#and my friend said “why would they plant poisonous trees in public grounds”

[wawataka]

uhhh oh yeah my friend and i were hanging out after class under the shade of a tree and i noticed there were like pretty flowers and berries growing from it. i did my research and found out they were safe to eat but unfortunately we couldn’t reach any of them. but we did find some on the floor and after rinsing them they were pretty good

[omfgtrump]

Tale of Two Viruses: Part 29

Can you imagine knowing there is something in the air that can kill people and not being truthful about it? 

The idea that The Don didn’t understand the dangerousness of the virus was always ridiculous, but something his apologists promulgated. Remember that first news conference when he spoke about the 15 cases and how most of the infected were recovered and…well, that’s that?

Now we have tapes from Bob Woodward’s 18 interviews with The Don which are part of his new book “Rage.”

“It goes through the air. That’s always tougher than the touch. You don’t have to touch things. Right? But the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus,” Trump told Woodward on Feb. 7

“This is 5 percent versus 1 percent, or less than 1 percent.” (Referring to what was then thought to be percentage of people who would die.)

 On March 7th, The Don had this to say to Woodward: “Just today and yesterday, some startling facts came out. It’s not just old, older. Young people too, plenty of young people.”

“I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down because I don’t want to create a panic.”

Does it enrage you that the man leading this country decided to “play it down,” because he was trying to prevent panic? That’s like not telling someone, with his back turned, that a car is hurtling towards them because you don’t want them to freak out. If you don’t know what hit you, no biggie.

 The Don’s deadly spin on why he down-played the seriousness of the virus is another example of how warped and dangerous he is.

Explain that malignant reasoning to the grandmother you lost, the father, the daughter, your close friend. Tell that to the policeman, the meatpacking plant worker, the sanitation and MTA workers. Tell that to former presidential candidate Herman Cain.

The reason The Don didn’t tell the American people is because he is a deeply disturbed man who has no consideration for anyone else but himself. We have witnessed time and time again his construction of altered realities that he serves up to support the grandiose narrative he tells about himself. If he doesn’t like the facts presented, he spins them to his liking.  

The reason The Don did not tell the public about the seriousness of the virus is because he did not want to ruin his own narrative of how great a president he is. Remember, with The Don, everything is about him; the presence of a virus was like bringing a disruptive guest to your party. How dare they show up and spoil the beautiful spread (the stock market)? What nerve.

Now that we have nearly two hundred thousand deaths, with no end in sight (Canada just reported no deaths in the entire country!), The Don continues to to play it down, acting as if it is a thing of the past. Political rallies of thousands with no social distancing and few masks. Urging schools to open without any federal financial assistance and no coordinated plan. The man continues to promote things that will spread the virus and cause more deaths.

In Woodward’s book, we also get treated to The Don’s smugness about helping the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia cover up the murder of a Washington Post journalist, just as we watch in real time The Don’s disinterest in the poisoning of the opposition leader in Russia.

We also get to hear how tickled he was to be with Kim Jung-un, and be the first to make him smile.

And how disturbed is this country, that with an out of control pandemic raging, he could win re-election?  

And how disturbed is this country that a man who loves autocrats that have no value for human life can win re-election? Here is a quote from one of Woodward’s tapes:

“I can tell you the relationships I have, the tougher and meaner they are, the better I get along with them. ‘The easy ones’ I don’t like as much or don’t get along with as much.” Now those are words we want to hear from a president.   

And how disturbing is it a president who claims climate change is a hoax and waits days before barely mentioning that the wildfires in the West are claiming lives, destroying properties and ruining lives in a manner never seen before; a man who believes if people in the West were just better sweepers none of this would happen.

Finally,when he begrudgingly makes an appearance to meet with officials the “Very Stable Genius” says”

“When trees fall down after a short period of time, they become very dry — really like a matchstick,” Mr. Trump said. “And they can explode. Also leaves. When you have dried leaves on the ground, it’s just fuel for the fires.”

Then he went on to say:

 “It’ll start getting cooler,” he insisted. “You just watch.”

