West Plains Solar Farm

 

by Pa Rock

Nosey Neighbor

I no longer take the local newspaper (a long story), and I quit the weekly pinochle club (another long story), so my sources of local news and gossip have essentially been impaired, but I still sit in front of my living room window and type everyday, so I have some notion of when big things are happening around me.

Last year I began seeing logging trucks on the road in front of my house heading toward town.  They were always piled dangerously high with the trunks of native trees.  At first I assumed that one of my neighbors had gone on vacation and another neighbor had come in and logged his land while he was away - that happens, especially with walnut trees which are priced in the range of gold.  But when the trucks kept rolling past, I began to sense that some major construction might be in the offing.

Next came the gravel trucks.  Literally hundreds of them rolled past my house over the span of a couple of months, this time heading away from town.  Land had been cleared, and now a construction site was being prepared.  I began hearing stories that roads were being built out into the hills, and maybe a big housing project was coming in.  Being a cynic, I strongly suspected that something bad was afoot, and being a realist, I knew that whatever it was, it was beyond my control.

But when the news finally reached me, I was pleased.

It turns out that my city, West Plains, Missouri, was converting an old 40-acre landfill that the city owned into something environmentally friendly and useful - a solar farm - a project large enough to power almost two thousand homes per year and provide roughly seven percent of the city's energy needs.  Current estimates are that the city will save $625,000 each year on energy costs, and that those savings will be passed back to the city's electricity consumers and amount to roughly a ten dollar savings per household per month beginning in 2024.

West Plains currently gets all of its electricity from a coal-fired power plant in Sikeston, Missouri, a source that is not environmentally friendly and which will eventually not be able to meet the increasing energy demands of the entire surrounding area.

The new solar farm project, which had it's official ground-breaking in April of this year, is expected to be fully operational by April of next year.  It will consist of 26,000 solar panels.  Evergy Corporation of Kansas City is building the facility and will have operational control for up to thirty years, but the city of West Plains has a buyout option that goes into effect during year eight.  The city and Evergy will jointly oversee operation of the solar farm, which will be essentially maintenance free.  

I drove down by the site a few days ago just being nosey.  It's off of a dirt and gravel road, and nothing can be seen from the road except a sign announcing that it is the solar farm, and lots and lots of chainlink fencing.  I couldn't see any solar panels, and none may be up yet, but the ground that was within view was well manicured.  Evergy plans to plant pollinator-friendly grasses and plants at the site to create "an environmentally-sustainable footprint," and the company also plans to work with the local university and schools to provide opportunities for students to learn about renewable-energy technology.

I am proud of my community for looking to the future in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way.  West Plains, you rock!

Newsmax Magazine: Perfect for the Port-a-Potty

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

It must be because I live on a county road in a rural part of a conservative state, but right-wing publications seem to think that I am a potential subscriber.  Last month I mentioned in this space that I had just received my third or fourth free issue of "The Epoch Times," a fascist rag calling itself a "newspaper."  I went through it page-by-page and found very little in the way of factual reporting - if anything - and I certainly did not even consider subscribing.   But I know that a month or two down the road I will get another free copy because I fit the particular demographic that the publishers are seeking - a cranky, old white man living out in the woods.

Yesterday I received a sampler of the "Newsmax" magazine, another periodical that seems to be seeking out angry backwoods conservatives.    It had my name and address on the mailing label, so someone is providing my personal information to the publishers, but a quick perusal revealed that it represents conservative extremism at its worst - and clearly is not something that I would spend money on.  The sampler had twelve pages including the front and back covers, and all but three had photos and derogatory stories about the Bidens.  There was not even a pretense of even-handed political reporting, and no claims of being "fair and balanced."

As far as I know, this was my first mailing from "Newsmax," and I have not accessed them on social media, although I have been aware of their presence in the "news" universe because my GOP congressman, Jason Smith, brags incessantly in his weekly newsletter about being interviewed on "Fox" and "Newsmax," so I already had a strong inkling that it did not have much in the way of actual news credibility.  After leafing through the sample copy, I determined that it might be more suitable for the reading stack in a port-a-potty than someplace out in polite society.

But the sun, she shines, and the junk mail keeps coming - and every dime that these right-wing-nut-job publications spend in trying to recruit me onto their subscriber lists is one less dime that they have to use in subverting democracy.

So Pa Rock is doing his part to keep America free and sane - ten cents at a time!

Florida Poses Threats to Public Health and Free Speech

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Ron DeSantis would like to be President.  DeSantis, a professional politician of the Republican tribe who served three terms in the US House from Florida before winning a close election for governor in 2018, has been involved in some high level political stunts of late as he tries to keep his name in the news.

One of those stunts involves constant skirmishes with the disease experts at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as they spar over who knows what is best for the health of Floridians - DeSantis and the Florida legislature, or a bunch of scientists and medical people.  DeSantis and the legislature are opposed to things like mandatory masking and social distancing, and the idea of businesses being able to even ask customers if they have been vaccinated against COVID runs completely counter to their notion of what America is all about.

Florida, in fact, passed a state law that forbids businesses inquiring about the vaccination status of customers, and the idea of carrying around papers to prove that you have had your COVID shots - what some GOP politicians sneeringly refer to as a "vaccine passport" - is an anathema to their sense of common decency.

The current political wind blowing from the GOP in Florida is that whether you have had your COVID shots or not is your own damned business - and nobody else's!

(This week Florida is experiencing 1,700 new COVID cases per day, and the deadly and quicker-spreading Delta Variant is just beginning to disperse across the state.)

While many Florida businesses probably share the governor's politically expedient view that businesses should be wide open and damn the consequences, others would no doubt like to behave in a more responsible manner, both for the health and safety of their customers as well as for their employees.  But Ron Desantis and his GOP Tallahassee toadies aren't having it.  Businesses will be open and all customers will be served - and NO ONE may ask about their health status.  Florida's new law, the one that outlaws vaccine passports - sets a fine of up to $5,000 for each time a business dares to ask a customer whether he or she has been vaccinated or not.

And now DeSantis, who must have had an off-day and needed to stir more headlines, is carrying that threat of $5,000 fines over to the cruise ship industry, a major employer and generator of taxes in Florida.  The CDC has just cleared the cruise lines to begin sailing again, and Florida is home to several, although they are usually "flagged" in foreign nations with cheaper taxes,  and most have ports-of-call in Florida.  The cruise ships, which represented one of the first industries that was closed by the pandemic, are anxious to resume sailing, but they realize how quickly the virus can spread on large, self-contained passenger ships, and they want to know that the people who come aboard their ships are virus-free.

Paperwork, please.

Like hell!  counters DeSantis.  He is threatening to impose the $5,000 fines every time a cruise ship company asks a passenger boarding in Florida about their vaccination status.  And DeSantis - and his publicists - mean business!

Norwegian Cruise Lines says it may quit stopping in Florida altogether, and Royal Caribbean is considering honoring the state law but requiring boarding passengers to test for COVID as they come aboard, a plan that is far from foolproof.

Many feel that the political posturing by the governor of Florida and his Republican legislature will inflict longterm harm on the cruise ship industry by lowering the public's confidence in the safety of sailing.

