Bobby Kennedy Remembered

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the leading candidate in the Democratic race to replace Lyndon Johnson as President, was assassinated fifty years ago this week.  Kennedy, who had been the Attorney General of the United States in the presidential administration of his older brother, John, left the Johnson administration after JFK's assassination and was elected to the U.S. Senate from New York.  He entered the 1968 presidential on March 16th of 1968, and Lyndon Johnson, the sitting Democratic President, announced fifteen days later that he would not seek re-election.  Many saw Kennedy's entry into the race as a prominent factor in Johnson's decision to pull out.


Bobby Kennedy quickly proved to be a formidable candidate.  He had, in fact, just won the California primary shortly before he was gunned down.  He was walking through the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles with supporters heading toward a press conference when a young Palestinian national, Sirhan B. Sirhan, managed to work his way through the crowd and shoot the senator in the head.

Kennedy died of his wounds at a Los Angeles hospital on June 6, 1968 - and with him died the hopes of many young Americans.

Delores Huerta, a co-founder along with Cesar Chavez, of the National Farmworkers Association (later called the United Farm Workers), was with RFK at the podium in the ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel shortly before he was shot.  In recent interviews about Kennedy and the events of that night, Huerta stressed how he was the hope of the nation's Hispanics.  She felt that the killing of Bobby Kennedy turned American history onto a dark path the resulted not only in the election of Richard Nixon later that year but seeped on down through history to the election of Donald Trump in 2016.   She saw Kennedy as the pivotal character who could have changed a half-century of history for the better.

Bobby Kennedy's death not only signaled the end of the era of American politics that eventually became known as Camelot, it also seemed to be the closing chapter in a bloody segment of our nation's history where liberal political figures - and Civil Rights workers - were being killed for their beliefs and political activism.  Bobby Kennedy was the last lion, and after he was gone the inequity of the status quo resumed its slow push downhill.

Robert Kennedy's light of promise was extinguished by violence, and, as a nation, we have been diminished by that act.  Rest in peace, Bobby, and know that you are still held in high regard in the hearts of millions.  You served us well, though far too briefly.

The GOP and Hotel Mattresses

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

What is it with Republicans and their fetish for hotel mattresses?

First Americans were shocked - or at least decent Americans were shocked - when stories began circulating during the last presidential campaign which suggested that Donald Trump had rented a particular hotel room in Moscow in order to defile a bed that the Obamas had slept on.  When Trump was in Moscow for the Miss Universe Pageant a couple of years earlier, he allegedly hired some Russian hookers for a urination party on the Obama bed.   A postscript to the sordid tale suggested that the Russian spy agency, the KGB, has a film of the pee party and that Vladimir Putin has used that film to blackmail Trump into being little more than a Russian stooge in the White House.

That's weird enough on its own, but now another hotel mattress story involving a prominent Republican politician is also emerging.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, a man who has a starring role in several on-going corruption scandals, is facing allegations that he used a top aid for several personal errands and other matters unrelated to her government duties.  The aid said that Pruitt had her booking personal flights for him, assisting in a housing search for the administrator, and even trying to get the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, to sell him a used mattress.

Several questions remain unanswered in this highly sensitive government matter.  For instance, was Pruitt trying to buy a particular mattress, perhaps one with which he had a sentimental attachment?  Was he possibly seeking a souvenir of a somewhat kinky nature from a property owned by Donald Trump?  Or did he have some legitimate and mundane use for a mattress and just wanted to save himself a few dollars by buying used?

Or perhaps he is planning a party?

Decent Americans probably don't want to know!

Monday's Poetry: "The Divine Right of Kings"

by Pa Rock
Poetry Appreciator

Yesterday in this space I waxed unamused at Donald Trump's seeming belief that he is well above and beyond any laws constructed by mortal man.  Trump, if he believed in any God besides himself, would undoubtedly see his power and authority in much the same manner as the European monarchs of old saw theirs - that it was granted to him - and them - by God.  Trump rules, and they ruled, because God ordained it, and mortal man has no authority whatsoever over whom God has anointed to lead.

With that preamble in mind, I went in search of a poem to highlight the sentiment.  I didn't find one that suited my frame of mind, but I did unearth a little gem by Edgar Allan Poe entitled "The Divine Right of Kings."  It is not, as the name implies, some heady verse attacking or sustaining the concept of autocratic monarchs, but rather a love ballad - the poet's declaration of love for a Miss Ellen King.

Nevertheless, the closing line could have been murmured with affection by Donald Trump speaking of himself, or by Trump's doting love hound, Rudy Giuliani - to which the poet would have certainly replied, "Nevermore!"


The Divine Right of Kings
by Edgar Allan Poe


The only King by right divine
Is Ellen King, and were she mine
I'd strive for liberty no more,
But hug the glorious chains I wore.

Her bosom is an ivory throne
Where tyrant virtue reigns alone;
No subject ice dare interfere
To check the power that governs here.

O!  would she deign to rule my fate,
I'd worship Kings and kingly state,
And hold this maxim all life long
The King - my King, can do no wrong.

Trump: Above and Beyond the Law

by Pa Rock 
Citizen Journalist

There were two stories in the news the past week which would seem to argue that the presidency of the United States is a position well beyond the reach of the law, an argument that might make the job especially appealing to a person whose business practices have historically been less than above-board.

Wouldn't life be great if we could do no wrong, regardless of the greed or wickedness of our intent?  Well, perhaps not to all of us, but certainly there would be a few who would relish the idea of the law always bending to suit them - or at least one big orange narcissist who had spent a lifetime believing that he was True North in a world of misguided losers.

The government released the monthly "jobs figures" earlier this week, a statement to the nation on the fluctuating unemployment rate.  The President of the United States has traditionally been briefed on this piece of economic data the evening before it is released to the public, but then keeps that information to himself until the announcement is officially made the next morning.  An unscrupulous President could, if he leaked the numbers early, impact the markets or assist his cronies in making a quick profit off of the information.

Donald Trump has been critical of this particular report in the past and whined that the information was compiled in such a way as to not give an accurate picture of the real jobs situation.  This week, however, the jobs numbers were particularly good, and Trump chose to tweet his pleasure regarding the report before it was officially released.  Under other circumstances, and with another leaker, this would have been regarded as a crime - the leaking or sharing of classified material.  However, Trump has always argued that since the President has the power to declassify anything, and he can never be guilty of leaking.  He simply "declassified" the material early.

And it can go well beyond jobs numbers.  By that logic, Trump could give top secret information on U.S. nuclear capabilities to Putin or some other Russian prostitute and be guilty of nothing because the material was declassified the moment it passed his pouty lips.

Another case arguing that the President is above the law surfaced yesterday when the New York Times revealed the text of a twenty-page letter that Trump's lawyers had sent to the Mueller investigative team in January.   That letter posited that the President could not obstruct justice because he is the head of the executive branch and essentially over all investigations within that branch - including the one that Robert Mueller is conducting.  The President cannot obstruct justice because he is justice.  If he does anything to change the course of justice, he is simply just rearranging the deck chairs on his yacht.  And the entire boat belongs to him anyway.

The President of the United States cannot be guilty of releasing classified material because if he reveals it, it is no longer classified - and - he cannot obstruct justice because justice serves at his pleasure anyway.

What a sweet job that is - especially for someone who has always held the law in contempt.   Donald Trump sees the presidency as one big, beautiful get-out-jail-free card.  He has always known he was above the law, and now he is.

And now, one of Trump's lawyers, Rudy Giuliani, is even saying that Trump probably has the power to pardon himself!

The voters own this catastrophic, moldering pile of self-righteousness, and now the voters must - MUST - fix it!