“I wish science agreed with you,” Mr. Crowfoot replied.

“Well, I don’t think science knows, actually.”

Yes, it will magically get cooler, just like the virus will magically disappear.

Are you enraged that Republicans stand by watching a man destroy lives and bring the country to its knees?

I don’t know about you but I am enraged at Bob Woodward, the world famous Washington Post journalist whose book on Watergate helped bring Nixon down. I am enraged at him as he had a tape of The Don stating he knew how serious this all was and that he was playing it down, knowing that people would die. Some disagree with me, but I feel Woodward should have released that tape to the public as it is irrefutable proof of The Don’s willing complicity with a genocide of neglect. Blood on your hands, Mr.Woodward.

My rage is at Mr. Praying Mad Dog Mattis for thinking that praying at church was the proper response to his fear about The Don causing a nuclear catastrophe. During Nixon’s waning days in office he was becoming more and more unstable. As a result, Defense Secretary James Schlesinger issued an unprecedented set of orders: If the president gave any nuclear launch order, military commanders should check with either him or Secretary of State Henry Kissinger before executing them. And Mad dog, you went to church? For all your bravery Mr. Mad Dog, you abandon your country when it needed you most. It’s disgraceful.

And there are so many others for some inexplicable reason have abandon their moral posts and allowed this man to do what he has done.

People we’ve got to vote this evil and dangerous man out of office!

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[cathygeha]

REVIEW

Running Out of Time by Cindi Myers

Tactical Crime Division #4

 FBI Agents Laura Smith “Smitty” and Jace Cantrell are sent with a few other team members to Mayville to find a killer using poison to murder with. Working undercover as husband and wife is not comfortable at first but becomes much easier as the two cohabit and spend time together. The poison is bad but then bombs start going off with more loss of life. Is there more than one person doing the killing? Who is doing the killing and why? That is the question Jace and Smitty need to figure out with their colleagues.

 What I liked:

* Laura: smart, dedicated, good at her job though some think she is cold. I liked her and enjoyed watching her work to solve the case and fall in love

* Jace: a man who knew what he wanted, did his job well, and fell for his partner while working to solve the case

* The rest of the team

* The plotting, pace and writing of the story

* The romance

* That the bad guys were caught

* That justice was served…eventually

 What I did not like:

* The people that I was meant not to like

* Wondering if there will be more books in the series or if this was the end

 Did I enjoy this book? Yes

Would I read more books by this author? Yes

Would I read more in this series? Yes

 Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin for the ARC – This is my honest review.

 4-5 Stars

BLURB

When a terrorist is on the loose, the Tactical Crime Division is on the case. To find out who poisoned medications, two of TCD’s agents are tapped to go undercover posing as a married couple and infiltrate the company. But as soon as Jace Cantrell and Laura Smith arrive at Stroud Pharmaceuticals, someone ups the ante by planting explosives in their midst. Turns out that the small-town family business is hiding a million secrets. Could they unknowingly be protecting a vengeful killer?

EXCERPT

Love CSI and Criminal Minds? Meet the Tactical Crime Division. Get to know a team of dedicated crime solving experts as they fight for justice, safety, and one by one are rewarded by finding love.

CAST OF CHARACTERS:

Special Agent Laura “Smitty” Smith—A disciplined agent who never breaks the rules, Laura must go undercover as a newlywed to find the person responsible for a rash of poisonings and bombings in a small West Virginia town.

Special Agent Jace Cantrell—The military veteran and special ops expert has a reputation as a rebel and a rule breaker—exactly the kind of man to clash with Laura, yet the two must pose as husband and wife to solve a case that brings death to their very doorstep.

Donna Stroud—The head of Stroud Pharmaceuticals intends to keep her company going and her family together in the face of tragedy, but how far will she go to do so?

Parker Stroud—Donna’s son chafes at his parents’ unwillingness to put him in charge of the family business.

Merry Winger—Parker’s girlfriend has big plans to marry Parker, despite his parents’ disapproval of their relationship and Parker’s own reluctance to make their relationship public.

