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.