The Roy Blunt Health Care Award Scam

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

I received a most interesting piece of mail this week -  a glossy one page flyer informing me that several Missouri organizations were congratulating my state's junior senator, Ol' Roy Blunt, for being a champion of health care innovation.  The flyer came from a sketchy group called the American Life Sciences Innovation Council with a return address in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Blunt, the patriarch of a family of lobbyists, pulls down a handsome side income by serving in the United States Senate where he champions American corporate interests.  If he has any interest in health care, it is in ensuring that profits for insurance companies and the health industry are unimpeded.  He is a strong believer in the Republican political ethic that the only involvement government should have in health care is to pay the premiums of members of Congress - and screw everybody else.

But here was this group I had never heard of sending out a flyer telling me that seven Missouri groups were all congratulating Senator Blunt for being a "champion" of health care and then encouraging me to visit an internet site to learn more.  The seven groups, which all sounded like lobbying organizations, were:  Associated Industries of Missouri, Missouri Pharmacy Association, Missouri Biotechnology Association, SCIL (Choices and Empowerment for People with Disabilities), BioNexus of KC, and CHOP (the Coalition of Hematology and Oncology Practices).

The flyer contained a few photos of senior citizens and their doctors, along with one cheesy shot of a smiling Ol' Roy.

I did some quick research and found out that the group had initially gotten its web address through a proxy registration out of Arizona at Go Daddy, and its initial physical address had been a mail drop in Washington, DC,  a box that had also been used by Republican con-artist and "filmmaker" James O'Keefe.  One of the group's past tactics had been to make robocalls recognizing various congresspeople as "champions" of health care - people who were in the fight to actually pull the government out of health care.

Then I visited the site that the flyer directed me toward.  Just typing in the name of the group and "dot org" resulted in nothing, but when I added a backslash and "Blunt" as outlined in the flyer, a copy of the flyer that I had received popped up.   There I learned that I could congratulate Senator Blunt myself by simply providing the American Life Sciences Innovation Council with my personal contact information.  Who knows, maybe then I could help fund future awards for other health care innovation "champions," perhaps like Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell.

The line of people and groups who are trying to cheat old folks out of their meager incomes grows ever longer.

Governor Scumbag Leaves Office Today

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Eric Greitens, the scandal-plagued Republican governor of Missouri, has thrown in the towel and tendered his resignation from the state's highest office effective at 5:00 p.m. today.

Greitens, who once harbored presidential ambitions, ran for governor in 2016 solely on the "qualifications" of being a former Navy Seal and a good family man.  Once in office he assumed the mantle of a reformer and went about annoying many of the state's Republican legislators - a group generally more concerned with meeting the needs of lobbyists than they are in serving the people who elected them.  When the governor's political fortunes began heading south earlier this year, state politicians from both parties were eager to pile on.

The wheels started coming off of the Greiten's steam roller in January when it was revealed in the press that he had been involved in an extra-marital affair with his hairdresser two years earlier, and that during the affair he had blindfolded her and then duct-taped her, either nude or semi-nude, to a piece of exercise equipment in his basement gym.  He took a photo of the bound woman and threatened to make it public if she ever told anyone about their affair.

The randy politician was facing legal charges regarding that incident, as well as charges that he had illegally used a donor list for a charity to solicit funds for his campaign.  The Missouri Legislature, some of whose members were still angry that the governor had tried to reform them, was in special session discussing his possible impeachment at the time Greitens announced that he would resign.

Greifens will be replaced in office by the state's current Republican lieutenant governor, Mike Parson, a farmer from rural Polk County and a former county sheriff.   No one seems to be expecting any pesky reform  movement from the Parson administration - and the army of lobbyists who run Jefferson City are no doubt breathing a big sigh of relief.

Things should be back to normal in the Show Me state in no time at all.

Eric, you managed to leave our state in worse shape than you found it.  Good riddance to you, sir.

Gunfight

by Pa Rock

The young man who was buried yesterday wasn't a close friend of mine, but we were friends.  He was the one I called a couple of years ago when I managed to drive my pick-up truck into a hole in the pasture - and he quit what he was doing and drove over to pull me out.  He also knew that I collect aluminum cans, and on a couple of occasions he brought me several bags of beer cans, most of which I supposed that he had personally emptied himself.

The young man who was buried yesterday held down a job, and I respected him for that.  But even with a regular income, life was still hard.  His father passed away shortly before I returned to the Ozarks four years ago, and one of the first social functions that I attended here was a chili supper to help raise money to pay off the man's funeral expenses.

The young man who was buried yesterday was steeped in local rural values.   He had a Confederate flag flying from a pole in the front yard of the house he was living in, and he once sent word to me that he read my blog - though I strongly suspected that he was not a fan.   He also had a violent streak.  I ran into him in the grocery store last year and couldn't help but notice that he had his arm in a cast.  When I asked him about it, he replied rather sheepishly that he had broken it in an accident.  I heard later that he had sustained the injury while fighting.  In the Ozarks fighting is often a favored form of dispute resolution.

But the young man who was buried yesterday was in one fight too many.  A couple of weeks ago he got into a dispute with another angry young man over some missing motorcycle parts, and a fist fight ensued.  After the raging gladiators proved unable to settle the dispute with their fists, they each ran for their guns.  The young man that I knew - the one who was buried yesterday - was shot multiple times.  One estimate that I heard was that he was hit fourteen times, with some of those being head shots.  He survived in a coma for a few days before finally succumbing to his injuries.  The other guy was reportedly hit twice.  He survives, and as of this time no arrests have been made.

The young man who was buried yesterday died in a gunfight.  A shoot-out. A needless and pointless death that was the inevitable result of too many guns adrift in a society that is steeped in violence.  Now his widow will face the burden of raising their two school-age children alone.    It won't be an easy task, but hopefully the kids will survive this tragedy and go on to live successful lives.  Sadly, their father, the young man who was buried yesterday, will never know if they did or not.

The Smell of White Trash Burning

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

"Comedian" Roseanne Barr went down in flames yesterday as ABC cancelled the reboot of her hit television series, and several other networks announced that they would no long air "Roseanne" reruns.

Ms. Barr, who has more or less declared her fealty to Donald Trump over the past few months, saw a steep rise in ratings as Trump trumpeted her show and her success - and as many (supposedly) Trump lemmings hurried to demonstrate their disdain for political correctness by watching show that Dear Leader was touting.

Roseanne was back to living the good life with buckets of money, fame, and influence.

But her castle in the sky came crashing down this week with a late-night tweet in which she compared former Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett to an ape and suggested she might have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.  The irrepressible Ms. Barr later said that she was under the influence of the sleep aid, Ambien, while she banged out this gem in a reply to three other Twitter users:

"Muslim brotherhood and planet of the apes had a baby = vj"

The following day (yesterday) as public outrage over the remark was building, Roseanne began to realize the gravity of her situation.   She pulled the offensive tweet and started issuing effusive apologies.  Here is one of several tweets that she posted as the public firestorm began to consume her:

"I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans.  I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks.  I should have known better.  Forgive me - my joke was in bad taste."

But it was too little, too late.  Channing Dungey, the President of ABC Entertainment, had this to say later in the day as he announced the show's cancellation:

"Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant, and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show."

"Abhorrent" was also the descriptor used by Roseanne's cast mate, Sara Gilbert, who plays Darlene, the star's caustic daughter.  She tweeted the following:

"Roseanne's recent comments about Valerie Jarrett, and so much more, are abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show.  I am disappointed in her actions to say the least."

Ms. Gilbert and the other cast and crew members of "Roseanne" are now as unemployed as the show's star - and they have the intemperance of Roseanne Barr to thank for their economic downturn.

There is apparently only one person on God's green earth who can post race-baiting tweets all night long and suffer no consequences, and that person is not Roseanne Barr.  She learned that lesson the hard way.

A very rude (and funny) young man whom I follow on Twitter posted a celebratory tweet regarding Roseanne's sudden downfall.  His tweet ended with these words:  "I love the smell of white trash burning!"  And while hating to sound uncharitable, I find myself enjoying that smell as well.  May the flames of justice spread like wildfire and consume bigotry and hatred in all of the dark corners of our great land

(Kudos to ABC Entertainment for acting quickly, decisively, and with honor.  If you can come up with a way to salvage the show without the obnoxious Ms. Barr, I will once again become a viewer.)

