Three Ladies of January

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

January would seem to be a very good time for bringing baby girls into the world.  Just this past Sunday, a mere two days ago, we witnessed the birthdays of two exceptional American women:  Michelle Obama, the woman who showed the world how vital and important a nation's "First Lady" could be, had her fifty-seventh birthday, and Betty White, a lady who has been a television star almost since television first began, turned ninety-nine.   And today another female American icon is having a birthday:  Dolly Parton is seventy-five!

I've never seen Michelle Obama or Betty White in person, nor is it likely that I will ever have that privilege.  But I did see Dolly many years ago - when she was in her twenties - at the Shrine Mosque in Springfield, Missouri.  It was a great show that included Dolly's famous singing partner - of that time - Porter Wagoner.  Dolly, the buxom blonde with the voice of an angel, and Porter with his own pretty hair and a sequined jacket - they were quite the pair!

Porter Wagoner was a native of West Plains, Missouri, the town where I currently live.  He performed locally here in his youth, and made a few trips back to West Plains as an adult.  One of our major streets here is named after him.  Last year I was bragging to my barber about having seen Dolly in Springfield while I was in college, and he one-upped me by saying that he had seen her on the square in West Plains singing from atop a hay wagon!

Never try to upstage a local!

Did you know that Dolly Parton wrote the song "I Will Always Love You" that Whitney Houston turned into a monster hit?   And did you know that she wrote it for Porter Wagoner?  Well now you do!

And did you know that Dolly Parton is a genuine philanthropist, one who has supported a wide variety of charitable causes including child literacy and hunger relief, and who donated a million dollars for research on a COVID vaccine?  Well, now you know that, too!

Happy birthday to three ladies of January - and thank you all for making our lives so very much brighter!

Silence from Trump Is Golden

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

"Speech is silver, silence is golden"

That old saying, which some believe originated with Muslim philosophers more than a thousand years ago, reminds us that sometimes a bit of silence can be more powerful than the spoken word, and there are certainly times when silence is much more appreciated that a string of pointless chatter.

I developed a new appreciation for the power of silence over the last week or so after Twitter at long last dared to silence - permanently - the personal account of Donald John Trump.   It wasn't until that glorious event happened that I started to realize just poisonous Trump's speech on the Twitter platform had actually been.

There are all kinds of ways that a person as powerful as a national leader can express himself and get his thoughts out to the public, but Trump's preferred method of communication had always been Twitter.  Tweeting was expedient.  It allowed him to get his message out quickly, in short bursts that were aimed at inciting rather than inspiring.  Trump quickly learned that wherever he went with his tweets, the mainstream press would rush along behind and dutifully turn his musings into major stories - and on days when the national narrative was not going to suit Trump, a tweet could quickly redirect the press and the public's attention.

Donald Trump was loud, and mean, and arrogant, and blatantly dishonest on Twitter, day-in and day-out, for four solid years.  His tweets were big noise aimed at drowning out decency, and they were wedges that sought to divide us as a nation.

But now Twitter has pulled the plug on Trump and we are suddenly thrust into vast amounts of silence - soft, restful, invigorating silence - and it is very golden indeed!

Thank you, Twitter, for shutting Trump up by shutting him down!

Three Generations Span Forty-Six Administrations!

by Pa Rock
Family Historian

Over the years I have used Pa Rock's Ramble to preserve fiction that I have written, family history and stories, book and movie reviews, tales of the farm, travel adventures, and plenty of political rants.  It has, at times, also functioned as a scrapbook where I preserve stories from the press that capture my interest.  For instance, I wrote a couple of pieces about the fellow on the Greyhound Bus who cut off the head of the passenger sitting next to him late one night as their bus rolled across the Canadian prairie, and I have at times  printed items of interest, at least to me, about Queen Elizabeth's dogs, or even her kids.  Today's entry falls into that "scrapbooking" category.  It is something that I read on the internet yesterday and wanted to preserve for the enjoyment of any researcher who has to dig through The Ramble centuries, or even weeks, from now.

This story also ties in nicely with our nation's next presidential inauguration - that of Joe Biden - which will occur this Wednesday.

John Tyler, the 10th President of the United States, was the first Vice-President who was elevated into the Presidency.  He took over as President in early 1841 when his boss, William Henry Harrison, died just 31 days after being sworn in as President.  Tyler, a Whig, had a tumultuous four years in office which included an attempt by Congress to impeach him, the death of his first wife, and a marriage to a much younger woman.    He was ultimately denied his party's nomination for a second term.   John Tyler left office in March of 1845 - a little over 175 years ago.

John Tyler had been born on March 29, 1790, in Virginia just eleven months after George Washington, another Virginian, was sworn in as our nation's first President.   Tyler died in Richmond, Virginia, in 1862 during the Civil War.

The article that I came across yesterday had to do with Harrison Ruffin Tyler, a grandson of John Tyler - and also a Virginian.   Amazingly Harrison Ruffin Tyler, President John Tyler's grandson (the son of Tyler's son, Lyon Gardiner Tyler), is still alive and kicking.  President John Tyler's grandson is 91 and lives in a Virginia nursing home.  (Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States at the time of John Tyler's death - although, at that time, Virginia was no longer a part of the United States.)

John Tyler had more children than any other US President - fifteen - and Lyon Gardiner Tyler was a child from the second, younger wife.  Lyon Gardiner Tyler was born in 1852 when his father was a spry 62-years-old.  Lyon Gardiner Tyler, in turn, was 75-years-old when he blessed the world with Harrison Ruffin Tyler.

Harrison Tyler's older brother, Lyon, Jr., died this past October at the age of ninety-five.

And this Wednesday, Harrison Ruffin Tyler, the grandson of a man who was born when George Washington had been President less than a year, will be able to switch on his television, using a remote control, and see Joe Biden sworn in as our country's 46th President.  (Or he might pull it up on his laptop or listen to it on his smart speaker.)   That is quite a stretch of history for just three generations of one American family!

Not many of us can boast of having a grandparent who was alive during the administration of George Washington - during the first year of his first term, no less!

No Honor Among Thieves

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump have more than just a lawyer-client relationship.  The two old New Yorkers have run in the same circles for years and are friends of longstanding.  And while some question Rudy's legal abilities and even his mental acuity, Trump has seen fit to entrust the aging former Mayor of New York City with his legal maneuverings as he sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election with a variety of legal challenges.

Rudy was Trump's guy, and he dutifully charged at every windmill as both old men did their damnedest to change the results of a free and fair election.  But none of those windmills fell.   

On January 6th everything came apart.  Congress was meeting to certify the electoral votes and officially declare Joe Biden the winner, but Trump, who believed that his Vice President could derail that process and invalidate the election, had encouraged people to show up in Washington, DC, for the purpose of intimidating the Congress.  That morning Trump went out on the Ellipse and addressed a large group of tattooed hillbillies and other Trump supporters, many of them armed, and encouraged the maladjusted miscreants to march on Congress.  Rudy was there too, and he spoke to the crowd of a "trial by combat."  Then both of the old men tottered back into the White House to watch the revolution on television.

The crowd went to the Capitol, forced their way in, and spent the morning creating havoc.  Five died as a result of the invasion, many more were injured, and damage to property was extensive - and before another week had passed Donald Trump had been impeached for a second time, this time for inciting a riot.  Congress was not happy, the country was not happy, and Trump, who never takes responsibility for anything, began casting about looking for people to blame.

And Donald Trump, who has a long and well known history of being a deadbeat, and in particular of stiffing his attorneys, turned on Rudy.  Trump informed his closest aides to quit paying Rudy, and he also instructed them to begin going over Rudy' travel expenses with a fine-tooth comb.

Rudy, whose legal expertise had produced nothing of apparent value in Trump's struggle to remain in office, had been billing the Trump campaign $20,000 per day, plus expenses, for his services.  He was over -charging, but it made no difference because Trump wasn't planning on paying anyway.

