Nothing But Blue Skies Do I See

 

by Pa Rock

Stargazer Geezer

Eclipse day is finally here and the skies over West Plains, Missouri, are delightfully clear and blue, but soon, of course, they will be black as darkness settles in.  But for the time being the skies are sunny and the day is beautiful!

Alexa has been telling me for several days that it would be "partly sunny" on Monday, but she was wrong, as she often is, because it is now Monday and it is "plenty sunny."    (I need to so some research and try to ascertain just what the difference is between "partly sunny" and "partly cloudy.")

I have company headed this way to view the big celestial event.   Ranger Bob and his lovely wife, Sandy, are driving over from Springfield.  I haven't seen them since Bob and I went on a big treasure hunt to McDonald County last November when I tried and failed to find the time capsule that I had buried sixty years ago.  Maybe we can give it another shot this fall after all of the tourists go home.

I live about a mile north of West Plains, and yesterday I drove into town to see all of the crowds who had supposedly shown up for the four-day eclipse "Party in the Path."   I diligently searched every part of town where I would expect crowds to be gathered - and came up with zilch.  There appeared to be fewer people in town than would have been there on a normal Sunday afternoon.  I heard later that some were at the fairgrounds where hot air balloons were putting on a show.  (I hadn't thought to check the fairgrounds, which are about a mile due west of my home.  Last night there were fireworks at the fairgrounds, but I was already in bed reading, so I just listened to the noise.)

One extraneous thought:  I wonder if some enterprising insurance salesman in Georgia thought to sell Marge Greene a rider on her homeowner's policy that would cover eclipses?  You can never have too much protection, Marge!

Darkness beckons!

The Traveler

 

by Pa Rock

Minder of Dogs

Rosie is an older dog.  She will be ten in July which, I understand, is the equivalent to seventy in human years.  Next year I will be seventy-seven and so will she!  Rosie is very sedentary.  She likes being indoors and napping.  Going outside is a bother.

Gypsy, on the other hand, is a mere pup who just turned one this past week.  She is seven in human years, or roughly a second grader -  and she tends to bounce around live a severed power line.  Gypsy lives for running free in the great outdoors.

My son named Gypsy, and I have never asked where he came up with the name.  I know that he and his friends - all forty-and-fifty-somethings - followed the sensational news stories about Gypsy Rose Blanchard, the Munchausen victim from nearby Springfield.    Those stories were winding down around the time our dog showed up.  (Ironically, none of them had heard of Gypsy Rose Lee!  Somesbody is showing their age, and I guess it's me!)

Whatever my son's logic was in naming Gypsy, he could not have come up with a more fitting moniker because, like her nomadic namesakes, the gypsies of central and eastern Europe who are often referred to as Roma or Romani -  or Travelers - our Gypsy is, deep in her heart, a traveler.

Gypsy was traveling when she found us while on an extended walk-about several miles from her home.  It took a couple off weeks, but my son was eventually able to locate her family and they came and took her home.  But Gypsy had been out and seen the world, and her wanderlust was not sated.  Soon her owners called and asked if she could come back and live with us again - and we happily welcomed her back into our home.

But Gypsy is a free spirit who likes to run free.  Our ten acres kept her satisfied for awhile, and she was very good about not straying from the property.  Gypsy is a smart young lady who knows what's what, and where she can go, and what is beyond her limit.

For awhile I could turn her out to do her business and not have to worry.  She would be back on the porch in just a few minutes ready to come back in.  But her visits outside gradually began to increase in length and she became more difficult to rein-in.  It got to where as soon as I would step out on the back porch to look and call for her, she would step behind a building or a tree and act like she could not hear me.  She was a typical seven-year-old child who wanted to set her own schedule.

Then a male dog showed up and began leading her on a merry chase.  Suddenly she thought she was an adolescent!   A trip to the vet cooled that romance.

But Gypsy still had the urge to travel.  This past Friday I let her out twice in the morning and she came back promptly both times, so I thought we were in for a good day, but when I let her out at noon she took off and was gone the rest of the day.  My son, who can be decidedly less pleasant than me when it comes to dealing with wandering canines, rounded her up when he got home from work.

Yesterday morning Gypsy and Rosie and I were again out for our constitutional just after daylight when four young boys, probably junior high students, ran down the lane looking as though they were practicing for track.  Gypsy thought that looked like great fun, but I held her tightly by the collar until they had passed and finally rounded the bend and headed off in another direction.  When I eventually let her go, she took off like a shot to catch up with the runners and make some new friends.

They were about a quarter of a mile away, but I could see them all making introductions.  After a few minutes the runners went on and Gypsy came home.

We walked some more up and down the driveway and across the yard and should have gone in, but it was a nice morning and we were in no hurry.   That was a mistake because the young runners came back by heading in the direction from which they had originally come, and Gypsy raced off to follow her new friends.  Rosie and I stayed out a while longer assuming that Gypsy would return, but she didn't.   I knew my son, who had been at work since before dawn, would soon be home, so I didn't worry - he could deal with her.

Around ten o'clock, after Gypsy had been AWOL for nearly three hours, a strange car pulled into the drive and a nice-looking woman in outdoor attire stepped out and came to the door.  "Are you missing a black and white dog?"  she said.  I admitted that I was, and we went to the car and retrieved The Traveler.  The lady, who was apparently a parent-coach, said that they were having a track meet at Galloway Park - which is about a mile from my house - and that the "sweet" dog had been there helping to run the meet.

This morning when I took Gypsy out, she was on a leash.  She does not like being on a leash.  That is not who she is.

I suspect that as I type this, Gypsy is plotting her next move on down the road.

Rosie would not leave here for love nor money.

Dogs are as different as people.

Cole Porter's hit song from 1934 could have been written for our "sweet" dog who loves to travel:

Don't Fence Me In

by Cole Porter

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above
Don't fence me in
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love
Don't fence me in

Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees
Send me off forever but I ask you please
Don't fence me in

 

Just turn me loose, let me straddle my old saddle
Underneath the western skies
On my Cayuse, let me wander over yonder
Till I see the mountains rise

 

I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences
And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
And I can't look at hovels and I can't stand fences
Don't fence me in

 

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies
Don't fence me in
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love
Don't fence me in

Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees
Send me off forever but I ask you please
Don't fence me in

 

Just turn me loose, let me straddle my old saddle
Underneath the western skies
On my Cayuse, let me wander over yonder
Till I see the mountains rise

 

I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences
And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
And I can't look at hobbles and I can't stand fences
Don't fence me in

The Eclipse as God's Wrath

 

by Pa Rock

Stargazer Geezer

A solar eclipse is a natural phenomenon that most children learn about in elementary school science classes, unless, of course, their school's curriculum is so infused with religious training that there is no time to teach science.  A solar eclipse occurs when three celestial objects - the sun, moon, and the Earth - align, and the moon is between the sun and the Earth blocking the sun's light and casting a portion of  the Earth into darkness under the shadow of th moon.   As the alignment shifts, the moon's shadow moves on.

Eclipses have been going on since the universe was formed (either by the Big Bang or some bored old white man playing with clay), and they have been noted in history since antiquity - and even understood by some of the ancient scholars.  The time and place of a solar eclipse was predicted by the British astronomer, Edmond Halley, in 1715. and the timing of an eclipse was a major plot point in Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, which was written in 1889.

Solar eclipses are not mystifying events, government plots, or the wrath of God, regardless if what you may read on Facebook.  Yet, despite the fact that most ten-year-olds can explain the dynamics behind a total eclipse of the sun, there are still lots of people out there whose self-interest lies in spreading misinformation, or who are just too damned dumb or lazy to use Google or ask Alexa.

