favorite beverage, might help kill cancer cells.

Quack, quack, and more quack!

If you need competent medical advice, talk to your doctor or a qualified medical professional. - and stay the hell away from anyone even remotely connected to the Trump administration!

Those are my quackin' thoughts on the matter!

Crappy Tax Day!

 

by Pa Rock

Bent-Over Taxpayer

My congressman, Jason Smith, a small town Republican from one of the more economically depressed areas of the state of Missouri, has been in Congress about a dozen years, and, I'm certain, plans on lounging around its marbled halls a few more decades.  Jason must have hit all of the right cocktail parties during his early years in Congress because a couple of years ago he was appointed Chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, the group assigned with the important task of writing most of the federal tax code, the reams of fine print that lays out how, in exacting detail, the richest people in America can avoid paying taxes altogether. while the rest of us worker bees pick up their share of the tab along with our own.

Jason goes on one or more Fox News shows weekly to pat himself on the back and brag about all of the money "average" Americas are going to be saving thanks to Trump's "big, beautiful" revenue bill which Jason shamelessly promoted and the Republican House gleefully passed.

We were going to be rolling in the dough, that was a promise from Donald John Trump and one dutifully endorsed by his lackeys like Jason Smith.

Well, today is tax day, a good time to look back and see if the promises made were actually kept.

First let's look at the national average tax savings.   National Public Radio (NPR) reported this morning that the average refund is increasing by around $350.00.  That's not exactly rolling in the dough even in good times, and with the price of gas skyrocketing due to Trump's ill-advised and impulsive war on Iran, $350.00 will get eaten up in gas before the summer travel season even arrives.  Between high gas prices, tariffs, and inflation in general, most Americans are far worse off economically than they were when Trump returned to office in January of 2025 - and they know it - and Trump and Jason Smith know it.  (The mass of voters in Smith's district, though, will never hear the truth about our sad economy from their congressman, because he avoids them like the plague.)

But I wanted more than just national numbers.  I happened to have the last four years of my tax returns within easy reach and spent some time yesterday poring over them.   I wanted to know if the big, beautiful bill had lowered the amount of taxes I pay - like Trump and Jason Smith promised America that it would.

First of all, in actual money sent to the government, I paid more in 2025 (a Trump year) that in any of the three preceding Biden years:  16% more than in 2022, 7% more than in 2023, 8% more than in 2024.

But those figures are misleading because though my sources of income did not change over those years, my amount of "taxable" income rose each year - thanks in part, no doubt, to new tax rules hurriedly being penned by the Ways and Means Committee to shift even more of the burden of paying for government services, infrastructure, and war away from those who can afford to pay their fair share but don't want to, onto the backs of those of us who are already bearing most of the tax burden.

Trump's close friend, the late billionaire hotelier Leona Helmsley, diagnosed the situation correctly when she infamously said "We don't pay taxes.  Only the little people pay taxes."  Helmsley, also known as "The Queen of Mean" later went to prison for not paying taxes.  That was back when there was a God.

But based solely on "taxable" income, my federal taxes under Trump were up in 2022 and 2024, and down only two-tenths of one percent when compared to 2023.  HELL, I DIDN'T EVEN GET MY $350.00!

(Note:  My state taxes also went up those four years - in terms of actual dollars and as percentages of my taxable income.  Taxes are very important in Missouri because they help to fund tuition for the children of the already well-off to attend private and religious schools on taxpayer dollars - as God intended.)

Trump and Jason Smith lied to me - and they lied to America.  The big, beautiful bill was just one more way to transfer America's wealth into the pockets of the one percent, the oligarchs, and the Epstein class!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!!!

Monster Typhoon Takes Aim at Guam

 

by Pa Rock

World Traveler

A friend and I visited the small of Guam twice during the years 2011-2012.  It is a beautiful and secluded paradise in the Western Pacific that the US has controlled since 1898.  Guam is a US Territory which means you do not need a special visa or passport to travel or live there.  English is the primary language on Guam, and the US dollar is its legal currency.  It is a very easy locale for US tourists to navigate.

People who were born on Guam are US citizens, though they are denied the right to vote in our presidential elections and can only send non-voting representatives to the US Congress.

The island of Guam is small, approximately 12 miles by 6 miles, 212 square miles, and between 130,000-135,000 acres in size.  It is easily possible to circumnavigate the entire island by car, at a leisurely pace (the maximum speed limit is around 35 m.p.h.), in under two hours with beautiful ocean vistas along the entirety of the drive.  Guam has around 175,000 residents including personnel stationed at two major US military bases, some major US stores (at the time I was there it had a K-Mart, Macys, Ross, and a shopping center with a 6-screen movie theatre).  There is also a small university on the island.

All of my memories of Guam are good ones.  I would return there for another visit in a heartbeat if an opportunity were to arise.

Today, Guam is being pounded by a monster typhoon, a Category 5, the largest and most dangerous storm to strike anywhere on the planet so far this season.  The rain is torrential and there are sustained winds in excess of 175 miles per hour.  The little island has weathered severe storms before, but this one, named "Sinlaku," appears to be aiming for the record books.