Leo Elgin—His mother was poisoned by tainted medication manufactured by Stroud. He holds a grudge against the Stroud family.

***

“We’ve got another tough case on our hands.” Jill Pembroke, director of the FBI’s tactical crime division, surveyed her team from the head of the conference table in the Bureau’s Knoxville headquarters. “One that re-quires a great deal of discretion.”

Something in the director’s tone made Agent Laura Smith sharpen her focus. Pembroke, with her well-cut silver hair and feminine suit, might be mistaken for a high society grandmother, but she was as hard-nosed as they came, and not prone to exaggeration. That she reminded her team of the need for discretion pointed to something out of the ordinary.

The door to the conference room opened and a man slipped in. Tall and rangy, Agent Jace Cantrell moved with the grace of an athlete. He nodded to the director and eased into the empty seat next to Laura. No apology for being late. Typical. Laura slid her chair over a couple of inches. Cantrell was one of those men who always seemed to take up more than his share of the available space.

“We’re going to be investigating product tampering at Stroud Pharmaceuticals in Mayville, West Virginia.”

Director Pembroke stepped aside to reveal a slide showing a squat factory building set well back on landscaped grounds.

“The antacid poisonings.” Agent Ana Ramirez spoke from her seat directly across from Laura. She tucked a strand of dark hair into the twist at the nape of her neck, polished nails glinting in the overhead light. “That story has been all over the news.”

“Do the locals not want the FBI horning in?” Agent Davis Rogers—the only member of the team not wearing the regulation suit—sat back in his chair beside Ramirez, looking every bit the army ranger he had once been. “Is that why the extra discretion?”

“No, the local police are happy to turn this over to us,” Pembroke said. She advanced to the next slide, a listing of the deaths—six so far, with two additional people hospitalized—attributed to Stroud’s Stomach Soothers, a natural, organic remedy that claimed a significant share of the market as an alternative to traditional antacids. “This hasn’t been released to the public, but the poison in the contaminated tablets was ricin.”

Laura would have sworn the temperature in the air-conditioned room dropped five degrees. “Any suggestion of a link to terrorism?” Hostage negotiator Evan Duran, bearded and brooding, spoke from the end of the table. “Anybody claiming credit for the deaths?”

Pembroke shook her head. “At this point, we aren’t assuming anything. Obviously, we want to avoid panicking the public.”

“The public is already panicked,” Rowan Cooper, the team’s local liaison, said. “People have been organizing boycotts of all Stroud products.” She absently twisted a lock of her jet-black hair, brow furrowed. “We’ll need a strategy for managing the public’s response.”

“The facility where the Stomach Soothers were manufactured has been closed for the time being and the product is being pulled from store shelves,” Pembroke said. “But another facility in town, which manufactures other items, remains open, and the company has reduced hours and reassigned as many employees as possible to the single plant. The company, the town, even the state officials, are very anxious to downplay this tragedy and get Stroud up and running full-speed as soon as possible.”

“Why do that?” Kane Bradshaw, Agent-at-Large, said. Laura hadn’t noticed him until now, seated as he was behind her and apart from the rest, almost in the shadows. Kane always looked as if he’d just rushed in from an overnight surveillance, all wind-blown hair and shadowed eyes. The fact that he was here spoke to the gravity of this case. While always on hand when the team needed him, he wasn’t much on office decorum.

“Jobs.” Cantrell’s voice, deep and a little rough, like a man who smoked two packs a day, sent a shiver through Laura. He didn’t smoke, but maybe he once had. “Stroud Pharmaceuticals is one of the biggest employers in Boone County,” he continued. “The coal mines are shutting down, and there isn’t a lot of other industry. Stroud has been a savior to the community. They—and the officials they elected—are going to do everything in their power to keep the company running and redeem its reputation.”

“Even covering up murder?” Laura asked.

Cantrell turned to her, his gaze cool. “I doubt they want to cover it up, but they’ll definitely downplay it and keep it quiet.”