In the end Trump got what he paid for - nothing, and Rudy was compensated with an amount relative to the value of his services - again, nothing.  

And this coming Wednesday the government of the United States of America will be blessedly rid of the both of them!

Ancestor Archives: Louella Pritchard (1871-1954)

 by Rocky Macy

Louella Pritchard

At the time of her birth on December 5^th, 1871, Louella PRITCHARD was already a 4th generation resident of Newton County, Missouri.  Louella’s mother, Julia Ann MARTIN had also been born in Newton County (1852), and Julia Ann’s father and grandfather had settled in the county by the mid-1840’s.  

Louella PRITCHARD married William Stephen MACY on April 3^rd, 1887.  She was fifteen-years-old and William was a far more mature twenty-five.   Individual photos of the two taken at about that time suggest that they were a strikingly handsome young couple. 
 
Louella was a life-long resident of Newton County, and when she passed away on June 6^th, 1954, in Neosho, she had 133 living descendants, many of whom were also residing Newton County.  The impact that Louella PRITCHARD MACY had on her county and her community was far-reaching and immeasurable.

Louella was the oldest child of Eugene Marshall Stanley PRITCHARD, an Arkansas transplant to Missouri,  and Julia Ann MARTIN.  According to the 1940 US Census, Louella had an 8^th grade education.   It was not long after she completed the 8^th grade that Louella became a bride.

 
(There are several variations of Louella’s given name on different historical records.   She was listed as “Luella” on her marriage record in 1887 and on the 1920 US Census, as “Lu” in the 1900 US Census, and “Louella” in the 1910 and 1930 US Censuses,  and “Lou Ella” in the 1940 US Census.    Her death certificate recorded her given name as “Louella,” as did her obituary, and her tombstone reads “Lu Ella Macy.”  I have also seen the pushed together form of “LouElla” used to refer to this lady, and a letter to her from her grandson Wayne MACY who was serving overseas in World War II was addressed to “Mrs. Lue Macy.”  I have chosen to go with the more common “Louella” for this biographical sketch.)
 
Louella and William Stephen MACY had seven children, six of whom survived their parents.  They were:  William “Arnold”  (1889-1963),  Claude (Edgar or Everett) (1891-1930),   John “Orville”  (1893-1978),   Amia Bell  (1895-1977),   Walter “Jack”  (1898-1974),  Charles Eugene  (1900-1972),  and  Ina “Pearl”  (1903-1989).   
 
William Arnold MACY married Annie L. Gay WILLARD;  Claude E. MACY married Byrl Lelia WALKER;   John Orville MACY married Ida Belle CRABTREE;  Amia Bell MACY married Harry BUZZARD;   Walter Jack MACY married Ethel B. NUTT;  Charles Eugene MACY (my paternal grandfather) married Hazel Josephine NUTT;   and, Ina Pearl MACY married Cloyce Otis (Jack) L0WE.   (Ethel and Hazel NUTT were sisters.)
 
William and Louella were married young, and even though their marriage lasted more than fifty years until William’s death in 1938, the union was not without difficulties.   There was a ten-year period between 1918 and 1938 in which William published three notices in Neosho area newspapers where he disavowed debts incurred by Louella, clear indications that there was trouble in the marriage.  Those notices follow:
 

Neosho Daily Democrat, June 25^th, 1918:
Notice
“Neosho, Mo, June 22.  After the above date I will not be responsible for any debts contracted by my wife, or for any checks written by her or anyone else signing my name.  W.S. Macy”

Neosho Daily Democrat, December 15^th, 1925:
NOTICE TO PUBLIC  
“This is notify anyone concerned that I will not be responsible for any debts made or checks signed by anyone but myself.  W.S. Macy”

Neosho Daily News, January 7^th, 1928:  
NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC
“My wife having left my bed and board, I will not stand good for any debts made by her or cash and checks issued by her.  W.S. Macy”

Part of the friction between William and Louella may have centered on her spending habits.  I remember listening to a conversation between my father, Garland Eugene MACY and his younger brother, Tommy Dean MACY.  Uncle Tommy was talking about their grandmother, Louella, and said, “Do you remember, Garland, how Grandma would buy anything – whether she needed it or not – if the salesman would let her have it on credit?”  William, who made his living farming and buying and selling land, may have not felt that he was in a position to support his wife’s careless spending.
 
After William Stephen MACY died in 1938, Louella spent most of the remaining sixteen years of her life residing in the home of her daughter, Ina “Pearl” LOWE in Neosho.   Pearl and her husband, Jack, ran a taxicab company in Neosho before, during, and after World War II.   (After my father, Garland MACY, completed school at the rural school of Westview - which only went through tenth grade - he moved to Neosho and lived with the LOWEs while he finished high school.  He also worked for their cab company.)
 
A discussion of Louella PRITCHARD MACY’s later life would not be complete without a mention of her most notorious bad habit:  she enjoyed smoking a corncob pipe, and, according to my father, could usually be found sitting on the front porch of Pearl’s house in Neosho with her bare feet propped up on the porch railing while she smoked her pipe.  Dad said that some of the people in Neosho regarded it as scandalous behavior.
 
My mother had issues with Louella’s pipe.  I was just barely six when Grandma Louella passed away, but I have a few memories of her sitting in our kitchen smoking and talking while Mom stayed busy with household chores like cooking or ironing.   Grandma Louella would light her pipe by striking a long kitchen match across the wooden bottom of our kitchen table – and every time the pipe would go out she would strike another match.  Those matches left long black marks on the underside of the table, and after Louella would finally leave, my mother, a fastidious housekeeper, would crawl under the table and scrub off the black marks – and she would have plenty to say as she did it!  
 
When my little sister, Gail, would get fussy or angry, Mom would invariably start calling her  “Miss Pritchard!”
 
My aunt (by marriage) Mary Olive DAY moved to Neosho from Kansas City when she was in high school.  She later married my Dad’s oldest brother, Wayne Hearcel MACY just before the outbreak of World War II.  Aunt Mary tells the story of walking home with her new Neosho school friend, Jane LOWE, one day and being surprised to see a little old woman sitting on Jane’s front porch smoking a corncob pipe.  She said she was kind of shocked, but Jane reassured her that it was just her grandmother - and she enjoyed the pipe!
 
Aunt Mary also said that there was some irritation among Louella’s grandchildren because she seemed to show a preference for her grandson Wayne – which Mary said was because Wayne (whom Mary later married) “was so cute.”  In a letter to his grandmother dated January 1^st, 1944, Wayne, who was then serving with the US Army in Wales, seemed to play on her fondness for him.  (In the salutation Uncle Wayne refers to the old lady as “Grunt,” which is apparently a nickname or a name with some special meaning to the two of them.   Here is what he had to say in that V-Mail:
 

“Dearest Grunt, 

Hello my Sweet, and how are you these days, spry as ever I know. 

I ought to be ashamed of myself because I don’t write more often, but you are so hard to keep track of.  I tell everyone to give you my love and I (am) 100% ok.   Just homesick naturally. 

Are you staying home much this winter? 

I told mother to give you some pictures of me, did you get them? 

Well my Darling, bed time.  Tell them all hello and to write. 

Always thinking of you. 

Wayne”

My father, Garland Eugene MACY, who was three years younger than his brother, Wayne, described his Grandmother Macy in handwritten notes this way:  

"My grandmother Macy, (LouElla) died when I was 30, so I got to know her better, even lived with her one time as did most of her grandkids.  She was the greatest.   (She) smoked a cob pipe and would let you get away with anything."
 