Family Values in the Age of Trump

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

The Florence Project, a non-profit group set up to assist arriving refugees as they cross into the United States from Mexico, says that there have been over 200 cases of immigrant children being taken from their parents in Arizona alone this year.  And the child-snatchers aren't desperadoes tied to a human-trafficking gang.  No, the villains who are taking terrorized, screaming children from the arms of their equally terrorized parents are representatives of the United States government.  The children are quickly warehoused and then placed into "foster care or whatever."

Many of these traumatized kids have no idea what is happening to them - or the fate that awaits them.    They are literally strangers trapped and alone in a strange land.  The parents, often on the run from terror at home, now find themselves struggling to find and reclaim the most important people in their lives.

And in Washington, DC, it's still cocktails at five as our political elite slap each other on the backs and toast "family values."

Donald Trump blames this government child-grabbing on a "horrible law" enacted by Democrats, a "horrible law" that, in fact, sprang from Trump's imagination one day as he was tweeting bile to his MAGA masses.  The child-grabbing was actually the result of a policy implemented earlier in the year by the Trump administration itself.

And what happens to these purloined children.   1,475 of them have disappeared.  That's right.  Our government has misplaced almost fifteen hundred of the children that it forcibly took from their parents.   Some have probably found their way back to the safety of family members, but others may have fallen prey to human traffickers and are trapped in the darkness of America's criminal underbelly.  Who knows the fate of these children?  Immigration and Customs Enforcement clearly does not have a clue.

Ripping children from the arms of their parents is a deliberate policy of the Trump administration, one designed to discourage people from trying to cross into the United States.  All adults entering the United States through Mexico are now subject to detainment, even those who seek entry for humanitarian reasons.  They are incarcerated as they wait for a hearing, and their children are detained elsewhere.  It is a system designed to inflict as much horror as possible onto the new arrivals.

But Donald Trump and underlings with badges and guns can live with that.  These brown invaders aren't people, after all, they're animals.

America has a lot to answer for in the age of Trump.

Sgt. Garland Macy Wounded in Action

by Pa Rock
Proud Son

Memorial Day is a time set aside each year when we honor the memory of our war veterans, and, in particular, those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country.  On this somber occasion, I would like to honor the war service of my father, Sgt. Garland Macy, who was wounded during his service in World War II.

I had known that my father was wounded during the time that he served in Europe, but he didn't talk about it much, and when he passed away in 2009 I possessed very few details about the incident.  Now, thanks to an article that I came across in an old issue of the Neosho Daily Democrat (Neosho, MO), I am better versed on that important event in my father's life.

The article regarding my dad ran at the top of the front page of the Neosho Daily Democrat on March 17th (St. Patrick's Day), of 1945.  It was a Saturday.  Almost that entire front page was dedicated to stories about the war, a global catastrophe that was quickly drawing to a close.   (The war in Europe would end less than two months later.).

Included on the front page of that issue were stories about Patton's tanks rolling across Europe and the impending fall of Germany, a massive allied air raid on Japan, the proposed drafting of nurses, a proposed Missouri veterans' loan law, a notice about expiring gas coupons, labor strikes in Detroit and Hollywood, and a brief notice about the Roosevelt's 40th wedding anniversary which was that day.   (FDR would be dead less than four weeks later.)  There was also an advertisement from a local bank comparing the importance of saving money to the importance of maintaining reserve troops.

But, at the top of the page was the story about my dad, the only war news with a local connection.  Mrs. Jack Lowe, the aunt who supplied the newspaper with the facts, was Pearl, the youngest sibling of my grandfather, Charles E. Macy.  My dad undoubtedly chose to contact her because his parents resided out in the country and would not have had a telephone.

Here is that article:

Sgt. Garland Macy Wounded in Action
Mrs. Jack Lowe, 323 West Adams Street, this morning received a telephone call from her nephew, Sgt. Garland Macy, who returned to the States last night.  Sgt. Macy, a tail gunner, was wounded in the arm in Luxembourg on January 26 and received the Purple Heart Award.  He is now stationed at the Springfield O'Reilly hospital, Springfield, Mo.  Sgt. Macy will arrive here tonight to spend two days with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. C.E. Macy, and other relatives and then will report back to O'Reilly hospital.  Sgt. Macy graduated from the Neosho high school in 1942 and enlisted in the Army in the fall of that year.  He was sent overseas last spring.

May our nation's war dead rest in the peace which they helped to secure, and may our surviving veterans be allowed to build lives of hope and dignity, and be shown the respect they so richly deserve - especially by their own government.

May our political leaders act in a measured and thoughtful manner and not quench the bright flame of freedom and justice that so many for so long have fought and died to maintain.

And may all of us enjoy the freedoms that we have been granted by those who sacrificed so very much.

Magpie Murders

by Pa Rock
Reader

Even though I have long regarded Anthony Horowitz as one of my favorite writers, it was not until recently that I actually read one of his works.  Horowitz, you see, is known primarily for being a writer of television programming, and his work in that medium is in a class by itself - a very high class.  While the television credits of Anthony Horowitz are too numerous to preclude any type of listing here, one of his signature achievements was the creation of two exceptionally fine British television series:  Midsomer Murders and Foyle's War, both of which were featured on the PBS show, Masterpiece Mysteries.

Horowitz is a master of British detective fiction.  His sleuths roam backroads and picturesque country villages gathering clues and sorting through suspects as they calmly and methodically reveal the machinations of of the crime and the criminal to the viewer - or reader.

Anthony Horowitz has begun writing novels, and if his most recent foray into that medium, Magpie Murders, is any indicator, he is destined to have as much success with books as he has had with television programs.

Magpie Murders is a very clever and complicated piece of writing that is, in essence, a book within a book.  The main character, Susan Ryeland, is an editor with a publishing house in London, a business concern that is primarily kept afloat by the success of one author, Alan Conway.  Conway is the author of eight detective novels featuring an old detective named Atticus Pund who emigrated to England from Germany shortly after World War II.  Pund bears several similarities to Agatha Christie's famed fictional Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot.

As the story opens, Ryeland finds a copy of Conway's latest book, his ninth, on her desk and takes it home to read it over the weekend.  The new novel its entitled Magpie Murders.  After finishing the manuscript she discovers that it is incomplete - the ending chapter is missing.  At about that same time she learns one other thing that will have a bearing on the success of the novel's sales - Alan Conway has committed suicide.

Susan sets off to find the missing chapter and to learn more about what drove her company's primary author to kill himself, and, as she attends the funeral and meets people involved in Conway's life, she begins. to suspect that he may have been murdered.  There are many similarities between the life of Alan Conway and the characters who populate the book that he has just finished, and the clever editor must sift through all of the tangled story lines and clever puzzles to arrive at the truth.

Horowitz's novel, Magpie Murders, contains the entire text of the fictional novel by the fictional author, Alan Conway, as well as the details of the mystery being unravelled by Conway's editor, Susan Ryeland.   It is two books forged together as one.

Horowitz also uses Ryeland's examination of Conway's work to highlight philosophical and intellectual details of writing in the mystery genre.  He stresses multiple times that actual murders are quite rare and not very representative of real life - except perhaps in certain high-crime areas.  He also examines the relationship between the detective and the reader, noting that they are bound together in the search for the truth of what has transpired.    Another aspect of his own detective fiction that Horowitz clarifies is his use of the English village for a backdrop, a convenient setting because everyone knows each other and it becomes easier to develop complex motives that will encompass most of the community - and thus keep the detective and the reader struggling to come up with the "truth" until the final pages.

Magpie Murders is more than just a story - or two stories - of murder.   It is an in-depth look at the work that goes into crafting mystery fiction - and who better to take us into the mind of a mystery writer than Anthony Horowitz!