Yesterday Congressperson Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia posted the following on X (Twitter):

"God is sending America strong signs to tell us to repent.   Earthquakes and eclipses and many more things to come.  I pray that our country listens."

God almighty!

Repent, repent, repent, America - or God will surely smite us with even more eclipses!

(Many of the people who would have believed that rubbish are gone now because they drank bleach to cure their COVID!)

Party in the Path

 

by Pa Rock

Dweller in Darkness

While my little community, West Plains, Missouri (pop. 12,000), is a nice and relatively safe place to live, and a few of its residents live very comfortably, it is by no means wealthy, and locals here are always on the lookout for new ways to make a buck.  It therefore wasn't surprising when word began to circulate a couple of years ago that the Great Eclipse of 2024 would pass directly over West Plains that some of the more enterprising citizens came up with the idea of using that rare natural occurrence to bring some money into town.  A committee was formed, and slowly a plan to turn the eclipse into a four-day commercial event began to materialize.  It was dubbed "The Party in the Path," and it commences today and will culminate on Monday with the total eclipse of the sun.

West Plains has a good set-up for indoor and outdoor activities, with a nice park system along with some other green areas in town, a large, modern civic center with abundant parking, a modern and newly expanded hospital complex, a campus of Missouri State University in town, a great library, and a vibrant business community that stretches across three separate portions of the community.  It is ideally organized and situated for multi-day events with an outdoor focus, and it hosts a couple at least every year.  But a four-day eclipse party would be something different and very unique.

I'm not much on crowds or festivals, so I doubt that I will go to town at all during the festivities.  I bought groceries yesterday, and I have mowing and housekeeping chores that can keep me busy at home.  I am expecting friends from out of town on Monday to enjoy the eclipse from the tranquility of my yard, and I am looking forward to that.

The Busch family Clydesdales will be in town one of the four days, and I would like to see them, but unless those big horses come clopping down my country lane dragging their beer wagon, I probably won't be making their acquaintance.

My son who works in town and hears all of the gossip, said that all of the motel rooms have been rented - at exorbitant prices, and that expectations are that 150,000 people will try to find places to park, eat, and relieve themselves in West Plains over the next couple of days.  He suggested that we should perhaps rent out camping spaces on our ten acres, but I am more the Clint Eastwood / John McCain type of character who would be better suited to standing on the front porch and yelling, "You kids get the hell off of my yard!"

So I'm going to intentionally miss all of the commercial hubbub, but I will catch the main event when the sun and moon align as they pass over West Plains, Missouri.  It will be a sight to behold, and it will come with a joyful soundtrack:

Ka-ching, ka-ching!

Lunar Time Zone

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The last human being to st foot on the moon was astronaut Eugene Cernan who did that deed on December 11, 1972.   As the years slowly began to drag on after that flight (Apollo 17), it was beginning to look as though space exploration beyond the Earth's orbit had ground to a halt.  

But now, more than a half-century later, there is a renewed interest by several world governments as well as a couple of private individuals for once again sending humanity beyond the mundane orbit of the Earth.  The United States' Artemis space exploration program currently has plans to resume landing humans on the moon in September of 2026 in a program that will eventually feature the first woman and the first person of color to traverse the surface of the moon.  One of the goals for this new round of visits to the moon will be to begin establishing plans for it to serve as a launch site for deep space missions.

However, before the next group of lunar astronauts head into space two-and-a-half years from now, there is still a lot of prep work to be done, and one of the items on that list is the establishment of a time zone for the moon - because time in space varies slightly from time on Earth due to gravity and some other scientific factors.   Time on the moon moves at 58.7 microseconds (millionths of a second) faster than it does on Earth.  This week the White House sent a memo to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) instructing it to establish celestial time standards for safety and accuracy.

Steve Welby, the Deputy Director for National Security of the US Office and Science and Technology Policy said:

"A consistent definition of time among operators in space is critical to successful space situational awareness capabilities, navigation, and communications, all of which are foundational to enable interoperability across the US government and with international partners."

(People with the ability to speak like that are generally able to find a cubicle that they can call home somewhere within a government bureaucracy.)

So the moon will soon have its own unique time zone.

I also heard on the radio this morning that NASA has engaged with multiple companies regarding the design and manufacture of cars that could be used to traverse the moon and take astronauts from one scenic wonder to another.  (I suspect they will quickly be referred to as "moon buggies," but I kind of like the sound of "lunar lizards."). 

There is already a system of latitude and longitude on the moon with the equator being halfway between the north and south poles, like it is on Earth, and the prime meridian running from pole to pole in the exact center of the moon as it appears from Earth - bisecting the "man-in-the-moon's face.

But would that be enough to keep Chuck and Buck from getting lost AF as they are out tooling around the moon in their lunar lizard?  I don't know this for a fact, but I am assuming that there is, as of yet, no GPS on the moon, and for that to happen someone like Jeff Bezos or Leon Elon Muskrat would have to rush in throw up a hairnet of satellites which would tarnish the view of the moon from Earth, a view that has inspired lovers and vampires since antiquity.

But I wander . . . over yonder.

Perhaps the moon's next surge of tourists could get by with lunar roadsigns - and, of course, the occasional billboard - or perhaps some system of zip codes.

There are so many wonderful things that our civilization can do to enhance future life on the moon.

(And will that new lunar time zone come with Daylight Savings Time?  Enquiring minds want to know!)

Peace Starts with Our Shared Humanity

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Last week I listened to Ron Dermer, Israel's Minister of Strategic Affairs, give an interview in which he said basically that there was no starvation occurring in Gaza and that stories which said otherwise were just being circulated to make Israel look bad.  Dermer spoke rapidly and kept talking over the person trying to conduct the interview, much like a caricature of a used car salesman who didn't want to give his customers time to think about the lemon of a deal he was trying to sell them.  Ron Dermer was  also peddling a lemon.

People are starving in Gaza, and the whole world knows it.  The old, infirm, and the young are especially at risk.  The situation was bad when Dermer was rattling off his carefully packaged propaganda, and it is dire today.

The World Central Kitchen, an international food charity program founded and run by celebrity chef Jose Andres, one of the finest humans ever to walk the earth, has served over 42 million meals to the refugees in Gaza since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7th of last year.  The work of Chef Andres and his many volunteers has been the most significant factor in staving off a mass starvation of the populace, but Israel seems to regard humanitarian operations, especially hospitals, as suspect and they continue to be targets of Israeli military operations.

This week the feeding operations also became targets.  Seven staff members of the World Central Kitchen were killed in a convoy carrying food from a supply warehouse to a feeding center in a trip that had been organized with the Israeli military and was proceeding across a "deconflicted zone" on routes that had been coordinated with Israeli Defense Forces - and it clearly marked vehicles.  The small convoy was attacked three times over a distance of more than a mile-and-a-half as wounded survivors struggled to escape.  Three of the seven dead were Brits and one was a Canadian-American dual citizen.

Great Britain and the Untied States have both provided weapons to Israel in the current war effort.

Israel described the deadly attack on third-party humanitarian workers as "unintended," but again the convoy was following a prescribed route with he knowledge of the Israelis, they were in vehicles that were clearly marked, and the attack happened three times over a distance of more than a mile-and-a-half.  The attackers just would not stop.

President Biden telephoned Chef Andres and offered his condolences over the deaths of the charity's workers, but thoughts and prayers won't put food in a child's belly, or bring back the heroes who placed themselves in harm's way to serve humanity.

