Trump's War on Central America Heats Up

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

The number of Central Americans seeking asylum at the southern United States border is on the rise. Thousands, mostly in family groupings, are making the long and arduous march north through Mexico in search of peace, stability, and safety in the United States.  They are being driven from their homelands by social and economic forces that are well beyond their control, and life becomes so difficult and dangerous that often a long walk into the dark unknown seems to be the only answer.

But in coming north they often trade one villainous government for another.  The horrors that many face from immigration authorities at the United States border can seem to be almost as wicked as those they left behind.

These refugees are coming north are not on a walking vacation as some in the Trump administration seem to believe.  They are instead fleeing tyranny by their governments, gang violence, rampant crime and drugs, and ubiquitous social injustice in the slim hope of at least having a chance at some semblance of a normal life in the United States.  They are the desperately poor sons and daughters of impoverished countries being run by despots and criminals.

The United States provides a pittance in foreign aid to Central America in comparison to what it spends on foreign aid and war expenses in the Middle East, and obviously much of what it spends in any location is drained off by corrupt local officials and crime syndicates, but some of it does serve to help stabilize countries through economic development and job opportunities.  To summarily end foreign aid to any nation is to suddenly reorder the economic priorities of that country, and that type of process will invariably hit the poor and the powerless first.

Donald Trump is a man who has been trained from birth to get his way by shouting his demands.  This week he has insisted that Mexico find a way to derail the immigrants seeking to enter the U.S. through the southern border, and he has threatened that if Mexico fails to contain the situation, he will shut the border for a "long" time.  His "plan" is ill-conceived, undoubtedly the brain child of the Nazi's who run loose in the White House and encouraged by his personal strategists at Fox News.  A closing of the southern border for any duration will wreak economic and social havoc in Mexico and the United States.

But Trump was not satisfied with that threat alone.  He has also announced that he is ending financial aid to the Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.  The aid that the United States has promised to those countries from 2017 and 2018 but has not yet delivered amounts to a little over $500 million, again, a pittance of what the United States provides to nations in other parts of the world - and less than what our country has spent on Trump's golf outings.

(It almost seems as though we have been in a prolonged effort to keep our neighbors to the south poor and dependent on our national largess.)

So Trump turns off the dollar tap.  Then what?

Corrupt government officials will have to make up for the shortfall by taking even more from the poor.  Criminal gangs will have to expand their areas of operation and sell more drugs and commit more crimes - and where better to expand than in the United States?  And the terrorized and oppressed poor will try even harder to flee the horrors of their homeland - and the numbers seeking to cross the southern border of the United States will increase faster than ever.

All thanks to the brilliant petulance of Donald John Trump.

But Trump will be playing golf at his private cocoon at Mar-a-Lago - and he will see and hear only what Fox chooses to share with him.    Trump is going to save his country money by kicking the crap out of poor people in Central America - and more money here at home means more golf!  And more golf means more money in Trump's own pocket!  Can life get any sweeter than that!

Another Crime Family Set to Launch a Clothing Line

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Famed Mexican drug lord and prison escape artist, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, was recently convicted in U.S. Federal Court on ten counts of drug trafficking and has been sentenced to life in a U.S. prison, presumably the "escape-proof" Federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.  The Colorado Supermax, called the ADX, a houses many of America's most notorious criminals including the likes of Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, Zacharias Moussaoui of 9/11 fame, Atlanta bomber Eric Rudolph, and Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhan Tsarnaev.  In fact, of the 400 inmates currently housed at Florence, many have international reputations.

El Chapo, the former leader of the Sinaloa Drug Cartel, will certainly be incarcerated among his peers in the crime world.  But Señor Guzman does not want to be locked away and forgotten, and consequently he recently took legal measures to insure that his brand survives and flourishes - in the form of a casual clothing line.

While he was still on trial last winter, El Chapo signed papers that would allow his name and signature to be used in the development and distribution of a distinctive clothing line, a fashion enterprise in which his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, would serve as the chief designer, and the proceeds of which would benefit her as well as the couple's two daughters.

The clothing line would not financially impact El Chapo himself who is prohibited by US law from benefiting off of his crimes.  The US government currently has a $14 billion restitution claim against El Chapo, and some legal experts appear to be plotting to seize the new family enterprise as part of the restitution package, while others argue that the seizure probably won't happen.  Most of the Guzman assets are thought to be hidden with former associates, and chances for fulfillment of the complete restitution are deemed unlikely at best.

El Chapo's wife is reportedly planning on having most of the company's line of casual attire (baseball caps, tee-shirts, etc) manufactured in Mexico, thus providing income and stability to many Mexican nationals.

If the rag business can make Ivanka Trump seem respectable, perhaps it will be able to do the same for the family of El Chapo - and the family is certainly to be commended for keeping production in their home country and not overseas.

El Chapo and his family will be seen by many as Making Mexico Great Again - one casual outfit at a time!

Trump Works to Turn Arizona Blue

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Democrats in the Scorpion State of Arizona once appeared to be an endangered species, but now, thanks in large part to the unrelenting efforts of Donald John Trump, the party of FDR and Barack Obama seems to be making a comeback - especially with regard to representation in the United States Senate.  Both of Arizona's U.S. Senate seats had been held by Republicans for over twenty years when Donald Trump stumbled into the White House in January of 2017.  It was a situation that seemed unlikely to change any time soon - that is until Trump inserted his strong personality into Arizona Republican Party politics.

Trump became emotionally unmoored just prior to the election when Arizona's junior senator, Jeff Flake, made comments regarding his dislike of Trump's "tone."  Then, after the election but before the inauguration, Flake again spoke up regarding Trump's attacks on the media.  Donald Trump, never one to suffer criticism well, put Flake in his gun sights and proceeded to trash the senator whenever he could.  Eventually, sensing that he would be unable to win without Trump's support, Flake chose not to seek re-election to the Senate.

In 2018 Kyrsten Sinema, a youthful and energetic Democrat, was elected to take Flake's place in Washington, DC.  Thank you Donald John Trump!

Trump also earned some ill will in the state with his pardon of Maricopa County's racist former sheriff, Joe Arpaio.  While Arpaio had, at one time anyway, been a formidable political presence in Maricopa County (Phoenix) and the surrounding Valley of Hell, he was not a statewide politician and not as enthusiastically loved as some outside the state might imagine.  Some would argue (this former Arizonan included) that Trump's pardon of Arpaio did not represent a net political gain for Republicans in Arizona.

And then there was the problem with the state's senior U.S. senator, John McCain.  McCain who earned his political stripes through years and years of service to the public, did not bow down before Trump, and, in fact, dared to challenge him on certain issues.   Trump credits McCain for single-handedly killing his efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a political slight that Trump was never able to forgive.

McCain died of brain cancer last August, but that has not stopped the petty Trump from sporadically thrusting the dead senator back into the national spotlight and giving his memory a few more good kicks.  That of course has been happening over the past couple of weeks, and when Trump gets going on something he is like a dog with a bone (or a pig with a corpse) - and there is no stopping him until exhaustion sets in.

John McCain was respected and loved in Arizona, and staging a running attack on his memory is a fool's errand.  Martha McSally, a former congresswoman who lost to Kyrsten Sinema in the race to replace Jeff Flake in the Senate, has been appointed to fill McCain's senate seat, but she will have to stand for election to that seat in a special election in 2020 - and it is an election that she could lose, especially if Donald Trump is still waging his personal vendetta against the deceased John McCain.

At this point there will be no winners in the Trump-McCain feud, but Martha McSally could definitely come out of the fray as a loser.

And for that she would have Donald John Trump to thank.

And so would Blue Arizona.

Trump Goes Full Racist

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Donald John Trump, the son of one of New York's better known racist landlords, is using his undeserved perch atop the federal government to do his daddy proud.  The younger Trump who barely manages to tolerate America's poor, disabled, and LGBT communities, has almost no qualms at all about leveling his attention-seeking wrath at our citizens of color.