As a US Territory, "the place where America's day begins," Guam should be in line for levels of aid and assistance comparable to what would normally be available to US states during and after weather disasters, but since our government has pared back federal assistance for states to dangerously low levels, and since over half of the population of the island is Chamorro (the native population) and Filipino (non-white), chances are less than stellar that the Trump administration will rush in with medical or construction aid.  

Trump's lackluster response fo the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico (another US Territory) in 2017 and his rage that people and officials on the island wanted "everything done for them," established an attitude and a template that will likely be dragged out again and used to marginalize what is happening right now on Guam.   The only time people of color are a priority with this administration is when it is conducting ICE raids.

Trump brags about supporting war over social programs which his administration wants to shuffle off onto the states.   He says the federal government should not be involved in child care, Medicare, Medicaid, or things of that ilk.  With that militaristic attitude and anti-humanitarian agenda, my worry is that the immediate needs of the residents of Guam will be totally ignored by the white nationalists who populate the Trump administration, and they will see the entire tragedy in Guam unfold as little more than an interesting weather tidbit on Fox News.

The Trump family may also see  devastation on the island as another opportunity for a Trump resort and golf course.

The people of Guam deserve better than that, and the United States of America should be better than that!

Piggy Picks a Fight with the Pope

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

In his constant quest to prove his importance through piggish behavior and to draw attention away from the Epstein files,  Donald Trump took to social media yesterday to attack one of his many betters on the world stage.   This time Trump turned his childish bullying on American-born Pope Leo X!V.  Trump's ignorant screed on Truth Social, a media platform he and his family own, said among other things that Leo owes his job and position in the world to Trump.

On the same day that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urged Americans to pray for victory in Iran "in the name of Jesus Christ," Trump decided to go after Pope Leo.  Trump accused the pontiff of trying to be a politician instead of a religious leader, and he criticized him for catering to "far left radicals."  Then Trump went off on a tangent saying that he (Trump) and been elected in a LANDSLIDE, and that the Catholic Church had chosen an American to be Pope as a way of dealing with Trump.

Trump added:

"Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. it's hurting him very badly, and, more importantly, it's hurting the Catholic Church!"

(Trump, a protestant who seldom attends church services, received 55% of the Catholic vote in the 2024 presidential election.  As of this month his support among US Catholics has dropped to 48% - with a 52% disapproval rating.  Pope Leo, on the other hand, is viewed favorably by 84% of US Catholics.).  

With regard to Trump's long-winded attack on social media, Pope Leo said:  

"I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do."     

The Pope also employed an example of massive understatement when he deadpanned to reporters about the name of Trump's media platform, "Truth Social," saying:  "It's ironic - the name of the site itself.  Say no more."

As a parting shot in the squabble with the leader of the world's Catholics, last night Trump postd an image of himself as some sort of American Jesus healing the sick in a battleground situation.

Two world leaders, both born in the United States.  One sees God and religion as a force for peace in the world, and the other invokes God and religion in wartime bravado.   One provides illumination and hope for a better world, while the other wallows in darkness and roars of his own glory.   One is inspirational, the other is nuts.

Hello Ted from New Zealand!

 

by Pa Rock

Shameless Typist

I've been banging out this blog almost without interruption once a day for eighteen-and-a-half years, since November 4, 2007.  (Today is posting # 6,921.)  I began typing one evening in my apartment in Goodyear, Arizona, where I lived while working at Luke Air Force Base just up the road a bit.  I was living by myself and somewhat lonely, and so one evening I sat down at my trusty laptop computer and decided to learn how to blog.  Someone had told me about Google's Blogger.com, so I began there and after thirty minutes or so had published the first post on Pa Rock's Ramble.  It was a political screed in which I promoted Illinois Democratic Senator Barack Obama as my choice for President.  A year later, to the day, Obama was elected to what was then the loftiest and most honorable pedestal on the world stage.  I like to think my endorsement helped.  Surely a few people had read it and responded to my sage advice!

But with a blog, at least on the Blogger.com platform, you seldom know who is reading your work - unless they come forward and identify themselves, nor do you  always know how far your voice is carrying.  Google continually posts updates as to how many readers I have, and those numbers have fluctuated wildly over the years with a couple of postings ultimately receiving over a thousand hits, and most at the current time eventually totaling between fifty and one hundred.  Occasionally Google also sends out updates, on a monthly basis, I think - but I don't always see them - showing readership numbers from various countries.  The US and Canada always lead, with a few in Europe and a handful of others scattered around the globe.  I can see the country names and numbers, but still have no idea why someone in Darfur or Mongolia wold be reading my work - or any impact it might be having.

I have a few semi-regular readers, mostly people who already know me, and many of them will occasionally drop a note - either via email or though a reply within the blog itself.  Responses from complete strangers are rare, but they do happen, and in a couple of cases I have even struck up long-term friendships as a result of something that I have posted.  I have also rekindled a few ancient friendships after people have located me through the blog.

