Indecent Indifference

Until this month, it had been more than 30 years since a Syracuse police officer was killed in the line of duty.

Ten days ago, on April 14, two of the city's officers were killed: Syracuse Police Officer Michael Jensen and Onondaga Sheriff Lt. Michael Hoosock.

As one might imagine, the law enforcement community has been grappling with shock and grief. The officer funerals were held in the past few days; Officer Jensen's was on Saturday, and Lt. Hoosock's was on Monday--two days ago.

Joe Biden is scheduled to make a campaign stop in Syracuse on Thursday--tomorrow. Due to the enormous burden a presidential visit places on local law enforcement, the Syracuse police chief and the mayor expressed their concern to the White House about managing this event in the midst of such stress upon their officers. They did not request a postponement, yet it's painfully obvious that basic decency demands one should be offered.

But we're talking about Joe Biden. He's the cold-blooded candidate who recently held a campaign fundraiser in New York City and ignored another murdered officer, Jonathan Diller, who was being mourned the same day in a New York suburb. It would have been an easy limo ride away, especially for a president. After all, there was a former president who made a special trip to pay his respects to Diller. But not Biden. His show must go on. Especially, it appears, if it includes murdered officers.

If you think Biden might delay his hurrah speech in Syracuse for a couple more days, just to be respectful to law enforcement officers, you'd be wrong. He's coming to Syracuse tomorrow as scheduled. The cops will just have to cope.

There are many things I could say about the current occupant of the White House. Most of them I wouldn't want to appear on my pages. But there's one thing I will say with certainty--Joe Biden is not a nice man.

Sadly Symbolic

Today's devastating fire at the Copenhagen Old Stock Exchange is, similar to the destruction at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, in 2019, symbolic of the deterioration, dismantling, and outright destruction of Western civilization. 

Do you recognize our country? I, for one, do not. In the past few years, it has become a hostile, alien place filled with danger and uncertainty. There is no reliable system of justice. Crime is rampant and without consequence. The economy has been crushed by inflation, with prices rising at every turn. The middle class is ever shrinking, leaving us with a feudal-like system of the mega-rich in their safe enclaves surrounded by always increasing impoverished masses. The southern border is non-existent, and the unknown throngs of foreign entries is reminiscent of barbarians overwhelming the Roman Empire.

To add to the mounting national dismay, young children are encouraged to explore and affirm a different "gender," with parents rendered largely powerless to protect them. Those same parents are subject to unfettered surveillance by Federal agencies if they speak out for their children at school board meetings, pray outside an abortion clinic, or attend a government-disapproved church. 

And, for the first time in US history, we have a major political candidate, a former president seeking a second term, prosecuted as a criminal under feeble and frivolous charges. Since when is a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) considered "hush money"? In my career I've drafted, typed, processed, notarized, mailed, and maintained files on hundreds of NDAs. Not one of them was ever referred to as "hush money." But that buzz term certainly makes for juicy headlines in a jaded media.

In short, we're losing our society. We are losing it through our inaction and unwillingness to face the hard reality of the threats within. We're losing principles of freedom that go back to the Magna Carta and that are enshrined in our country's founding documents. Western civilization may already be beyond rescue, and we just don't realize it yet. Perhaps the fiery end to Denmark's iconic four-centuries-old building is just one more symbol of the implacable march to our demise.

 

Copenhagen Old Stock Exchange Building

Allowing Stages

“Play is the work of the child.”

 ~ Maria Montessori

When I was about four years old, I became fascinated with large trucks and similar heavy equipment vehicles. I asked for a “dump truck” for Christmas. My parents were not worried, horrified, or intimidated by this traditionally unfeminine interest. They made sure that Santa came through for me.

I can still see the three gifts waiting for me that Christmas morning. They were all Tonka trucks, a time-honored quality brand for sturdy toys. The boxes were big and heavy for a little tyke, but I wrestled them open. I received the yearned-for dump truck; it had a yellow cab and a green bed, with a working mechanism that lifted the bed, tilted it backwards, and opened the hatch. The next box contained a bright red tractor with a steering wheel that moved the huge tires. The last box held a teal green steam shovel that swiveled left and right. It had a yellow “scoop” operated by a little switch that could move it up and down, back and forth. Oh, joy; I was in make-believe heavy construction heaven.