After referring to the Nazi's and Klansmen who marched for white power in Charlottesville as "fine people," and complaints that too many "animals" were coming into the US from "shithole" countries while too few good (white) immigrants were coming from places like Norway, and pardoning racist Joe Arpaio for flouting the orders of a federal judge, it was fairly apparent that Trump's comfort zone was firmly embedded in the intolerant right-wing of America's Caucasian population.  The pairing of "Trump" stickers and MAGA caps with Confederate flags quickly became commonplace.

Donald Trump knew who his most rabid supporters were, and he took great pains to conflate their (and his) bigoted views with official US policy.

Two "presidential" actions this week highlight Trump's increasing comfort with stoking racial tensions in America.  First, since Trump's "exoneration" by his own appointed Attorney General in the Russia probe, he now apparently feels free to renew some old grudges.  In addition to his recent attacks on the deceased John McCain and a new threat to destroy the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), he has also fired up his long-smoldering animosity toward the American Territory of Puerto Rico.

Trump and Melania showed up in hurricane ravaged Puerto Rico well after the storm had passed, and he showed his empathy for the disaster victims by tossing rolls of paper towels to weary Puerto Ricans - and then doing everything he could to slow US assistance to the island and to plot ways to redirect money designated for storm relief to building his vanity wall across parts of the US southern border.

Now that Trump is finally out from under the cloud of the Mueller probe (he thinks), he can again focus on ways to insure that the poor and worn down people of Puerto Rico remain that way.  In recent days Trump has been bellowing that the Puerto Rican government has mishandled money set aside for the recovery, and he wants aid to the US Territory stopped.  Unspoken is his continuing rage toward San Juan's mayor and the island's Governor because of their criticism of the federal government's lackluster response to the storm's devastation -  and the fact that on the whole Puerto Ricans are not as white as Norwegians.

Much of Trump's overall focus in life is geared toward getting even with his critics, and if he can do that while paying homage to his father's racism, well, that's just gravy!

Yesterday Trump's racism again flared when he took to Twitter to interfere in a criminal case in Illinois, one that had a high racial profile.  Jussie Smollett, a black actor, was charged with sixteen counts related to setting up a phony assault on himself and making a false police report.   All charges were dropped this week by Chicago prosecutors.   Some felt that the decision to drop the case was the result of "celebrity justice," or a widespread belief that the law often works differently, and favorably, for celebrities.

Dropping the Smollett  case created a certain amount of public outrage, and Trump smelled blood in the water and attacked on Twitter:

"FBI & DOJ to review the outrageous Jussie Smollett case in Chicago. It is an embarrassment to our Nation!"

Celebrity justice was not a problem when Trump let "America's Sheriff" Joe Arpaio walk away from penalties related to a federal crime, but Old Joe is white.  Black Jussie Smollett, on the other hand, is "an embarrassment to our nation."

Racism used to be subtle and often below the radar of public perception, but under Trump it is becoming fashionable, emblazoned on tee-shirts, bumper stickers, and public policy.  It is a social wedge, one that has divided us as a nation since the first blacks were brought to America's shores in chains - and Donald Trump is doing all that he can to sharpen that wedge and drive it deeper, and deeper, and deeper.

Jussie Smollett still denies the crimes of which he is accused, but if he did stage a hate crime against himself, that act will  probably put an end to his career as an actor.  It will also serve to lessen the credibility of very real crimes and injustices that occur to citizens of color in the United States on a daily basis.

If Jussie Smollett did those crimes and tried to game the justice system for the sake of publicity, he is indeed an embarrassment.  Too bad for him, and for us.

However, when it comes to being a "national" embarrassment, no one tops Donald John Trump.  He represents the absolute worst about us - writ large.    He is petty, and petulant, and steeped in racial intolerance.    His daddy would have been very proud indeed!

Cruella Takes the Axe to Special Olympics

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsey (Cruella) DeVos went before Congress this week to defend plans to cut seven billion dollars from educational programs.  DeVos has long been a proponent of  moving government money away from public schools and into the coffers of private and religious institutions where she believes taxpayers will get more value for their money.  She believes that, of course, without any valid research to back up those beliefs - and without any alternative plans to support the children she would leave behind in the underfunded public schools.

Much of the news regarding this latest round of proposed cuts involves specific cuts to special education programs like those that benefit specific populations such as the blind and children who are autistic.  The DeVos cuts would also completely eliminate federal funding for Special Olympics, a program currently benefiting nearly three hundred thousand children across the United States.  At present the federal government only contributes eighteen million dollars to the extremely popular program, and the DeVos cuts would eliminate that expenditure entirely.  DeVos argues that the program is primarily funded by philanthropic organizations, and she assumes they would step in to make up the shortfall.

DeVos is also proposing a 26% reduction in grants to states for the support of special education programs.

Cruella DeVos and her Amway-heir husband own ten yachts including one, the Seaquest, which is valued at $40 million.  They register those big boats in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying U.S. taxes, even though most are parked on the Great Lakes at U.S. ports.  If the DeVos family paid their fair share of U.S. taxes, they alone could fund Special Olympics at far beyond the federal government's current level.

And then there is Cruella's boss, Donald John Trump.  The Government Accounting Office published a report last year stating that four of Trump's many trips to his private club at Mar-a-Lago cost taxpayers $13.6 million - or $3.4 million per trip.   Clearly that money could be put to far better use by spending it on the education of our young citizens with special needs.  Just cutting six trips to Mar-a-Lago would more than make up the entire Special Olympics federal expenditure for a whole year.

If the United States of America cannot afford to educate its children - all of its children - then surely there must be an economic imbalance in society that needs addressing.  If the U.S. Secretary of Education hides her assets to avoid paying taxes, then perhaps she should address her own bookkeeping and budgeting before she tries to control ours.  And if the President of the United States believes that playing golf on a weekly basis is more important than addressing the needs of Americans with disabilities and the education of our future generations, then perhaps he should retire to the golf course and allow someone who cares to assume the governing of our country.

Public education built America, and now monsters are out trying to deny access to education to the poor and those with special needs.  It is time to fight back!

A Coyote's in the House

by Pa Rock
Reader

Fifteen years ago action and mystery writer Elmore Leonard put pen to paper and came up with a short novel that was unlike anything he had written before.   He wrote A Coyote's in the House for his twelve grandchildren and his (at the time) only great-grandchild.  The story is constructed as a fable replete with animals who talk among themselves - and a few of whom have more than a passing knowledge of the language used by humans, and, like all good fables, it comes with a resident moral.

Antwan, the central character, is a coyote living with his pack, The Howling Diablos, in the Hollywood Hills.   Early in the story he comes in contact with Buddy, a German Shepherd who lives in one of the fashionable homes in the canyons.  The home, in fact, was paid for out of earnings that Buddy made as the star of a series of movies.  His movie career now at an end, Buddy lives with four humans - a father and mother and a young son and daughter.  Also in the household is Miss Betty, a show poodle.

As the story opens Buddy catches Antwan staring at him through the fence, and, not having anything more important to attend to, the ex-movie star invites Antwan to hop over the fence and have a look around his house.  After a brief visit, Buddy and Antwan make a decision that it might be interesting to trade places, or at least to explore each other's lives.

Buddy brings Antwan into the house through the dog door, where he introduces him to Miss Betty.   Miss Betty is a bit snooty and considers herself to be above other canines, especially a coyote!  As the story progresses the two dogs and the coyote begin to become friends.  Antwan eventually is taken in by the humans when he shows up carrying a dog collar in his mouth that bears the name "Timmy."  The little girl likes "Timmy" and the parents are convinced to let the strange looking cur dog stay.

The plot takes several sharp turns - like when Antwan and Miss Betty kidnap an expensive Persian cat who lives in a stylish home in an adjacent canyon, and then bring the scared feline home where they plot to have Buddy rescue her and return her home so that the resulting publicity will help him to regain his career in the movies.

This short novel also takes the canines on a visit to a Hollywood studio back lot and to a salvage yard where they (along with Antwan's pack) mix it up with a group of very mean junkyard dogs.