But the cruise ship brouhaha is just one of Florida's more recent political outrages. Last week the legislature passed, and DeSantis signed, a bill that requires students and teachers in Florida's public universities to take a survey designed to reveal their political leanings.  DeSantis describes it as an effort to insure that there is some measure of diversity of political thought in Florida's higher education, while some sources in the legislature said it is an effort to "root out socialism."  The effort, a direct affront to the whole First Amendment notion of free speech, will eventually get bounced by the courts, but meanwhile it is scheduled to begin being enforced Florida in July - and that is later this week!

No doubt some students and faculty members may take their quest for higher education beyond the borders of Florida!

Meanwhile Ron DeSantis still wants to be President of the United States - so it would be a safe bet that more whack-job headlines will be emanating from the state of Florida.   With that - and the crazy Trump family doing their things, collapsing condos, rising sea levels, and the hurricane season just getting started - Florida is likely to be a major part of the national conversation for months to come - and Ron DeSantis may wind up getting more publicity than even he can handle.

If things get too dicey for DeSantis this summer, he can aways get away from it all by taking a cruise - of course he might have to go out-of-state to board the ship - and produce a vaccine passport!

Big Daddy Ralph Is King of the Roost

by Pa Rock

Farmer in Summer

Ralph, a young golden rooster, came to live on my little farm three weeks ago yesterday.  I found Ralph at a roadside poultry swap meet where his young owner had stuffed him inside of a parakeet cage.  I bought Ralph out of a sense of rescue and brought him back to the farm where I set him free.

When Ralph arrived at the farm I had baby guineas and banty chicks that were still acclimating inside of the makeshift little brooder house that is part of the chicken coop.  At first Ralph didn't have access to the babies, but he could hear them cheeping.  A couple of days later I turned the little ones out into a an outdoor, fenced-in coop during the days, and Ralph took up a permanent patrol on the other side of the wire - carefully watching after his babies.  Then a few days after that I turned the chicks outside during the days, and Ralph immediately strutted in and took charge.

A few of the chicks had died when they were in the brooder house, but there were eighteen survivors on the day I turned them out.  Today, a couple of weeks following their emancipation, there are still eighteen. Ralph has done a very good job of looking after his wards.

Poultry that are free to roam during the days will usually stay in a group and work their area as a route, going in roughly the same pattern each day.  I let Ralph and the little ones out each morning just after daylight.  There are feeders and waterers set up around the coop, and they begin their day gossiping over breakfast at the feeders.  Then, as if on cue, they head out running and flying - as a group - for an ancient rose-of-sharon bush that sits about twenty feet in front of the coop.  Next they jump over to the storage buildings and scratch around their perimeters looking for bugs and other good things to snack on.  From there they proceed to a large cedar tree - and then to another - before finally circling and working in close to the big propane tank.   After that it's back to the coop for rest and a little brunch, and then  they begin the route again.

Sometimes Ralph leads the chicks from stop to stop, and sometimes they lead him.  They rush across open areas while Ralph carefully scans the sky for hawks, and then spend most of their time scratching beneath trees and other cover in the never-ending search for ticks, chiggers, and other tasty morsels.

So Big Daddy Ralph, a noble bird who was once humiliated by being stuffed into a parakeet cage, is now happy in his new home with his new family where he truly has become King of the Roost!     Ralph has plenty to crow about, and we are all happy that he is here - especially his kids!

Tucker Attacks a Real Patriot

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Tucker Carlson, a television news commentator who has been relieved of his duties by multiple news organizations, is currently holding down a spot on Fox where he uses his lofty right-wing perch to promote conspiracy theories and take potshots at political figures whose views run counter to his own or those of his corporate overlords.

Carlson grew up wealthy, went to the best schools, and never had the time (or the inclination) for the more mundane things in life like public or military service.   The son of privilege was born to be a star and to guide others.  Mission accomplished.

Last summer Carlson and others at his network were fighting off allegations that they had made unwanted sexual advances toward female employees at Fox, charges the network later claimed were unfounded.  Then this spring Carlson became embroiled in a controversy in which he was accused of using anti-immigrant language and "race-baiting" by promoting what was being called the "Grand Replacement Theory," a claim that Democrats were encouraging immigration in order to change the demographics of the country's population to favor the Democratic Party.  Carlson denied that he was promoting the replacement theory and instead tried to cloak the matter in what he called a "voting rights" issue.

Anti-immigrant groups  were giddy in support of Carlson's xenophobic position on immigration, but his provocations angered the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) which called for his firing.

That spurious notion of what some called the "Grand Replacement Theory" and others referred to as "white genocide" was believed to have been at the root of multiple mass shootings.  

This week Tucker Carlson again waded into the political muck when he rose to the defense of Matt Gaetz after the Florida congressman was  soundly smacked down at a congressional hearing by the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.   Gaetz accused the military of being "woke" to the concept that racism exists in America and of promoting what Gaetz referred to as "critical race theory."  General Milley explained to the congressman that not only did he want to know what is going on in the world, he wanted American troops to also be well informed.

In attacking General Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in particular,  Carlson stated bluntly:  "He's not just a pig, he's stupid."

The psychological term "projection" is defined thusly:

 

"Unconsciously taking unwanted emotions or traits you don't like about yourself and attributing them to someone else."

But projection is no excuse.  Carlson's name-calling represents an attack on military order and espirit de corps, and his words have the potential to incite insurrection within the ranks.  Fox News needs to fire its privileged mouthpiece and then apologize to General Milley and to the nation for the unwarranted attack on an exemplary public servant. 

And if Fox won't pull the plug on Tucker Carlson, then his sponsors need to.

Ancestor Archives: William Martin (1813-1892)

 

by Rocky Macy

William MARTIN was born July 3, 1813 in Tennessee.  He married Delana HOLMAN in Lincoln County, Tennessee, on January 29, 1832.    William passed away in Newton County, Missouri, on March 29, 1892.
 
William MARTIN was my g-g-g-grandfather.
 
According to a biographical entry in “Goodspeed’s 1888 History of McDonald and Newton Counties” (page384) which profiled William’s younger brother, Hezekiah M. MARTIN, their parents were native North Carolinians, Abraham and Mourning (BIGGS) MARTIN, who migrated to Missouri in the spring of 1843,  Hezekiah, who was eight-and-a-half years younger than William, arrived in Missouri the following year, so it is likely that William and Delana also came to Missouri sometime around 1843-1844.
 
A second indicator of the date of the family’s migration lies in the census records of 1850 and beyond which indicate that William and Delana's two oldest children, Adam and Harriett, were born in Tennessee, and the other four were born in Missouri.  Harriett, the second child, was born in Robertson County, Tennessee in 1841, and the third oldest child, Hezekiah M., was born in 1844 in Missouri.
 
William and all of his MARTIN relatives who migrated from Tennessee eventually settled in rural Newton County, Missouri.
 
William and Delana had six children:  Adam (born in 1836), Harriett (1841-1900), Hezekiah M. (1844), William (1847), Mourning Rebecca (1849), and Julia Ann (1852-1928).  Of those children, Harriett was married twice, first to Nathan WILSON and then when he died to William HOCKERSMITH,  Hezekiah married Talitha Ann BIGGS, and Julia Ann married Eugene Marshall Stanley PRITCHARD. 
 