The assault on the civilian food charity has had a chilling effect on humanitarian efforts in the war zone.  The World Central Kitchen has suspended its operations in Gaza.  Starvation was happening before, even as Ron Dermer lied about it, and it will be far worse now.  (Could that have been the ultimate objective of the attack?)

Chef Andres posted this on X (Twitter):

"The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing.  It needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon.   No more innocent lives lost.  Peace starts with our shared humanity.  It needs to start now."

Amen.

Reproductive Rights may be Returning to Missouri

 

by Pa Rock

Missouri Citizen Journalist

The Missouri Legislature, a Republican dominated group of religious extremists and grifters looking for an easy retirement option, passed a law which outlawed abortion in the state with extremely limited exceptions before the Supreme Court even overturned Roe in 2022.    But because their new law was clearly unconstitutional at the time, it was worded so that it would not go into effect until Roe v. Wade was overturned - which it was in the summer of 2022.   When the Big Court did act and take away a woman's constitutional right to an abortion, Missouri dusted off its law-in-waiting and became the first state to ban abortion after the fall of Roe.  

Our Republican legislature and our complete slate of Republican statewide office holders are extremely proud of Missouri's total control of its women folk.

We are very pro-life here in Missouri, and if you don't believe it, we may just have to take out our guns and shoot you because we are very pro-gun here, too.  Joe Bob down the road may be pro-life, but that doesn't mean he won't blow your head off for turning around in his driveway!   We also oppose all of those socialist programs where our taxes go to make anyone's life easier, or even just livable, even if those who are helped are children.    We are pro-life, but we are definitely not pro-people-getting-something-for-nothing.  If those nasty little brats are hungry, they need to leave school and get jobs, just like Jesus would have wanted!  Where the hell did all of these damned kids come from anyway?!

But I digress.

There are lots of bad intentions and outright evil woven into the modern Republican party, and the Missouri GOP certainly has more than its fair share of contempt for the rights of women, and children, and minorities, and the poor.  While polling continues to show that a clear majority of US residents - as well as residents of Missouri - favor women having control over their own reproductive healthcare decisions, in places where Republicans have entrenched political control, such as in the show-me state of Missouri, the will of the people does not always prevail.

There is a ballot initiative currently circulating in Missouri which would give women in this state the power to make their own decisions on abortion up until the time the fetus is considered viable - around twenty-four weeks.  It is being proposed as an amendment to the Missouri constitution, and, if the measure makes it to the ballot and passes, it would nullify the current statewide ban on abortion.  Backers of the measure have until May 5th to collect and submit 172,000 valid signatures from registered Missouri voters.

(Yesterday, in the parking lot of a Target store in Springfield, Missouri, I encountered a young man who was circulating the petition to get the Reproductive Rights measure on the ballot.  I was in a rush to make a purchase in the store and get to a doctor's appointment, but I slowed down to sign his petition - because it was important and it was the right thing to do.)

If the people passing those petitions collect the requisite number of legitimate signatures, and there is no reason to believe that they won't, they then go to our troglodyte Secretary of State, Jay Ashcroft, a religious zealot who is an outspoken critic of abortion rights, whose office will then painstakingly have to verify the signatures - and his clerks may get very picky about things like penmanship.

If the petitions make it through the Ashcroft minefield, our Republican governor, Mike Parson, will decide when it is placed on the ballot, either during the August primary election or the November general election.  The people guiding the initiative believe they will have the voter power to win at either time.

But there is something else at play politically that may make this process extra hinky.  There is also an effort by Republicans in our extremist-infested state legislature to change the rules for passing constitutional amendments. The current process for amending the state constitution calls for a bare majority of voters to pass a measure, but the Republicans have, for years, sought to make the process harder.  They got really fired up about it last year when Missourians passed an amendment to the state constitution allowing the recreational use of marijuana, and many in the state legislature continue with the paternalistic belief that they are better qualified to make certain decisions (or perhaps all decisions) than the voters are.  

In February the state senate passed a measure that would require a constitutional amendment to be approved not only by a statewide majority of the voters, but also by a majority of voters in five of the state's nine congressional districts.  That would take power away from Missouri's two large urban areas and hand it over to rural counties, places that tend to be far more conservative in their political views.

If the Missouri House should agree with the Missouri Senate Bill (and why wouldn't they?), it would go the the governor, Republican Mike Parson, who would gleefully sign it.   Parson could put that proposed amendment on the August primary ballot, and the Reproductive Rights proposed amendment on the November ballot. If the first amendment passed in August (when there would be a lower turnout and the GOP would hope more rural conservatives went to the polls), it could then be implemented ahead of the November vote on Reproductive Rights, making that proposed amendment almost impossible to pass.)

Missouri voters, we must be vigilant on any moves to change how our constitution can be amended.  This would be a great time to let your state representative know that you are paying attention.

Changing the rules in order to win an election is crap politics.

Neighbors, Start Your (Lawmower) Engines!

 

by Pa Rock

Old Man with a Mower

When I spoke with my friend Imogene on my birthday a little over a week ago, she declared, rather forcefully for her, that she refused to mow in March even though her yard was already in need of a good mow.  I opined that I would not mow in March either, and completely disregarded the fact that my yard, which some compare to a park during the summer months, was also already looking ragged.

Everyone knows that once you commit that first mowing, you have to keep it up, your life is chained to a ten-day-to-two-week schedule up until almost Thanksgiving.  So why start any earlier than is absolutely necessary?

Last year another friend provided me with an ecological excuse for waiting on the first mowing of the season.  She said that it was very important for the survival of the bee population to let the initial thrust of dandelion blooms come and go before beginning the summer mowing cycle.  I was out and about in the yard yesterday and noticed that the dandelions are in full bloom.  I did not see any bees, however I did spot one red wasp sitting on a dead lilac branch that I want desperately to prune.  (The excitement in my life never lets up!)

Although it is now officially April, I will stall a few more days before I back my big-assed riding mower with three blades and two cup holders out of the garage and begin the summer drudgery.  The dandelions will need a couple of more days before their beautiful blooms begin turning to seed, and it looks like it could rain today anyway.  I also have a doctor's appointment in Springfield today, the one that I had to cancel two weeks ago when I had a flat time just ten miles out of West Plains.  A trip to Springfield and back requires almost four hours on the road, not counting the time spent with the doctor.   

A complete mowing of my yard takes about ten hours.  It's a good thing that I am retired or I would not have time to enjoy the pleasures of old age, things like going to the doctor and mowing!

Take your thrills where you can find them, that's what I always say!

Too Dumb to be a Dictator?

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

John Bolton has served as a controversial foreign policy operative in two administrations, first as George W. Bush's Ambassador to the United Nations, a position for which he was unable to win Senate confirmation so instead served in the position for nearly a year and a half as a "recess appointment," and later as Donald Trump's National Security Adviser where he also served for a little less than a year and half.   Bolton is a foreign policy hawk, and The Economist called him "the most controversial ambassador ever sent by America to the United Nations."

Bolton's dynamic personality and hardline foreign policy beliefs began to clash with Trump's dynamic personality and spasmodic foreign policy actions, and eventually he either voluntarily offered his resignation (according to Bolton) or was fired (according to Trump), and their bromance ended abruptly in September of 2019.  Since that time Bolton has spoken harshly of Trump in his book, "The Room Where it Happened," and also labeled the January 6, 2021, insurrection as an attempt by Trump to overthrow the US government.