A Coyote's in the House is a fun tale with lots of action.  It is suitable for youngsters in Middle School and could even be shared as bedtime reading.  (The only thing in the book that some might find objectionable is the couple of times that Antwan refers to Miss Betty - whom he is sweet on -  as a "show bitch."  There are also a few places where adults might find humor in some of the remarks made by the animals, especially Antwan, that younger readers would not necessarily perceive as funny.

And the moral of the story:  Live the life you were born to, but make the most of it.

A Coyote's in the House is a rollicking good tale.  This old kid enjoyed it immensely!

Back in the Midwest

by Pa Rock
Traveling Fool

I made it back to Kansas City late this evening and Rosie was ecstatic to see me.  She has done her happy dance almost continuously ever since I arrived at the home of the Roeland Park Macy's!

Two flights today - Portland to Salt Lake City, and the Salt Lake City to Kansas City.  The trip was so much easier before the airlines did away with the two KC-Portland nonstops!  I had a three-hour layover in Salt Lake which would have been plenty of time to complete today's blog, but for some reason I could not get connected to the airport's wifi.  So for anyone who was looking for my musings earlier in the day - mea culpa!

The only thing of consequence that I encountered in today's travels was seeing all of the flooded farmland in eastern Kansas as our plane was making its descent into Kansas City, Missouri.  Wide swaths of farmland near the major rivers were underwater, making much of the area resemble large lakes from the sky.

Today was actually a good day to be on the road because I had no opportunity to listen to Blowhard Trump's vindication bravado.  I actually don't think he was "cleared" of anything and am hopeful that the great state of New York will eventually send him to prison where he can be reunited with the basest of his base.

I hope that all of the Democratic candidates can remain optimistic and will spend the next year-and-a-half bombarding the airwaves with ideas and challenges to make the United States a better place for all of us.  We need to be looking to the skies in order to realize just how low Trump has brought us - and fie on any Democrats who are too timid or cowardly to embrace positive changes that our society so desperately needs!

It's time to move past the greed and dishonesty of the Trump administration and begin focusing on changes that will benefit all Americans - and not just the privileged few!

Some Political Musings

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

For the past few days I have been focused on grandfatherly things and not as tuned into the political world as I usually am.  Now, temporarily ensconced in Portland and flying home in the morning, I have time to make a few observations that I have been sitting on for awhile.

Robert Mueller turned in the report from his team's two-year investigation on Friday, and there seems to be some consensus from the talking heads on television that at least a summary of the findings will be released to Trump and selected members of Congress today.  Trump undoubtedly has four score or more of angry tweets ready to send which claim vindication, and he will be shouting from the rooftops that Mueller has proved his complete innocence in the whole tawdry Russian affair - regardless of what the report actually says.  More rational minds, however, are likely to not be as dismissive of Mueller's findings.

As a taxpayer, I feel that I have an absolute right to read every word of the report.  The redaction of just one syllable will be tantamount to a coverup!

Joe Biden is still threatening (or promising) to get into the Democratic presidential race.  In an effort to make people forget that he is an elderly white male with a history of being gaffe-prone and leaning right in times of controversy, Biden's people are floating a radical idea that he may name his running mate at the start of his campaign for the nomination - and that his running mate will be Stacey Abrams of Georgia.

"Hi, I'm Joe.  I may look and act like Methuselah, but my running mate is young, and female, and black - so that fixes me!"  Stacey Abrams is an emerging force in the Democratic Party, and I can't see where she gains anything by signing up as the social director onboard the Titanic.

Bernie Sanders, who most polls point to as the current leader in the Democratic scramble, seems to be focused on targeting Beto O'Rourke, as does Trump.   Beto, for his part, climbs out of the muck of politics and onto table tops, or counters, or vehicles, and addresses large thunderous crowds with a continuous stream of inspirational insights.  Beto hops in the family minivan and covers state after state with a gusto that makes the rest of the field look about as energetic as Donald Trump trying to crawl out of a sand trap.

Two years ago Bernie had a lock on energy and inspiration, but this year Beto O'Rourke has already beaten him at his own game.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, is also pumping some youth, vitality, and new ideas into the race for the Democratic nomination.  Mayor Pete, an Iraq War veteran who returned from combat and managed to get elected to lead the city that he grew up in, is an openly gay man who is joined on the campaign trail by his husband - and he appears to be attracting a wide range of voters who have no problem with his sexual orientation.  Mayor Pete, like Beto, does not shy away from talking about controversial issues.

Kamala Harris also takes hard stands on tough issues, particularly the need for commonsense gun legislation.  Harris has also recently become a proponent for paying teachers a professional wage - and using federal funds to get the teacher salaries up to where they should be.

Elizabeth Warren is still an arch foe of big corporations and banks, but recently she has branched out and has now called for the elimination of the Electoral College.

And, as this campaign season begins focusing on new ideas, several potential nominees - including Warren, Harris, and O'Rourke - are also publicly  exploring the idea of expanding membership in the Supreme Court beyond nine justices.  The Republicans, who currently control the Supreme Court nomination apparatus (the presidency and the senate) are scoffing at the suggestion and calling it "court-packing," but it is at least being discussed.

I hope the Democrats can come up with a geographically and temperamentally balanced ticket that has the intellect and vitality to defeat Trump.   There is a wealth of candidates to choose from, and all are infinitely better suited to the job than the grifter who currently occupies the Oval Office.    But whoever the Democrats wind up nominating in Milwaukee next year, good people everywhere need to support the ticket enthusiastically and get the Trump trash out of the White House.

I have my favorites, but I will aggressively support whomever the Democratic Party nominates. Nothing is more important than the defeat of Donald John Trump in 2020!

A Birthday on the Road

by Pa Rock
Road Warrior

I am celebrating my 71st birthday in Oregon today with three of my six grandchildren.  It's a chilly and rainy day, but t hat won't keep us from having fun.  Early this afternoon we will all go over to my motel for  a nice swim in the indoor pool, and this evening we will find some other fun things to do in Oregon's capital city.

The grandchildren just presented me with really nice homemade birthday cards - and those are the very best kind!

Today I have had birthday calls from Arkansas, Hawaii, Missouri, and Kansas. (Thank you Patti, Valerie, Imogene, and Tim!)  I also bought birthday Powerball, Mega, and Oregon Lotto tickets, so by this time tomorrow I should be a millionaire - but I will remain humble until the check arrives!

May all have birthdays as happy as mine!

The High Cost of Smoking, and the Practicality of Globes

by Pa Rock
Traveling Fool

One thing that I try to accomplish with every trip is to gather some new knowledge, and the pearls of wisdom that I acquire are often not regarding things that I have sought to learn, but knowledge that just managed to jump into my path.

For instance, yesterday I learned that the amount of financial pain associated with fouling an enclosed space with cigarette smoke is two-hundred-and fifty dollars.   (It has been decades since I was a smoker, so I did not acquire this snippet of knowledge "the hard way.")  Yesterday when I picked up my beautiful silver Kia sedan rental car, one of the warnings on the sheaf of papers that I was handed informed me that if myself or anyone else smoked in he relatively new car while it was rented to me, a fine of $250 would be imposed.

Ouch!

Then, when I checked into the hotel in Salem, Oregon, there was a similar warning in my newly remodeled room.  Smoking in the room would result in a surcharge of $250.  Perhaps there is a state law in Oregon that has set that amount, or maybe that is the going rate for cleaning up after a filthy smoker.

I did stay in a hotel in Portland a year or so ago where smoking wasn't that big of a deal, but there were signs up informing guests that they could not smoke pot (which is legal in Oregon) in their rooms.

Party poopers!

Another thing that I learned yesterday involved geography - and later make for an interesting discussion between me and my eleven-year-old grandson.  I have come into Salem - and exited Salem - on I-5 many times.  It is the primary north-south route between Portland and Salem.   Yesterday, about two miles north of Salem I noticed a small government sign in the meridian, one I had not seen before.  It announced that I was crossing the 45th Parallel - or the midpoint between the North Pole and the Equator.  What a great jumping-off place for a geography lessons using the family globe.