One of the few trips that Louella PRITCHARD MACY took beyond the borders of Newton County, or at least outside of Missouri, occurred in 1942 when she was apparently the chaperone on a road trip with three of her grandchildren.  In March of 1942 my father, Garland MACY, aged 17, and Jane (aged 17) and Buddy LOWE (aged 7) drove from Neosho to Fort Riley, Kansas,  to visit Jane’s boyfriend who was stationed there.   My Dad and Jane were probably planning on having a great weekend on the road until Aunt Pearl LOWE, Jane’s mother, put little Buddy and Grandma in the car with them!
 
Here is the article that ran in the "Neosho Daily Democrat" on March 6^th, 1942, about that trip:
 

“Jane and Buddy Lowe, Garland Macy, and their grandmother, Mrs. W.S. Macy, drove to Ft. Riley, Kansas, last weekend and visited Grady Colvin who is in camp there.”

 
Twelve years after that Buddy Dean LOWE, then 19, was himself in the Army and stationed at Ft. Bliss, Texas.  On February 2^nd, 1954, the following piece ran in "The Neosho Daily News:"
 

“Pvt. Buddy Dean Lowe who has just completed his basic training at Ft. Bliss is spending the day in Neosho.  He is visiting his grandmother, Mrs. W.S Macy of Ford Street, his sister and family, and will go on to Stella to visit his other grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. R.L. Lowe.  Pvt. Lowe will be stationed at Ft. Bliss following his leave.”

 
Louella, who had been in residence in Buddy’s home for most of his life, undoubtedly enjoyed getting to see her grandson one last time.  She passed away just a little over four months later on June 6^th, 1954.
 
The obituary of Louella PRITCHARD MACY ran in “The Neosho Daily News” on June 7^th, 1954:
 

Mrs. Louella Macy
 
Mrs. Louella Macy, 82, died in Sale Memorial Hospital at %:10 o’clock Sunday morning. 

She is survived by six childen, Arnold, Orville, Charlie and Jack, Sr., of Neosho, Rt. 4, Mrs. Harry Buzzard of Neosho, and Mrs. Jack Lowe of Joplin;   40 grandchildren, and  87 great-grandchildren. 

Funeral services will be held at the Belfast Church of Christ at 2;30 o’clock tomorrow afternoon with Rev. James Hall of Monett officiating. 

Burial will be in h Belfast Cemetery under the direction of Thompson Funeral Home.

 
Today Louella PRITCHARD MACY’s legacy lives on through hundreds of descendants.  She was a unique individual who lived life on her own terms – and if her corncob pipe wasn’t buried with her, it should have been!

The Tenacious Ten

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

The big news from yesterday is that the United States House of Representatives voted to impeach Donald Trump for the second time during his four-year squat in the White House.  The even bigger news is that this time ten Republican members of Congress voted with the entire Democratic caucus  in favor of the Article of Impeachment, whereas in the impeachment hearings of 2019, none of the House Republicans had joined with the Democratic majority.    The final vote this time was 232 to 197, a bipartisan victory for law and order over anarchy.

Trump's overt action that brought about the current impeachment, inciting a mob to invade the US Capitol Building and threaten Congress, was so outrageous and dangerous - spawning five deaths including one direct homicide, numerous injuries, property damage, and the spread of disease - that even ten members of his own political party could not overlook it.

The ten Republicans who stood up for the Constitution and democracy in the face of certain political reprisals from Trump loyalists showed a level of courage seldom seen in modern American politics.  The tenacious ten representatives were:  Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Peter Meijer of Michigan, Dan Newhouse of Washington, Tom Rice of South Carolina, Fred Upton of Michigan, David Valadao of California, and the third most powerful Republican in the House, Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming.

After the vote Representative Cheney was immediately threatened with the loss of her leadership position by Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, a former assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University.  Ms. Cheney, however, was not going to be bullied by a failed shower room attendant, and snapped back that she was not going anywhere.  (When those two hit the mat, the smart money is likely to be on Darth Vadar's daughter!)

Thank you to the ten brave Republican souls who had the political courage to put country over party politics and stand up for the rule of law and the democratic process.  You have illuminated yourselves as true profiles in courage!

Pelosi Tightens Down the House

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

This promises to be an historic day for the US House of Representatives because late this afternoon the House is expected to impeach Donald Trump for the second time.  This will be only the fourth time in history that a sitting US President has been impeached - and the first time that a President has been impeached twice.  Also noteworthy in this act is the possibility that for the first time in history, the US Senate might be receptive to convicting the impeached President.

But impeachment is not the only topic roiling the House today.  Last Wednesday the nation watched in horror as a large group of flag-waving and (some) gun-toting miscreants forced their way into the US Capitol Building where one defender of the building - a Capitol policeman - was murdered by the mob and four other people died as a result of medical crises brought on by the anarchy and turmoil in the halls and offices of the seat of our nation's government.

During the chaos of last Wednesday members of the House and Senate were removed from their chambers and taken to secret locations in the building.  They were packed into tight quarters, and in one particularly crowded location where House members were sequestered, tensions erupted when some Republicans in the room refused to wear face masks to protect themselves and others from the added threat of COVID transmission.  Now, a week later, three House members who were stuffed into that location have tested positive for COVID - and one is a 75-year-old cancer survivor.

Speaker Pelosi instituted a mandatory face mask requirement last summer, a mandate that some Republican members either ignored - or evaded by taking their masks off once they were seated in the House chamber.

So now Pelosi is upping her game.

Today the House is expected to enact a rule that will get into members' pockets if they flaunt that particular mandate.  The new rule will stipulate that any House member who  presents on the floor of the House without a face mask will be fined $500 for the first offense, and $2,500 for the second offense - and the fines will be deducted from their paychecks.  The new rule will also stipulate that fines cannot be paid from campaign funds or the expense accounts of members.

And, needless to say, some members are not happy about being "forced" to do anything.

Metal detectors are also being installed in the Capitol, and now House members will have to pass through those devices on their way into the House chamber.  The intent is presumably to deny members the ability to carry firearms onto the House floor.    Many House members see metal detectors as common sense, especially in times of great national turmoil, but others see them as a direct attack upon their 2nd Amendment "rights."

Gun-toting House members should expect no support or comfort from the 80-year-old Speaker who was the primary quarry being sought by some of the armed invaders of the Capitol last Wednesday.

House members whining about having to follow a process that millions of school students deal with daily are just pathetic.  Members of Congress who refuse to take basic safety precautions to protect themselves and their colleagues should be expelled and sent home - just like their grandchildren who refuse to behave at school!

Wear the damn masks - and leave your damned guns at home!

Morons.

Privileged White Shaman Demands Organic Option

by Pa Rock
Former Phoenician

It's happening today in Phoenix, Arizona, the very place where former Sheriff Joe Arpaio once forced his prisoners to live in sweltering tents, spend their days watching the Disney Channel and religious programming on television, and subsist on green baloney sandwiches.  Now the feds are housing a prisoner in Phoenix, a star of sorts who until a few days ago was no one of consequence, and those feds are treating their prisoner much differently than Old Joe treated his.

Arizona native Jacob Anthony Chansley, who is also known as Jake Angeli and the Q-anon Shaman, is a 33-year-old conspiracy nut who has a flair for the theatrical.  Last week Jake was generally cited as being the most creatively costumed protester in the Capitol when he showed up shirtless, with copious amounts of body paint including his face which was covered in a red, white, and blue design, and was decked out in furs and wearing horned headgear.

The howling shaman was photographed at various locations throughout the Capitol as he cavorted with his fellow insurrectionists, and at one point he was even photographed taking the dais in th Senate chamber.  He had a swell time during his brief outing to Washington, DC - yes he did! 

But the government of the United States of America was not amused, and shortly after Jake's return to Arizona he was arrested and charged with violent entry into the Capitol grounds - and disorderly connect.   However, as soon as the feds got their now infamous media whore under lock and key, he began making trouble.  Jake, it seems, could not eat the food he was given because it was not organic.  He refused to eat and called out the big guns to aid getting his demands met for more humane treatment.