John Bolton remains out of favor with the American left, and he is certainly on Trump's shit list.   Perhaps that is why the political extremist without a country this week sought release of his pent-up rage at Trump through the foreign press.  Bolton recently sat for an interview with the French news outlet, Le Figaro, in which he cut loose on Donald Trump's quest for absolute power.

Le Figaro asked John Bolton if Trump has tendencies that mirror dictators currently in power whom Trump has praised, people like Putin and Kim Jong-un, or, put another way, is Trump a potential dictator?  Bolton's answer was scathing.   He said that Trump "hasn't got the brains" to operate a dictatorship, before adding, "He's a property developer for God's sake!"

Ouch!  That had to hurt!

However, I don't think that John Bolton is necessarily correct.

Donald Trump may be a glorified slumlord, but he knows how to manipulate the under-educated and embittered masses, and he also surrounds himself with hardened ideologues and people whose vested interests are (like Trump's) in themselves and their own well-being, and not necessarily the best interests of the nation.   Trump may not be smart or energetic enough to run a competent dictatorship, but he will have a whole host of fascist and racist rats racing around the White House and constantly massaging his ego who are fully adept pulling the levers of power in a manner that would make the Third Reich proud.

Trump doesn't have to be in charge for a dictatorship to take over the nation, hell, he doesn't even have to be competent.  He just has to go play golf and stay out of the way.  His staff will tell him what to sign, and where, and when to rage, and about what.  And somebody will take care of his make-up, like they do now, and someday he will croak and Trump II can step up - and the staff can run his dictatorship, too.

North Korea won't have anything on us!

Glory days!

Biden Gets to Work While Congress Squabbles

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I came across an article on the internet this morning that highlighted how drastically Congress has changed in less than twenty years by comparing congressional reaction to two massive bridge failures.  In 2007 the I-35 W Mississippi River Bridge collapsed in Minnesota, a tragic event that resulted in the deaths of 13 people and created huge traffic disruptions.  The US House of Representatives voted unanimously two days later to approve federal funding to start rebuilding the bridge and repair the major traffic artery.  The Senate quickly agreed and the bill was on President Bush's desk five days after the bridge had fallen into the water.

Those were the good old days.

When the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed this past Tuesday in the early hours of the morning after being struck by a disabled cargo-container ship, there was no unanimity in the current Congress where reactions ranged from hints that it might have been a deliberate attack (Marge Greene, R-GA), to complaints that it was President Biden's fault for not spending enough on bridges in his infrastructure bill (Nancy Mace, R-SC)), to even one suggesting that rebuilding that bridge - which is critical to the regional and national economy due to its connection to the Port of Baltimore - was not a responsibility of the federal government (Dan Meuser, R-PA).

The current Congress is far more impacted by the milieu of conspiracy theorists, partisan punditry, and social media than any of its predecessors, all of which helps to fuel its skepticism, cynicism, and occasional outbreaks of pure lunacy.   Well known conspiracy theorist Alex Jones said on X, "Looks deliberate to me.  A cyber attack is probable.  WW3 has already started."   (Head to the shelters, Alex.  We'll check on you in a decade or three!)

Maria Bartiromo of Fox News suggested that the tragedy had something to do with "the wide open border," and while there is no obvious connection with the bridge collapse and US border policies, the eight construction workers who went into the water when the bridge collapsed were all originally from Mexico and Central America, so perhaps that figured into her political calculus.  

There were also some tweets on X that seemed to somehow conflate the bridge collapse and political pressure to rebuild with the fact that Mayor Brandon Scott of Baltimore is black.  One referred to him as the DEI mayor, and another - by the Michigan GOP - used the term "colored communism" in reference to the mayor and his desire to get the bridge replaced as quickly as possible.

But standing above all of that noise was the President of the United States who was saying that the collapsed bridge is a federal responsibility and that the government would move aggressively to get the site cleared and get the bridge replaced.  Four days after the catastrophe, the largest crane on the east coast has been relocated to the site of the collapse, and $60 million in emergency funding has been allocated to the state of Maryland to get the process started.   

That's from Joe Biden and the White House.  Congress is still squabbling.

Bed Wars and the Royal Pecking Order

by Pa Rock

Servant of Dogs

This year on September 1st little Rosie (11 pounds) will have been a member of my household for ten years.  Her eyesight is failing, but Rosie's hearing remains exceptional, and she is fully aware of everything happening within a hundred yards or so of our house.  She is a wonderful companion and a good friend.

Rosie and I lived by ourselves for several years and got along fine.  A few years ago my oldest son and his very large Boston terrier, Riley, who was built like an English bulldog, came to live with us.   Rosie and I both had to go through some adjustments learning to live around others, but we managed to navigate those changes.  Riley, who had become very protective of Rosie, died of old age two years ago, so Rosie had go to through another adjustment phase in her life.   She inherited Riley[s big, soft dog bed and loved it.  I'm sure that it evoked memories of her departed friend.

Gypsy, a seventy-pound-plus bulldog/pit-bull crossbreed, bounced into our lives a couple of months ago, and poor Rosie had to begin adjusting all over again.  Gypsy loved to play - and bounce - and it didn't take her long to begin tearing up Riley's old bed.   Rosie, who is sweet and normally docile, would just get out of the way and let the big dog be her puppy-self.  Eventually I had to get a new bed for Rosie and figure out strategies for keeping Gypsy away from it.

Meanwhile they sampled each other's food, begged for each other's treats, and even traded water dishes.  There were all kind of games at play and the two canines, one small and elderly and the other enormous and still a puppy, remain in the process of learning to co-exist.

Rosie's new bed was a sticking point because I was bound and determined that Gypsy was not going to play it to shreds.  At first the big dog seemed to resent the new bed and the fact that she was denied access to it, but gradually her demeanor changed and it was more like her feelings were hurt because the little dog had something which she didn't.  So yesterday when a larger, new bed that I had ordered for Gypsy arrived in the mail, I thought she would be one big, happy puppy.

Of course I was wrong.

Gypsy sniffed around her new bed for awhile and even laid down on it, but she was unimpressed.  Rosie, on the other hand thought it was great, and this morning she is the Queen of the House sleeping peacefully on the new dog bed, and the big princess is sleeping soundly in a sunny spot on the floor.

The royal pecking order has been established.

There's a Sucker Born Every Minute

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Grifters have used religion to make a quick buck for generations, peddling everything from forgiveness, to salvation, to holy relics, to holy books.  One classic (fictional) religious charlatan was the totally charming Bible salesman, Moses Pray (a.k.a. Ryan O'Neill), who  traveled the dirt roads of the Midwest during the Great Depression selling Bibles to people who could barely afford to put food on their tables.   Moses Pray and his even more charming daughter, Addie (Tatum O'Neill), lit up the big screen in 1973's classic film, Paper Moon.

Selling the written word of God is a dependable scam, one that makes people feel good (for awhile) if they part with their money, and leaves them with a sense of guilt if they don't.

Donald Trump, a politician who compared himself to Jesus multiple times last week, is now helping to peddle Bibles for profit.    In an announcement this week Trump has endorsed a product called "The God Bless the USA Bible," which is being marketed nationally for just one penny under sixty dollars.  It is a slim-line version of the King James Bible that also contains copies of some founding documents of the United States such as the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Pledge of Allegiance, in addition to a copy of handwritten  lyrics to  "God Bless the USA," a song by Lee Greenwood which Trump uses at his rallies.  The patriotic version of the Bible is apparently Greenwood's project, but Trump will receive a cut of the profits for his endorsement.  It is the only Bible officially endorsed by Trump.