According to the US Census for 1850, William MARTIN (born in Tennessee, age 36)  was living on his own in Neosho, Newton County, Missouri – Dwelling #544, Family #544.  Though it was probably some sort of clerical error, the rest of the family was listed on a separate page in Lost Creek Township of Newton County, though still in Dwelling #544 and Family #544.  The remainder of the family was headed by “Delaney” MARTIN (born in Tennessee, age 36), Adam (14), Harriet (7), Hezekiah (6), William (3), and “Mouren” (0).
 
By 1860 William MARTIN and his family were living in Buffalo Township of Newton County, Missouri.  That year’s federal census listed the family as consisting of  William MARTIN (age 45),  “De Lana” (45), Harriet (18), Hezekiah (16), William (13), Mourning (10), and Julia (7).
 
Two years later in early 1862, William MARTIN, who was then forty-eight-years-old and the head of a large family, was in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, where he volunteered for service with the Union Army.   He was assigned to H Company (an infantry unit) of the 6^th Kansas Cavalry, a group that was very active along the Missouri-Kansas border, and down into Arkansas.  It appears as though he may have later been assigned to K Company (a cavalry unit) of the 6^thKansas Cavalry.   His tombstone, which was provided by the military, states that he was in Co. K of the 6^th Kansas Cavalry.  William entered the military service as a “Private” and was discharged in 1865, still wearing the rank of “Private.”   William’s military enlistment papers describe him as being 5 feet and 11 and 3/4 inches tall with a fair complexion, light hair, and blue eyes.
 
After William was discharged from the military at the war’s end in 1865, he and his family remained in Kansas for a time.  They were residing in Franklin County, Kansas, on September 2, 1865, when the Kansas State Census was taken.  At that time their household consisted of William (age 52, born TN), Delana (51, TN) William (18, MO), Mourning (16, MO) and Julia (13, MO).
 
It is likely that William’s younger brother, James S. MARTIN, may have served in the military with him, because on that same 1865 Kansas State Census for Franklin County, James and his family were listed in the household next to William’s.  They included:    James S. (38, TN), Martha (28, IN), James T. (17, MO), John (14, MO), “Margret” (12, MO), Samuel (9, MO), George (7, MO), Eliza (6, MO), Joana (5, MO), and Martha J. (4, KS).  Martha was apparently James's second wife.
 
By the time of the 1870 U.S. Census, William and Delana were back in southwest Missouri.  There the census taker found them in Neosho Township of Newton County and the following four family members were listed in the household:  William (age 57), Delana (46 – a mistake), William (21), and Mourning R. (20).
 
The 1880 U.S. Census listed William and “Delany” as living in the same household as their oldest daughter, Harriett, and five of her children.  Harriett’s first husband, Nathan WILSON, had passed away on April 14, 1867, and her second husband, William HOCKERSMITH died on February 17, 1880, before the census was taken.  It seems likely that Harriett and her children moved in with William and Delana as William is listed as the “head of household” on the census entry, and they are located in the same township (Neosho, Newton County) that William and Delana had been living in when the last census was taken in 1870.
 
(Harriett HOCKERSMITH and her three HOCKERSMITH children are listed in the 1880 census as “SMITH.”)
 
The MARTIN family group in 1880 included:  William (66), “Delany” (65), Harriet H. SMITH (39), William WILSON (17), Thomas F. WILSON (13), Chas. H. SMITH (6), Mary A. SMITH (4), and George W. SMITH (1). 
 
(Harriett and the two older HOCKERSMITH children continued to use the HOCKERSMITH surname, but the youngest child, George Wesley, chose to use the surname “SMITH” throughout his lifetime.)
 
Almost the entire U.S. Federal Census of 1890 was destroyed in a fire, but a Veterans’ Schedule was compiled with that census which has survived.  That document, “The 1890 Veterans’ Schedules of the US Federal Census” represents what is probably William MARTIN’s last entry into the public record.  That schedule contains the following information regarding William and his military service for the Union Army during the Civil War:
 
            Name:  William Martin
            Gender:  Male
            Rank:  Private
            Residence Date:  June 1890
            Residence Place:  Neosho, Newton, Missouri
            Enlistment Date:  January 27, 1861*  
            Regiment:  6^th Kansas Cav
            Company:  H
            Household:  1
             *(probably January of 1862 - after the war had begun)
 
The household notation would indicate that William was living alone, the only person in his household.   Delana had passed away three-and-a-half-years earlier on January 30, 1887.
 
William MARTIN died on March 29, 1892.  Both he and Delana are buried in the New Salem Cemetery in rural Newton County, Missouri, along with some of their children and their families    William’s younger brother, Hezekiah MARTIN, donated the original land for the New Salem Cemetery.   The older family members like William and Delana rode to Missouri in covered wagons.  Their journey across America and through life was no doubt hard, but today they are at rest beneath the rugged terrain that they helped settle.  
 

US Military Leaders School Matt Gaetz, Hard!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Yesterday Army General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Lloyd Austin, the Secretary of Defense, appeared before the House Armed Services Committee where committee member Matt Gaetz of Florida, a Republican, questioned Milley on what Gaetz saw as the military's promotion of training on "critical race theory."

General Milley listened patiently to the young congressman, and then replied:

"I do think it's important, actually, for those of us in uniform to be open-minded and be widely read . . . and it's important that we train and understand.  I want to understand white rage, and I'm white.  What is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building (the US Capitol) and try to overturn the Constitution of the United States of America?  What caused that?  I want to find that out.   I want to maintain an open mind here, and I do want to analyze it . . . It is important that the leaders now and in the future understand it."

Gaetz made a derogatory allusion to the military being "woke," a slang term referring to being alert to injustice in society and, in particular, being aware of racism.    But the General wasn't having any of that either.  He snapped back at the Congressman that he found the accusation "offensive."

General Milley made the case for being aware of how society and the world function.  He stated:

"I've read Mao Zedong.  I've read Karl Marx.  I've read Lenin.  That doesn't make me a communist.  So what is wrong with understanding, having some situational understanding about the country from which we are here to defend?  I personally find it offensive that we are accusing the United States military, our general officers, our noncommissioned officers, of being "woke" or something else because we are studying some theories that are out there."

 

The camera panned on Rep. Gaetz as General Milley was making his comments, and the Republican congressman was shaking his head negatively.  Later Gaetz tried to turn his political fire on Defense Secretary Austin, who is himself a former General and the first black individual to run the Department of Defense.  Gaetz began by charging that Bishop Garrrison, Secretary Austin's senior adviser for human capital, was a "critical race theorist," and the secretary snapped back that it was news to him and labeled Gaetz's claim as "spurious."     Later the two got into an exchange about whose information from the troops was more accurate, with each man, Austin and Gaetz, informing the other that people were probably telling them what they wanted to hear.

When the day was over and the dust had settled, the United States military reigned supreme, and a non-veteran sex-trafficker had crawled off to lick his wounds.   What some people condemn as being "woke," others laud as "being aware," and the two leaders of the US military offered no apologies for wanting to know what is going on in the world - and for wanting their troops to function in reality.

The venomous congressman did spit one final attack on the general with this tweet:

"With Generals like this it’s no wonder we’ve fought considerably more wars than we’ve won. 

 

But he quickly pulled it down. It was happy hour somewhere.