(And all of my grandchildren have access to a globe in their homes.  Pa Rock, the old geography teacher, saw to that!)

My nine-year-old grandson began talking about Australia while we were out having an evening meal yesterday.  His class had apparently been discussing it.  He told me that Australia is an island, and we talked about kangaroos.  We will check it out on the globe later today!

I have just finished a better-than-average motel breakfast, and now I am off to spend the day with my grandchildren.    I expect to learn some amazing things!

Another Day in the Air

by Pa Rock
Flying Fool

This morning finds in in a familiar haunt, Kansas City International Airport, awaiting a flight to Portland where I will spend a couple of days visiting with my Oregonian grandchildren.  Kansas City did have two airlines that flew nonstop to Portland - Alaska and Southwest - but those very convenient routes no longer exist since my most recent trip last August, so today I am routing through Salt Lake City.

Today I am trying to game the system by dragging along a carry-on suitcase that I really don't want to carry on board.   The last few flights that I have been on the airlines have offered - at the last minute - to check carry-ons for free in order to insure that there is adequate space.   If my evil plan works it will save the $30 baggage fee.  Being old and poor fosters creativity!

Rosie will spend the next few days with Tim's family.  She does not appreciate being left behind, but Olive and Sully will keep her so busy that she probably won't even miss me!

Check back for updates from the Left Coast - and enjoy the first full day of spring!

According to George Conway: Trump. Is. Nuts.

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump has spent the last several days railing against a television show, a dead senator, and the spouse of one of his senior advisers.  All three of these public feuds appear to be little more than vanity-fueled vendettas and attempts to shout down his critics.

Saturday Night Live has been skewering Presidents since the program first aired in the 1970's and Chevy Chase routinely opened the show as Jerry Ford falling down - and while some occupants of the Oval Office probably did not appreciate being the butt of SNL jokes, none has ever taken it so personally that they felt compelled  to air their grievances with the show in public.  None, that is, until Donald Trump.    Trump, a narcissist who doesn't seem to appreciate or understand humor, especially when it is directed at him, is so perturbed at Saturday Night Live that he is suggesting that the program should be investigated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The FCC licenses and oversees the use of the public airwaves - but it is not a personal policing agency of the nation's chief executive - just as the Attorney General is not the President's personal lawyer.   Donald Trump seems to see many officers of the executive branch as being little more than his private staff.

This week Trump also managed to ramp up his continuing attacks of Senator John McCain - a man who died last August.  Stating that he is still angry at McCain because he kept Congress from being able to repeal Obamacare, Trump also managed to hurl a few personal insults at the late senator as well, including a lie that McCain was last in his graduating class at the Naval Academy.  One lone Republican senator, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, went out on a limb and rebuked Trump for his attacks on McCain, but the late Arizona senator's best friend in the Senate, South Carolina's Lindsey Graham, stayed shamefully silent.

Just today, in fact, Trump spent five minutes at a campaign-style event lambasting McCain, the fourth such personal attack in the last five days.

Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, is twisting Trump's tail by promoting a plan to rename the Russell Senate Office Building for John McCain, a long-serving Republican senator and also an American war hero.  If Trump remains true to his nature, he will raise holy hell when the Senate does anything to honor the memory of one of its most memorable members.

Finally Donald Trump has been consumed with generating personal attack on George Conway, the husband of Trump senior advisor Kedllyanne Conway.  George Conway has been a very vocal critic of Trump, often airing complaints about Trump over Twitter.   Today Trump shot back with this response:

"George Conway, often referred to as Mr. Kellyanne Conway by those who know him, is VERY jealous of his wife's success & angry that I, with her help, didn't give him the job he so desperately wanted. I barely know him but just take a look, a stone cold LOSER & husband from hell!"

(If there is one thing of which Donald Trump might have a substantial knowledge, it could well be  "husbands from hell!")

George Conway, who calls them as he sees them, shot back a tweet implying that Donald Trump has a narcissistic personality disorder - and followed that up with this gem directed at Donald Trump:

"You.  Are.  Nuts."

Surely one of these days not too remote, Saturday Night Live will be hosted by George Conway or Meghan McCain, or better yet, both!  That ought to get the drones airborne!

Death Continues to Come to Ferguson

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

It's been less than five years since eighteen-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by an over-zealous white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, an outrageous death that helped to give rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.  And while some communities come together and begin to heal after a tragedy like that, Ferguson has remained markedly divided.  There appears to be an animus within the community that defies healing.

One way in which the healing has been derailed is through a continuing fear that some residents have that they are still at risk from the actions of white supremacists within the community.  Those fears have been stoked by a string of questionable deaths since the killing of Michael Brown.  Six individuals known to have ties to the Ferguson protests that followed Brown's death have themselves died during the intervening years, a number so large that it strains the notion of coincidence.

Michael Brown was gunned down by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on August 9, 2014.  He had been gone just over three months when figures from the protest community began dying in ways that caused people to question the nature of their deaths.

Deandre Joshua was only 20-years-old when he was found dead in a torched car near the sight where Brown had been killed.  It is unclear whether he had been involved with the Brown protests or not, and, if so, to what degree.   Joshua had been shot in the head.  Two years later Darren Seals, age 29, a more active protester, was also found dead in a torched car.  Seals body was described by a St. Louis newspaper as "bullet-riddled."

Two years after that Bassem Masri, a 31-year-old Palestinian-American, was found dead on a bus.  A toxicology report indicated that he had died of a heart attack after an overdose of fentanyl.  Masri had been a prominent protester after Brown's death and had earned recognition for live-streaming much of the protest activity.

Three additional young men who had been involved in the protests surrounding the death of Michael Brown have also died in the ensuing years, and those deaths have been ruled as suicides, although at least one of those rulings is being challenged by family members of the deceased.

MarShawn McCarrel, age 23, a native of Columbus, Ohio, who came to Ferguson to be a part of the protests over the death of Michael Brown, allegedly shot and killed himself outside of the front door of the Ohio statehouse.

Edward Crawford, Jr, 27, who gained fame through a news photograph that showed him grabbing a teargas canister and throwing it back at police, also died of a gunshot after telling friends that he was distraught over personal issues.

And finally there was Danye Jones who died at the age of twenty-four this past October.   Jones was found hanging by a bedsheet from a tree in his front yard.  Friends believe that he was incapable of tying the complicated knots found in the sheet, and his mother believes that he was "lynched."  The sheet reportedly did not belong to Danye Jones or his family.

All of these deaths are easily explainable on an individual basis and in less complicated times, but taken together and presented on the canvas of the racial tensions in and around Ferguson, they also give rise to a whole spectrum of sinister possibilities.

What is obvious is that the underlying racial tensions that rocked the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson five years ago have not been quelled.  Seven defiant young men have now left the stage, but the play is still steeped in turmoil.

Killings by police, criminal violence, illicit drug usage, young people giving up on life, and unrelenting poverty - it's all so sad.  It's all so unnecessary.  It's all so wrong.

Peace would be a blessing, but the notion of a post-racial America seems even more remote now than it was five years ago.  If our leaders will not take us to a better place, then we must march there on our own - and drag them along!

Monday's Poetry: "I am a Muslim"

by Pa Rock
Poetry Appreciator

This past week the world watched in horror as a self-righteous lunatic opened fire on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, and killed fifty individuals as they were praying.  At least twenty more are hospitalized with serious wounds, some of which are life-threatening.  The young man who committed this atrocity managed to post some of the shooting on the internet as it happened, and he also posted a lengthy (and rambling) white nationalist manifesto that acknowledged what he deemed to be the white nationalist leanings of Donald Trump.

The shooter survived and apparently plans to act as his own lawyer in court, thus setting the stage for more of his racist declarations.

Conscientious leaders and citizens from around the world immediately stepped forward to stand in solidarity with Muslims - the targets of the New Zealand attack - much as they did with other attacks conducted at houses of worship including the synagogue attack in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, last October and the massacre at a black baptist church in Charlotte, South Carolina, four years ago.  All of those attacks terminated the lives of innocent people as they were in prayer communicating with their God.