“They want us to help, but they don’t want us to be obvious.” The youngest member of the team, computer specialist Hendrick Maynard, jiggled his knee as he spoke. A genius who looked younger than his twenty-six years, Maynard never sat still.

“Precisely.” Director Pembroke advanced to another slide of a small town—tree-shaded streets lined with modest homes, some worse for wear. A water tower in the distance displayed the word Mayville in faded green paint. “Agents Smith and Cantrell, you are to pose as a married couple and take jobs at the Stroud factory. Investigations so far point to the poisonings having originated from within the plant itself, so your job is to identify possible suspects and investigate. Agent Rogers, you’ll be in town as well…”

Laura didn’t hear the rest of the director’s assignments. She was focused on trying to breathe and holding back her cry of protest. She and Cantrell? As a couple? The idea was ridiculous. He was rough, undisciplined, arrogant, scornful…

“You look like you just ate a bug.” Cantrell leaned to-ward her, bringing with him the disconcerting aroma of cinnamon. His gravelly voice abraded her nerves. “Don’t think I’m any more excited about this than you are.”

***

Purchase links:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48920861-running-out-of-time?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=x26Tj13kEC&rank=1 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Running-Time-Tactical-Crime-Division/dp/1335136584 

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/running-out-of-time-cindi-myers/1135079353?ean=9781335136589 

Google: https://books.google.ca/books/about/Running_Out_of_Time.html?id=3PXrywEACAAJ&redir_esc=y 

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781335136589 

Harlequin.com: https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781335136589_running-out-of-time.html

AUTHOR BIO

About Cindi Myers: Cindy Myers became one of the most popular people in eighth grade when she and her best friend wrote a torrid historical romance and passed the manuscript around among friends. Fame was short-lived, alas; the English teacher confiscated the manuscript. Since then, Cindy has written more than 50 published novels. Her historical and contemporary romances and women’s fiction have garnered praise from reviewers and readers alike.

From Harlequin Intrigue: Seek Thrills. Solve Crimes. Justice Served.

Discover the lives and loves of the remaining team members in the Tactical Crime Division series: Book 1: 48 Hour Lockdown by Carla Cassidy Book 2: Secret Investigation by Elizabeth Heiter Book 3: Midnight Abduction by Nichole Severn Book 4: Running out of Time by Cindi Myers    

[sjohnson24]

Blood & Stone

My wings start unfolding into Heaven as I fall onto the ground in a prayer. The places that I know will not be forgotten yet, they will never be remembered. The memories that I hold so dear wrap around my brain like ivy on a tree, slowly suffocating it as the years go by. What pain is this which could numb me in such a shattered reflection of myself, which tears us both apart? Why must we surrender to the feeling that traces tears onto our hearts?  My true love, he is a castle. He is a royal tomb which holds my bones. It doesn’t matter if the structure collapses, fades or burns away. He will forever mark me. He told me five times in the essence of seasons passing, that I should go away from him eventually, so he could find his silence. With the right timing, the truth did grow.

In death there is not an absence of sound, as images become clearer in my head from the vibrations of the minutes. My time will be soon. The moments are short yet shortest for many still. A year is faster than a second when I think about the past. It goes by much faster than the past or future. Before I know it the cycle will have ended and all that’s left is what I could think to tell you. This is how important you are to me, dear.

I want to tell you about the legends of blood & stone which transport us into other realms. The magick of the unknown and mysterious lands of which we do not know will haunt over us because the future is heavy and slow in context to the moment we open up and learn our paths. This is the one thing that we all have; blood magick.

Blood Ritual

A blood ritual is one in which a release of blood is used with intention to bring about a pact, or purpose. In these instances, blood symbolizes a rebirth and resurrection. Blood magic can be used in two ways. One is by the blood of the living and the other is by sacrifice. Many ancient rituals from past civilizations used the latter as a means of extreme worship and is considered to be an evil decision by most of us, in today’s world.

One with any knowledge of the occult can translate these magical workings into a number of different ways. Use with a candle, incantations, various magical offerings or any other spell form is always intensified by the use of blood, which can have a very magnificent effect on any working. It is an energy signature of the artist.