McCaskill Channels Harry Truman

by Pa Rock

Missourian

As a lifetime Missouri voter who generally supports the nominees and positions of the Democratic Party, I have a long-standing familiarity with Claire McCaskill dating back to her days as our state's auditor and one of the better known power brokers in Jefferson City.   I have always voted for Claire with the lone exception being in the August primary of 2004 when she challenged and beat our state's incumbent Democratic governor.  After turning on her own, she went on to lose that year's general election to Matt Blunt (Ol' Roy's son) who served just one term and then chose not to run for re-election under rather mysterious circumstances.

While I have almost always supported Claire at the polls, including all of her senate races, at times I have been less than enthusiastic when I did so.  That lack of enthusiasm was rooted in the fact that the "constituent services" provided by her senate office personnel sucked - big time.

Now Claire is out of politics and out of Washington, DC (mostly), and now as a journalist and an opinionator living in New York City she seems to be a bit more at ease, especially when it comes to saying what is on her mind.  Yesterday she cut loose on Twitter with some thoughts on the Missouri legislature that would have garnered a "like" and a salty rebuttal from Missouri's best known deceased politician, Harry S. Truman.   In fact, Claire's tweet sounded like she might have actually been channeling Truman.

McCaskill had this to say about our state's sorry legislature:

"I cannot adequately describe the disfunction & chaos that is MO state govt right now. Refusing people’s will on Medicaid expansion, refusing to re-up pro forma law that also leaves billions of Fed $ on the table, passing unconstitutional backwoods bullshit on guns. So embarrassing." 

It is a comfort for me to realize that I am not the only Missourian who is embarrassed by our state legislature.

"Backwoods bullshit on guns!"

It ain't Shakespeare, but it ain't bad!

Three to Watch

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

This year as the need for honest brokers in government grows more critical, and my personal finances continue to lag behind the growth of the overall economy, I have determined that I must be more selective in how I allocate the few dollars that I am able to budget to add my "voice" to the political scene.   Being selective is hard to do because everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY on the left side of the political spectrum asks me to help their campaign.  Sometimes, in fact, the same political beggars hit me up multiple times a day.

(Oh, for those glorious days before email when the politicos at least had to cough up postage before they could harass grandpa for a fiver!)

In the process of becoming more selective, I have begun to develop a short list of candidates whose election would be a major plus for the survival and growth of democracy, and who have at least an outside chance of winning.  The first three names on the list for 2022 are Val Demings (Florida), Chris Larson (Wisconsin), and Chris Jones (Arkansas).   A few more will follow.

Control of the US Senate is vital if the country is to maintain even a semblance of democracy.  Mitch and Lindsey and the good ol' GOP Klan Kaucus are hellbent on controlling government through elections in which the votes of minorities are suppressed and results are "adjusted" by legislatures and the courts.  A republican Senate also poses a constant threat to social and economic advancement in America.

Missouri has a US Senate seat opening in 2022 that could be winnable for Democrats is the stars align, but so far that alignment does not look very promising.  If that situation changes and a path to victory becomes visible, I will be active and enthusiastic in that race.  But if it appears that Missouri Democrats will be content with a forfeit, then my personal focus will be on trying to help viable Democratic candidates in other states.

Val Demings, whom I talked about in this space yesterday, is one such candidate.  She is currently a member of the US House of Representatives from Florida who is running to oust Marco Rubio from the US Senate.    Marco, an intolerable little Bible thumper who regularly shouts religious pieties from his racist rathole, is trying to paint Demings as a liberal who, by his definition, is soft on crime - and the fact that she is black makes that sell easier to some segments of his southern constituency.  But Val Demings also served thirty years in a major Florida police department, is the former police chief of Orlando, and is married to a career law enforcement officer.

Val Demings can beat Marco Rubio in Florida, and she just may well do it.  A Demings win would be a major blow for Mitch and Lindsey.

Of the two United States Senators in Wisconsin, one is a very liberal Democrat, Tammy Baldwin, and the other is a hard right-wing Trump Republican, Ron Johnson.   Johnson is currently completing his second term in the Senate and has said previously that he would only serve two terms, but he is a strong Trump favorite and that faction of the GOP is hoping he will run again.   Others in the party seem to think that they would stand a better chance of holding onto the seat with a different candidate.  Wisconsin Democrats are also divided in their views as to whether it would be easier to beat Johnson or some replacement candidate.

Chris Larson is a 40-year-old Democratic state senator from Wisconsin who has announced that he is running for  Ron Johnson's seat in the US Senate.  Larson, who served on Milwaukee's governing board when he was in his twenties, has been in the state senate for ten years and for one term served as that body's minority leader.  I have followed State Senator Larson through his on-line newsletter for some time now.   He is a thoughtful and well-spoken progressive legislator who knows how to get things done.  He should make a very strong showing in 2022, regardless of whom the Republicans use to defend the seat.

And the loss of the GOP senate seat in Wisconsin would deal a significant blow to Republican efforts to regain control of the upper chamber of Congress.

The third name on my 2022 short list is Chris Jones, a nuclear engineer and ordained minister who is running for governor of Arkansas.   Dr. Jones, a black man, is a seventh-generation Arkansan who, if he gets the Democratic nomination, will likely be facing former Trump press flack, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, in the general election.   She has been endorsed by Trump.  The most amazing thing about the Chris Jones candidacy so far is his kick-ass (and viral) video announcing his candidacy.  The video is all over social media - and I only wish my little Kia had that much polish!   If the announcement video is any indication of the type of campaign that he will run, Ms. Huckabee Sanders will have a tough row to hoe in order to move back into the Arkansas governor's mansion where she used to live when her Daddy was governor.

If you haven't seen the Chris Jones video, check it out on Twitter @JonesForAR.

So those are three for whom I am hopeful:  Val Demings in Florida, Chris Larson in Wisconsin, and Chris Jones in Arkansas.  Maintaining and increasing Democratic majorities in the US House and Senate need to be priorities for democracy's sake, but winning a few governorships would also be very helpful in controlling some of the social and economic carnage that is occurring at the state level.

Who else should be on this list?

Rubio's Racist Tweet

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Florida Senator Marco Rubio is facing a major hurdle to retain his seat on the government gravy train.  Rubio, who is up for re-election in 2022, is being challenged by Congresswoman Val Demings, a black woman who spent nearly thirty years serving with the Orlando Police Department and was that department's first female chief.  Demings' husband, Jerry, is also a former Orlando Police Chief and the first black individual to hold that position - and he is a former Sheriff of Orange County, Florida, and the county's current mayor.

When Republicans run against black candidates, they often try to paint the opposition as being "soft on crime," as a way of stoking racist fears, but "soft on crime" will be a tough hand to play against Val Demings.  However, that doesn't mean that Rubio won't be out trying to stoke some racial fear and animosity.

Yesterday was Father's Day and Rubio used the occasion to remind people that some of us are better than others of us, and then to explain why that is.  Early in the morning he tweeted this:

"Every major social problem in America can be linked to fatherlessness.   Wherever involved fathers are rare, crisis is certain to follow.   And billions in government spending is no substitute for fatherhood."

Rubio, of course, was playing on the old conservative trope which suggests most black children in America grow up in fatherless homes because the dads are in prison, and that much of black youth, particularly males, gravitate toward criminality because they lack good father role models.  Then those young black men themselves head to prison and the cycle continues.