Praise Jesus!

A Trump autograph would undoubtedly be extra.

Praise Jesus!

In hawking the book Trump said, "All Americans need a Bible in their home, and I have many.  It's my favorite book."

Praise Jesus!

But if sixty bucks is a budget-breaker, you can always wait for the second coming of Moses Pray.  He was far more charming, anyway.

(For those who can't afford the $59.99 price but would still like to get into Heaven, all of the patriotic materials as well as the complete text of the King James Bible can be found FREE on the internet.)

Biden Wins Missouri Democratic Primary

 

by Pa Rock

Missouri Citizen Journalist

Incumbent US President Joe Biden swept to an easy victory in last Saturday's privately held Missouri Democratic Primary which was sponsored and paid for by the Missouri Democratic Party.  The big surprise in the primary wasn't Biden's win, which was expected, it was the fact that 19,100 were able to figure out how to obtain mail ballots or where to vote if they wished to do so in person.  The extremely low participation was due in no small measure to the feeble-to-almost-nonexistent attempts by the state party to adequately publicize the event.

Four years ago when the state ran the presidential preference primaries, 666,112 votes were cast in the Democratic contest.

Here are the results of this year's contest:

• Joe Biden won with 16,295 votes (85.3%) and received 61 of 64 delegates to the national convention;
• Uncommitted:  2,229 votes (11.7%) and three delegates to the national convention;
• Marianne Williamson:   298 votes (1.6%);
• Dean Phillips:   178 votes (.9%);
• Stephen Lyon:    40 votes (.2%);
• Jason Palmer:   36 votes (.2%);  and,
• Armando Perez-Serrato:   24 votes (.1%)

Congratulations to all who participated, either on the ballot or by voting.

Missouri Legislature Guts Democracy

 

by Pa Rock

Missouri Citizen Journalist

Four years ago 666,112 registered Missouri voters had a say in who the Democratic presidential candidate was.  Granted, by the time our traditionally late presidential primary rolled around on March 10, 2020, 12 of 15 candidates had already left the race and Biden won it with 60% of the vote, so we didn't't have as much say as we should have.

During the intervening four years between then and now, the Republican-controlled state legislature did away with the state's presidential primary system and said the parties could just determine who they supported at the national level however they wanted.  Missouri Republicans chose to go with a county-level caucus system which keeps many public servants, members of the military, and those with mobility, transportation, or child-care issues out of the process - and Missouri Democrats chose to have a privately-funded-and-run primary system, one which was under-publicized and in some counties almost a secret affair.

The Missouri Republican vote tally in that party's 2020 state presidential primary was 311,793.  This year's total of participants in the state's GOP county caucuses appears to be a closely guarded secret, but I was able to locate figures for two counties.  In 2020, when the GOP had an incumbent running for President, 8,183 people in Boone County (the home of MU's main campus and the city of Columbia) voted in the Republican presidential primary, and this year just 263 Boone Countians showed up for the GOP caucus - a participation rate of just over three-and-a-half percent from the very light voter turnout in 2020.

In Cole County, the home of the state's capital, Jefferson City, the GOP county caucus had just 240 participants this year, which was just over five percent of the 4,721 voters in the 2020 GOP presidential primary in that county.

Those figures show an abysmal drop in voter participation over the past four years, and, no doubt, are part of the reason that Missouri Republican officials have been reluctant to share statewide caucus figures for 2024.  Shame on them, and shame on our GOP-controlled Missouri State Legislature for hobbling democracy!

But the figures were even worse for the state's Democrats, though they did not hide their participation numbers.    19,100 registered voters participated in this year's privately-run Missouri Democratic  presidential preference primary.  Four years earlier, in 2020, (as mentioned above) 666,112 votes were cast in the state's official Democratic presidential preference primary.  This year's total number of voters was less than three percent of 2020's total.

Missouri's new system is not democracy by any stretch of the imagination.  It is politicians tightly controlling what they try to pass off to voters as democracy.

If they wanted our opinion, they would ask for it.   But don't hold your breath.

Leave the Crazies and Go!

 

by Pa Rock 

Citizen Journalist

Mike Pence, the man Donald Trump chose to be his running mate in 2016 and who served a full term as Trump's Vice President, says he will not endorse Trump in this year's presidential race.

Lisa Murkowski, a senior Republican US Senator from the ruggedly independent state of Alaska, says that she will not vote for Donald Trump, and she is even considering leaving the Republican Party over its continuing adoration of egomaniacal Donald Trump.  Murkowski voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial.

Maine's senior US Senator, Susan Collins, also a Republican, said that she cannot see herself endorsing Trump in the 2024 presidential race.  She also voted to convict him during his second impeachment, the one which followed the January 6th insurrection that Trump inspired and encouraged.

US Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, who is a former governor of Massachusetts and was the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, says he "absolutely" would not vote for Trump over Biden.  Romney voted to convict Trump in both of his impeachment trials in the Senate.

Former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney is scathing in her condemnation of Trump, and her father, former Republican Vice President of the United States Dick Cheney, is strongly opposed to Trump as well.

The US House of Representatives which began the current session with a small majority of Republicans has been largely dysfunctional as much of the caucus focuses on pursuing Trump-inspired vendettas and neglecting the business of legislating for the nation.  Two additional Republican members have announced early retirements within the past few weeks, both seemingly due to the dysfunction within their own party in the House, and the GOP will soon have a working majority of only one vote.

The nation's only surviving former Republican President (besides Trump), George W. Bush, is not actively supporting Trump's third presidential bid.

Nikki Haley, the former Republican Governor of South Carolina and Trump's Ambassador to the United Nations, ran against Trump for this year's GOP presidential nomination before finally dropping out of the race earlier this month.  Haley has not endorsed Trump and she is still drawing double-digit support against him in the primaries even though she is no longer in the race.

Other Republican notables who are not supporting Donald Trump in his current presidential bid include General John Kelly, Trump's former Chief of Staff, John Bolton, Trump's National Security Adviser, H.R. McMaster, another Trump National Security Adviser, Mark Esper and General James Mattis who each served as Defense Secretary for Trump, Rex Tillerson, Trump's Secretary of State, and Bill Barr Trump's Attorney General.

Four cabinet secretaries (and potentially at least two more), two National Security Advisers, a US Ambassador to the UN, and a Chief of Staff - each and every one of whom was appointed  by Trump and worked directly for him - are declining to support his effort to get re-elected - and so is his former Vice President - wow!

Lisa Murkowski and all of the other Republicans who can't stomach Donald Trump ought to change their party affiliation because their old party, the one that recognized the importance of working for the public good and being accountable, has pulled up stakes and left them.  The old Republican Party, the one that gave us decent people Dwight and Mamie, is gone.  It has been obliterated by raging lunatics and replaced by a cult of personality whose fealty isn't to the Constitution or the public good, but simply to a tyrannical and self-absorbed despot.  The leader of the new, purer group, has referred to it as the "MAGA Party."

Go, Lisa.  Get out while you can - and leave the door open so that others can follow.  Take the real Republican Party someplace else  - away from the crazies! 

Seize the Tower, or at Least the Gold Toilet!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Today is the day the bills supposedly start coming due for Donald John Trump.   Trump has been ordered to pay a $454 million judgement (including interest) from a civil fraud trial in New York.  This particular case was the one where the state of New York argued that Trump and company had defrauded lenders and insurers out of millions of dollars by adjusting the values of properties in order to secure better deals.  