Jake's mother went to the press and told them of her son's hunger strike.  She explained that if he doesn't eat organic food he will get "physically sick."   Then his attorney went into court and told the judge that poor Jake needs a "shaman's" diet.  

The feds quickly backed down to the demands of their middle class, white, privileged guest, and Jake the Shaman is now reportedly receiving the organic food to which his sensitive palate has become accustomed.

Jake the Shaman undoubtedly has a full range of cable television selections as well.

And somewhere nearby Joe Arpaio is probably crying in his beer and howling at the desert moon as he laments the complete capitulation of law enforcement!

(Jake the Shaman had best enjoy the privileges of being white and middle class in this life, because the next time around he might find himself being born into a genuine Native American family and living on a deplorable reservation.  Real Native Americans seldom have an "organic" option!)

Monday's Poetry: "Reluctance"

by Pa Rock
Poetry Appreciator

New England poet Robert Frost penned the poem "Reluctance" in 1912.   The verse expresses the feelings of the poet as he comes in from a long walk in the countryside.  It conveys a sense of loneliness and melancholy, and some critics have cast it as a yearning for a lost love.  To me it describes the desolation of winter as the earth awaits its rebirth in the spring, and it acknowledges the seasons of the year as well as the seasons of life.  

This tired old man is feeling the onset of his winter, and he takes some comfort in the warm cloak of the poet's familiar allusions.  More than a centrury onward and the dead leaves lie huddled and still across my  horizon.  I am here but for awhile, and I have climbed my own hills and walked.my own fencerows, but through it all I have been little more than a distraction in a process that has gone on for eons and will continue long after I, myself, lie huddled and still, beneath the ground - and beneath those dead leaves of winter.  I know my fate, and accept it with reluctance.

Reluctance

by Robert Frost

Out through the fields and the woods

   And over the walls I have wended;

I have climbed the hills of view

   And looked at the world, and descended;

I have come by the highway home,

   And lo, it is ended.

 

The leaves are all dead on the ground,

   Save those that the oak is keeping

To ravel them one by one

   And let them go scraping and creeping

Out over the crusted snow,

   When others are sleeping.

 

And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,

   No longer blown hither and thither;

The last lone aster is gone;

   The flowers of the witch hazel wither;

The heart is still aching to seek,

   But the feet question ‘Whither?’

 

Ah, when to the heart of man

   Was it ever less than a treason

To go with the drift of things,

   To yield with a grace to reason,

And bow and accept the end

   Of a love or a season?

Hawley's Star Plummets

by Pa Rock
Missouri Voter 

Missouri's junior United States senator, Joshua David Hawley, thought his political star was ascending.  In fact, until just a few days ago, the young senator seemed to believe that he was on a trajectory that would land him in the White House, and perhaps he still does.  But others are viewing the recent antics of Hawley in a more realistic light.

Senator Ben Sasse, for instance, of Missouri's neighboring state of Nebraska, didn't seem to have any qualms at all when he recently referred to Hawley as a "dumbass."

Josh Hawley, an Arkansas native who graduated from a private Catholic high school in Kansas City and went on to collect degrees at Stanford and Yale, was elected Attorney General of Missouri in 2016.  He was aided in his political ambitions by Jack Danforth, a Republican former Missouri Attorney General, US Senator, and scion of the Ralston-Purina family business empire.  Within the past few days, Danforth, too, has turned on Hawley saying that he regrets his mentorship of the young man and calling that association one of the worst mistakes he ever made.

Hawley, who when he ran for Missouri Attorney General, vowed that he would not use that office as a stepping stone - and that he would serve his full term if elected - quickly jettisoned that promise two years later when the Missouri GOP hierarchy and some national Republicans leaned on him to challenge Claire McCaskill for her Senate seat.  Hawley jumped at the bait, ran, and defeated McCaskill, becoming the youngest sitting United States senator.

Talk of a future Hawley presidential bid immediately began circulating, some of which undoubtedly started with Hawley himself.  He and his wife and their two young sons relocated to the Virginia suburbs of Washington DC, a move that was somewhat problematic because they bought an expensive home in Virginia (in excess of a million dollars) but had no physical residence in Missouri, the state that he was representing in the Senate.  The senator now claims his sister's home in Ozark, Missouri, as his voting residence - which is about a half-a-step above former Kansas Senator Pat Roberts who claimed a recliner at a friend's home in Dodge City as his Kansas residence.

If Hawley was going to run for President, he needed a national constituency - which meant that he had to keep his name in the news and appeal to a large group of people.  Hawley consciously chose to pursue Donald Trump's base as his own, and he tailored his politics to appeal to Trump's MAGA crowd - and to Trump himself.  It appears to have been Hawley who convinced Trump to demand an increase in the latest round of stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000, an effort that ultimately failed but was politically popular across a wide swath of America.

A couple of weeks ago Josh Hawley made a bold political move to ingratiate himself with Trump supporters.   Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was trying to insure that no Republican senators moved to challenge the Congressional electoral vote certification scheduled for January 6th - because if even one senator joined a rebellious effort in the House to challenge the election results, that would force every senator to take a public position on the matter - something that could be politically detrimental to senators who chose to operate within the realm of political reality.  

For awhile it looked like Mitch could keep his senators in line - but then Hawley bucked the leadership and said that he would challenge the results on January 6th.  The dam was broken and soon thirteen other senators rushed to also ingratiate themselves with Trump by joining Hawley's doomed challenge.

And for a couple of glorious days Senator Joshua David Hawley was a mighty big man in Washington, DC - but then January 6th arrived,  Donald Trump met with hundreds of angry MAGAts on the Ellipse and encouraged them to march on the Capitol, Josh Hawley was photographed with his fist in the air as he made his way to the Capitol, the protestors stormed the building, people were injured and some died, confusion and hysteria reigned - and that night when peace was finally restored, Josh Hawley joined with six other senators and still voted to not accept the electoral college vote count!

In the days that followed Senator Hawley was condemned by the major newspapers of Kansas City and St. Louis, some of his colleagues in the Senate began to distance themselves from the ambitious senate newcomer, corporate sponsors began backing away, and then . . . and then . . . the major publishing house of Simon and Schuster announced that they were cancelling a deal to publish a book by Hawley.   The ambitious politician was stung - and angry - and vowed that he would see his former publishers in court.

Good luck with that, Josh,  Meanwhile, you are still on the federal payroll as a United States Senator from Missouri.  Remember Missouri?   Maybe you could put your national aspirations on hold  and work for us folks back in Missouri - for a change - at least a little while.

You might even like honest work if you gave it a chance, Josh.  You'll never know if you don't try.

Arkansas Anarchist in Federal Custody

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Richard Barnett of the small community of Gravette, Arkansas, had his fifteen minutes of fame this past Wednesday when, as a member of the lawless mob that overran the United States Capitol, he took selfies and posed for photos sitting in Nancy Pelosi's office with his feet on her desk.  Later, outside of the Capitol, Barnett showed off a letter that he had taken off of Pelosi's desk.  After invading the office of the third most powerful individual in the United States government and stealing mail off of her desk, Barnett managed to exit the office and the building with no consequences, give a few press interviews, and then make his way home to Northwest Arkansas.  

Meanwhile, the Federal Bureau of Investigation waded into the matter and began investigating the armed insurrection that had taken place in and around the nation's Capitol Building.  As a part of that effort the FBI started combing through social media and identifying people involved in the anarchy.  Richard Barnett undoubtedly came to their attention quickly.  Arrests began being made.

Yesterday, to Richard Barnett's credit, he turned himself in to the sheriff's office in his home county, and he is now in federal custody.