Senator Rubio, who is holier than most of us and can quote Bible verses to prove it, isn't taking into account that fact that the black prison population (and it is considerable) is incarcerated primarily due to the effects of America's long and torturous racist past.  Prolonged, generational poverty due to lack of opportunity and access to capital has resulted in people being arrested and imprisoned over crimes related to basic survival, racist housing practices have isolated communities of color from mainstream America and kept their children away from the better schools, and the so-called "war on drugs" was actually an increased policing effort that tended to target non-violent offenders and was often enforced along racial lines.  (Whites were shuffled into treatment, and blacks were shuffled into prison.)

More often than not young black fathers were removed from their families and warehoused in prisons as a result of prolonged systemic racism and social attitudes toward race.  And Marco Rubio was right there on the morning of Father's Day fanning the hot embers of racism in order to make sure that the people in Florida do not forget the racial stereotypes that his political party has spent so much time and effort developing.  (And Republicans certainly do not want racism being explored in schools where they would have little control over the narrative.)

Blacks are criminals, and because they are criminals their children are fatherless, and because their children are fatherless, they, too, will become criminals - and spending government money on them won't help.   So sayeth Marco.

It's nice to know that Val Demings has his attention!

Sully Turns Five on Father's Day

 

by Pa Rock

Proud Grandpa

I know that my youngest son, Tim, himself a father of two, is having a wonderful Father's Day today, because in addition to all of the normal Father's Day hoopla, Tim and his family are also celebrating the fifth birthday of their youngest, Sullivan Charles Macy.  What a nice day they are undoubtedly having!

My youngest grandchild is having a very active summer learning to play T-Ball, swimming in his backyard pool, and playing with his big dog, Jack.  Sully will be starting kindergarten this fall and he will be attending the same school as his older sister, Olive.

Yesterday I received an email from Tim with a photo of Sully attached that showed him proudly carrying some of his birthday cake across the street to share with the neighbors.  It's never too early to begin focusing on meeting the needs of others, and kindness, and Sully looked like he was really enjoying the experience.

I was very proud of myself a few months ago when I happened across the perfect birthday card for Sully.  The card, which I bought and temporarily put aside, featured "Hot Wheels," and my youngest grandson is a big "Hot Wheels" car fan.  It wasn't until I got the card out to get it ready to mail a couple of weeks ago that I realized I had messed up.  The card said "Happy Birthday Four-Year-Old," and I had somehow lost a year!  (That's what happens after you celebrate too many birthdays, Sully!)

So Sully is five, and Pa Rock is ancient - and Pa Rock wishes Sully the best birthday ever!

Party hearty, Grandson and have an extra helping of fun on your fifth birthday!

A Little Bird Comes Knocking

 

by Pa Rock

Nature Lover

(for my old friend, Ranger Bob)

I live in a idyllic setting with lots of trees and wildlife, and especially lots of birds.    Each morning I sit and type in front of the living room window where at least once a week or so my labors are interrupted by some misguided bird flying directly into the window.  It startles me and sets Rosie to running from room-to-room barking - and the loopy bird flies off to recoup his pride.

But the past couple of weeks my residence has been plagued by a little bird who is constantly banging against windows, seemingly trying to gain entry to the house.  My son was the first to notice this determined stranger, and he swears it is a young cardinal.  Soon I began hearing the incessant thumping against various windows as well.  So far I have only seen the actual bird a couple of times - flying away - and all I can swear to is that he, or she, is relatively small by yardbird standards, and has reddish brown tail feathers.

Two days ago I had an electrician at the house.  He parked in the drive and spent an hour or so repairing a yard light.  He mentioned as he was wrapping up that a determined little cardinal had been trying to get into his van.  After completing his business, the man climbed into his work van and started backing out of the drive.  As I watched him depart, the electrician suddenly stopped the van and got out and opened the back door - where the little bird exited and flew up high into the pines.

This morning, at six a.m., the pesky feathered varmint was back - this time banging on my bedroom window.  A few minutes later I was outside watering and walked around the corner where he had been trying to gain entry, and he immediately flew up into a large maple tree.  I still haven't gotten a good look at him - or her.

I'm beginning to suspect that this is a reincarnation thing, and the poor creature is trying to come home - or reconnect with a loved one.  Or maybe it's just a lost angel trying to get out of this insufferable heat.

But Pa Rock is a hard ass.   He hears the little bird knocking, but he can't come in!

Juneteenth, the Federal Holiday!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Please allow me to begin by saying that I think that making Juneteenth a national holiday is a terrific idea and one that is long overdue, and I loudly condemn the fourteen members of the US House of representatives who voted against the measure.  (More on them later.)

Juneteenth is an abbreviated way of saying June 19th, the date in 1865 when many slaves in Texas learned that the Civil War had ended and that they were henceforth to be regarded as free individuals.   The celebrations of that announcement began in Texas two years later, and for more than a century-and-a-half some people in this country have chosen to recognize that singular event as the actual end of slavery in America.  It is a very big deal - and it should be celebrated.

This week both houses of Congress approved a measure to make Juneteenth a national holiday.  It passed by "unanimous consent" in the Senate which means that Senators, who in their heart of hearts opposed the measure - or who perhaps supported it but came from states where it would not be popular among a majority of the voters - did not have to go on record with their vote.    The House of Representatives, however, took a recorded vote, so members there did not have the opportunity of hiding in the crowd.

The following fourteen House members, all white Republican men, voted against the measure that honored the end of slavery in the United States of America.  They were:  Matt Rosendale of Montana, Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs of Arizona, Mo Brooks and Mike Rogers of Alabama, Tom McClintock and Doug LaMalfa of California, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Scott DeJarlis of Tennessee, Ronny Jackson and Chip Roy of Texas, and Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin.  Shame on them, one and all!

All of that aside, I do have one reservation about this new, well deserved holiday.  I believe that a holiday that is attached to a specific, numbered date on the calendar - such as New Year's Day, the Fourth of July, Veteran's Day (November 11th), and Christmas, should be celebrated on that specific date, and not shuffled around to extend a holiday weekend for federal workers.  (And I believed that when I was a federal worker - if Veteran's Day fell on a Wednesday, that was the day we had off!)

But along comes this new, and well deserved holiday, Juneteenth (June 19th), and the first thing the government does is declare that it will be officially celebrated on Friday, June 18th, apparently so federal employees can have an extended weekend.  

Well, good for them, I suppose.  Everyone deserves a few long weekends after four years of the Trump insanity and a year-and-a-half of COVID, but I hope that this off-date celebration is just a calendrical and bureaucratic aberration and that next year the holiday will revert to the actual date of June 19th, a date we all need to remember and respect.  

But regardless, Happy Juneteenth, whenever you are celebrating!

Ancestor Archives: Sarah "Sallie" Snyder (circa 1807 - circa 1851)

 

by Rocky Macy

Sarah “Sallie” SNYDER was born around 1807 to Barksdale and Sarah “Sally” (HANSARD) (PALMORE/PALMER) SNYDER in the Commonwealth of Virginia.   She married Thomas MEADOR  on December 30, 1823 in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, and she passed away in Breckenridge County around 1851.
 