A jury agreed with the state, and a judge set a judgement in the case equivalent to how much he calculated that the Trump Organization had profited from the high-stakes sleight-of-hand.  Trump, of course, appealed the decision, as he always does, but he had to post a bond to cover the judgement and interest before the appeal could go forward.   New York Attorney General Letitia James generously granted the self-proclaimed billionaire thirty days to come up with the money or post the bond, and it comes due today.

Trump reports that he has been unable to secure a bond because - he says - lenders won't finance a bond that large.  He is now appealing the amount of the bond as well.   But Trump, who does not want to be seen as strapped for cash, has now told Fox News Digital that he does indeed have $500 million in cash, but:

"That doesn't mean that I'm going to give money to a rogue and incompetent judge - the puppet of a corrupt attorney general who's failing with violent crime and migrant crime and whose only purpose in life is attempting to get Trump."

(Do they teach the Blowhard Defense at Wharton Business School?)

Letitia James could begin the process of seizing Trump's assets today, and Donald the Showman is already trying to incite the his followers with fanciful hallucinations about her potentially entering and attempting to take control of Trump Tower.

The seizures won't happen today, they won't happen a week or a month from now.  They just will not happen.  Donald Trump has lived his life without consequences, and that's not going to change.  But it's nice to imagine, even for just a few minutes, that it could.  Converting Trump Tower into low-income housing would take most (if not all) of the homeless population off the streets of New York, and his Westchester County National Golf Club would make an exemplary summer camp for disadvantaged city youth, and perhaps turn the mansion on the grounds into a year-round trade school.  So many possibilities!

Wouldn't it be good for the soul to know that Donald Trump finally did something to benefit people who were in need, even if he did it kicking and screaming?

Nice dreams - like winning Powerball - but they will never happen.

He will never go to jail, either.

Laws in America are to control me and thee - but not him.

If Birthday Wishes Were Fishes, My Stringer Would be Full!

 

by Pa Rock

Old Goat

My 76th has come and gone, and if you read yesterday's blog posting you know that means that my contract to sit around and bitch incessantly has likely been extended for another full year.  In practical terms that should mean that I have twelve more months to conclude the long writing mess that I have been slogging away at for over a year.   It is now west of  350 pages and north of 150,000 words - and is showing no signs of drawing itself toward a conclusion,  This blog, which has been around going on seventeen years, is in addition to the other never-ending writing mess!

Twelve more months of typing aimlessly in search of a plot, or a purpose.  Goody.  Sometime during that twelve-month extension, probably in May, I also want to make a trip to Salt Lake City to complete two family books that have been languishing in my computer files for way too long.  The extensions won't keep happening forever, so it's time to get stuff done!

The first person that I heard from yesterday was Mineko, a lovely Japanese woman who lived with our family during her senior year of high school.  Mineko is in her early sixties now and lives in Tokyo were she is becoming a political activist and working to save some of Tokyo's green spaces.  Her early morning email was most welcome and appreciated.

My first phone call of the day was from Imogene, a former work colleague who is also retired but much younger than me!  Imogene lives in southern Missouri about a hundred and fifty miles from where I am at.  We usually call each other on our birthdays, and I hardly ever forget hers because it is Christmas Day!  Imogene offered some sage advice yesterday when she said, "I refuse to mow my yard in March!"  "So do I," I agreed.  Solidarity forever!  (That's the kind of stuff that retired people talk about!)

Carla, an old friend from college in the 1960's called and we talked about kids, grandkids, politics, and Easter -  sometimes as individual topics, and sometimes as a stew of subjects.  We also have dogs in common.  (Those are other things that retired people talk about.)

Ranger Bob sent birthday greetings in a response to yesterday's blog, along with a dining suggestion which I followed to excess!  Bob's a happy guy who always makes me smile!

Granddaughter Olive telephoned and granddaughter Willow texted birthday greetings.  My son, Tim, in Kansas, who had already gotten me a comfortable pair of shoes for my birthday, called, and my son, Nick, here in West Plains, grilled a nice steak for my dinner last night and baked his speciality, a pineapple upside-down cake.  Delicioso!

My sister, Abigail, called, and her daughter, Heidi, one of my two favorite nieces, sent a nice email which caught me up on some of her family's adventures.  Cousin Joyce sent email greetings from her home in Arizona.  Joyce is another person who always makes me smile!

It was a fairly eventful day for an old goat who spends the better part of every day sitting in the front window typing and watching the buffalo!  I always enjoy hearing from friends and family! 

A Club without Meetings, Dues, or Benefits

 

by Pa Rock

Senior Citizen Journalist

Several years ago I stumbled across a mention somewhere of a very diverse group of deceased individuals who all share one very unique thing in common:  each of them died on their birthday.  It's exclusive in the sense that prospective members must meet one mandatory requirement - that of dying on their birthday - but inclusive in the sense that anyone, regardless of their circumstances in life, automatically becomes a member if they happen to die on the right day.  Here are nine who made the cut:

Raphael, a noted Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance period, was born on April 6, 1483, and passed away exactly thirty-seven years later in 1502, making him a senior member of the club.

 

Noted Elizabethan playwright William Shakespeare, another senior member, was baptized on April 26th, 1564, but was generally thought to have been born on April 23rd, 1564, precisely 52 years to the day before he shuffled off this mortal coil on April 23, 1616.  

Kamehameha V, the King of Hawaii, passed away on December 11, 1872, his 42nd birthday.

American outlaw and train robber Sam Bass died in Round Rock, Texas, on July 21, 1878, his twenty-seventh birthday, after having been wounded in a shootout with Texas Rangers the day before.

Movie actress and former trombonist in an all-girl band, Gertrude Astor, died on her 90th birthday, November 9, 1977.

Ingrid Bergman, the Swedish actress who starred in "Casablanca" and other notable American films, passed away on August 29, 1982, her 67th birthday.  Here's looking at you, kid.

Feminist and author Betty Friedan passed away on her 85th birthday, February 4, 2006.

American entertainer and talk show host, Mike Douglas, died on his 86th birthday, August 11, 2006.

And lastly, country music singer and songwriter Merle Haggard, a native Californian who was proud to be an Okie from Muskogee when he wasn't smoking with Willie, had made plenty of great music by the time he passed away on his 79th birthday, April 6, 2016.

If they are meeting somewhere, I hope Bill Shakespeare is keeping the minutes. What an interesting gathering that would be!

"Premonition" is the wrong word because it carries a connotation of fear, but I have had a "notion" or perhaps a "feeling" for several years that I would probably someday become a member of that very elite club, and each year when my birthday passes I have a sense that my contract has been extended for twelve additional months.   I mentioned that to a friend the other evening, and while she seemed to regard the matter as somewhat macabre, she did say that our sense about those things is often right.   I expect that she will probably call tomorrow to check on me.

And yes, today is my 76th.

The Politics of Exclusion: Not a Winning Strategy

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

At the center of today's Republican Party is a very large subset of white nationalists, religious fundamentalists, and garden-variety good old boys who send love and money to Donald Trump with unswerving loyalty and regularity.   Trump has referred to this core group as the 'MAGA Party'.  While the MAGA Party has never represented a majority of American voters, it does seem to hold a firm grip majority of the national Republican Party, and politicians who want to rise in the Republican ranks have found that they must first genuflect to Trump and his cadre of crazies.