I don't know Richard Barnett, but I do know the area that spawned him.  My hometown, Noel, Missouri, is located just three miles north of the Arkansas state line, and is about fifteen miles north of the town of Gravette (population 3,340 in 2018).  

Gravette is unique because it is a very small community located in one of the fastest growing counties in Arkansas.  Benton County (population 279,141 in 2019) is the home of Walmart, the world's largest corporation, Tyson Foods, and Jones Truck Lines.  But Gravette sits off by itself in the northwest corner of Arkansas's northwest county, relatively unfazed by the rapid growth of its once small-town neighbors of Bentonville and Rogers.  Current Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson is a native of Bentonville, the county seat of Benton County.

Gravette has a small, struggling hospital, a K-12 school system, and a contingent of small businesses that are common in many communities of that size.  There is a SONIC drive-in and a couple of coffee shops, flea markets and "seconds" shops, and two or three quickstops that sell gasoline, snacks, and fast food.  The town also has a large supermarket, but - as of my last visit a couple of years ago - no Walmart.

In most ways Gravette, Arkansas, is no different than thousands of other small towns in America.   The fact that a resident of this fairly insignificant American community pushed his way into the office of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives wasn't all that surprising, because it is those residents of those types of communities, to whom Trump has been speaking for years.

Trump gave the marching orders, and they marched.  This weekend Trump will be golfing, and Richard Barnett will be cooling his heels behind bars.

And if Richard Barnett thinks that Donald Trump cares about him or his circumstances, he is sadly mistaken.

Ancestor Archives: William Stephen Macy (1862-1938)

by Rocky Macy

(Note:  I am starting a project this year to recognize and write about a group of my ancestors, and will try to cover one ancestor per week over the course of at least a year.  Those profiles will initially be published in this blog, and with the intention of eventually collecting them into a historical volume for my children and grandchildren.   I am going to begin this effort with profiles of my eight great-grandparents.   Three of them were alive when I was born in the spring of 1948, and I have memories of two of them.  Today’s initial entry is focused on my direct-line paternal great-grandfather, William Stephen MACY of Newton County, Missouri.  All eight of my great-grandparents were, in fact, residents of Newton County, Missouri.  Form note:  All surnames – family names – will be reported in all capital letters.)
 
William Stephen MACY was born on January 17^th, 1862, on the Solomon River near Emporia, Kansas.   He married Louella PRITCHARD on April 3rd, 1887, in Neosho, Newton County, Missouri.  William died on September 30^th, 1938, in Newton County, Missouri .   William is buried at Belfast Cemetery in rural Newton County, Missouri.  That cemetery is located on land that was part of the parcel that formed his parents' home place in Newton County.
 
(William’s middle name is sometimes listed as “Steven” on historical documents.   I have chosen to go with “Stephen” because that was spelling used on his death certificate, and the informant on that document was William’s oldest son, William Arnold Macy – a man who likely knew how his father spelled his name.  It was also the spelling in his obituary.)
 
William’s parents were Charles MACY  (1831-1876) and Mary Jane (MEADOR) MACY (1834-1876), both of whom were born in Kentucky and died in Missouri.   From information contained n census records regarding the years and locations of the births of their children, it would appear that Charles and Mary Jane MACY moved their family to Neosho, Newton County Missouri, in 1866 or 1867, shortly after the close of the Civil War.  

Every census for William from 1870 until his final entry in 1930 had him as being a resident of Newton County, and each entry listed William in the Neosho area except for 1910 in which he was enumerated in Seneca and 1930 which had him in Dayton Township which is located between Neosho and Seneca.  

A "moving sale" notice which ran in the "Neosho Daily News" on October 3rd,  1919, provided information on one of his moves:

"W.S. Macy has sold his farm 2-and-a-half miles south and 2 miles west of Neosho, near the Jay Bird school house, and is preparing to move onto the J.R. McElhany property in the west part of town, which belongs to him.  In order to get rid of surplus stuff he does not care to move he has decided to hold a public sale of livestock, farming implements, household goods, etc., on Monday, October 13th."

 
William and Louella had seven children:  William Arnold (1889-1963), Claude E. (Edgar or Everett) (1891-1930), John Orville (1893-1978), Amia Bell (1895-1977), Walter Jack (1898-1974), Charles Eugene (1900-1972), and Ina Pearl  (1903-1989).
 
William Arnold MACY married Annie L. Gay WILLARD;  Claude E. MACY married Byrl Lelia WALKER;   John Orville MACY married Ida Belle CRABTREE;  Amia Bell MACY married Harry BUZZARD;   Walter Jack MACY married Ethel B. NUTT;  Charles Eugene MACY (my paternal grandfather) married Hazel Josephine NUTT;   and, Ina Pearl MACY married Cloyce Otis (Jack) L0WE.   William, John, and Walter were all commonly known by their middle names. Ethel B. NUTT and Hazel Josephine NUTT were sisters.   Ina Pearl and Jack LOWE ran a taxi company in Neosho during World War II and afterward.
 
My father, Garland Eugene MACY, often referred to his grandfather, William S. MACY, as being a man of property who “owned half of Newton County until he lost it all.”   A search of the property books in the Newton County Recorder of Deeds Office at the courthouse in Neosho, as well as an examination of many land transfer notices in various Neosho area newspapers over the years, revealed that William was a participant in over seventy land transactions between November of 1889 when he purchased land in Newton County from Matthew ROEDING and August of 1934 when he received or purchased land from his son, William Arnold MACY.   
 
Also in August of 1934 William and Louella underwent a “foreclosure sale” which seemed to end their 45-year string of property transactions.   1934 was the height of the Great Depression, and my father would have been almost ten-years-old when his grandfather suffered the indignity of being foreclosed upon, an event that undoubtedly remained vivid to him (my dad) over the years.
 
During the time that William was buying and selling property, he and Louella transferred land to three of their sons.  The couple sold or gave land to William Arnold Macy in August of 1911, to John Orville Macy in 1919, and they gave land and a small house and twenty acres to Charles Eugene MACY in December of 1931.  Charles and his wife, Hazel, were my grandparents.   According to a hand-written personal history written by my father, the small house that they were given by William and Louella was improved upon by Hazel’s father, Thomas Franklin NUTT, who added a couple of rooms to accommodate their growing family.

In that same set of handwritten notes my father described his grandfather, William S. MACY, this way:

"My granddad Macy died when I was fourteen.  He was a big man with a Model T coupe.  He was a trader in later life, good guy."

 Politically, William S. MACY was likely a Republican.  A notice in the October 19, 1926, edition of the “Neosho Daily News” reported that William had been appointed as a Republican Judge for Dayton Township in the upcoming general election scheduled for November 2^nd.

There was a documented history of marital turmoil between William and Louella.  On at least three occasions he ran notices in local newspapers indicating that Louella had left him and he would no longer be responsible for her expenditures or her debts.   Those notices were in the "Neosho Daily Democrat"  on June 25th, 1918 (page 1),  the "Neosho Daily Democrat" on December 15th, 1925, (page 1), and the "Neosho Daily News" on January 7th, 1928 (page 4).  The notice in 1928 read as follows:

"My wife having left my bed and board, I will not stand good for any debts made by her or cash any checks issued by her." 

(Louella was a bit of a character, and she will be covered more fully in her own profile.) 

William MACY lost property, and likely social status as well, with his foreclosure sale in 1934, and by 1938 his overall health had started to become fragile.     Mrs. W. H. BLAIR reported following item in the “Westview and Route 4” portion of the column “County Briefs” in the February 24th, 1938 edition of “The Neosho Times:”

 

“Uncle Will MACY had a bad heart attack Saturday night but was feeling some better Sunday.”

 

He passed away later that year on  September 30^th.