(When Sarah’s mother, who was also named Sarah and called “Sally,” married Barksdale SNYDER in Amherst County, Virginia, on February 12, 1800, she was the widow of a man named Pledge PALMORE and had eight children.  She was listed in the Virginia marriage register as Mrs. Sarah Palmer.  The elder Sarah went on to have five additional children by Barksdale SNYDER, the next to the youngest being Sarah who became Mrs. Thomas MEADOR.)
 
Sarah “Sallie” (SNYDER) MEADOR was my g-g-g-grandmother.
 
 Sallie MEADOR was the mother of at least seven children:  Elihu (1824-1892), Sarah (1827-1892), Taylor (1831-1861), Mary Jane (1834-1897), Theodocia “Docia” Mary (1836-1861), Thomas (born 1842), and William (1842-1860). According to the 1830 census of Breckenridge County, Kentucky, there were two free, white girls in the family under the age of five.  One would have been Sarah, and the other probably was a child who died young.
 
Of the seven known MEADOR children:  Elihu married Anna Elizabeth LAMB, Sarah married Stephen McCOY, Taylor married Elizabeth ADKISSON. Mary Jane married Charles MACY, and Docia married Jesse MACY.  There is currently no known record of the two youngest boys, Thomas and William, ever being married.
 
Women, unless they were heads of households, were not listed by name on the US Census forms until 1850.  The 1850 US Census for District 1 of Breckenridge County, Kentucky, lists the family of “Thomas Meadows” (aged 44) as containing his wife, Sarah (aged 43), and five children:  Taylor (19), Mary (17), Docia (14), William (8), and Thomas (8).  Also included in the household was Sallie’s mother “Sally SNIDER” (87).
 
That was Sallie’s only appearance by name on the US Census because she passed away sometime between when that census was taken and when Thomas, her husband, took his second wife in 1852.
 
While Sallie lived what was undoubtedly a hard life and died young (approximately aged 45) after giving birth to seven or eight children, she does appear to have lived in better circumstances than some of her neighbors.   During the first two years of their marriage, she and Thomas had a six-room brick house built on a hilltop a mile outside of Hardinsburg.   The house had a detached kitchen, which was customary at the time.  The fine old house stood for more than a century and became a cultural landmark in the area.  It reportedly burned to the ground in 1942.
 
Sarah “Sallie” SNYDER MEADOR passed away sometime between the visit of the census taker in 1850 and Thomas MEADOR’s second marriage in 1852.  She is believed to be buried in the family cemetery that was located behind the house where she and Thomas raised their family.
 
Sallie’s life was no doubt hard, and relatively short, but she left a legacy that now has stretched more than two centuries from the time of her birth.  Many of us today owe our very existence to the strength and stamina of hardy pioneers like her, people who were focused not only on survival, but on bettering their situations as well – and by those measures, Sallie’s life was well lived.

The Supreme Incense of Patriarchal Excrements

 

by Pa Rock

Reader

Those who know me are aware that I like to read - a lot - and now that my time left to enjoy that pastime grows noticeably shorter, I am hastening to read some classics that have long been on my bucket list.  The classic that I am currently plowing through is the four-volume definitive set of "The Thousand Nights and One Night," or as it is more commonly known "A Thousand and One Arabian Nights."  The collection that I am reading was compiled by Dr. J.C. Mardrus and Powys Mathers.  It is around 2,500 pages in length.

"The Thousand Nights and One Night" is an assortment of Middle Eastern folk tales dating back to around 750 AD, or roughly one century after the death of Muhammad, the founder of Islam, the Muslim religion.   Some are stories that stand alone, but most are connected to one another and are often tales within tales.  They were collected for around a thousand years, meaning that many were set during the two-hundred- year period of religious warfare known as "The Crusades"  (roughly 1100 AD-1300AD) during which Christians and Muslims fought over control of the Holy Land.    Many of the tales in this collection go back to events of the Crusades and tell of Christian and Muslim battles from the perspective of the Muslims.

Other tales are more familiar to western readers.  Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor, and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves all have their origins in "The Thousand Nights and One Night.

The frame of the story is this:  An Arabian king despoils a different virgin every night and then the next morning orders her killed.  He commits this atrocity for three years until his supply of virgins is exhausted and the only two left are the daughters of his trusted "wazir" (adviser), the man in charge of procuring the virgins.  Those two girls, Shahrazad and her younger sister, Dunyazad, appear before the ruthless king.  Shahrazad sleeps with the king, but then, before he has her killed she offers to tell him a story for his entertainment.  Shahrazad stops her story at daylight and tells the king that if he lets her live she will finish it the next night.  Every night she leaves her tale incomplete, and the king, who loves a good story, chooses to let her live another day.  Dunyazad, the little sister, occasionally involves herself with the telling of the tales, but is basically just a quiet observer.

A week or so ago I came across this passage dealing with human excrement that I thought might be of general interest to students of the history of religion or warfare.   A Christian witch was inspiring the Christian army at Constantinople to go out and meet the Muslim army on the field of battle, and she encouraged them to suffuse themselves with a special incense before going into battle.  The following is from page 442 in volume one, and it is posted here as an item of historical relevance and general interest.  It is also worth noting that there are sources on the internet which credit the practice with the Muslims instead of the Christians.    (The term "made a motion" refers to a bowel movement.)

"Brave warriors, to fight with the body when the soul is not sanctified is to ensure defeat.  Therefore, O Christian men, I counsel you to draw near to Christ before the battle and to purify yourselves with the supreme incense of the patriarchal excrements."  The two Kings and all the captains shouted:  "Your words are wise, venerable mother!"

To tell you something of the supreme incense of the patriarchal excrements:

When the High Patriarch of the Christians in Constantinople made a motion, the priests would diligently collect in in squares of silk and dry it in the sun.  Then they would mix it with musk, amber, and benzoin, and, when it was quite dry, powder it and put it up in little gold boxes.   These boxes were sent to all Christian kings and churches, and the powder was used as the holiest incense for the sanctification of Christians on all solemn occasions, to bless the bride, to fumigate the newly born, and to purify a priest on ordination.  As the genuine excrements of the High Patriarch could hardly suffice for ten provinces, much less for all Christian lands, the priests used to forge the powder by mixing less holy matters with it, that is to say, the excrements of lesser patriarchs and even of the priests themselves.  This imposture was not easy to  detect.  These Greek swine valued the powder for other virtues;  They used it as a salve for sore eyes and as a medicine for the stomach and bowels.  But only kings and queens and the very rich could obtain these cures, since, owing to the limited quantity of raw material, a dirham-weight of the powder used to be sold for a thousand dinars in gold.  So much for it.

 

That, friends of literature and history, may be  where the folksy exclamation, "Holy shit!" originated.  And with that tortured witticism, I now make a motion to adjourn this blog-posting so that I may go and clean my heavily sanctified chicken coop!

GOP Bets Big on Minimum Wage Canaries

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

This week four states are pulling back unemployment benefits in an attempt to force more people to return to minimum wage (or even sub-minimum wage) jobs.  Those four, all controlled by Republican governors and Republican state legislatures are Alaska, Iowa, Missouri, and, of course, Mississippi.  One internet news site this morning described the four as the "canaries in the coal mine" who are testing the theory that reducing benefits - dropping the extra $300 per month from the federal government - will increase employment and not backfire by driving up the already high levels of poverty.  As many as twenty-five GOP-led states are either in the process of making this change, or at least contemplating it.