Trump and the MAGAts are very rigid in their beliefs and they see party purity as a strength.  Last January as Nikki Haley was still hectoring Trump in the Republican primaries, the always loud and petulant Florida politician announced that anyone who sent donations to Nikki Haley would not be welcome in the MAGA Party.  It was his party and he was going to keep it pure.  Haley, who was Trump's former UN Ambassador, held on as long as she could -  and then some - before finally dropping out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination on March 6th.  As she left the race, Haley said she hoped Trump would go out and "earn" the support of the Republicans who had supported her.

Trump, being Trump, instead voiced antagonism for Haley and her supporters and said that he did not want them.  Joe Biden's Democratic campaign was quick to put out the word that Haley supporters would be most welcome in his camp.

Here are a couple of examples of why Trump's scorn of Haley and her supporters is political ignorance:

This week Haley, who had been out of the presidential race for nearly two weeks and was no longer campaigning or spending any money on the race, captured nearly 20% of the vote in the Arizona Republican primary - or somewhere north of one hundred thousand votes.  Granted, Arizona has early mail-in voting, and some of those votes were cast before Haley exited the race - but some weren't.  Joe Biden beat Trump by just 11,000 votes in Arizona in 2020, so clearly Donald Trump needs all the support he can muster in the Scorpion State, and telling Haley voters to take a hike is just plain stupid.

This past week Haley also pulled in nearly 15% of the vote in Trump's current home state of Florida.  Based on the state's recent voting history and the fact that Trump and all of his hard-working adult children live in Florida, he should expect to carry the state in November with relative ease, but 15% of Republican voters in the state just sent him a less-than-subtle message that he should not take their votes for granted.

From this point on, every vote for Nikki Haley (and I suspect there will be plenty of them) is a message from a Republican with a soul and a conscience to Donald Trump telling him that he should not take their vote for granted.  The MAGA Party may be pure, but there are still some Republicans who haven't joined the cult or who have been excluded, and those sheep may turn out to be goats who wander off and chart their own trails in life.

Keep purifying your political party, Donald, and spending those campaign donations to pay your criminal attorneys.  It sounds like a golden campaign strategy.

The Coming Fire Sale

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald John Trump, the world's most persecuted individual in at least the last two thousand years, still hasn't been able to raise the $464 million bond that he needs in order to appeal a civil fraud judgement rendered against him by the state of New York, and the state could begin seizing his New York properties as early as next week in order to settle the fine.  Yesterday, in one of his standard angry outbursts, Trump said that his situation was so dire that he might have to begin selling some of his beloved properties at "fire sale" prices in order stay the collection process through an appeal.

That actually sounds like a fair resolution to the matter.  It was Trump's wheeling and dealing with many of those same properties that got him into this particular legal mess to begin with.   He adjusted the purported values of his properties in order to gain favorable terms on bank loans and insurance policies to the point that even he probably had trouble keeping track of their actual worth.

Well, Donnie, soon we will all know the values of at least some of your properties because the "value" will be determined by what the next owner is willing to pay.  

Good luck with the fire sale, whether it is conducted by you or by the state of New York.  It couldn't happen to a more deserving person.

Where the Buffalo Roam

 

by Pa Rock

Farmer in Spring

As a retiree with strong OCD tendencies, my life tends to operate along well-established routines.  Sometimes surprises happen which impact my schedule, but I try to get everything quickly back in order and functioning with comfortable monotony.

One of those sudden changes happened a couple of months ago when a young, bouncy, seventy-pound puppy showed up at our house and decided that she wanted to stay.  She was with my son and I for a week or so and quickly became a part of our lives, but then her rightful owners showed up and took her home.   A week or so later they called my son and said they were having trouble with the dog and asked if we would take her back, this time for keeps - and Gypsy came to live at our house where she remains to this day.

Gypsy adapted to us, and we adapted to her.  Routines were modified and life went on.  But we are still in the process of adapting.  This past week Gypsy taught me some more about her likes and dislikes.

There are fenced pastures in our neighborhood that are maintained by people who live elsewhere, and they use those pastures to run a few head of cattle, so it is not uncommon for the neighborhood dogs to occasionally come across a few cows or even deer.  Gypsy likes to lie out in the sun by the fence and watch the cows on our side of the road graze.  They pose no threat to her, nor she to them.

There is a pasture across the street that often sits idle, but sometimes has as much as a couple of dozen cattle grazing.  The pasture is flat and cleared with a good fence, except for the part directly across from my house which is brushy and on a rise with a poorer quality fence.  Occasionally cows will wander up there, but normally it is more apt to be frequented by white-tail deer.

A few days ago I let Gypsy out to do her morning business and then went back into the house.  I was only inside for a few minutes, however, when our new dog, a creature who hardly ever barks, went into a literal barking fit. I rushed back outside to see what had our big pup so riled up.  

Gypsy was facing across the road and barking toward the brushy area of the pasture.  There, behind the old fence, were gathered what appeared to be six or eight adolescent buffalo!  They weren't doing anything, just standing there looking at the excited dog, but Gypsy not a fan!  

That afternoon I took Gypsy to the yard again, and she had only been outside a few minutes when the buffalo appeared and set her to barking, so that outing was cut short as well.  The past few days have been buffalo-free, so perhaps they have been moved to another part of the pasture.   But if they are still around, Gypsy will adapt and eventually ignore them like she has learned to ignore the neighborhood squirrels and cats.

And Pa Rock will also adapt as he looks up from his typing and instead of seeing the occasional white-tail deer darting through the brush, he will now sometimes be able to focus on a small heard of buffalo staring back at him.

A home in the country is almost like living at the zoo!

The Price of MAGA Hats Is About to Skyrocket!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Yesterday purported billionaire Donald John Trump was forced to admit that the is unable to raise a paltry $464 million to post as a bond so that he can appeal a judgement leveled against him in a New York civil fraud trial.  His lawyers told the appeals court that he has approached companies representing thirty underwriters and that none are willing to post the bond.  The underwriters are looking for cash and stocks to guarantee their loans, and are apparently not interested in having the loans secured with Trump properties.

Trump is asking the appeals court to let him slide on the bond until after his appeal of the case has been completed.

Trump, in typical Trump fashion, bellowed on Truth Social claiming the size of the bond is:

"unConstitutional, un-American, unprecedented, and practically impossible for ANY Company, including one as successful as mine.  The bonding companies have never heard of such a bond, of this size, before, nor do they have the ability to post such a bond, even if they wanted to."

Which they obviously do not!

Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman, got even more colorful in denouncing the situation:

"A bond of this size would be an abuse of law, contradict bedrock principles of our Republic, and fundamentally undermine the rule of law in New York.   President Trump will continue fighting and beating all of these Crooked Joe Biden-directed hoaxes and will Make America Great Again."

So it was Crooked Joe who made Trump inflate those property values.  That figures!

Trump is asking the First Department of the Appellate Division (of the New York State Court system) to let him wait on coming up with all of that cash until after his appeal has run its course.  If the appeals court does not comply with Trump's request, seizures of some of Trump's New York properties could begin next Monday.

Get those credit cards ready, Republicans - because you are about to get tapped - hard!

North Dakota's War on Geriatric Politicians

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

This June voters in the state of North Dakota will have a chance to weigh-in on a on a citizen-driven ballot initiative designed to set an upper age limit on members of Congress elected from North Dakota. The proposed legislation would prevent anyone who would reach the age of eighty-one before the end of the term for which they are running from getting their names on the ballot.  That would apply to people seeking to be US Representatives or US Senators from the state.

The specific language of the ballot initiative reads:

"No person may be elected or appointed to serve a term or portion of a term in the US Senate or the US House of Representatives if that person could attain 81 years of age by December 31st of the year immediately preceding the end of the term."