Please be aware that exchanging blood with another person or being can cause very dangerous pathogens and poisons to transfer from body to body. It doesn’t take much to deliver life threatening toxins to one another. Please be creative and try not to use this method as some people are unsuspecting of what they do carry.

Bloodstone

The mineral aggregate heliotrope is also known as the bloodstone. It is a variety of chalcedony and jasper, a dark green color, sometimes including red marks of hematite as well. This is the image that has sparked the stone’s name and magical powers.

In ancient texts, it is said to bring about good health and Pliny the Elder himself recounted that it can bring about invisibility to the user. It has wondrous capabilities in the magical realms. Another property of the stone is that it is said to have the unique ability to turn the sun red, or cause an eclipse. It is known to also be able to control certain water elemental storms, such as rain and lightning.It was also used as an ancient amulet to stop bleeding in people. A Christian’s tale is that Christ’s blood fell upon a stone at his feet, turning it into this. In turn, many artisans craft biblical scenes using bloodstone, or martyr’s stone, as they call it.

If the red spots in the stone are yellow, it is then known as plasma. It was commonly placed in Egyptian tombs to protect the dead person from unknown evils and bad luck. Greek soldiers were known to wear it in battle, believing that it would bring good luck to them. Nowadays, it is used by crystal healers to reduce stress, bring mental clarity and inspire self-confidence.

Gravestone

Gravestones became a popular way to identify a person’s grave. In earlier times, the person’s body would simply be covered with dirt. Over time, family and friends made dedications with stones, pieces of wood, iron and marble to honor them. They soon evolved into what we now see today, which is commonly the person’s name, including the year they were born and died, sometimes with an icon of something spiritual engraved and maybe a few short words.

Burials evolved from being around a person’s home, to the church to public cemeteries, which became popular sometime in the 19th century. The business of headstones started booming and it has become like a necessity. However, as times change so too then will peoples tastes and demands. The wealthier always tend to have a more eloquent grave than the poor.

The binding properties of the stone are recognized even as far as ancient Celtic weddings, where couples would tell their oaths to a stone and then throw it out, in order to have a good marriage. This is still practiced to this day in some weddings. There is much power imbedded within the Earth and as humans we still recognize it, even in our evolved states.

Pray

We will pray hard on the day that our soul feels unrest. Yet, while we are summoning angels, the demons are feeling tempted. How you do bind them with improper words? A tower of Babel, a destruction of Earths, I dream of another birth. For all that must be ordered is unrestrained, while those who hold positions of power feel only for theirselves and what they understand.

I know you. The blood that we have flows through our veins, our spark, and our essence. Yet we bond to each other in a higher demand. Like lust or gratitude, we honor the Gods with their forces. The highest of them which can see us, they are also unchanged. Stay in the order, they say now, as they go to and fro. Our blood and words will open the portals to a higher realm of existence.

It is a juxtaposition of elements that transfixes our hands into branches reaching out. Do not be afraid as we have been led this far without questioning our capabilities of self-modified genetics through behavior practices such as prayer. We will wish onto the blood of our bones, until the day we die, for a resurrection of the truth. May we stay buried until we are fed the mana of immortality. The Last Supper

A common Christian blood ritual is the drinking of Christ’s blood through a glass of juice and a cracker to represent his body. But, this activity is meant to mock a real occurrence from this mythology. According to the Gospel accounts of the bible, The Last Supper is the final meal that Jesus shared with his apostles in Jerusalem before the crucifixion.

Jesus is said to take a piece of bread, breaking it into several pieces and passing it around while saying, “This is my body, which is given for you.” He then takes up a bottle of wine, of which he pours and says, “This is my blood of the everlasting covenant, which is poured for many…” To finish the ritual, he then attests that they should dedicate the moment for him always, as he says, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

This holy rite is considered today as the “Eucharist.” It is meant to remind the followers of the day and the death on the cross. It is a form of gratitude and respect to the holy being that dwells within him. It has many variations, spread throughout several denominations of churches and other religious facilities. Its meaning is also fiercely debated between different aspects of Christ’s people.