The obituary of William Stephen MACY ran on page four of "The Neosho Times" on October 13th, 1938.  (Note:  There is a one-day difference in William's date of birth as listed on his death certificate and the date as reported in his obituary.)    The obituary reads:

Death of Will Macy 

William Stephen Macy was born at Emporia, Kan., Jan. 16, 1862.  He moved with his parents in early life to Newton County where he spent the remainder of his life.  He was strong and vigorous until a few years ago when his health failed.  He fought hard in his declining years to regain his health but it was in vain and for weeks he stood on the threshold of death.  On Sept. 30th, 1938, as relatives and friends stood helplessly by, he closed his eyes to pass from the bank of death's river into an unknown land. 

Mr. Macy was united in marriage to Louella Pritchard in 1887.  To this union were born five sons and two daughters.  Arnold, Orville, Jack, Charley, and Mrs. Pearl Lowe of Neosho, and Mrs. Amy Buzzard of Carterville.  Two sisters and one brother survive, all of whom very tenderly cared for him during his sickness.  Also surviving are a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  One son, Claude, died several years ago.  Mr. Macy confessed in Christ 40 years ago, taking membership in the Christian Church. 

A host of relatives, friends and neighbors gathered at the Belfast Church of Christ Oct. 2 to pay tribute at the last rites, and the body was laid to rest in the Belfast cemetery, which is part of the old home place of his parents.  Funeral services were conducted by the Rev. Foster Ramsey of Neosho.

A well respected local figure had gone to his final rest after an active and very productive life.

Death and Resignations, Capitol Carnage Continues

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

The death toll from Wednesday's armed hillbilly attack on the nation's Capitol has now officially risen to five with the death yesterday of Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick, aged 42.  Officer Sicknick, a native of New Jersey and a veteran of our nation's wars in the Middle East, died of an apparent blood clot in the brain after  he was reportedly struck in the head with a fire extinguisher during the insurrection at the Capitol the day before.  His death is currently being treated as a homicide and is being investigated by the Capitol Police.  However, because the attack on the police officer took place on federal property, the FBI is expected to soon take over the investigation.

The party of law and order now owns the violent death of a white policeman.  That can't be sitting well with the GOP patriarchy.

That's five dead people:  One young woman was shot in the neck by Capitol Police as she and others tried to force their way into the House Chamber, a police officer suffered a fatal head injury that is being investigated as a homicie, and three others died of "medical emergencies" during the rampant violence and disorder.    There were numerous other injuries that required medical treatment and even hospitalization.  And it all happened in the US Capitol Building, the very heart of America''s once vibrant democracy!

In other fallout from Donald Trump's failed coup attempt, two Trump cabinet secretaries have announced their resignations as a result of Wednesday's bloody violence.  Yesterday Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said that she had had enough of Trump and would be leaving the administration effective Monday.  Chao did say that she would stand ready to help  her successor, Biden appointee Pete Buttigieg, as he assumes the mantle of Transportation Secretary.  In real life, Secretary Chao is Mrs. Mitch McConnell.

This morning billionaire Betsy DeVos, a major donor to the Trump campaign and to many Republicans nationwide, announced that she was stepping down as Secretary of Education.  She, too, expressed disgust with Trump's incitement of mob violence in the nation's capital.  DeVos, known to many as "Cruella DeVos," has spent the entire four years of the Trump administration trying to defund and undercut public education and to divert tax money to meet the needs of private, religious, and charter schools.  Of late she had made it known that she was encouraging career officials within th Department of Education to resist the efforts of the incoming Biden administration to dismantle her elitist concept of education.

And, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are demanding that Vice President Pence begin efforts to take Trump out of power through the 25th Amendment.  The two angry Democrats placed a call to Pence yesterday, and reportedly finally hung up after Pence kept them on hold for twenty-five minutes!  There is a petition circulating among House members to impeach Trump - again - and Pelosi is indicating that the House may proceed with that action if Pence does not act on invoking the 25th Amendment.

There is going to be hell to pay for that hillbilly from Gravette, Arkansas, putting his filthy feet on Nancy Pelosi's desk!

What will today bring?

Trump Presidency Flames Out in Unsuccessful Coup Attempt

by Pa Rock
Patriot

Donald Trump's joke of a presidency came to a screeching halt yesterday, two full weeks before its scheduled end, as Trump supporters, decked out in military gear and carrying banners, flags, and guns, stormed into the United States Capitol and tried unsuccessfully to lead a coup against this country's elected government.  It was a shameless chapter in American history that had been spurred on and energized by the ramblings and incessant lies of Donald Trump.

Protestors had been gathering in the DC area for the preceding twenty-four hours when Donald Trump spoke to the group on the Ellipse, a large park located south of the White House - where he continued to encourage the anarchy.  Trump's personal lawyer, crackpot Rudy Giuliani, also addressed the group and called for "trial by combat."   Trump and Giuliani then quickly returned to the White House where they likely hunkered down in front of a television and watched the Trump-inspired chaos on Fox.

Four people died in the chaos at the Capitol yesterday.   Ashli Elizabeth Babbitt, a 35-year-old resident of San Diego who had served multiple tours in the Air Force, was shot in the neck by Capitol Police as participated in a group who were trying to break into the House Chamber.  She died later in an area hospital.  Also three other rioters died of what was termed "medical emergencies."

Fourteen police officers were injured in the riot, and over fifty arrests were made.

Trump's former Secretary of Defense, Marine Corps General James Mattis, issued the following statement regarding the day's insurrection:

"Today's violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by Mr. Trump.  His use of the Presidency to destroy trust in our election and to poison our respect for fellow citizens has been enabled by pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice."

Donald Trump fomented the attempted coup, and he owns the turmoil, bloodshed, death, and destruction that ruled the day.  It was Trumps's show, and it ended his presidency.

Good riddance!

Sedition in the Show-Me State

by Pa Rock
Missourian

Congress meets today to formally accept the votes of the Electoral College and to declare Joe Biden the winner of last November's presidential election.    It is a perfunctory meeting that usually draws only a minimum of press attention, but today's gathering will be different from similar events of the past.  This time the country is dealing with a mentally impaired leader who refuses to accept the fact that he lost, and a divided Congress in which some members support challenging the process of democracy out of an abject fear of their party's leader, or out of fear of an under-educated constituency who may come after them in the next election if they don't drink Donald John Trump's kool-aid.

Missouri currently sends a total of ten individuals to Washington DC to represent our state in the legislative branch of government:  two U.S. Senators and eight Members of the House of Representatives. As of this morning our state's delegation to the Capitol is split evenly on the matter of certifying the results of the Electoral College count and the election of Joe Biden as President of the United States.

One of our two GOP United States Senators, Ol' Roy Blunt, will vote to affirm Biden's election, and the other GOP Senator, Josh Hawley, will rise and challenge the outcome.  Blunt, the Senate's current "Republican Policy Committee Chairman" and a member of the Republican leadership in the Senate, has spent much of his two terms in the Senate fluffing Mitch McConnell's seat cushions and is unlikely to ever cross Mitch politically if there is anyway to avoid it.  Also, Blunt's wife is a high profile Washington DC lobbyist and all of his grown children are lobbyists - and Ol'Roy is unlikely to ever do anything that would rattle the US Chamber of Commerce - like engage in open sedition.

But Senator Hawley has only been in DC for two years, and he has no compunctions at all about rattling political cages.  Hawley was the first member of the Senate to break ranks with McConnel and announce that he would challenge to the election certification.  He coughed up some malarkey about giving voice to a group of people whose concerns weren't being heard, even though record numbers of Americans went to their polling places in November and exercised their voices in the election.  Once Hawley broke the dam in the Senate, twelve more senators quickly rushed to join him.   Of these objectors to the process, Hawley and some of the others have obvious presidential ambitions of their own and seem to be consciously pandering to Trump's base.