It's a damn fine work!

Trumped America

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Two days ago in this space I gave three quick examples of how the Trump administration had - within just the past few days - moved to curtail free speech.  Sadly, the instances of the malignant Trump administration acting to limit civil and human rights have been so numerous as to almost defy enumeration.

But just because the Trump outrages occur so often and with such intensity, does not mean that people aren't paying attention and sounding alarms.  One group that has taken on the challenge of monitoring and recording these acts against the spirit of America is the Southern Poverty Law Center.  The SPLC is headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama, and has a long and proud history of speaking truth to power, particularly on issues related to race, religion, and class distinctions.

The SPLC puts out periodic special publications to its members which give an in-depth focus to certain issues.  One arrived just this week entitled "America the Trumped" which outlines the ways that the Trump administration promoted the "alt-right" agenda during its first year in office.  The affronts to civilization are divided into ten sections:

• Promoting White Nationalism:  Remember Charlottesville and Trump's praise of the "fine people" on both sides?  The SPLC puts that into context by quoting the "thank you" from Klan leader David Duke to Trump "for your honesty and courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville."  There is also a discussion of Trump's long personal history of racism and his involvement in the "birther" movement - and his stated sympathies over the removal of Confederate monuments and statues.  Trump's pardon of racist Arizona sheriff, Joe Arpaio, is noted, as is Trump's vitriol toward kneeling athletes, the majority of whom are black, and his white arrogance regarding immigrants from "shithole" countries.
• Slashing Civil Rights Enforcement:  Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, III, has worked tirelessly and enthusiastically to abandon civil rights enforcement.  He has scaled back efforts to hold police departments accountable for abuses, and moved to end many consent decrees that were enacted under the Obama administration.  Other executive departments have also moved to roll back civil rights enforcement within their own offices.  Candidate Trump had famously asked black and Hispanic voters "What have you got to lose?"  Well, now they are finding out.
• Revving Up the Deportation Machine:  In the first 100 days of the Trump administration, ICE reported a 150 percent increase in the arrest of immigrants who had not been convicted of crimes unrelated to their legal status.  ICE was arresting more, but they were not the "bad hombres" that Trump had railed against during the campaign.   Now it has come to light that ICE is further terrorizing families by separating children from their parents, and Trump has used the word "animals" to refer to many of these desperate individuals.
• Banning Muslims:  Candidate Trump called for "a total and complete shutdown" of Muslims entering the country "until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on."  Once elected he quickly moved to keep that promise by enacting a travel ban to keep citizens from seven nations, primarily Muslim countries, from entering the United States.   As courts began rejecting this travel ban based on its obvious religious bias, the Trump administration quickly regrouped and stated that it was not a religious ban, but his campaign rhetoric still hung heavy in the air.
• Attacking Voting Rights:  Donald Trump, who suffered an embarrassing popular vote loss to Hillary Clinton by over three million votes, although winning by electoral votes, in 2016, promoted a fallacy that millions of non-eligible people had voted on Election Day, and that most of those votes had benefited Clinton.  To prop up his false narrative, he set up a special commission to look into election fraud.  That commission was plagued with problems and was eventually disbanded.  Many felt it was an effort by the Trump administration to give cover to states as they purged their voter rolls and made voter requirements more difficult to meet, particularly for the poor and minorities.  
• Shredding LGBT Protections:  Trump has sought to ban transgender individuals from serving in the military, although this action is currently being blocked by the courts.   The administration has also moved to withdraw the rights of transgender students to use the restrooms of the gender with which they identify.  The Justice Department under Jeff Sessions issued a memo asserting that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not offer protections to transgender workers.  The Family Research Council, identified by the SPLC  as a "hate group," has been effusive in its praise of Trump as his administration works to roll back the hard won gains of the LGBT community.
• Encouraging Police Abuses:  As mentioned above, Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered a review of consent decrees imposed by the Obama administration against police departments accused of racial discrimination and abuse.  His actions were seen by many law enforcement entities as a reopening of the gates to racial harassment and physical abuse.  Sessions also brought back the practice of civil asset forfeiture, which some saw as incentivizing risky and sometimes illegal behavior by law enforcement - and he began an anachronistic campaign against marijuana, a position which caused confusion and sometimes pitted policing agencies against local officials.
• Reviving Debtor's Prisons:   The Obama administration issued guidance to state courts that was meant to end the practice of locking people up because they were too poor to pay court costs or fines, a practice sometimes compared to the old "debtor's prison," or locking people up because they were poor and could not pay their bills.  Jeff Sessions moved to roll back the Obama era guidance and once again allow courts to people behind bars for being too poor to pay court costs and fines.
• Undermining Public Education:  Trump's out-of-touch education secretary, Betsy DeVos, has been relentless in her efforts to undermine and underfund public education and transfer money and other resources to charter and private schools.  During a congressional hearing, DeVos refused to say if federal funds would be denied to private schools that discriminate by refusing to admit students based on their sexual orientation, race, or disabilities.  The secretary appears to be crafting an educational system based on her own privileged circumstances and unique beliefs.
• Eroding the Rights of Students with Disabilities:  Under the direction of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the Department of Education rescinded 72 guidance documents in 2017 that were designed to help parents, educators, and advocates understand how federal law protects services and accommodations for students with disabilities.  This from a government official whose boss mocked a handicapped reporter at a campaign rally.

And that's just a sampler of the damage that the Trump administration has inflicted on America.  Add to that those "free speech" incidents that I outlined earlier in the week, and the picture is even bleaker.  We are in dark times without a beacon in the White House to lead us toward better times.

The next elections can't come soon enough.

(For more information on the Southern Poverty Law Center, please visit splcenter.org)

Migrating Computers

by Pa Rock
Frustrated Typist

This is my second trip into town today to visit our public library.  It's a very nice library.

The reason that I am at the library is because I bought a new computer, and right now my old computer and my new one are busy migrating information and files.  As I started the process late yesterday, I received a notice that it would take about twenty-seven hours to complete.  That is astonishing because I don't have that much stuff stored on the computer - or at least I didn't think that I did.  There are a few thousand photographs, however, and I am guessing that is what's eating up all of the time.  Someday I am going to move them all to a flash drive - and then drop it in the creek.

I was forced into buying a new computer because I wanted to purchase some new genealogy software, and my old machine, a six-year-old Apple Air Book which looks identical to my new machine, did not have enough room to accommodate the new program.  Also, the "down" key on the old Apple Air Book came off months ago, and I had been scrolling down by pressing the plastic stub that was beneath the key - a somewhat painful maneuver.  Recently, however, that quit working as well, and I was having to scroll down by clicking the mouse pad while dragging a finger down - and sometimes that would not even work.  I felt like I was gradually slipping into a prehistoric lifestyle.

This morning I came to the library, the very nice library, and tried my luck with their computers.  I quickly learned that I could not access my "blogspot" account because it would not accept my Google password.  I left the library feeling frustrated with my rotten computer luck (or skill) and went home where I spent a couple of hours removing large rocks (seven, in total) from a portion of my yard by swinging a pick-axe over and over and over.  That manual labor triggered the firing of a few synapses in my moldy old brain, and suddenly my correct Google password revealed itself.

So here I am back at the library, the very nice library.  Even with my rather complicated password, Google was not happy - because I was on a different computer than the one I normally use.  The company insisted on sending me a text with a response that I had to click.  Not being a textpert, I dreaded involving my phone in this ordeal, but after a couple of failures in finding their text, it finally appeared and I was able to respond correctly.

So here I sit typing away, while two computers at my house chug merrily along migrating files.  They still have about five hours to go.

Ain't life grand!

Did I mention that West Plains has a very nice library?  The small city also has a modern hospital and medical community, a branch of a four-year university that is so complete that students can take all of their undergraduate coursework right here - without leaving town, a better-than-average public school system, an active and useful senior citizens' center, and four Casey's.