But Alaska, Iowa, Missouri, and Mississippi are doing it now.   Their poor folk can get their butts back to flipping burgers and scrubbing toilets right now - or they can go hungry!

The "World Population Review" defines poverty as "not having enough income to meet basic needs."  It states that people who live in poverty struggle to keep a roof over their heads, put food on the table, and even purchase basic items like clothing, shoes, and hygiene products.  Adequate medical care is also often less readily available to persons mired in poverty.

According to the "World Population Review," Mississippi has the highest rate of poverty in the entire nation.  Nearly one-in-five residents of Mississippi (19.75%) live below the federal poverty level.  Most states have a minimum wage, but Mississippi does not - which means that the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour prevails in the state.  Mississippi will be returning money to the federal government that its citizens need in order help employers fill positions that are chronically underpaid.

Iowa also has a minimum wage of $7.25 an hour but it's rate of poverty is considerably less than Mississippi.  The "World Population Review" states that the poverty rate in Iowa is 10.99 percent.   One factor in the disparity between the rates of poverty in Mississippi and Iowa is in educational opportunities.  A personal finance site on the internet, "Wallethub," rated states' by educaiton based on eighteen criteria.  Mississippi ranked 49th, and Iowa came in much higher at twenty-nine.  Clearly fewer Iowans are forced into taking minimum wage positions than are residents of Mississippi, a factor which causes employers to pay above minimum wage.  And conversely, fewer employers in Mississippi have to face the pressure of an educated workforce that could find jobs elsewhere.

Missouri's new minimum wage for 2021 is $10.30 and the state has a poverty level of 13.13 percent.   Missouri's educational ranking by "Wallethub" is thirty-one.  Alaska has a new minimum wage of $10.34 and a poverty level of 10.62 percent.  That state's educational ranking is twenty-eight.

It used to be that the government spoke grandly of attacking poverty, but now that focus seems to have shifted more toward simply attacking the poor.  Forcing more people to work more hours for less money ultimately increases poverty and results in fewer consumers with disposable income, a situation which negatively impacts the economy.  And when people are hungry, or in danger of losing their homes, or in need of basic supplies, alternative strategies for survival often emerge.

But all of that is somewhere off in the future.  Right now we are just dealing with canaries.

Mask Rage Results in 10-Year Prison Sentence

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

We've all seen the people who take some sort of twisted pride in wearing their face mask wrong, more often than not as a way of showing their disapproval of having to cover-up and their contempt for the whole COVID situation, something they often try to minimize as a "hoax."  Refusing to wear a mask, or wearing it wrong, becomes their political statement, a definition of who they are.

Last November there was an incident over the correct wearing of a face mask at an eye-wear shop in Des Moines, Iowa, that is just now getting resolved.  Shane Wayne Michael, 42, was shopping in the store and wearing his face mask below his nose when another customer suggested that he wear the mask properly.  Michael, who was not happy with the suggestion, followed the other man outside to his car where he knocked him to the ground, gouged his eye, kneed him in the groin, and then coughed and spit on the man and then said, "If I have it, you have it."  The victim admitted to biting his attacker after Michael kneed him in the groin.

Michael claimed in court that he was acting in self-defense, but witnesses stated that he was the aggressor.  He reportedly turned down a plea deal that would have given him two years of probation - and was convicted last month of "willful injury causing serious injury."  

Last week a judge sentenced Shane Wayne Michael to ten years in prison, a place where he is unlikely to cough or spit on anyone.

Bezos Will Slip the Surly Bonds of Earth

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Jeff Bezos, the richest human on Earth and a man who can afford to do whatever he damned well pleases (except, of course, pay his fair share of taxes), will fulfill a lifelong ambition next month when he boards a private spacecraft, one which he owns, and blasts off into space.  

Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com whose current personal worth is somewhere north of $177 billion, also owns Blue Origin, a fledgling spaceflight company that hopes to soon start taking adventure-seekers on quick jaunts into outer space and back.  The company has developed a reusable rocket and capsule which flies autonomously (on its own), and on July 20th that spaceship,  the "New Shepard," named after astronaut Alan B. Shepard - the first American to go into space, will take its first manned flight.

And Jeff Bezos will be going along for the ride.

Also on that flight will be Jeff's younger brother, Mark Bezos, and an as yet unidentified third person who won an auction for the extra seat with a bid of $28 million.  More than 6,000 bidders from 143 countries participated in the auction.  The money from the winning bid will be donated to Blue Origin's foundation, "The Club for the Future," which promotes STEM activities.  (The charitable donation also eliminates the need for paying those pesky taxes.)

The initial manned flight of the "New Shepard" on July 20th will be about eleven minutes in duration.  The capsule will reach a height of 62 miles and passengers will experience a couple of minutes of weightlessness.  Then it will return to Earth where, through parachutes and other contrivances, it is expected to land in an upright position.

While every possible safety measure has undoubtedly been employed to protect the world's richest human and his two fellow passengers, they will be rocketing into space at around 2,300 miles per hour, or roughly three times the speed of sound - and even the smallest miscalculation or unforeseen circumstance in space flight can bring about disaster.  On the one hand the upcoming flight straight-up out of West Texas will be a billionaire spending his money on things the rest of us poor mortals will never be able to experience, but, on the other hand, it will also be quite a ballsy move for Bezos, one that could permanently end his run of living the high life.

Enjoy the ride Jeff as you forge a new path into the heavens.  The rest of civilization will eventually be following your lead.

Upward and onward!

(And while you are up there, the rest of us will be wondering about how much better our lives could be right now if billionaires paid their fair share of taxes!)

Jenner Schemes to Kill West Coast Bullet Train

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Reality television personality Caitlyn Jenner, who is running to unseat California Governor Gavin Newsom in a special recall election, has told a Los Angeles television station that she would like to take money from California's high-speed rail project and instead use it to expand the border wall across state lands in southern California.   Jenner claimed, "We need protection."  

Ms. Jenner, a 71-year-old Republican who is trying to distance herself from Donald Trump in a state that is often seen as being strongly anti-Trump, has stated publicly that she did not vote for Trump in 2020, but she is saying that the former president did some "really good things" for the economy of California, but that he had "terrible messaging."

Jenner seems burdened with some terrible messaging of her own.   Last month the long-time resident of Malibu raised eyebrows when she lamented that a fellow who rented a hangar for his private jet next to hers was closing his hangar and moving his jet to Sedona, Arizona, because he was tired of seeing all of the homeless people in California.  Ms. Jenner appeared to be expressing more concern over the wealthy friend than she was over the plight of California's homeless.

Of course, not everyone has access to private jets.  High-speed rail along the ultra-busy West Coast would get cars off of the road and move people quicker and more efficiently.  California has been bogged down in traffic and its resultant air pollution for generations, and it's time for that state - as well as the other forty-nene - to begin moving into the future.  

America needs a thriving high-speed rail service - not more useless vanity walls!

Ancestor Archives: Thomas Meador (1805-1880)

 

by Rocky Macy

Thomas MEADOR  was born on January 11, 1805 in Bedford County, Virginia,.  He married Sarah “Sallie” SNYDER on December 20, 1823, in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, and he passed away on February 3, 1880, in Breckenridge County, Kentucky.
 