Of Missouri's eight Members of the House of Representatives, two are Democrats and six are Republicans.  As of this morning it appears that the two Democrats (from the urban areas of St. Louis and Kansas City), will support the Constitution as will two of the Republicans, but the other four announced in a press release this past weekend that they are not on board with supporting the will of the people.  Those four, Representatives Jason Smith, Vicky Hartzler, Sam Graves, and Billy Long, issued a lengthy statement entitled "We Will Object."

In their manifesto the four, like Trump, imply that there were irregularities in the election without offering anything in the way of evidence.  Basically the four, like Trump, just do not care for the way the election turned out.  One must also suppose that they also feel compelled to object out of a fear as to what their largely rural electorates will do to them in two years if they fail to do everything conceivably possibly to keep Trump in power.

One of the election "abnormalities" that these geniuses cited was that Trump carried far more counties than Obama or Biden either one did.   Trump won 2,586 counties, while Obama carried 873 counties and Biden carried only 527.  Of course, what they neglect to point out is that the wide-ranging disparity in the amount of people living in various counties.   Los Angeles County, California, has 10.4 million people, while the whole state of Missouri has only 6.1 million.  Or compare Shannon County, Missouri, (which was the birthplace of one of our recent governors (Mel Carnahan) and the boyhood hoe of another (Bob Holden) with Los Angeles County.  Both tally as "one county" according to the new math of Missouri's rural congressmen, but while LA County has over ten million people, Shannon County, Missouri, is home to just over eight thousand individuals!  (8,189 in 2018).   Los Angeles County, California, has a population equal to almost 1,270 Shannon Counties.  Biden carried Los Angeles County, while Trump carried a bunch of counties on the order of Shannon.

Do the math.

And Jason Smith, who represents Shannon County in Congress, is a lawyer and a real estate broker who is smart enough to know that the number of counties won or lost in a presidential election doesn't mean diddly - it's just a distraction to sow confusion among his and Trump's noisy and gullible base.

This Missourian voted in the 2016 election and was very unhappy with the results, but I respected the democratic process - even with the Electoral College kink that put Trump in office.  He was elected by our established rules, and I accepted that.  Then I voted in the 2020 election and was pleased with that outcome - a wide popular vote victory for Biden and a substantial Electoral College win as well.   But now that election is being challenged because the out-going president and his minions "feel" that it must have been dishonest.

Trump was put in power by a process outlined in the Constitution of the United States, and he is being taken out of power through the auspices of that same document.  It's democracy in action, and it has kept our country together for more than two centuries.  But now some of our elected officials want to change the rules and keep their man in power - even though the citizens of the United States turned him out of power by a margin of more than seven million votes.  

Woe be to those who try to screw with our democracy.  Josh Hawley, Jason Smith, Vicky Hartzler, Sam Graves, and Billy Long all need to sit down and shut the hell up.   Their moaning and pissing goes against more than two hundred years of American democracy and bears a strong odor of sedition, and that is something that the citizens of the United States will never tolerate!

This isn't Russia - it's America.  The people have spoken and their voices must be respected!

Unelected and Unhinged: Trump Grapples with Reality

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump lost his bid for re-election more than two months ago, yet he is still struggling to convince people that he won - and those traitorous numbers be damned!  In a rare moment of honesty, Trump said before the election that he was a person who has trouble losing, and that certainly proved to be the case.

Trump assembled an odd team of lawyers who, without evidence, proceeded to raise legal challenges to voting results in a handful of "swing states," or states that if their outcomes changed could "swing" the election to Trump.  Of sixty-one cases filed, only one was ruled in Trump's favor, a minor victory that was later overturned by that state's Supreme Court.   The other sixty were either bounced out of court due to a lack of evidence, or the courts wound up ruling against the interests of Donald Trump.

The 2020 presidential election is over because the voters said so by giving Joe Biden a win by over 7 million votes.  The election is over because the Electoral College said so by giving Joe Biden a victory of 306 electoral votes to 232 for Trump.  And the election is over because sixty of sixty-one judges have said it's over!  The people, the Electoral College, and the courts are all in agreement:  Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.

Yet two months later Donald Trump is still being a sore loser.  Last night he was in Georgia, ostensibly campaigning for the two incumbent Republican US Senators there who are both facing re-election challenges today.  And yet, while he was there, Trump spent much more time whining about his own situation - and claiming that he was cheated out of a victory in Georgia and in the United States - again without evidence - than he did in promoting the election of the two struggling senators from his own party.

With Trump it's always about Trump.

This past weekend Trump made news after it was revealed that he had telephoned Georgia's Republican Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, and tried to get the state voting official to "recalculate" the state's votes to give Trump a victory.   Raffensperger, who was well aware of Trump's propensity for lying, took the precaution of having his lawyer sit in and listen to the call - and he took the extraordinary precaution of taping his conversation with Trump.  When Trump began lying about his conversation with the Georgia official, Raffensperger released the taped conversation of more than one hour to the press.

Whoops!

Carl Bernstein, a former journalist with TheWashington Post who was instrumental (along with Bob Woodward) in bringing down Richard Nixon, said that Trump's phone call to Brad Raffensperger this past Saturday night was more serious than anything that occurred in the Watergate era.

But Donald John Trump, a man with no shame, is unbowed.  Last night in Georgia he was still on the rampage claiming that the election had been stolen from him.   His political minions are reluctant to move on into the realm of reality out of a fear that he will wreck their political careers on his way out the door.

And wreck them he will.   Trump views the Constitution of the United States as little more than a bothersome pre-nup that he has to work around, and the whole of government as just one more casino that went belly-up under his watch.  Office holders and government workers, just like blackjack dealers, are little people of no consequence, and their problems are their own.  

Donald John Trump floats above all of the problems of common people, completely untethered from the reality that envelopes the rest of us lesser beings.

Monday's Poetry: "Invictus"

by Pa Rock
Poetry Appreciator

19th century British poet William Ernest Henley reportedly wrote his most famous poem, "Invictus" while in the hospital suffering from a painful disease that, at the time, was called "tuberculosis of the bone" or "Pott's Disease."  Henley's bout with that malady cost him the loss of a foot, and it nearly resulted in the poet losing a leg.

"Invictus" is about showing courage in the face of death and maintaining dignity throughout life's hardships, and it also speaks to the importance of personal responsibility.  South African leader Nelson Mandela regularly recited "Invictus" from memory during his 27-year imprisonment, and it's strong, clear message undoubtedly inspired Mandela not to waver in his commitment to achieve freedom for his people.

Here are those words of inspiration.  May they encourage personal strength and resolve as we begin the process of dealing with a new year.

Invictus

by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,

    Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

    For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

    I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

    My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

    Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

    Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

    How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

    I am the captain of my soul.

Yes, COVID Is Real, and Yes, It Does Kill People

by Pa Rock
Worshiper of Science

I have a good friend who, on one level, will take a couple of drinks and enjoy life as much as the next person, but on another level regards herself as a conservative Christian who feels the need to parrot the views of the preacher of whatever fundamentalist church she happens to be attending at a particular time.  Other people in our circle of friends tend to show this person the courtesy of not responding when she occasionally lapses into vocal reactionary episodes.

I remember, for example, an awkward silence in the room a few years back when this lady dropped a line into a group conversation to the effect that she could never vote for Obama because he was a socialist.  That from a person who purported to know well the mind  one of the more significant socialists in the history of mankind, Jesus Christ, and to be a follower of his teachings.

But small-time, backwater ministers who tailor their sermons to draw in large numbers of the faithful gullible who inhabit their particular backwaters, had hit on the notion that many of their available worshipers hated Obama - because he was black - and that they historically believed socialists were bad, like communists, though they could not even begin to accurately define either term.   And "Obama is a socialist" played well with the rubes who wandered into their churches in order that they could feel pious and good about themselves.