The state's political establishment does not seem to be getting too excited over the issue, assuming that if the populist measure is passed, it will quickly be challenged by some moldy, old politician and ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court, a political body that is unlikely to look kindly upon the notion of upper age limits for self-important government officials.

There was a big push across the United States at the end of the last century to control the amount of time that people could keep a seat warm in a legislature, and several states passed term limits for members of their state legislatures, often through citizen initiatives and much to the chagrin of many sitting legislators.  But when the talk turned to limiting the number of terms that a national legislator (US Representative or Senator) could serve, the Supreme Court got involved and ruled in 1995 that the states cannot set qualifications for Congress beyond those set forth in the Constitution.  Clarence Thomas, the only member of the current Supreme Court who was serving at the time of the term limits decision, dissented saying that the states or the people can act on issues where the Constitution is silent.

Clarence, of course, may view the entire matter differently now that he is finally in a majority in the Court, and it has become a bulwark of right-wing political machinations.

But, regardless, it's always entertaining to watch the US Supreme Court as it tries to justify its actions in thwarting the will of the people.

(My preference would be a lower age limit:  "75 and Out!" has a nice ring to it!)

Of Unions and Starships and Cannibals

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

On Thursday of this week right-wing influencer and billionaire Elon Musk took time out from his constant battle to keep the proletariat from unionizing Tesla to watch another of his companies, SpaceX. launch a massive "Starship" rocket into space - and this time, the third attempt, it actually worked!  Starship, the largest rocket ever built (standing at nearly 400 feet), launched successfully and made its way into orbit, but was lost during reentry.  The flight was still regarded as a success though, especially since the rockets on the first two attempts last year had exploded shortly after takeoff.

But Elon's week was not over.  On Friday he focused on another of his business ventures, X, formerly known as Twitter, and managed to get involved in the current gang violence and government chaos in Haiti.  Musk, in what some see as an attempt to stem the flow of non-white asylum seekers to the United States, posted a tweet that purported to show cannibalism being committed by some of the Haitian gang members.  The video was unverified and X decided that it was likely based on misinformation and took it down - even though it had been posted by the boss! 

 (It turns out that the same video had been posted on social media two years earlier, well before the current civil unrest in Haiti.)

It's the weekend now, so perhaps Elon can focus on the things in life that give him pleasure, like spending quality time with his three ex-wives and eleven children.  He can get back to the grind of trying to control the world on Monday.

Interesting Times

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Two years ago next week President Biden told a news conference in Brussels, Belgium, that he would be "very fortunate" if he were to run against Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.  Biden has long seen a rematch against Trump as being his surest way to stay in the White House for four more years, and he likes to pat himself on the back for being the only person to have ever beaten Trump in a political race.  (Unspoken is the fact that Trump has only been in two political races in his entire life, and he lost both of those substantially in the popular vote.)

But Joe thinks he can defeat Trump again - easier than he could the other Republican hopefuls - so he cheered on Trump toward the nomination.  God love Joe's blue-collar swagger, and God help us if he is wrong. 

Conversely, Donald Trump has also said that he is eager to have a rematch with Joe Biden.  Each candidate sees the other as being his weakest potential opponent.

Politico ran an article two days ago by Catherine Kim dealing with the topic of "double haters," or voters who do not like either of the two major parties' presumptive nominees - and their numbers are not insignificant.  Three polls - Marquette Law School, New York Times-Sienna College, and Morning Consult - all came up with the same number - 19 percent.  (That 19 percent is basically equally divided among Democrats and Republicans, and tends to lean slightly younger and more Hispanic.)

Roughly one in five Americans are dissatisfied with both Biden and Trump being on the national ballot. That sounds like prime fodder for third-party votes, a situation which could easily upend the election.

The two candidates each believe they have gotten lucky and drawn the weakest opposition, and a big chunk of the voting public seems to think they are both right.

Age, mental acuity, criminality.

We live in interesting times.

Sitting Along the Road Watching the World Rush By

 

by Pa Rock

Time Minder

When I have a meeting or an appointment, I am there early.  It is an OCD thing, and it is a big part of who I am.  That is especially true for medical appointments, of which I have plenty.

Yesterday I had an appointment for an eye exam in Springfield, Missouri, a very large cowtown which is one hundred miles exactly from my home in West Plains.  I have recently had some vision issues as well as difficulties with a couple of local eye doctors, so I had my personal physician refer me to a group in Springfield which he felt could deal with my eyesight and fit me with glasses that would meet my needs.  It was an appointment that I desperately wanted to keep.

The appointment was at 10:15 in the morning.  I had carefully packed all of the things that I needed to take the previous evening and had them in the car, ready to fly in the morning.  I left the house at about 6:30 a.m. and headed to Sonic for my standard roadtrip breakfast, a bacon and egg toaster sandwich (so yummy!) with a Route 44 unsweet iced tea, and by 6:45 a.m. I was pulling out onto the highway with the better part of two hours to spare!

Vroom!  Vroom!

Things were pleasant for the next ten miles.  It was still dark out, thanks to daylight savings time, and the traffic was light.  I finished my breakfast and was listening to a political podcast (thank you, Alexa) and the miles clicked by.

Drive, drive, drive.

Drive, drive, drive.

But then:

Thump, thump, thump!

I haven't had many flats in recent years because I keep good rubber on my vehicles, but I recognized the sound of a flat tire when I heard one.  I found a good place to pull over, said a few choice words, and proceeded to figure out how to respond.  I had left with what I thought was plenty of time to spare, so the day was not lost - yet.

I have changed many tires in my wild and wicked youth, but I am seventy-five now and no longer engage in that particular activity - and I honestly did not even know if the Kia had a spare tire or not.  My car insurance has roadside assistance and my four new tires, which were less than a year old, were also insured, so I knew that it would just be a matter of finding the right numbers to call and then waiting.

The first obstacle that I encountered was that I couldn't figure out how to get the car's interior light to come on, but my phone was handy and I knew how the flashlight function worked.  I found my insurance card in the glovebox where it belonged, and called my insurance agent - whose office I knew would be closed.  The call automatically transferred to an after-hours' assistance line with an automated responder.  I was asked a series of questions and had to respond with the phone's keypad.  Eventually my issue was understood by the machine, who was also able to find my location through the phone, and I was told that a wrecker would be dispatched.

I sat in my car and waited patiently as the sun slowly rose and vehicles began rushing by at a faster pace.  Everything roared by except for my tow truck.  After thirty minutes or so I got a call from the tow truck driver who told me that he had been getting another vehicle off of his truck, but was now out on the road looking for me.  (I was on a major highway, heading north, in a readily known location - very close to where the towing operation was headquartered.)

After another thirty minutes I called the driver back and asked, nicely, if he had gotten lost.  No, he said, he was on his way.   Thirty minutes after that he finally pulled up.  By the time he got the car on his truck and drove it and I back to West Plains to the tire shop where I had purchased the tires, it was almost 9:00 a.m. and I looked to be third in line.  I phoned the eye clinic in Springfield and cancelled.  

The tow was covered by my car insurance (thank you, State Farm).  The tire place had to put on a "loaner" tire yesterday and my new one should arrive this morning - and the cost of it is covered by the insurance that I bought when I purchased the tires, although I understand there will be a couple of hidden fees that will come out of my pocket.  

Now I have a new appointment with the eye doctor for next month.  Perhaps I should go up the night before and get a motel room!

Being old is damned hard work - even with insurance!