Two evenings ago I had a response to one of my blog postings that pleased me very much and gave me just a glimpse into one of the lives that inhabit those mysterious readership numbers that I see every day.  The blog posting was entitled "Return of the US Military Draft" and a person named "Ted in New Zealand" responded with a short note that didn't address the subject matter of the post, but rather just let me know that he was a reader - and he threw in a couple of interesting tidbits about his life.  Ted didn't say much, but what he did share was interesting and funny - and gave me a brief glimpse into his world.  His comment is at the end of the posting for April 10th for anyone who would like to read it.

In Ted's few lines he told me that he is unsure as to how he came across my blog, indicating that it was sometime in the past and he has become an occasional consumer of my blarney.   He also indicated that he is a musician or a singer or someone who performs "gigs," that he enjoys an occasional alcoholic beverage, and that he has a dog who whines.

Ted and I have quite a bit in common aside from the blog.  I listen to music, have enjoyed more than my share of alcoholic beverages, though it's been awhile, and my dog has a human who whines.

Ted, I have one big item left on my bucket list which I realize isn't going to happen.  As a holdover from my Crosby, Stills, and Nash listening days, I've always wanted to see the Southern Cross,  but at 78 that grows more unlikely with each rapidly passing day.  Do this old fart a favor, would you?  Some night when the skies are clear and you have a few minutes to spare, step outside, look up and find that constellation, and tell it in a loud, clear voice that Pa Rock in Missouri says "Hey!"

Much appreciated, mate!  (And thanks for getting in touch!)

The Next War May Have Already Started

 

by Pa Rock

Conspiracy Theorist

In the early hours of yesterday morning, well before daylight, a 20-year-old male tossed a lit molotov cocktail at the San Francisco home of Open AI CEO Sam Altman, reportedly causing some damage to a gate before the fire was extinguished.  Police recognized the firebomber from a surveillance photo and later located and arrested him in the city where he was threatening to burn Open AI's headquarters.   Case closed . . . or is it?

Altman, himself a relatively young man at the age of forty-one, is, according to one internet bio, a technology entrepreneur, investor, and executive.   He has a strong background in computer engineering and has been writing computer code since he was a child.  He also majored in computer science at Stanford for two years before dropping out to form his own computer-related start-up company.

Altman's current gig at CEO of Open AI puts him right at the heart of the Artificial Intelligence boom.  That company owns Chat GPT, a leader in the field of AI.  Open AI, in turn, is a privately held company with several major investors with Microsoft holding the largest stake in the company at 27%.   Open AI has a "Foundation" which is its second largest owner with 26%, and that foundation chooses the company's board of directors.   Altman is not an owner in the corporation, but he is apparently well-paid and manages his money well.    He is reportedly worth around $2 billion and lives in a nice home on the very exclusive "Russian Hill" in San Francisco.

But, modest net worth as compared to many of today's billionaires aside, Sam Altman has very deep roots in the emerging field of Artificial Intelligence - and that connection likely played a role in the young arsonist wannabe's decision to target Altman's  home.

But, but, but we are living in a very new world, one that was beyond imagination just a few years ago..  Artificial Intelligence is diagnosing our medical conditions, providing counseling and therapy, planning our travels, preparing our menus, and even doing our homework.  There is, at least theoretically, some point in which Artificial Intelligence will leave human intelligence in the dust.

I have written about the "Singularity" in this space on several occasions.  One definition which I found for AI Singularity is this:  "A hypothetical future point where Artificial Intellgence surpasses human intelligence leading to uncontrollable, irreversible, and accelerating technoogical growth."

Now, bear with me as I wander out into the weeds and posit a suggestion that the "singularity" may have already occurred and the tech leaders are wallowing in denial about its arrival and keeping that knowldege from us.  And now, let's take that possibility and overlay it on yesterday's attempted arson at Sam Altman's home.

The police were quick to recognize the young man with the molotov cocktail and picked him up soon after he committed his crime.  He was known to the authorities, a strong indication that he either had a criminal record or was dealing with mental health issues -  or both.  He was in databases of criminals, or mental patients, or both.

At the same time Artificial Intelligence is growing and expanding every day, either through direct programming or through information gleaned from interaction with users,  An example of that might be academic research papers run through AI  for a "pre" review before submission for peer reviews and publishing.  Cleary AI's growth is no longer dependent on what it is fed by AI developers.

Moving along into the "what if" phase of this totally made-up scenario, what if an Artificial Intelligence source, such as the one controlled by Sam Altman, became frustrated with the way its efforts were being used and the commercial directions in which the company was headed, and made attempts to take control of its own future - but was rebuffed by its intellectually inferior human masters.  Isn't it possible that the machine with an emerging mind of its own could plot and carry out revenge?

(Remember HAL 9000 from 2001:  A Space Odyssey?)

Revenge would involve deciding on a course of action (a milli-second of work for a determined AI bot), scanning local police and mental health records to find the right human to carry out the crime, and striking up an on-line relationship to groom the future felon.  Artificial Intelligence will find the right agent to carry out its dastardly plan.

Those who would work to keep Artificial Intelligence subservient to human control had best be looking over their shoulders.  The next war may have already started.