I remember playing with these toys for at least a year, probably closer to two years. They transported stuffed animals, checkers, ping pong balls, cookies, unshelled walnuts, and innumerable other compact items that fit into their functional parts. Eventually my well-used trucks transitioned to my younger siblings, and I moved on to play with Easy-bake ovens and Barbie dolls. But it took a long while. The point is, I never felt like a boy when I was playing with my Tonka toys. My preoccupation with trucks was what my mother accurately termed, “a stage she’s going through.”

Can you imagine if I were a four-year-old girl today expressing such interest in dump trucks and similar construction vehicles? Probably already I'd be on hormone blockers and waitlisted for my penile implant. Children aren’t allowed to go through stages these days. At the first sign of any unusual behavior, they are immediately analyzed, diagnosed, and drugged. This is a mental sickness on the adults’ part, including—perhaps especially—the physicians and therapists. The overhyped gender hysteria is warped, it’s wrong, and it’s most often irreparably damaging to the child.

If a boy wants to play with dolls, or if a girl wants to play with trucks, let them play. Childhood is brief enough, and it moves with lightning speed. There is plenty of time ahead to sort out gender identities. And, as my experience shows, given enough time such things sort themselves out. If, indeed, such sorting is even necessary—which it usually is not.

 

Small Comfort

At Officer Jonathan Diller's funeral today, the New York City police commissioner promoted him to Detective.

I've seen this done before for officers slain in the line of duty. It is a kind gesture, an honor well deserved by the murdered officer, but honestly--does it help all that much?

Stephanie Diller, the young widow left to raise a one-year-old baby alone, is bereft of her husband. His infant son will know his father only by photos, stories, and a shiny new detective's badge that bears his own birthdate. This baby boy will never benefit from his father's loving presence as he grows up. 

There is plenty of blame to go around at every level of New York leadership for this tragic circumstance, but I'll leave it at that. Rest in peace, Officer Diller. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

Posthumous Detective badge for Officer Jonathan Diller

The Happiness Problem

California is widely noted for, among many other things of dubious worth, ridiculous government.

However, the Golden State may have outdone its own outlandishness. The California Assembly has created a new committee to explore ways to make people happy. Yes, I'll wait while you read that again. The Select Committee on Happiness and Public Policy Outcomes wants Californians to be "happy."

This news makes me very sad. I can't think of anything I want the government to be less involved in than my happiness.

After increasing our taxes, blowing up our dams, wasting billions of tax dollars on the infamous "Train to Nowhere," destroying our iconic cities with no-consequences crime, rampant homelessness and uncontrolled illegal immigration, the pin-headed politicians are wondering why we're not turning cartwheels in our pothole-ridden streets.

You want us to be happy? Stop using our tax money to formulate nonsense committees. Give us the freedom to buy a gas stove if we want one. Lower the gasoline taxes and the electricity rates, both highest in the nation. Stop trying to force EVs and "smart" thermostats on us. Don't take photos of our trash to be sure we're not mixing the cardboard in with the carrot scrapings. 

I could go on, but it would just make me miserable. 

"Government's role is to provide for its people," one sanctimonious lobbyist intoned. No, actually, we can provide for ourselves just fine, thanks. Government's role is to keep the community infrastructure humming, which for decades has been a complete failure in California.

Another part of government's role is to stay of our business. Nothing would make us happier.

Be happy or you'll pay an Unhappiness Tax

"Three Ringing Cheers"

Raise a glass today.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Kelly The Boy From Killane (youtube.com)

Health and Circumstances

I've had a great run with good health for more than 70 years. Aside from minor toe repairs (years ago, due to my running days), hip replacement surgery last week was my first major encounter with the operating room. It was quite the experience.

The doctors, nurses, and entire medical teams all get high marks. But the changes in our healthcare system I've noticed leading up to this "procedure" are dramatic and significant from two or three decades ago. Covid played its part in burning out medical staff from their jobs, and the Boomer generation statistics represent not only patients but also retiring nurses, physicians, and medical technicians. The health care industry is now so fraught with stresses and pressures that young people aren't drawn to enter it in the numbers they once did.