This place would be perfect - if it weren't for all of the danged rocks!

Free Speech in the Time of Trump

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Acceptable speech in Donald Trump's America falls generally into one category:  speech that glorifies him and promotes his unique value system.  Anything else is problematic - and often unpatriotic.

There have been several stories in the press within the past few days that illuminate the Trump administration's disdain of other Americans having the right to express themselves freely - as well as to have unfettered access to news regarding their government.  These stories, taken together, provide a frightening look at the evolution of a fascist state developing under the heel of a tyrannical despot.

Donald Trump has a Twitter account, one which he uses regularly and often to spew not only his personal thoughts on things, but also to announce priorities and policies that he intends to enact on behalf of the people of the United States.  And while Trump's Twitter account has millions of followers, it is also, like all Twitter accounts, open to feedback on his tweets.  Donald Trump is not a fan of feedback, especially feedback from those whom he regards as irrelevant or who fail to agree with him, so he has routinely "blocked" those problem people from following him.  This week a federal judge ruled that Trump may not block people from following his account, an account that he has been using as an extension of government.

Trump has also stirred his base with complaints about NFL players "taking a knee" during the national anthem to protest social inequalities and police abuse of black suspects.  He paints those protests as unpatriotic.  Vice President Pence recently used a wad of taxpayer cash to fly to Indianapolis for an NFL game solely so that he could rise and walk out following one of those protests.  This week NFL owners agreed to levy fines against teams whose players knelt during the national anthem at games.  Players would instead have the option of remaining in the locker room until after the playing of the national anthem had been completed.  Trump praised that decision and said that players who felt compelled to kneel should perhaps consider leaving the country.

Yesterday there was a meeting on the topic of water pollution at the Environmental Protection Agency.  Representatives of several companies with histories of water pollution were in attendance, but when reporters tried to gain admittance they were denied entry.  One reporter was even shoved out of the room by an EPA security guard.

And then there was the much ballyhooed meeting to share information with select members of Congress about Trump's outrageous claims that the FBI had a mole in his 2016 campaign.  The "select" members of Congress were Republicans - no Democrats allowed.   Even Donald Trump had trouble justifying that egregious setup, and his people finally relented and invited members of the Democratic leadership to attend as well.

Each of those incidents is concerning when viewed through a lens of free speech.  The Trump administration is working to create a situation in which its narrative represents what is real in the world, and everything else is fake news.  The truth is that which emanates from the White House, and everything else is just noise -  and often it is seditious noise.

When the flow of public information is controlled to the point where the public is denied knowledge about much of what its government is doing, "news" becomes little more than propaganda.   As this administration struggles to control what we know and how we think, true American values are circling the drain and heading for the sewer.

America was built around a package of rights, and when the right of free speech is gone, our demise as a democracy will be imminent.

Big Bad Galahad

by Pa Rock
Farmer in Spring

Rock's Roost, my little ten acres of paradise in southern Missouri is actually my second attempt as setting up a secluded retreat where I could enjoy solitude laced with the wonders of nature.  The first Rock's Roost was a smaller farm on a hillside in McDonald County, Missouri.  Both versions were home to dogs, chickens, guineas, and a goose or two.  The little farm in McDonald County also had several goats, some pot-bellied pigs, a few emus, and a large ostrich.

Normally I have had good experiences in managing and caring for the farm animals.  Predators ocasionally kill some of the livestock, particularly chickens, but, by and large, most of my experience in raising domesticated farm animals has been successful.  I have given shots, slung feed, broken ice in water bowls, cleaned nesting boxes, shoveled out coops, and even delivered a few baby goats.  My dealings with the farm animals have generally been successful with both them and me taking care to respect each other and resolve conflicts amicably.

However, there have been a couple of rough patches along the way.  The ostrich at the first Rock's Roost decided one day that he was the dominant presence on the farm, and that he was also in charge of the farmer.  He surprised me quite unexpectedly by raising his large two-toed foot to my chest and ripping my shirt off with one swift strike.  Fortunately, he did not snag any skin in that quick maneuver.  From that day on when I faced him I had a garbage pail lid in-hand which I carried and used like a Roman shield.

Now I have a peacock who also feels like everything of the farm, including the farmer, should kneel before him.  I released the peacocks last fall hoping they would adapt to being free on the farm, and for the most part that worked fine.  The birds worked the yard during the day and roosted in the trees at night.  But this one male started becoming aggressive as spring approached, and when I entered what he regarded as his territory, the big bird would lunge at me with his clawed feet in an attack position.  Eventually he began chasing me, a habit that led to his downfall when he chased me into the aviary one day and I quickly got out and locked him in.  Now he and one peahen live in captivity, while the other peacock and two peahens still roam the farm at will.

I named the caged peacock "Galahad" because the name rhymed with "bad" and I felt a limerick coming on.  He was initially fine in his resumed imprisonment - the aviary is large and opens into a big barn - but lately he has taken to raging in there whenever I am around.  A couple of days ago I took two plastic jugs of water into the barn to fill the water bowls, but before I could complete that task, Galahad rushed in and flew at me.  He managed to slice open both water jugs with his spurs, but I made an escape.  Now, whenever I have to enter the barn or the aviary, I take along my trusty Roman shield.

Galahad is a cunning opponent.  When I am in his domain he constantly circles trying to get behind me, or he leaps to a high perch so that he can plan an airborne assault.  He and I are both determined to prevail as the boss of the farm.

I am hopeful that Galahad's insurgency is hormone based and that he will calm down once mating season is over - but, should he continue his wicked, wicked ways, he may find a new home - on a holiday platter!

I hope it doesn't come to that.

Controlling Behavior Across Generations

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Today is he day that Texans go to the polls to finish their selection of candidates who will stand for their parties in the November elections.  The process began in March with "primary" elections, and today voters participate in a "runoff" process which determines each party's ultimate candidate for each office.

One race that has drawn national attention is the battle for the Republican nomination for Precinct 2 of the Dallas County Commissioners Court.   The city's major newspaper, The Dallas Morning News, had endorsed former criminal judge and health care executive Vickers "Vic" Cunningham for the post because the newspaper felt that his opponent, lawyer and businessman J. J. Koch, was "too combative and dismissive" when discussing current members of the court.  But now new information has come to light, and The Dallas Morning News has felt compelled to withdraw its endorsement of Vic Cunningham as well.

Some had accused Cunningham, the former criminal judge, of harboring racial biases, a charge which he denies - although his own mother admitted that he often used the "n-word" freely.  This week, however, the charges of racial bias were again thrust forward when it was revealed that Vic Cunningham had set up trust funds for his children, but they would only be eligible to receive disbursements from those trust funds if they married white, heterosexual Christians. 

According to The Dallas Morning News:

"Vickers “Vic” Cunningham acknowledged Friday that he set up a living trust with a clause rewarding his children if they marry a white person.

"Cunningham denied harboring racial bigotry but did confirm that his trust includes a stipulation intended to discourage a child from marrying a person of another race or of the same sex.

“'I strongly support traditional family values,' Cunningham said. 'If you marry a person of the opposite sex that’s Caucasian, that’s Christian, they will get a distribution.'"

Vic Cunningham's brother, Bill, is a gay man who is married to a black gay man.  Bill told the Dallas newspaper that his brother's "views and actions are disqualifying for anyone to hold public office in 2018.  It frightens me to death to think of people in power who could hurt people."  According to Bill Cunningham, Vic often refers to Bill's husband as "your boy."

As a former criminal judge, Vic Cunningham was responsible for sending people to prison, many of them black or Hispanic - although he adamantly denies that racial bias ever played a role in any of those sentencing decisions.    The precinct that Cunningham is running to represent is largely black and Hispanic.  Whoever wins today's Republican runoff, Mr. Cunningham or Mr. Koch, will face Democrat Wini Cannon in November, a black, female attorney.