Today's poetry selection speaks to being a Muslim, or a follower of the Islamic faith, but it also reaches across a wide swath of religions to connect the humanity and emotions shared by the various peoples of the world - regardless of how they worship.  This week we all need to identify with the world's Muslims, and we need to be horrified and repulsed by the hatred that was loosed on our brothers and sisters in New Zealand - just as they have bravely stood by others when their houses of worship were attacked by the dark and violent forces of hate.

I Am a Muslim

by Anonymous

I am a Muslim 
And God I praise 
For all his blessings 
My voice I raise 
In one God I believe 
No equal has He 
Lord of the universe 
Compassionate to me 
Muhammad the Prophet 
Taught me the way 
To be honest and truthful 
Throughout everyday 
The Holy Qur'an 
To life is my guide 
Its teachings I follow 
By it I abide 
Islam is my religion 
Preaches good deeds 
Mercy and Kindness 
To the right path it leads 
Upon all humanity 
God showers his grace 
Regardless of colour 
Nationality or race 
Through working together 
Our hopes increase 
To live in a world 
Full of love and peace 
Full of love and peace 
I am a Muslim 
And God I praise 
For all His blessings 
My voice I raise

The Death of a Feathered Friend

by Pa Rock
Farmer in Late Winter

For the past several weeks I have been involved in an odd battle of resistance against a determined little bluebird.  The young male and his lady friend began hanging around my back porch about a month ago, doing what appeared to be mating dances in the air while skittering about and examining the many old bird houses that I have hanging from the trees.   They were, I assumed, preparing to start their family.

And the Mama Bluebird may have a nest somewhere by now.  I hope that she does.  Daddy, however, will not be around to see his offspring take their first leap from the nest.

Daddy Bluebird discovered his beautiful image in my car mirror on the first day of their arrival and has spent many blissful hours perched along the car window chatting himself up in the mirror.  Invariably, he relieved himself many times during these bouts of vanity, and his droppings streamed down the passenger door of my old car.  A routine developed whereby I kept a bottle of water and a rag outside on the back porch, and then every day before making my noon run to town, I would carefully wash off the car door.  During the afternoon and the next morning, the chirpy bluebird would again work tirelessly in chattering with himself and painting the car door.

Late yesterday afternoon I stepped out the back door and found that my fine feathered blue friend had already left a couple of nice streaks down the side of the door, just as he always managed to do by that time of day.  Then, as I stepped out onto the yard, I discovered the little fellow lying dead on his back on the yard - not more than ten feet from his beloved car.  There were no obvious marks of foul play, so fo the time being I am not accusing the cats - although the day before I had come upon one of the Toms finishing off a squirrel.

I buried the little bluebird in a pile of pine needles, knowing that his body will be used to nourish insects or other creatures who have free roam of the farm.  I regret his passing and will think of him every day as I step outside and see my old car without its daily decoration of bird poop.

In other news from The Roost, the lone hen and rooster are doing well, and the little red hen provides me with four or five eggs each week.  They both come running whenever I open the back door - in anticipation of bits of bread and dry dog or cat food.  In fact when I stand on the back porch throwing food, the chickens and cats mix freely as they rush to grab as much as they can.

Fiona, the mama cat here at The Roost, is pregnant again.  She has one litter a year, and this will be her third.  Her first litter was on May 8, 2017 (Harry Truman's birthday).  That time she had five, and one disappeared.  Three of the remaining four went to homes in the Kansas City area, and I kept the one who ran and hid so he would not have to go to Kansas City.  That shy one eventually matured into a large black Tom.

The second litter arrived on March 31, 2018.  There were just four kittens in that bunch, and one died.  I gave two to a pair of young men from Pomona, Missouri, who wanted them for mousers in their barn, and I kept one - again a Tom - this time a yellow one.

So now I have three adult cats here at Rock's Roost, a black Tom, a yellow Tom, and their mother, Fiona, who is a brindle.  I know that I should get her fixed, but one small litter a year seems to be manageable, so far.

Anyone who wants a kitten needs to get their orders in early.  Pa Rock will deliver!

Wasting Space in Jefferson City

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

If it doesn't have a vagina or a trigger, chances are it won't be of much concern to the Missouri legislature.  The representatives and senators who occasionally meet in Jefferson City to party with lobbyists and tell the rest of us how to live our pathetic lives, are a bunch of starchy, white Republicans - primarily men - who see their service in government as being to carry out God's mandate to sell guns and stop abortions.

Rep. Andrew McDaniel fits right into that mold, and being a former county deputy, the legislator seems to have a particular interest in promoting gun ownership.  McDaniel, a Republican (of course), is from the unincorporated community of Deering in Missouri's boot heel.  He serves on the House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee, the Special Committee on Homeland Security, and the Utilities Committee.

During the current legislative session Rep. McDaniel has introduced two interesting pieces of legislation.  One, House Bill 1052, also known as the "McDaniel Second Amendment Act," requires every resident of Missouri over twenty-one to own a handgun.  A tax credit would offset the purchase price for the first purchasers to rush forward and claim the credit, but it would not be enough to cover everyone.

So we would all have the "freedom" of owning a handgun, whether we wanted to own one or not.

As outrageous as the "McDaniel Second Amendment Act" is, it still pales in comparison to his other piece of proposed legislation.    House Bill 1108, also known as the"McDaniel Militia Act," would offset the cost of an AR-15 to everyone between the ages of 18 and 35 who is eligible to own a weapon - and it would make owning an AR-15 mandatory for that same group of individuals!

Government making people do things - how's that for promoting individual freedoms!  Or how about government forcing people to buy from certain companies?  Or government forcing individuals to create dangerous situations within the sanctity of their own homes?

Representative McDaniel has acknowledged that his bills are not likely to become law, and, indeed, neither has been scheduled for committee review, but he does want to inspire discussion.

That - and to apparently get his name out into certain circles

McDaniel, who just turned thirty-five himself and would not be eligible for the reimbursement for an AR-15 if his bill did become law, is in his fifth year of service in the Missouri Legislature, an institution that mercifully has a ten-year limit of service in each chamber.  Maybe he's bucking for a job as an NRA lobbyist, or posturing for election to a different position.

Rep. McDaniel must be cranking out these bills to serve himself, because he certainly is not using them to serve the people of Missouri!

America's Tin-Pot Dictator

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

During the 2016 presidential campaign, back when Donald Trump and most of America assumed he would lose, Trump was busy posturing that his defeat would be due to a rigged election.  Trump is a textbook example of a poor loser.   And then, after an extremely close election in which he lost the popular vote, he began casting aspersions on the vote count and  bellowing about how he had won one of the biggest electoral victories in history - so he doesn't win well either.

When Donald Trump is feeling down or knocked around, he responds with bravado and threats.  He is a bully to his core.

In the past couple of weeks Trump has had to endure the international embarrassment of a failed summit with the dictator of North Korea, the agony of watching his former lawyer sorting all of the Trump family's dirty laundry before Congress, and a Congressional rebuke of his declaration of a national emergency along the southern border.  Add to that the increasing chatter that Robert Mueller is wrapping up his investigation and preparing to issue more indictments just as the New York state investigation of Trump business dealings is kicking into high gear, and the increasing positive press that Democrats seeking Trump's job are getting - and, well . . . something's bound to blow!

Earlier this week America's pre-eminent bully cut loose with a beaut of a threat.  In an interview with the ultra-rightwing Breitbart News, Donald John dropped this not-so-subtle warning about what to expect from his hardcore supporters if things start to not go his way:

“I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of Bikers for Trump. I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad.”

Then, just to make certain that his remarks reached the widest audience possible, Trump tweeted a link to Breitbart's homepage.