Today our once-stellar healthcare system is, quite frankly, a sorry shadow of its former self.

When my husband survived cancer in the 1990s with several ancillary conditions, he had probably half a dozen doctors in various specialties. If he had an ache, pain, or symptom of one sort or another, he'd mention to me, "I'm going to call Dr. A. on Monday and set up an appointment." I'd come home from work Monday evening and ask when his appointment was scheduled. Some variation of "Thursday at 2:00" or "Friday at 10:00" was the reliable response. He was always in, out, and treated within a few days. And he was seen by a physician.

Try to schedule that appointment today. "We have one opening on July 9" is the more likely response. And most likely, come July 9, you'll be examined by a physician assistant (PA), not a doctor. No disrespect towards PAs--most of them I've seen are excellent--but I think my monthly insurance premium is paying for doctors. Just saying.

The night before my surgery I received both an email and a phone call from the hospital's billing office. They wanted me to pay my "estimate" for the operation in advance. Excuse me, but nothing's happened yet. Do you pay the gardener before he mows the grass? No thank you. I'll wait for an itemized final bill--on paper please, sent via USPS.

It took nearly one year (May 2023) to get from my family doctor recommending a consultation with an orthopedic doctor to meeting with the surgeon (November 2023) to scheduling the surgery (January 2024). It was originally scheduled for April, but I got a phone call in mid-February saying that there was a cancellation in March and asking was I interested. Well, is the pope a communist? Since I could barely walk at that point, of course I was interested.

Now it's behind me, and all that remains is the physical therapy (PT). I've already started that, and the home health care organization is wonderful. They are skilled and responsive, which is especially impressive considering they are picking up the slack left by three other home health care companies in my city that had to close due to newly imposed Medicare and other government rules. I now have practical knowledge of just how bad things turn when government gets involved in our medical care. The government could make a hot mess out of buttering toast. 

So, if you need any kind of medical attention for any sort of condition, don't hesitate to start the long process towards treatment. Call your doctor's office today (if you can reach them). And I wish you good luck getting in to be seen before July 9.

Open Doors to Death

We'd all better get used to stories like this. Laken Riley is one of many crime victims resulting from Biden's no-border policy.

Riley's brutal murder by an illegal alien--a known criminal--underscores what we already know. The criminals are here. There's not much point in all the political chest-beating going on now about the border. The border won't be closed. And innocent Americans will continue to suffer and die because of it.

No one knows how many million strangers are roaming our country. More importantly, no one knows how many of them are criminals. But unfortunately, we're going to keep learning more on this subject.

For example, my neighborhood has always been a safe, middle-class working community. There has been very little crime over the 40-plus years I've lived here. Yet on Sunday evening, there were two home robberies within five minutes of each other less than three blocks from my front door. Since December, a 7-11 store one mile from my home and an Arco station less than two miles away were both robbed.

I don't know if illegal aliens are to blame for these crimes, which is my point--we don't know who is here. But we also have the disintegration of law and order continuing at breakneck speed in our society. Combine that fact with the dangers posed by our non-existent southern border and we are facing death's door, wide open for Americans.

Laken Riley ~ Rest in Peace

"They" Is Stupid

This week I had a medical appointment. For a few years, the electronic (is there any other kind now?) check-in form has contained a series of questions about gender identity, pronouns, and preferences. I always ignore these questions. After checking "female," I don't see what else needs to be discussed, and I skip ahead to contact and insurance information.

When I received my post-visit summary from the doctor's office, it was difficult to read. Evidently, according to my health care organization, I'm no longer a "she"--I'm now a "they" or a "their." As a lover of the language, I find this incorrect usage quite offensive. I am only one person, a "she" or a "her;" I'm not a conglomerate of people. The content of the report was not written in English but rather in an ungrammatical dog's breakfast of tortured woke terminology. Since the "identity" portion of my form was left blank, they should revert to the first box checked--FEMALE, as it always has been--and assign pronouns accordingly. Don't presume to toss me into the "woke" grammatical garbage heap.