Morning Star Ritual

The Morning Star Ritual is a custom practice used by the Pawnee peoples. This includes the Skidi band. Their first accounted living habitat was recognized in Loup River in Nebraska. They were also commonly found at the Platte River, or the Pahnimaha River. The last known occurrence of this act was recorded in 1838. The last known sacrifice was of Haxti, a 14-year-old Oglala Lakota girl on April 22, 1838.

The Morning Star Ritual is the sacrifice of a young girl. The reason is because in their folklore, the male Morningstar and the female evening star mated to create the first human being egg, which was of a young girl. A symbolic ceremony was performed in springtime because that is when Mars was the Morningstar. The real one would not be performed until a person of respect within the community had the dream in which it was time to kidnap a girl from an opposing tribe to use. He would then be handed a specific warriors costume to fulfill this mission.

Once captured, the girl would be ritually cleansed with songs, sacred skins and treated with great honor, almost as if the Gods themselves would reside inside of her. Her clothing would be removed and she would be attacked by the man who had captured her. He would pierce her by bow through the heart while another would hit her over the head with a club. The chest would then be cut open while someone would catch the blood onto pieces of dried meat. Finally, the rest of the men would shoot arrows into her and circle her four times before leaving. This was to symbolizing shooting their life force into her.

At the end of the ceremony, they would lay her body in a field, facing down, so that her blood should run smoothly into the Earth. This represented to them the Garden of the Evening Star, which is all plant and animal life. In this way, her blood would fertilize the Earth and she would ensure that the spirit of the Evening star be released back into the world, time and time again.

Sun Dancer

In the Plains cultures of Native Americans we find a dance that was used as a form on invocation to the sun. These individuals gather together as one to empower each other and bring about change through the use of spiritual sacrifice and release of blood through piercing torturous methods. The typical sun dance was made around a fire, drums playing and great substance was created with energy by many people.

This tradition has been recognized since as early as Aztec and Mayan history. It was commonly thought that the sun resurrected itself each day and blood is the symbol for this philosophy. Most of these practices can only be learned about from pictures and information on ancient artifacts. The level of understanding and societal expectations has changed throughout the years and so many things can be misinterpreted.

An influence of other religions and cultures caused the native peoples to keep their present day workings only available to the pure of heart. No money and photography is allowed in the true worship of the sun today as they believe the spirits will not show around these devices. Also you must be of the heritage to honorably participate. It is thought that this ritual would show the Gods gratitude for life and cause a healing and enlightenment to occur in the community.

Blood & Stone

So we dream and we hope. We drown in the smoke. We’ve loved and we’ve lost. We will recognize the duality of life and pay that price. We will exist again, not as strangers, but as one movement of love. For all that was, is everlasting and all that will be, has already happened. This is a lasting moment made of pure energy. Please take the time to close your eyes. Do as much as you can before you die.

The words that are written into the stone, let them manifest. Let the thoughts of fear drift away and let the light in of what draws near. Live with laughter and you will not die here. Follow the path that the words are written on and you will find yourself. Do not be sure of anything else except for love and even then you may be mistaken. Do not lose yourself in the endings.

So, the time draws near for me to leave you now. I hope that in your journey you continue to grow and learn from every mistake until you become the superhero I always knew you were. I believe in you. Let the day be set forward in motion, where blood & stone become one and we are fragments of a dream just waiting to breakthrough. Until next time…

Deanna Jaxine Stinson, Metaphysical Researcher and Author aka Wish Fire www.teardropsofanangel.com

Blood & Stone syndicated from http://ylangylangbeachresort.com/

[oselatra]

More statues

Confederate monuments, largely a legacy of Jim Crow hate, need not be destroyed to nullify their offensive power. They should be sited on private land or exhibited in museums as relics of a painful part of United States history.