Vic Cunningham has shown his values through a trust fund designed to control the lives and choices of his children.  Now the residents of Dallas will have the opportunity to show their values at the ballot box.

May they choose wisely.

Monday's Poetry: "Still I Rise"

by Pa Rock
Poetry Appreciator

Schools in America are preparing for their summer respite, the time when most classes cease and students and teachers take a break from the books for a couple of months to recoup their energies for the next year of classes.  A little down time is often a good thing, and with the continuing carnage being wrought on our country by school shootings, it is undoubtedly a psychological necessity that everyone involved in the American educational system be given time away from the center of the storm - time to take a few breaths and perhaps firm their resolve to not let this terror defeat them and destroy their hopes for the future.

In "Still I Rise" poet Maya Angelou was writing about the struggle to lift the burden or racism, but her words could also apply to the resolve that many are mustering to face down the terrors of school shootings and the inadequacies of politicians who struggle to do nothing of consequence to address the murderous violence. 

This year the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, rose up in protest after a classmate opened fire in their educational sanctuary.  Those kids, and their teachers, and their parents, lit a backfire of rage that is posing a real threat to America's gun lobby and the cadre of politicians that it has so blatantly owned for such a very long time.  May the protesters rise - and keep rising - and inspire others to rise with them until their voices become so thunderous that lawmakers will be forced to listen to the rage of the people - for a change - and place the needs of the people above those of gun manufacturers and arms dealers.


Still I Rise
by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame

I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

Accessing Civilization with Two Clicks

by Pa Rock
TV Junkie

Several months ago I tried subscribing to the channel, Brit Box, on my Roku streaming device, and the service was less than satisfactory.  The channel promised an almost unlimited supply of my two favorite television genres:  British comedy (Britcoms) and British mystery dramas.  I believe that the cost was ten dollars a month with the first week free.  It didn't take much beyond that first week for me to determine that the ten dollars could be better spent elsewhere. 

The Roku is dependent on the internet for service, and my internet signal is weak.  The two main channels that I rely on are Netflix and Prime (Amazon).  Some days those two run smoothly and at other times they are problematic.  Brit Box, however, proved to always be a challenge, with it taking up to two or three hours to successfully view a one-hour program.   After a couple of frustrating weeks of trying to view the channel, I gave up and cancelled the subscription.

Recently I discovered that Prime is now carrying Brit Box within its programming services.  The cost is seven dollars a month - with the first week free.    I decided to try it again and was able to access the service with only two clicks.  Much to my delight, the service is flawless - and I now have a backlog of entertainment that will more than likely outlast my viewing needs.

Last night after completing the first season of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, I spent some time sorting through the other offerings - and came across another jewel.  Last of the Summer Wine is a British comedy that ran an astounding thirty-seven years (1973-2010), the longest running television comedy in histtory - in any country!  The characters are a group of rascally senior citizens who have a series of unending oddball adventures in a quaint village in Yorkshire.  I became acquainted with this posse of aging delinquents when I was living in Phoenix and would watch their adventures every Saturday night on PBS, but their humor apparently did not translate well in the Ozarks where the local PBS station failed to carry the show.

In fact, none of the streaming channels carried Last of the Summer Wine - or at least that is what I thought until I found one offering through Brit Box.  It has a collection of twenty-seven Last of the Summer Wine Christmas episodes.  I watched the first one last night, and it felt as though I was spending an evening wrapped in the warmth and comfort of old friends - very funny old friends!

After a day of digging rocks out of the ground with a pick-axe, it was a wonderful way to unwind and relax in such good company.  Civilization, it would seem, is now as close as the remote control.

NRA Political All Stars Respond to Texas School Shooting

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Yesterday was another sad day in America as nine students and one substitute teacher were killed in a high school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas.  Ten other students were wounded in the attack.  A student shooter was arrested and is being held without bail.  This was the second mass shooting in Texas since last November when twenty-seven individuals were killed at a church service in Sutherland Springs.

The shooting at Santa Fe High School brought quick responses from national leaders with Donald Trump having this to say:

"We grieve for the terrible loss of life, and send our support and love to everyone affected by this horrible attack in Texas. To the students, families, teachers and personnel at Santa Fe High School – we are with you in this tragic hour, and we will be with you forever..."

And Mike Pence adding this:

"This is another heartbreaking day for students and parents in Santa Fe and all across the Nation. I promise you this: We will not rest, we will not relent until we end this evil in our time and we make our schools safe again."

Texas Senator Ted Cruz checked in with this bit of Lone Star fluffery:

To the people of Santa Fe: "You are, right now, being lifted up at this instant in prayers by millions of people across Texas, across the country and across the world." 

And the other U.S. Senator from Texas, the one who doesn't showboat twenty-seven, John Cornyn, added this to the conversation:

"Briefed by law enforcement in Santa Fe this afternoon on the ongoing investigation of today’s tragic shooting. Grateful to local, state, and federal officials for their work. Ready to assist in any way we can."

Texas Governor Greg Abbott immediately sprang into action with this bold announcement:

"Texas flags across the state are being lowered to half-staff in memory of those who lost their lives in the school shooting at Santa Fe High School today."

Governor Abbott also announced that he would be calling a "round table" of stakeholders to convene in Austin on Monday to begin discussing ways to prevent future school shootings in his state.  His stakeholders will include students, teachers, school administrators, parents, law enforcement officials, and representatives of the gun industry.  Abbott's haste to begin addressing the matter was seen by some as a way to get out in front of possible student protests such as those that arose after the shooting in February at the high school in Parkland, Florida.

Five important Republican politicians rushed to tweet their rage and sorrow yesterday - and to make vague promises of addressing the situation with some nebulous and undefined future action on their parts, presumably actions that would in no way impair their constituents' god-given right to keep and bear arms.

And it's good they are talking, even if it is obvious that they won't be saying much of consequence - especially with the gun industry looking over their shoulders and keeping its trigger finger on their political purse strings.

But there will be talk - and talk is important.  Perhaps if those same five individuals would have begun that conversation two weeks ago (to the day) when they were all gathered in Dallas, Texas, to speak at the National Rifle Association convention, they could have come up with some grand idea then that would have averted yesterday's disaster - but that convention wasn't about saving lives - it was about selling guns.

Governor Greg Abbott, the outraged Texan who is calling a stakeholders' meeting to address the topic of school shootings, is also a ferocious proponent of gun sales  In October of 2015 he tweeted this gem:

"I'm EMBARRASSED: Texas #2 in nation for new gun purchases, behind CALIFORNIA. Let's pick up the pace Texans."

Yeehaw, good buddy!  I'm sure with that in-depth understanding and response to the problem, Texas will be able to end the plague of mass shootings in no time.  Keep those flags flying, Governor - you're going to need them!

Alternatives to Trump's Folly

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump was in France last year and had the opportunity to view that country's famous Bastille Day parade, and he was so impressed with the show of military might that he came home whining that he wanted his own military parade.  And if Daddy Warbucks wanted a parade, the Pentagon was damned sure going to give him one.

Plans were developed to have a massive military parade in Washington, DC, on Veteran's Day - November 11, 1918 - a date which also happens to be the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I - the "war to end wars."  So, in one fell swoop, members of our military and much of their equipment would be marshaled into a show of strength to honor our armed forces, past and present, commemorate the end of the First World War, and glorify a political leader who never served in the military.

It was all good!

The cost for this big show has progressed through various rising estimations to a price tag that is currently somewhere north of fifty million dollars.  The colossal cost of the endeavor has encouraged a few quarrelsome individuals to begin suggesting better ways that money could be spent.

Two particular areas where the government has fallen short in responding to the needs of American citizens have been receiving attention of late, particularly when presented in contrast to the proposed costs of the parade.  One critical need is the dangerous drinking water situation in Flint, Michigan,  a travesty that has already impacted the health and lives of thousands and will require countless millions to fix.    Another is the continuing harmful impact of last year's deadly hurricane in Puerto Rico.  Parts of that United States territory have been without power for the entire past year, and many homes, buildings, and segments of critical infrastructure are still in need of rebuilding or repair.