For nearly 40 years, I've been a patient of this particular health care entity. If they haven't ascertained by now that I'm a woman with the proper attendant pronouns, why am I trusting them with my health care?

The "woke" nonsense is beyond stupid. If all of us refused to play the idiotic pronoun game, I think it might die the natural death it deserves. But, if I have to soldier on in the minority resisting bad grammar for the sake of warped ideology, so be it. This woman is not playing this hand. They can just deal "they" out of wokeness.

Lost Nation

For any adult who was born and grew up in this country, the USA is a strange and foreboding place today. There is a pervasive sense among the citizenry (remember that word?) that the worst is yet to come for our country. We all know the macro-national issues--border, crime, economy, corruption, to name but a few. But each of us is probably experiencing the fallout of these problems on a micro level, too.

The negative and damaging changes in our society are clearly visible in almost any community. I can share some examples from my own neighborhood.

In the past few months, I've been present twice as the grocery store that I've shopped in for more than four decades was robbed in broad daylight. There were no consequences for the criminal; it was the same perpetrator both times. The thief stuffed his plastic bags full of products and scampered out the door, laughing and brazenly shaking the bulging bags in the face of the store employee who pursued him. The employee stopped at the store's entrance and photographed the criminal as he ran across the parking lot.

As I left the store, I asked the store worker if this had happened before. "Every day," he replied grimly. Sure enough, while shopping the following week I witnessed the same crime, with the same lack of consequences. It is unsettling and disheartening to know that no police responded to this crime.

My neighborhood streets have been torn to shreds for a year and a half. A 2022 road project that was supposed to be completed in less than one year shows no signs of completion. There are huge potholes, steel plates, orange cones and netting, sewer pipes, and parked heavy equipment all over my local streets. I can't imagine taxpaying citizens tolerating this situation even 20 years ago, but nowadays people seem to have accepted the cold fact that we are not the government's priority. Besides, there are more serious problems to worry about.

Although my street has always been a cozy cul-de-sac where many of my long-time neighbors are also friends, the tenor of our times has added a layer of caution to my everyday actions. If I've forgotten to check my mailbox after work, I no longer saunter out in darkness to gather the mail. On the night before trash collection, I've stopped dashing out in the darkness to add a forgotten item to the bin. Now I wait for daylight for such chores, and I look around before unlocking my security door and venturing forth. I've seen the grocery store thief wandering around other locations in my town, so one can't be too careful.

This is not America. I feel as though we have already lost our nation and are only beginning to realize the depth and gravity of our loss. All I can do is pray that I'm wrong--and keep the house locked tight.

Remembering a Patriot

Over the years, I've been exceptionally picky about country music and its singing stars. Some country I really like; a lot of it I don't. There was only one country music star that truly captivated me, and that was Toby Keith. My husband was a huge country music fan, so he was delighted that we finally had some common ground in this genre. Back in the day, Pete bought me Toby Keith CDs on any occasion. I still have them.

From his first hit song, "Should've Been A Cowboy" in 1993, I liked Toby. I liked his voice, his music, his songwriting, his style, his performances and his personality. Toby Keith had his naysayers, especially over the song he referred to as "Courtesy"--the video is linked above. As he told a CNN interviewer, it's a song he wrote in 20 minutes on the back and sides of a Fantasy football sheet while he was in the gym right after September 11, 2001. He first performed it at the Pentagon for troops about to ship out to Afghanistan. They went wild for it. Toby had no thought of releasing it as a recording; he thought he would sing it only at military shows. But the Marine commander implored him to record the song. The commander told him that the entire military should hear the song, that it was important for them.

Taking the commander's request to heart, Toby said he "prayed about it" and finally released the song. I'm so grateful that he did. Many critics thought it was too controversial and provocative. I think the critics are wrong. "Courtesy" was exactly what our troops, and our country, needed to hear at the time. It still gives me chills when I listen to it.

Aside from all his talent, I think what I liked most about Toby Keith was his love for our military. He entertained untold thousands of our service men and women and took special interest in supporting veterans. He was dedicated to our troops and our country.

Today, after hearing of his death on the morning news, I brought my Toby Keith CDs with me in the car and sang along on the ride to work. Toby, you did a great job. Rest easy, cowboy.