More statues

Confederate monuments, largely a legacy of Jim Crow hate, need not be destroyed to nullify their offensive power. They should be sited on private land or exhibited in museums as relics of a painful part of United States history. Here's an (ironic) answer to the proponents of public display:

FOR THE RECORD

Let's have Dahmer in bronze on the square/

And McVeigh. We should all be aware/

Of the fear and the hate/

Which, it seems, made us great./

John Wilkes Booth next to Lincoln sounds fair.

Stuart Jay Silverman Hot Springs

From the web

In response to the Aug. 18 Arkansas Blog post "Arkansas competes for auto plant" about Arkansas vying for a $1.6 billion auto plant, which often involves incentives doled out by the state:

It'll be like that old Monty Python Four Yorkshiremen sketch of a group of old men reminiscing about their early days, each seeking to one-up the others over hardships endured.

"Oh yeah, Governor so-and-so? Well, I'll have MY legislature make the workers PAY Toyota just to be able to have a job there and we'll dump toxic waste into wetlands ourselves, just so the company doesn't have to. So there!"

tsallenarng

In response to the Aug. 21 Arkansas Blog post "Hutchinson's office says he will set execution of Jack Gordon Greene, state has drugs":

As usual with the Arkansas Times, only the barest minimum of information on what a convicted murderer did that resulted in his presence on death row.  I'll say it for you: Jack Greene killed Turner Greene (MURDERED HIS OWN BROTHER) in North Carolina, and then went to Arkansas looking for his estranged girlfriend. He would have killed her, but he found Sidney Burnett (family friend of Jack Greene's girlfriend) so he tortured, stabbed and fatally shot him. Then he went on the run to Oklahoma, where he was caught. Just for full transparency, let's include the fact that he kidnapped his own 16-year-old niece, who somehow survived. Then, he resisted extradition to Arkansas (death penalty state) and tried for extradition to North Carolina, the place where he killed his own brother, since that state has no death penalty. Amazingly detailed strategy for a crazy person. You don't want to talk much about any of that, do you? And there's NO WAY you'd ever post photos of his victims, is there? Nah, let's just focus on poor old crazy Jack and how unfair it all is.  The only unfair aspect of this is that Jack Greene wasn't executed 26 years ago.

Semit Sasnakra

In response to the Aug. 17 Arkansas Blog post "Arkansas Democratic Party calls for removal of Confederate monuments from public grounds:

Serious question here to the governor and the rest of our elected leaders: If you do not wish to remove the statues that honor the Confederate dead because you feel they can be used as teachable moments, then why don't you authorize some statues honoring the dead slaves that helped build this country? If you are going after a teachable moment, shouldn't the whole story be presented?

Poison Apple

I would rather see the Democratic Party of Arkansas demand a livable minimum wage than waste its time railing about Confederate statues. Confederate statues are benign. The hurt that Arkansas workers suffer because of economic inequality is active and brutal. The Democratic Party has forgotten the primary tenet of the FDR, HST and LBJ party, which was to provide a New Deal, a Fair Deal, and a Better Deal for the working man and woman. Bernie, start a new party. I will be with you. I will preach this as long as I am able to type.

Plainjim

In response to the Aug. 16 Arkansas Blog post "Arkansas-linked Charlottesville marcher identified, apologizes to those misidentified" about Andrew Dodson, the man who wore an Arkansas Engineering shirt at the Charlottesville white supremacist rally. Dodson remarked, "How else am I going to figure out what these guys are about?"

If he hasn't figured it out by now, he never will.

Kate

A five-minute Google search could have saved this dolt A LOT of trouble.

Jen Chadbourne

[Re Dodson quote "I just didn't put two and two together. It was dumb."] So says a member of the master race.

AnnaHarrisonTerry

In response to the Aug. 21 Arkansas Blog post "Eclipse-o-rama underway":

It was pretty cool! The light did change some here in LR, and, as they said, tree leaves cast amazing crescent-shaped shadows on the ground. It seems to me the birds got quieter here in my yard, and still are pretty quiet. If I'm still around for the next one in seven years, I'd really like to make the trek to the totality path. This was a good reminder that the universe is an amazing place, and that our politics and squabbles don't amount to much in the grand scheme of things. I am grateful for that reminder.

Kate

More statues