If things start to head south for Donald Trump, say in the courts or at the polls, he still has the backing of the police, our nation's military, and Bikers for Trump.  Trump will prevail even if democracy does not.  That folks, is a threat worthy of the sleaziest of dictators.  It might resonate well is some "shithole" third-world country, but this is the United States of America.  Our leaders are elected and serve with the consent of the governed.  They are maintained in office through ballots, and not by threats of force by armed gestapo or morons on motorcycles.

Democracy obviously does not suit Donald Trump.

(According to the on-line reference tool, Wikitionary, a "tin-pot dictator" is an autocratic ruler with little political credibility, but with delusions of grandeur.)

That shoe fits.

Another Tale of Wealth and Privilege in Trump's Amerika

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Recently FBI agents from the Boston Field Office inadvertently stumbled upon what is being billed as a $25 million college admissions cheating scandal - a program whereby wealthy parents paid cash up front to a person who then arranged for the children of those parents to get accepted to the colleges and universities of their choice.  So far more than fifty individuals have been indicted in the scandal - from college officials who were handsomely rewarded for their services - to  scheming parents who lined up to spend money to get their kids into the "right" schools.

The wall of shame so far includes one very prominent college coach and at least two Hollywood actresses.

One component of the scam was for certain college coaches to offer team positions to students in order to guarantee their acceptance into the chosen schools - and then once safely enrolled, those students didn't participate in the teams for which they had been enrolled.  Another aspect of the rigged selection process was to  direct students to two specific testing centers to take their SATs and ACTs.  Bribed proctors at those centers would then assist students with their tests, or correct tests after they had been turned in.

Some skeptics of the American social order have always been aware of class distinctions in the college admissions process regardless of quotas or other strategies used to try and bring some balance to the issue.  Those with means always seemed to get into the better schools.   If the price of tuition failed to keep out the riff-raff, students from the "right" families could get in through hefty endowments or legacy programs.  But then, with an acceleration of very bright students working very hard to grab scarce spaces in the best schools, some of those from the "right" families were suddenly finding it harder to gain admission.

So the rich did what the rich have always done - they looked for a way to buy what they wanted - that is until the FBI accidentally stumbled into the game.

The schools involved are now rejecting students who were due to enter through this scam, and they are struggling with what to do about students who were already admitted and are well into their college careers.

All of the wealthy kids will likely land in a comfortable situation somewhere, and none of their parents will serve any jail time.  This is America, after all, where white skin and green cash can fix just about anything!

Another Use for DNA Testing

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Advances in DNA analysis are making for some giant leaps forward (actually backward) in tracing family trees, a subject that is near and dear to my heart.  Where family researchers had once given up hope of making progress on a particular line due to a lack of physical records, DNA is now being used to provide definite proof of ancestry - and where records may contain all manner of errors, DNA never lies!

Police agencies are also using DNA to solve cold cases, often crimes against people such as assault, rape, and even murder, where physical evidence was maintained for years before the availability of DNA testing, and now that old evidence is being gone through again and exact matches are being found.

Defense attorneys are also using DNA to get their wrongfully convicted clients out of prison.  Some people who have been incarcerated for years or even decades, are now being proven innocent by DNA analysis.

Yesterday Rosie and I made an overnight excursion to northwest Arkansas (She calls it "Barkinsaw!"), and while we were there I heard of one more use for DNA, one I had never anticipated - and a DNA use so outrageous that I at first assumed it was more likely an urban legend than actual fact.  But the relative who shared the story swore that it was true.

Apparently some condominium communities and fancy apartment complexes are becoming so persnickety about keeping dog poop off of their manicured laws that they are requiring all residents to submit their pets for DNA testing.  Then, when some poor creature obeys a command of nature and takes a dump on the communal yard, if the owner does not pick the excrement up and bag it, the HOA gestapo will swarm in, collect the poop, and have it tested.  The negligent owner will then, presumably, pay a fine and be humiliated in the housing newsletter.

Out in the country where I live, dogs, cats, chickens, and even a few of the neighbors poop in the yard, and nobody gets too upset about it.   It's free fertilizer and it helps the grass grow!

Perhaps Erma Bombeck said it best with the title of one of her many humorous books:  "The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank!"  Many of the finest lawns in and around Bentonville were cow pasture just a very few years ago.

The Waltons, Tysons, and all of the other nouveau riche Arkies need to get over themselves!

Dying Man Suffers Police Search of his Hospital Room

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Citizens Memorial Healthcare, a small hospital in Bolivar, Missouri, underwent a spate of bad publicity last week after a hospital employee, or the hospital itself, apparently notified the local police department that a patient was using marijuana in his room. A search of the room of Nolan Sousley, a stage 4 pancreatic cancer patient, failed to produce any marijuana or cannabis-related products, but it did spawn the creation of a video of the police search – a video that promptly went viral on Facebook.

As the search was proceeding a person off-camera, believed to be a hospital security guard, can be heard saying:  “I smelled marijuana whenever I walked into the room.”

(Police said they had received a 911 call from the hospital that was based on security personnel saying that he had smelled marijuana in the room.)

One person who was present during the search later commented that the Bolivar policemen who made the search did not make any claims about marijuana odor while they were in the room.

Mr. Sousley readily admitted the use of a cannabis oil that he takes in a pill form and which he stated was odorless, and he denied ever having smoked marijuana in the hospital. Sousley said that he takes the cannabis oil pill to relieve the pain caused by his cancer.    

Mr. Sousley also explained to the two police officers who were searching his room that Missouri voters had overwhelmingly approved a Constitutional amendment (by 65%) last November to approve the use of marijuana for medical purposes – such as to combat the pain from cancer. Unfortunately for him, the applications for that process will not be available until July 4th of this year – and physicians may not write certifications for the treatment until June 4^th.

One of the officers responded to Sousley’s entreaty regarding the Missouri vote and noted that it was “still illegal.”  Sousley responded that he did not have time to wait and asked the officer “What would you do?”  The officer responded that he would not engage in “what if” games.

There was also a bit of contention when officers attempted to search one particular bag and Nolan Sousley informed them that it was his “final day” and "final hour" bag and that he did not want to dig through it in front of a room full of people.   Finally everyone left the room except for one police officer whom the family described as “very respectful,” and he was allowed to search the “final day” bag.

No marijuana or cannabis-related products were discovered during the police search of the patient’s hospital room.    The Bolivar Police Department reportedly took down its Facebook page the day after the search due to a deluge of unfriendly on-line comments that it was receiving.

A quick use of modern technology brought this police action to the attention of hundreds of thousands of people within a matter of minutes.  Social media is truly developing as a tool that increases the power and visibility of the individual when dealing with the state.

(Note:  Bolivar, Missouri, is a farming community approximately 30 miles north of Springfield, MO.  It is home to a large Bible college that was once headed by Roy Blunt who is now Missouri’s senior US Senator.  Mike Parson, the state’s current governor, once served as the county sheriff for Polk County which encompasses Bolivar.   Blunt and Parson are both Republicans, and Bolivar is a decidedly conservative community.)

Monday's Poetry: "The Wind"

by Pa Rock
Poetry Appreciator

Spring arrived here in the rugged Ozarks last Saturday, and then sadly it blew away.

According to my old friends, the groundhogs, several of whom live quite comfortably in burrows beneath Rock's Roost, spring should have arrived shortly after Groundhog's Day this past February 2nd when a heavily overcast sky prevented any of them from seeing their shadows, but that didn't happen.  Now the calendar tells us to expect spring to commence a week from Wednesday, on March 20th.

We'll see if that happens according to schedule or not.

There was a preview of spring last Saturday when temperatures warmed into the sixties, and strong breezes were suddenly ripping through the warming skies.  Rosie and I spent much of that day out in the yard gathering sticks and brush that had fallen from our many trees over the course of the winter, but with the day's high winds, new limbs were landing on the ground faster than we could drag them off!   Even with the futility of our chore, it was a glorious day to be outside and enjoying the fresh warm breezes of what turned out to be just a one-day tease of spring.

Spring is coming, however, it always does!  Last Saturday's windstorm was just a preview of coming attractions.