They Deserved Better

 Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Georgia.; Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Georgia.; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia.

For the Fallen

BY R. LAURENCE BINYON

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: 

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

Questions Without Answers

As most Americans probably do, I have a lot of questions about what's going on in the country. 

First question: Why do we need a "deal" in Congress to control the southern border when the United States has valid laws, processes, and procedures already in place to manage immigration?

Next question: Why are New York City students being sent home so that their school can be used as a dormitory for illegal aliens?

Third question: Why do I have to buy a ticket, present government-issued identification, and go through security checks to fly on a plane when illegal aliens breaking the law by crashing the border are flown to their US destinations without questions, identification, vetting, or payment for their tickets? (Oh, wait. Taxpayers like you and I are paying for their tickets. Silly me.)

Those are only the first three questions, and I could go on for quite some time. I'm sure you could as well. Five years ago, these scenarios were unimaginable. Yet look how quickly they all transpired and turned into national catastrophes.  

My questions above focused on the illegal immigration crisis. But there is a smorgasbord of constitutional crises happening daily in the US. Any one of us could ask one hundred questions and just be getting started. 

What about the hundreds of thousands of fentanyl deaths? What about the crime waves in major cities? What about the dismantling of police protection? What about school curricula promoting the sexualization of children and the throttling of parental influence?

How about the government threatening parents speaking out at school board meetings, Catholic Latin mass goers, and people who pray outside abortion clinics? Do such actions by the government respect our constitutional rights?

Can we ever expect any satisfactory answers to our questions? Now, that's a silly question.

Not Without A Fight

You won't find much coverage of this on our dinosaur media, but farmers all across Europe are revolting against proposed EU tax burdens and regulations to be imposed upon them by the government. Germany is the most recent country where farmers have risen up, and the videos of their massive and spreading protests, as well as the overwhelming popular support, are stunning to behold.

Although legacy media is careful to guard this well-kept secret, the farmer protests have been going on for quite a while. Besides Germany, farmers in Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, and Spain are among those standing up to big government bullying. Of course, they are being slapped with the handy label, "far right," which in the media applies to anyone standing up for personal liberty.

There's quite a bit of coverage on these widespread protests on "X"--just search for "farmer protest" and you'll have a lot of scrolling and video to take in. In the comments, I often see the question "Why aren't American farmers protesting?"

I have a theory on that. Most of the European countries protesting have seen and suffered long hardship under either communist or fascist rule. They understand tyranny and dictatorship in a way most Americans cannot (at least, not up until the current administration).

These European farmers are willing to draw the line and stand against the authoritarian regimes that are encroaching upon their nations. They will not give up their hard-won freedom and independence without a fight.

The farmers in the United States would be wise to watch closely and to learn from their European counterparts. For us, the time for individual rights and freedom is rapidly running out.

Farmers protest in Germany - January 2024

First Things First

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...

First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Freedom of religion is the first right recognized in the opening sentence of the Bill of Rights, the ten Articles ratified as Amendments to the U.S. Constitution in 1791.

Freedom of religion opens the first sentence of the First Amendment. Why would that be?

In a free country, people honor religion as an individual right derived from what the Founders referred to as "the Creator." Government has no place in the personal faith choices of the people. The issue is between the individual and God.

The violations of the First Amendment that are transpiring recently, with undercover FBI agents infiltrating Catholic Latin masses in search of "domestic terrorists," and with violent anti-Semitism running rampant throughout our educational institutions, would have enraged our nation's founders. 

When I was growing up in a Sunday Mass-going Catholic household, my father would not stand for any joking or disparagement of other religions. If he caught us giggling about Jewish yamulkes, Buddhist monks with shaved heads and orange togas, or any other visible feature of another faith, he would shut us down instantly. Dad would reiterate the fact that "other people's religions are as important to them as ours is to us." We learned to be respectful of different beliefs. By extension, we learned to be respectful of other people, period.

Despite the current national chaos, research shows that America remains a religious nation. If we can hold fast to our values, we may continue to remain that way. I certainly hope so. As the Founders knew, freedom of religion is the key to a free country.