Thomas and Sallie had at least seven children, and after Sallie’s death in 1852 he married Judith SCOTT PULLIAM later that same year and they had at least two children.
 
Thomas MEADOR was my g-g-g-grandfather.
 
If it wasn’t for the fact that the MEADOR family was fairly prominent in early Breckenridge County, Kentucky, it would be far more difficult to trace their history.  The family surname can be found in public documents spelled in a variety of ways including Meador, Meadow, Meadows, and even Medder.    Tracing the lineage is also complicated by the fact that the MEADOR family was fond was using the first name of “Thomas.”  This particular Thomas MEADOR was the great-grandson, son, father, and grandfather of people who were also named Thomas MEADOR.   The subject of this profile is sometimes referred to as Thomas Meador, Jr.
 
Thomas MEADOR’s dates of birth and death were established by his tombstone which is still standing at Meador Cemetery #3 near Hardinsburg in Breckenridge County, Kentucky.
 
The seven known children of Thomas MEADOR and. his first wife, Sallie, were:  Elihu (1824-1892) who married Anna Elizabeth LAMB, Sarah (1827-1892) who married Stephen McCOY, Taylor (1831-1861) who married Elizabeth ADKISSON, Mary Jane (1834-1897) who married Charles MACY, Theodocia “Docia” (1836-1861) who married Jesse MACY, Thomas (born 1842), and William (1842-1860).
 
The two known children of Thomas MEADOR and his second wife, Judith, were:   James (or John) (1853-1931) a physician who practiced in Custer, Kentucky, for more than fifty years,  and Lucy (born 1857) who married Richard POMPHREY.
 
Thomas (according to the US Find-A-Grave Index) was born in Bedford County, Virginia.  His Virginia birth is also confirmed by the US censuses for 1850 and 1870, as well as the US Federal Census Mortality Schedule for 1880.    The 1860 US Census for Breckenridge County, Kentucky, lists Thomas’s place of birth as Kentucky, likely a mistaken assumption on the part of the census-taker.   (That census-taker also got the last names wrong on at least two of the children – and probably four.)
 
The 1830 US Census for Breckenridge County, Kentucky, lists the household of “Thomas Meador” as including five free white persons and no slaves.  Included among the five members of the household were one male aged 5-9 (Elihu), one male aged 20-29 (Thomas), two females under the age of five (one was Sarah and the other was probably a child who died young), and one female aged 20-29 (Sallie).
 
The MEADOR family has not been located on the 1840 US Census as of this time.
 
The 1850 US Census for District 1 of Breckenridge County, Kentucky, lists the family of “Thomas Meadows” (aged 44) as containing his wife, Sarah (aged 43), and five children:  Taylor (19), Mary (17), Docia (14), William (8), and Thomas (8).  Also included in the household was Sallie’s mother “Sally SNIDER” (87).
 
Sallie MEADOR passed away in 1852 and Thomas married a widow with children (Judith SCOTT PULLIAM) soon after Sallie’s death.   By the time of the 1860 US Census, Thomas and Judith and their family were living in District 2 of Breckenridge County, Kentucky.     In that household were “Thos. Meadow” (aged 54), Judith Meadow (aged 46), Martha Pulliam (16), William Pulliam (16), Thomas Pulliam (15), Sally Pulliam (14), John Pulliam (7) and Lucy Pulliam (5).  
 
Of those children in the “Meadow” household in 1860, it is entirely probable that Martha and Sally were Pulliams, daughters whom Judith brought to the marriage, and William and Thomas were likely Thomas’s sons from his marriage to Sallie.  Also the two youngest children were the shared biological children of Thomas and Judith and last names would have been Meador.
 
By the time of the 1870 US Census, “Thomas Meadows” was a 64-year-old resident of Cloverport in Breckenridge County, Kentucky.  Also present in his household were “Judea Meadows” (58), John Meadows (18), and Lucy Meadows (16).
 
There is a very old newspaper clipping regarding Thomas MEADOR at Ancestry.com.  It is entitled “Neighborhood Sketches” and focuses on a detailed sketch of a home drawn by Walter H. KISER.  The newspaper is not identified.  The write-up with the drawing states:
 

“This house of red brick with limestone foundation was built about 1825 by Thomas Meador who had come to Kentucky from Virginia in a covered wagon drawn by oxen.  The bricks were made on the premises.  Sand for mortar and for plaster was hauled from a nearby creek which now bears the name Meador Creek.  The house has six rooms and a log kitchen and stands on a knoll a mile northeast of Hardinsburg.  The Meador family retained ownership until recently.”

In a type-written appendage to the article an anonymous source repeated much of the information from the sketch article, but added the following facts:

• The house was built by a man named “Marchall” for Thomas Meador, Jr.;  
• The “Old Meador Cemetery” was located behind the house, and “all of the old folks are buried there;"  and, 
• The house burned to the ground in 1942.

 
Thomas MEADOR passed away on February 3, 1880, before that year’s census was taken, but he was included on the 1880 US Federal Census Mortality Schedule.  As mentioned previously, his tombstone still stands at Meador Cemetery #3 near Hardinsburg, Kentucky, and a fairly safe assumption would be that is the cemetery that was located behind the house on his original homestead.
 
The old pioneer is at rest beneath the land that he helped to settle.

Gohmert's Quick Fix for Climate Change

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Texas Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert has never been known for his raging intellect, and, in fact,  he has often been seen as one of the major attractions in the GOP freak show that generates most of the bizarre stories coming out of Congress.  But even if Gohmert is a certified nut, his antics should not be completely ignored because four years from now he might just be the new Secretary of the Interior, or Defense Secretary, or Attorney General in some rehash of the Trump administration.  

Stranger things have happened.

Yesterday Gohmert made the news again when he was serving in his role as a member of the House Natural Resources Committee.  He was questioning Jennifer Eberlien, an associate deputy chief of the Forest Service.  It soon became apparent that Louie had an idea percolating  in largely unused brain to address and solve the problem of climate change with a quick fix.  His remarks and question to Ms. Eberlien were as follows:

"I understand, from what's been testified to the Forest Service and the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) you want very much to work on the issued of climate change.  I was informed by the immediate past director of NASA (Jim Bridenstein, a former Oklahoma GOP congressman and climate change denier) that they've found that the moon's orbit is changing slightly and so is the Eath's orbit around the sun.  We know there's been significant solar flare activity - and so, is there anything that the National Forest Service or BLM can do to change the course of the moon's orbit or the Earth's orbit around the sun.  Obviously that would have profound effects on our climate."

The exceedingly tactful Ms. Eberlien smiled and then told Gohmert that she would have to follow up with him at a later time on that question - presumably after some in-depth research in back issues of her agency's stash of comic books.

Fellow congressman, Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California headed straight to a superhero for the solution.  He tweeted to Gohmert that Captain Marvel of Marvel Comics could handle the job because she has the ability to alter planetary orbits with her superpowers.

Problem solved.

Another big win for congressional bipartisanship!

(Go home and rest your brain for awhile, Louie.  You're going to need all the smarts you can muster when President Donnie Trump, Junior puts you on the Supreme Court!)