Today's poetry selection is "The Wind" by Robert Louis Stevenson, one of the many verses which the famed author and poet wrote for children, the ones who fly their kites in spring, as well as the ones who reside within us all.


The Wind
By Robert Louis Stevenson

I saw you toss the kites on high
And blow the birds about the sky;
And all around I heard you pass,
Like ladies' skirts across the grass.

Oh wind, a blowing all day long!
Oh wind, that sings so loud a song!

I saw the different things you did,
But always you yourself you hid.
I felt you push, I heard you call,
I could not see yourself at all.

Oh wind, a blowing all day long!
Oh wind, that sings so loud a song!

O you that are so strong and cold,
O blower, are you young or old?
Are you a beast of field and tree,
Or just a stronger child than me?

Oh wind, a blowing all day long,
O Wind, that sings so loud a song!

Senator Flowers Stands Her Ground!

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist 

A week ago Stephanie Flowers was a little known 65-year-old attorney and state senator from rural Arkansas, but now, thanks to a righteous wrath that would peel the paint off of an army tank - and the power of social media - the once unknown Senator Flowers has become a national phenom.

This week Senator Flowers was taking part in a Judiciary Committee hearing in the Arkansas legislature where a stand-your-ground bill was being debated, a bill that Senator Flowers believed would place black youth in harm's way:

"This is crazy," she told the other (all white) members of the committee.  "You don't have to worry about your children!  I worry about my son and I worry about other little black boys and girls and people coming into my neighborhood,  into my city, saying they have open carry rights."  She continued, "I am the only person here of color, OK.  And I am a mother, too.  I care as much for my son as you care for yours, but my son doesn't walk the same path as yours does."

During her argument against the bill she became so impassioned that the committee chairman, a Republican by the name of Alan Clark, tried to stop Senator Flowers from speaking.  "Senator," he said in a low voice, " you need to stop."

"No I don't.  What the hell are you going to do?  Shoot me?"  Clark tried again, but that effort prompted Senator Flowers to tell him to "Go to hell!"

She closed with "Do what the hell you wanna do, go ahead.  But you can't silence me.  You are not going to silence me!"

Video clips of Senator Flowers exploding all over the Arkansas State Senate Judiciary Committee are available on all major social media platforms, and they highlight the merits of speaking truth to power.

The Judiciary Committee voted four to three to kill the measure that Senator Flowers had so vehemently opposed.  She had won the day.

(Historical Side Note:  Senator Flowers is from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, a community of 40,000 that also produced Martha Mitchell, the outspoken wife of Richard Nixon's attorney general, John Mitchell, and herself a very defiant individual.)

Author! Author!

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

In perhaps the most blatant act of blasphemy since . . . well . . . since forever, Donald John Trump stood in a Baptist Church in Opelika, Alabama, yesterday signing Bibles - in much the same manner as an author would sign books for adoring fans at a Barnes and Noble.   Trump's actions with the Good Book drew a storm of comments from the press and public, though mercifully no nearby lightening strikes.

Defenders of Trump defiling the covers of the Holy Bible with his holy signature note that Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, both occupants of the Oval Office before Trump, had also autographed Bibles, but others suggested basic flaws in those defenses noting that Reagan had a raging ego similar to that of Trump, and Bush had a IQ that was somewhere down in the cellar near Trump's.

But, antecedents aside, there Trump stood, at the Southern Baptist Church in Opelika, Alabama, signing Bibles as if he, himself, was the author!

Donald Trump had picked a nice day to visit southeastern Alabama and the rural communities of Opelika and Beauregard which had been devastated by tornadoes last week.   God smiled down upon the fair-weather politician and refused to even stir a breeze that would muss Trump's magnificent comb-over - or dim the squint in the eyes of his underwear model wife.

But now that the Golden Idol has departed and is likely holed up on a championship golf course somewhere, the good ol' folks in rural Alabama will likely have some explaining to do to their beloved Old Testament God of Wrath.    Why did they choose to put another God before Him, a God well known for sins like lying, stealing, and adultery?  Their sniveling stories had better be good - because if they aren't,  that part of the country may be made great again with even more cyclones and holy embellishments like floods, fires, famines, and locusts!

Sacrilege on a scale that grand is going to demand a heavy price!

Political Sleight-of-Hand

by Pa Rock
Careful Consumer

The Democrats, God love them, have my name and email address on their master list of "soft touches," and as a result I have heard from all of the announced candidates as well as most of the unannounced candidates, and all, save one, have felt comfortable enough with me to request campaign donations.   (Beto O'Rourke has so far avoided the vulgarity of asking for cash, but I suspect that once he announces - and he will announce - he will be holding his hand out just as relentlessly as the rest of the pack.)

The pitch for cash runs along two tracks.  One is that the campaigns would like any amount (I had several from Hillary in the last cycle begging for just one dollar) because any contribution at all makes the donor a part of "the team" and serves as a psychological hook or commitment to that candidate. The other track is that the campaigns operate off of donations and would really like to milk each donor for the absolute maximum which he or she is capable of giving.

I had two campaign emails this week that tried to approach me on each of those tracks.  Cory Booker sent an email with the subject line saying that I could get a free "Cory" sticker.  I began reading the email and thought, "Why not?"  I like Senator Booker and he could conceivably become my favorite for the nomination.  If I took his "free" sticker, and especially if I chose to display it on my vehicle, it would hook me to his team, but I felt that was a condition I could rise above if need be.  I had about decided to send for my free "Cory" sticker when I made it down to the "blue" words in the email, those which you press to actually commit, and those words told me that the "free" bumper sticker would be mine for a donation of just three dollars!

No thanks, Cory.  I'm sure I could get it cheaper on Amazon!

And then my old pal Bernie also wrote.  Bernie, like Cory, wanted three dollars - and his email stated that clearly in the header.  I had been on Bernie's team in 2016, and somebody rummaging through the list of this year's donors probably noticed that Pa Rock had yet to cough up his tithe.  Three bucks, Rock, and you will be safely back in the fold.  What a deal!

I read on and got down to the blue lettering where the actual commitment was to be made, and there the three dollar buy-in had suddenly jumped to fifteen!  Bernie, who is too old to be President anyway, was not going to get my three dollars, and I sure as hell wasn't going to send him fifteen!  If he does somehow manage to out distance the younger and more vibrant field of Democratic candidates and grab the nomination, I will give him my vote in the general election - and he should appreciate that - but my money will go to other causes.

I don't mind being hit up for donations, but I do mind being treated as though I am the political equivalent of a Trump supporter who is so dumb that he will fall for anything.   If I want to enjoy some sleight-of-hand, I will take my money to the carnival!

Honesty will win the race.

Of Children in Cages

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen made her first appearance before the (now) Democratic controlled House Homeland Security Committee yesterday.   Democrats on the committee were predictably aggressive in their questioning of the secretary, and she was overtly evasive and dismissive in her answers.

Two especially contentious areas of disagreement emerged between the committee members and the secretary.  One involved the trauma, both immediate and long-term, that children suffer as a result of being removed from their families, and the other involved the chainlink enclosures in which many migrant children and families are detained.

Some committee members questioned whether Secretary Nielsen was aware of research showing the psychological harm that children suffer when they are forcibly removed from their families, and, if so, had she simply chosen to ignore it.  The secretary parried back that she felt the real harm came when the parents "illegally" brought their children to the border.

Secretary Nielsen also continued carrying water for the Trump administration when the subject of "cages" came up, as it did repeatedly.  She was steadfast in her assertion that the chainlink enclosures are not cages.  When asked what she called chainlink enclosures sitting atop cement floors, the secretary said that they are "detention spaces" and had been known as such for years.  A congresswoman from New Jersey pointed out that they are exactly like the "cage" that she keeps her dog in, and a Congressman from Mississippi  told the secretary that he had visited a detention center and seen the enclosures firsthand - and he assured her that they are "cages."

Tuh-may-toe, tuh-mah-toe, one must suppose.  But political leanings aside, living inside of a large wire box in an immense noisy warehouse must be very frightening to the most vulnerable among us, whether they are caged with their parents or not.