There is a growing demand that the money being budgeted for Trump's military parade be redirected to help Americans in critical need, particularly the citizens of Flint, Michigan, and Puerto Rico.  And if the intent of the parade truly was to honor veterans and active-duty service members - rather than just to massage Donald Trump's ego - wouldn't it be wonderful if members o those groups could be sent in to help restore safe drinking water to Flint and to assist in the recovery of Puerto Rico?    Wouldn't that say more about American greatness than a couple of miles of rolling hardware and service men and women marching in formation?

America doesn't need a parade - it needs a work day!

Trump's Animals

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump was wallowing in his element yesterday as he hosted a meeting of California office-holders and officials who were unhappy with their state's policies and laws that give sanctuary to undocumented workers.   Trump, who has a long history of inciting low-information American voters with racist attacks on immigrants, roared his disgust at the desperate peoples who cross into the United States from Mexico:

"You wouldn't believe how bad these people are.   These aren't people.  These are animals!"

That abhorrent remark came from the mouth of the same Donald Trump who paid a million dollar labor fine for using undocumented Polish workers in 1980 to tear down the building where his golden Trump Tower now stands in New York City.  He didn't provide those workers with basic safety equipment, and, in many cases, paid them less than half of what union workers would have been paid.  At other times he blatantly benefited off of the labors of undocumented workers while hiding behind the ruse of "sub-contractors," or third-parties who hired the undocumented workers for Trump.

They're "animals" and they are coming from "shithole" countries, and if Donald John Trump can make money or votes off of them, he will.  Trump loves his animals - he even married a couple of them.

America Buckles Under Trump

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump marched into office sixteen months ago with promises to make America great again, despite the assurances of many that the country he sought to uplift was already great.  They argued that many of the things he sought to change were what made America great in the first place.  But resistance be damned.  Trump and his toadies in Congress were going to make monumental changes in America, whether Americans wanted them or not.

Trump rolled into Washington vowing to give more money and resources to the military.  He would increase the pay of service members, falsely claiming that that they had not received salary increases in years, and provide the latest in technology and weaponry.   The "military-industrial complex" that Eisenhower had warned us about, would flourish under Trump.  In fact, the United States military would become so grand that Trump would command a $30 million parade to show it and himself off to the envious world.

And Trump would take care of the wealthy benefactors who fed his ego and owned Congress.  At his urging Congress would pass a tax bill that would provide permanent tax relief to America's wealthiest individuals and their corporations - and a pittance of temporary tax relief to those of more modest means.

But those military expenditures and giant tax cuts promised to drive the deficits into the stratosphere - and Republicans don't like deficits.  After filling their goody baskets, Trump and his sycophants in Congress turned to finding ways to "claw back" spending - and, in the process, change some social priorities. 

Things like health insurance became an issue.  Republicans are not opposed to the idea of health insurance, and many of them are quite well insured - thank you very much.  What they are opposed to is the idea of tax dollars being used for health insurance - particularly insurance that does not benefit them directly.   Obamacare was a target, and the partisan knives came out to whittle down or eliminate the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in which the federal government gives grants to the states to help insure children who were born into families of modest means.  What was once seen as Christian benevolence was now being interpreted as ungrateful beggars taking advantage of god-fearing taxpayers.

Medicare was also maligned by the new administration, but it has had fifty years to take root into the social fabric of America and was seen as a much tougher target to eliminate.  Many members of Congress had parents and grandparents who were dependent of the services of Medicare and the income of Social Security.

While the elderly posed a formidable constituency for the protection of Medicare and Social Security, programs designed primarily to benefit the poor lacked the same legions of voting supporters.  CHIP was a viable target, as was school meals, food stamps, and even Medicaid.  Great savings could be had with little or no political risk.

And then there was "greatness" to be achieved by cutting programs that were seen as primarily benefiting elite (or at least "small') groups - things like public radio and public television and AmTrak, the nation's passenger rail system.  There were also those in the new government who considered the National Park System to be a luxury that the government could not afford.  Admissions to the parks began to rise, and some public lands and monuments were being cut back in size and opened to exploitation by corporate interests.

Free public education had always been seen as a problem to some elements of American society - particularly those who spent extra to send their children to private schools in the hope that would keep them separate from and socially above the masses.  Some regarded the nineteenth and twentieth century moves toward compulsory public education as little more than a strategy to remove child workers from the factories and give a leg up to the union movement.  The new administration brought in a Secretary of Education who had an agenda for moving tax dollars away from public schools and into the more exclusive world of private and charter schools.  Public schools were to be starved into submission, and sooner or later America's impoverished children could find their way back into the workforce - and labor unions could sink into the tar pits of history.   

Trump's vision of American greatness also included demonizing immigrants and racial, ethnic, and religious minorities - as well as giving cover to white nationalist and nativist movements, promoting a well-armed society, and appointing a cadre of federal judges who would keep the country looking backward for at least another full generation.

And infrastructure?   There may be no new roads and bridges, but our government will be filling potholes with a vengeance!  How great is that!

If Trump and the GOP Congress pile much more "greatness" on America, our tired old bridges won't be the only things in danger of collapsing - and Mexico may indeed pay for the damned wall - to keep us out!

All of this  "greatness" is going to come with a price.

Minor Victory for Greitens

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, a Republican, has finally had some good news.  The young political dynamo who once harbored presidential ambitions has been in the news, and not in a good way, since January when it was revealed that he had had an affair with his hairdresser, and an allegation was made that he had duct-taped the woman, semi-nude, to some exercise equipment in  his basement and took a photograph of her.  Then the aspiring politician supposedly threatened to make the photo public if she ever revealed their affair.

Today prosecutors in St. Louis dropped one of two felony charges against Greitens, the one related to the photo - a charge of invasion of privacy - apparently because the prosecution team was never able to acquire the photograph in question.   Greitens gushed to the press that he had been "vindicated."

The other felony count still pending for Greitens involves his alleged personal use of a donor list to a veteran's charity that he founded.  It remains.  Also, there is a chance that the dropped charge could be refiled in the future.

This Friday the Missouri Legislature will begin a thirty-day session to study the questionable conduct of the state's governor, a process that could result in his impeachment and ultimate removal from office. 

Many in the state's Republican political leadership regard Greitens as a liability and a distraction - and many also feel that his continued presence in office will negatively impact the campaign of the state's new attorney general, Josh Hawley, as he struggles to defeat Claire McCaskill for her Senate seat.  McCaskill had been thought to be very vulnerable this election cycle, but the most recent polling shows her maintaining a four-point lead over Hawley. 

While few doubt that Eric Greitens is already political toast, the tenacity with which he clings to the governorship may be key to keeping McCaskill in the Senate - and that makes Republicans, both state and national, all the more anxious to see him go.

Even with the minor court victory in St. Louis, life for Eric Greitens can't be much fun - especially without his duct tape!

"Great Day" for Israel as Dozens are Killed and Hundreds Wounded

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Today marks the end of the long-standing effort by the United States and other nations to find a two-state solution to Israel's continuing conflict with its Palestinian neighbors.  The Trump administration, by moving the official U.S. Israeli embassy to Jerusalem, a city which both Israelis and the Palestinians claim as their capital, has officially and very publicly sided with Israel in the decades-old debate.

The Palestinians obviously are not happy with this turn of events, and today many have joined in protests as they tried to broach the fence and barriers that Israel has erected in an attempt to control their lives and activities.   Israel, never a country to take the insubordination of their subordinate neighbors lightly, opened fire on the protesters.  At latest count, forty-six Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,700 have been wounded. 