This week I spoke to my friend on the phone to wish her a Happy New Year.   My friend currently works in an isolated area, and the past few times I have talked to her she has been growing more and more angry at the pandemic  for increasing her sense of isolation - and when I talked to her a couple of days ago, that frustration was boiling over.

My friend, who has a college degree and a professional license, had convinced herself that the pandemic is not real, it is just something concocted by the government as a way of controlling people.  She assured me that she has done "research" and that  the inoculation program is part of the hoax.  I told her that 340,000 dead people indicate, to me at least, that the pandemic is real, but she countered that those are just people who died anyway, and that the government had "labeled" their deaths as COVID.  Some may have had COVID-like symptoms, but they had actually died of well known maladies one pneumonia and flu.  My friend also said that her "research" had shown that there have been no "extra" deaths over the past year, and the death totals are exactly what they would have been expected to be without the pandemic.

My friend said that she was not planning on getting the shot, and I told her that I was anxious to get mine.

By the time our conversation ended, strained, though amicable, I thought that I might be developing symptoms of COVID - my head was certainly hurting!

The last president may have been a "socialist," at least at-heart, but I will take a socialist any day over a "lunatic ignoramus," which is what we have now!

Congressman Matt Gaetz and Senator Marco Rubio are both well known for ignoring COVID basic safety precautions, such as wearing face masks in public - and yet both of these Florida Republicans literally jumped over health care workers and elderly Floridians in order to get their COVID shots early!  And Godfather's Pizza CEO and GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain and Congressman-elect Luke Letlow of Louisiana, another Republican, both chose not to wear masks during their political events, and now both of those men are dead - from COVID!

The government is predicting that there may be as many as 150,000 new deaths from COVID in the next month alone.  Those estimates are based on science - and not on the political posturing of Fox News or the ravings of some cornpone preacher who is trying to fill his pews with the gullible and his coffers with their grocery money.  

COVID is real, and yes, it does kill people!

Ending Compulsive Behaviors

by Pa Rock
Creature of Habit

I was careful not to make any resolutions for the New Year because there are already too many things on my crowded agenda that aren't getting the attention they deserve.  There are still some trips that I would like to make, I have a couple of writing projects that have been stalled for years, and I have a vision of completing one of those "Fifty-Two Ancestors in Fifty-Two Weeks" family histories - and this, the first week of a New Year, would be the ideal time to begin that project.

But again, I literally bury myself in activities that require regular attention and take away from any chance to get at new projects.  And with every day that passes, my opportunities to get things of consequence underway and completed are also lessened by a day.

I recently made small bit of headway when I came to the realization one morning that I had quit playing the state lottery.  It hadn't been a conscious decision, like when I quit smoking, but rather something that just sneaked up on me.  Suddenly I realized that it had been several weeks since I had last purchased a lottery ticket - and I hadn't gone through withdrawal or anything!  You might think that playing the lottery is not a time-eater, but it was the way I did it.  I drove to town once a day to buy two particular one-dollar tickets, and then I played the lottery's second chance game which required getting onto the internet every few days and entering information on my non-winning tickets.  Quitting the lottery freed up some serious time, and I didn't even suffer any withdrawal!

And the lottery was literally nothing compared to the time that I waste on Twitter!  I am hopeful that President Biden will noticeably lessen my frustration and outright anger toward government and leave me with less reasons to rush over to Twitter and vent my spleen, so that addiction may take care of itself.  And if it doesn't, I can always resort to the approach that I used to quit smoking and just go "cold turkey!"

I also have a couple of times a day that are set aside for reading, a compulsive habit that I will probably keep because it is good for the mind - and the soul, and my daily walking with a goal of 10,000 steps per day - a health activity that I will also likely strive to maintain.

But I remain uncertain as to what to do about the biggest time-eater in my schedule - this blog.    I begin typing each day by 9:30 a.m. or thereabouts, and it is often after noon when I finally complete what I have to say for the day.   Too often over the last four years the topic of the blog has devolved into Trump politics, something that not only sucked up my time, but also left me feeling like crap for the rest of the day.

I began this blog in November of 2007, back when George W. Bush was President and the idea of a President Obama was just a blip on the political radar.  Since the blog's inception the Bush presidency has ended, the Obama administration has come and gone, and the Trump one-term presidency is well into it's final month.  Soon we will witness the swearing-in of the fourth US President since I began this daily writing exercise.

And early next month I will complete the 5,000th entry in Pa Rock's Ramble.

Not only is this a compulsive activity that needs to go in order to free up scads of time, it is also a writing activity that has more than ran its course.

I haven't decided what changes to make, but I sense that change is about to come.  Sometime very soon I will either drop the daily deadline - or drop the effort altogether.  Until then, I will probably begin on the ancestor project and include those tales in The Ramble as a way of killing two birds with one stone.

Somehow I have t figure out a new way forward, but I refuse to put that in the form of a New Year's Resolution!

Requiem for a Lonely Red Rooster

by Pa Rock
Farmer in Winter

2020 just could not end without dropping one final note of sadness onto my little corner of the world.  

I have had poultry at The Roost since shortly after moving here in early March of 2014.  At one point I had a couple of dozen little red hens who were laying more eggs than I could give away.  Over the years I also had guineas, turkeys, geese, ducks, and peacocks in addition the red hens and roosters that were always underfoot as they worked the yard looking for bugs and worms and other delicious treats.  

But it seemed like the as the bird population increased, so did the number of predators who showed up to feast on my feathered friends, and gradually the poultry began decreasing.  I gave the peacocks and geese to a neighbor, and the guinea and turkey populations died out.    The chickens also went into a steep decline.  For the past two years The Roost has been home to just two fowl, a red hen and rooster, a devoted couple who were the best of friends and looked after each other.

A couple of months ago the little hen died of old age and decrepitude, conditions which are beginning to impact me as well.  The rooster was lonely, but adapted by taking up with the cats and always showing up for their feedings.  He slept in the chicken coop, and each morning at 4:00 when I went out to feed the cats, I would open the door to the coop and wish him a cheerful "Good morning!"  Somedays he would be crowing before I got there, and other days he would start after I opened the coop.  In the evenings he would head into the coop as the shadows began lengthening and would be up in the rafters by the time I came to close him in.

We had a good routine working for us.

Late yesterday evening when I went to feed the cats their supper, which the rooster often joined in if he had not already "flown up" in the coop, my friend, the rooster, was no where to be found.    I went looking and found him wandering aimlessly in the yard.  I tried to shoo him toward his coop, but when he got close he turned and ran away.  Realizing that there might be a predator in the coop, I got a flashlight and made a search of the little building - but found nothing.  I left the door open so that he could go in when the mood suited him.

About 8:00 p.m. I went outside for one final search and discovered the rooster, now soaked, roosting on the back of a lawn chair on the deck in the rain and drizzle.  I gathered him up and carried him to the coop where I turned on the lights and again looked around.  It was obvious that he was leary about being there, the only home he had ever known, but he eventually flew up into the rafters to roost. 

This morning, at 4:00 when I went out to feed the cats, I found my buddy, the old red rooster, dead in the chicken coop.  A predator had broken his neck and thrown him to the floor.  The attacker had not eaten his prey, just killed him.

The rooster had been born in an incubator on my kitchen table - along with several other baby chicks - in the spring of 2017, and he had spent his entire life within a couple of hundred yards of the place he was born.  The bird was an important part of the little farm, and he will be remembered and missed.

My friend crowed his last "good morning" at Rock's Roost on the morning of New Year's Eve, so I am recording December 31st as the official date of his demise.

2020 was a hard year at The Roost.  I spent almost the entire year in the house doing my best to avoid the pandemic, suffered a broken arm and the indignities that come with limited mobility, lost an entire order of baby chicks to a predator, witnessed the death the little red hen, lost Fiona, the mama farm cat, to a hit-and-run driver earlier in December, and now the rooster is gone.

Surely things will have to start getting better at some point!