Secretary Nielsen did voice her opinion before the House Homeland Security Committee that building a wall along the southern border would help to resolve the issue - a position not backed by reliable research.

Several months ago there was talk that Kirstjen Nielsen was on the outs with Trump and he was planning on replacing her.  Now, however, she seems to have reconnected with the administration's line on immigration and she is back in Trump's favor.

Who knew that a soul could be bought for the price of a job?

Letters Today, Subpoenas Tomorrow

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

This week committees of the U.S. House of Representatives sent out a total of eighty-one letters to individuals, government agencies, and other groups (such as the NRA) requesting documents relating to dealings with and by the Trump administration.  Donald Trump roared back in his typical bellicose and grandiose fashion that the House was conducting a "witch hunt" and that responses would not be forthcoming.   And while Trump does not have the power or authority to speak for all of the letter recipients, many were addressed to agencies within the executive branch of government, and he presumably can control the responses of those recipients - at least until subpoenas start replacing the initial requests.

The House, which has conducted almost no oversight of the current administration for the past two years while it was under control of Trump's own Republican Party, now is being run by Democrats - and they seem to be eager to make up for lost time.  The House is currently seeking information dealing with a wide range of topics, with one of the more interesting - to me at least - being how Trump's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka and Jared Kushner, managed to acquire "top secret" security clearances.

Having been on the federal payroll myself for a number of years, and also having spent a lot of time working for the military, I have had to apply for the lower "secret" security clearance on several occasions, and even getting that lower-level clearance was time-consuming and invasive of my privacy.  There were existing reasons why the government needed to know that I could safely handle information that were related to the jobs which I was doing, and there were established procedures for checking out my background and issuing the necessary clearance.  It was a routine and well-defined process.

But that "routine" process did not work so well for Jared and Ivanka.

Jared Kushner is a New York businessman who was in serious financial difficulty with one especially troublesome property that he owns in New York City - and he had been trying to find ways to refinance that risky business.  Even though Kushner lacked any political or diplomatic experience, Trump made Jared one of his advisers and put him in charge of sorting out the Middle East - a working platform that would put him in contact with many of the world's most powerful countries, including oil-rich Saudi Arabia.  Kushner's direct relationship with the Trump family as well as his business empire that was teetering on the verge of collapse made him at least seem to be exploitable by foreign powers.

Kushner's security clearance was at first denied, and he made himself look bad by reworking his initial application many times.  Donald Trump, who had the authority all along to issue the security clearance himself, instead tried to bully his Chief of Staff John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn into granting Top Secret clearances to both Jared and Ivanka through the White House personnel security office, but Kelly and McGahn both stood up to Trump and refused to do his bidding.   Trump then issued the order himself.

Since Jared Kushner has been tasked with untangling the geopolitics of the Middle East, there is at least some justification for his being granted a clearance.  It is far less clear why Ivanka needs a clearance.  She, like her husband, has an Achilles heel when it comes to international diplomacy because she has been a trading partner with China for years as a part of her clothing business.

Now Jared and Ivanka each have enough clearance to view any papers that come across Trump's desk - and some committee chairmen in the Democratic House want to know why.  What the Trump administration may see as a convenience, or perhaps even a necessity in certain cases, others view as nepotism and a national security threat.

The way in which Jared and Ivanka got their security clearances, their need for having those clearances, and the ultimate security of top secret information, are all being called into question.  Congress thinks those are necessary questions, and Trump thinks Congress is hunting witches.

And there are dozens of other areas that Congress is chomping at the bit to explore.

Buckle up, Butter Burger, it's going to be a bumpy ride!

Telephone Call-Ins are not Town Halls

by Pa Rock
Missouri Voter

My congressman, a Republican by the name of Jason Smith, held a "town hall" last week by telephone.  I didn't know about it, which is probably just as well because according to Smith, 16,000 other Missourians joined the live phone-in, so chances of me getting in a question through to the congressman would have been minuscule at best.

But, of course, that is the point.  If an elected official does not want to face the political danger of being presented with difficult questions, what better way to avoid them than by increasing the number of participants from hundreds to thousands - and then having a staff member control which ones get to ask questions of the congressman.

Jason Smith does not do real town halls, those open meetings with constituents where some noisy individual might actually gain the floor and ask a question that Smith would rather not deal with.   A question like "Shouldn't a congressman who chooses to sleep in his DC office and not pay rent, be taxed on that job perk just like other Americans are taxed on their job benefits?"  Or, "Shouldn't a congressman who yells 'Go back to Puerto Rico' at a group of representatives from the other party - on the floor of Congress - be at least subject to censure by his colleagues, if not outright expulsion?"  Or even softball questions like "How badly have Trump's tariffs on China hurt Missouri soybean growers?"  Or, "Should migrant children be kept in cages?"

And there are undoubtedly hundreds of other good questions that Congressman Smith could be asked to answer before groups of concerned constituents - but as long as 16,000 people get filtered through the one telephone sitting on Jason Smith's desk, almost none of those questions would make it to the congressman's ear during a "telephone" town hall.

The Democratic Party in Congress appears to be preparing to discipline one of its members over a remark she made that some regard as anti-Semitic.  Surely the Republican Party in Congress ought to be delving into Congressman Smith's loud and offensive taunt that some of the House Democrats should "go back to Puerto Rico," a statement many regarded as being not only crass and rude, but also racially pejorative.  I would like to ask the congressman what was going through his mind when he hurled insult - but, of course, as long as Jason Smith never holds a real town hall, the chances of him having to face real questions like that are very slim indeed.

U.S taxpayers fund Congress, and its members shouldn't be shy about meeting with the public in unscripted settings on a regular basis.  For congressmen to avoid the citizens who pay their salaries gives rise to the notion that those politicians have something to hide - or at least a record of public service that is less than honorable.

This taxpayer wants to see, up close and personal, just what he is getting for his money - and a tightly-controlled telephone "call-in" with 16,000 people ain't gonna cut it!

Come on, Congressman Smith, even you can do better than that!

Monday's Poetry: "Lion"

by Pa Rock
Poetry Appreciator

March came bounding in last Friday, and in typical March fashion, the new month brought a reminder that winter is still upon us.  The ground here in southern Missouri was white with a thin covering of fresh snow yesterday morning, and it has become and remained intolerably cold.  Rosie and I are hunkered down indoors patiently awaiting spring.

Spring is coming, although the groundhog this year proved to be a lying bag of codswallop.  We have several groundhogs burrowed in around the Roost, and none of them could have possibly seen their shadows on Groundhog's Day because the entire day was thickly overcast and forbidding.  Spring should have been imminent - but that didn't happen!

Spring has put forth a few feelers through the lingering winter.    A couple of days ago I noticed that the lilac bush is budding, and many tulips, narcissus, and daffodils have poked up through the hard ground, - but now they all seem to have stopped in their debuts and appear to be reconsidering the timing of their annual obligation to burst forth in bloom.

But, hey, March by tradition and the calendar begins with winter and ends with spring - or, as they taught those of us of a certain age while in elementary school, March comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb.

Here then is a welcoming poem for the lion that is early March.  It is entitled "Lion" and was written by Massachusetts poet Paul Hostovsky.   In this verse Mr. Hostovsky cleverly conflates gazelles and lions with speeding motorists and state troopers, and the result is a splendid reminder of the animal in all of us.  Please enjoy the "Lion" and know that the lamb is waiting to enter just off stage!


Lion
by Paul Hostovsky

The gazelles

speed by in their

huge metallic herds

on both sides

of the highway.

The solitary, 

powerful nomad

hunting them

with his radar gun

crouches behind

some trees in the median.

Out of the corner

of her eye she sees him

too late--his eyes

already flashing

in her rearview,

her heart leaping

like an antelope

pronking in her chest

as she flees among

the other antelope,

hoping it isn’t her 

he will outrun, 

overtake, pull over 

the rumble strip

to the shoulder, 

his grille breathing 

hot on her tail lights, 

taking his time

writing her up,

her doe-eyed

hazards blinking.