Donald Trump has tweeted that its a "great day" for Israel, and he has encouraged his fellow Americans to watch the festivities surrounding the embassy opening live on Fox News.  It's a really big deal - Ivanka is there!

Here is Trump's taunt tweet:

"U.S. Embassy opening in Jerusalem will be covered live on @FoxNews & @FoxBusiness. Lead up to 9:00 A.M. (eastern) event has already begun. A great day for Israel!"

Some commentators on fair and balanced Fox News have been referring to this embassy move as a "fulfillment of Biblical prophecy."

So it's a great day for Israel, one ordained by God and Donald John Trump.  Palestinians, of course, are likely to have a different perspective.

Mother's Day at River Bend

by Pa Rock
Admirer of Moms

My sister, Gail, called Friday evening and announced that she would be paying me a visit the following afternoon.  Gail's visits are few and far between, so her sudden announcement stirred Rosie and I to clean the house - kinda, sorta.  Last night we had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in West Plains, and today we hit a few flea markets in Hardy, Arkansas.  Then, on the way back home we stopped at the beautiful River Bend Restaurant in Mammoth Spring, Arkansas.  Having forgotten that it was Mother's Day, we were quite surprised by the size of the crowd waiting to be served.  We were seated quickly, considering the size of the crowd, but the wait for the food was over an hour.  Needless to say, we were good and hungry by the time the grub arrived.

I'm not sure why Gail managed to grace me with a Mother's Day visit, but I am glad that she did.  Gail is my only sibling, nearly three years younger than myself.  She has four grown kids and a passel of grandchildren, and I have three adult children and my own passel of grandkids.

Happy Mother's Day to moms everywhere - particularly my sister, Gail, my daughter, Molly, and my daughter-in-law, Erin.    There is no harder work anywhere - and the pay sucks - but the love and happiness generated by caring mothers lasts a lifetime - and beyond!   You ladies, as well as the millions of other moms who work tirelessly to insure the future of our civilization, are truly angels.  May your energy and love stretch across countless generations!

TSA and Turbans

by Pa rock
Citizen Journalist

Navdeep Bains is a Sikh Canadian who serves as his country's Minister of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development - and, as a devout adherent to his religion, he wears a turban.   The turban is a sign of his faith.  This week Mr. Bains related to a Canadian newspaper the story of how he had been harassed at the Detroit, Michigan, airport last year as he was trying to return to Canada following a meeting with some American politicians.  

TSA officials were insistent that Mr. Bains remove his turban as a part of their passenger screening process, something he declined to do.  Finally, and reluctantly, Mr. Bains used his diplomatic passport to leverage his entry onto the plane.  The Canadian diplomat felt that he should not have had to play the diplomatic card, and that he should have been shown a basic courtesy related to his religious beliefs and not because of who he was. 

Some might argue that tolerance of ethnic, cultural, and even religious differences is diminishing under the current administration - and some would be right.  I have told this story here before, but it deserves repeating.  Several years ago, during the height of the Obama administration, I was traveling through Portland, Oregon, and had an interesting encounter at the Portland Airport (PDX).   One of the TSA officials that I encountered was wearing a turban.  I remember the fellow as being expedient and very pleasant - far above the standard for TSA even at that time.

When tolerance is alive and well in the White House, it is more likely to filter down to every level of government, but when the White House is a bastion of intolerance, petty bureaucrats and fiefdoms flourish and we are all more likely to treated like problem children as we try to go about our daily lives.

Diversity makes us stronger - and better.

RWNJs and Performative Cruelty

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Arizona's volcanic senator, John McCain, may not be long for this world, but that doesn't mean he is done erupting.  He made news earlier this week when his new book noted that the senator considered his choice of Sarah Palin to be his 2008 running mate to have been a "mistake" - a remark that Palin conceded was a "gut-punch" - and those fighting Palin's obviously know their "gut-punches!"  Then McCain turned his ire on Donald Trump and had his family announce that Trump would not be welcome at his funeral, although George W. Bush and Barack Obama would be.

And finally McCain grabbed a few more headlines when he commented on Trump's nominee to head the CIA, Gina Haspel, and noted that her refusal to label torture of prisoners as "immoral" disqualified her  to run the spy agency.  McCain, a former long-term prisoner of war who was tortured on numerous occasions by the North Vietnamese, is an expert witness when it comes to torture.  The poor man knows what he is talking about.  (Torture often provides false or inaccurate information because the person being abused is so anxious for the pain to end that he will say what he believes his captors want to hear - whether it is true or not.  And when a country utilizes torture, it has ceded the moral high ground and created a situation where enemies will feel justified in using it as well.  Using torture on our foes makes it inevitable that they will use it on our own people as well.)

So John McCain is against the use of torture - and he is against Gina Haspbel heading the Central Intelligence Agency because of her refusal to call the practice out as immoral.   And in normal times Americans would respect the rights of a dying man to get a few things off of his chest.

But these are not normal times.  Today we are living in a world where rage, intolerance, and even ridicule seem to be the standards through which discourse is filtered.  When the President of the United States rants and raves, sometimes in almost total incoherence, and even stoops to mocking people with disabilities, is it any wonder that civility so quickly lands in the crapper.

There have been a couple of outrageous responses to McCain's opposition to the Haspel nomination, both modeled on what a writer at Daily Kos referred to as Trump's "performative cruelty."  First, in a nod to Trump's penchant for name-calling and lying, retired Air Force Lt. General (and birther) Thomas McInerney said on Fox Business yesterday that torture works - "It worked on John McCain.  That's why they call him 'Songbird John'."  A claim that is as preposterous as it is false.  Fox announced after the interview that the network will no longer be using the analytic services of McInerney.

And then a relatively unknown White House aide, Kelly Sadler, grabbed her piece of the limelight when she announced in a staff meeting that McCain's opposition to the Haspel nomination didn't matter because he's "dying anyway."  Sadler's remark pissed off McCain's wife Cindy to a point that she felt compelled to respond on Twitter reminding the crude Sadler that McCain has a family - seven kids and five grandchildren - apparently none of whom were amused by Sadler's ugly remark.  So far there has been no word of any official reprimand of Kelly Sadler.

But the McCain family should not take any of this disparagement personally.  It is all just "performative cruelty" in the style and manner of the world's greatest showman - Donald John Trump.  And even after Johnny Mac has left the stage, the show will go on!

God help us all.

Grassley Wants to See Some Supreme Court Retirements

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Franklin D. Roosevelt had been President less than six months when the skies opened over New Hartford, Iowa, on September 17th, 1933, and a bawling baby boy, Charles Grassley, descended upon the world.  Today Grassley, who will soon be celebrating his eighty-fifth birthday, is a United States Senator from his home state.  When Orrin Hatch leaves office in January, Grassley will become the senior Republican member of that cringe-worthy body and will become President Pro Tempore of the Senate - and thus third in line to the Presidency.   He is also the chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, a post that gives Grassley great sway in the selection of federal judges.

It is in Grassley's role as Judiciary chairman where he has been making news this week.  The still-bawling senator passes every litmus test established by his party.  He is pro-guns, anti-abortion, anti-free health care, anti-marijuana, anti-gay rights - all great positions to help him with the selection of candidates to serve life-time terms on the federal bench.

But if the Senate falls into Democratic hands, as it possibly could do this fall, Grasssley would become the ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, a lower perch with much less influence.

Anticipating this possible pending demotion in stature and political power, Charles Grassley has begun a campaign to nudge any Supreme Court Justices who might be even remotely considering retirement to step down now so that the Republican Senate can have time to secure their replacements.  Grassley, who sat by grinning as a Republican Senate kept President Obama from filling Antonin Scalia's spot on the Supreme Court, knows full well how easily the Senate can thwart the will of the President.

It's time to drive some of those old gray dinosaurs off of the Supreme Court - and who better to do it than Tyrannosaurus Chuckie!

Enjoy your power while you still have it Senator Grassley.  Sooner or later everyone's ticket get pulled.