Cahokia Mounds – Another Great Site Close to St. Louis

This historical site is 45 minutes or so from our house in Chesterfield.  I have been there once, on a very cold day so we did not walk around a lot.  There is also a great museum associated with the site that you can spend an hour or two going through.

At one time this was the largest city in the Americas, north of the valley of Mexico.  I would like to go back sometime when the weather is nice.

Being a little picky… they talked about possible reasons for the decline of the city, starting in 1250 CE. One reason given was conflict with other indigenous tribes.  They then showed a picture of Native American warriors on horseback.  Horses were introduced to the Americas with the coming of the Europeans in the 15th and 16th century.  One of the reasons sometimes cited as to why the Americas lagged behind Europe and Asia in “development” was the lack of animals that were useful for transportation and work, such as horses.  Somehow buffalo and llamas did not quite have the – ahem — horsepower of equines or oxen.

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A Secret Service Agent Revealed What It’s Like Working For Trump

Just in case your pasquinade radar is on the blitz, this is satire.

A Secret Service Agent Revealed What It’s Like Working For Trump by The Halfway Cafe

Read on Substack

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Old Family Photograph

The photograph below is actually an “internet meme” sent around by one of my many cousins.

It did, however, bring to mind an old memory.  We were in Oklahoma at my grandmother’s house for several weeks in the summer.  Best I can recollect I was late elementary school age. I do know it was before we moved to Italy, which is where I started 7th grade.

For some reason, my mother decided she needed to punish/correct me.  She came after me with a wooden yardstick belonging to my grandmother.  I took the yardstick from her, broke it over my knee and ran like hell.  I did not come home for several hours after that. Either my mother had cooled off or my grandmother had a talk with her.  More likely, though, is that she was still in a bit of a shock over my breaking her weapon of castigation.  She spoke no word about my action then or anytime thereafter.  It was however, the last time she tried to “spank” me.  Which was a good thing. Her corrections were a thing of legend.

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Rep. James Talarico On Confronting Christian Nationalism

Finally, a sane voice from a religious person on this whole nightmare of Christian Nationalism…

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Nothing but the best for yours truly!

Occasionally, occasionally,  when I cannot get on one of the courses where I regularly play and my golf addiction is screaming at me, I will go to a course that, in Oklahoma,  we would fondly call cow pasture golf. I am not going to name the course as I am slightly embarrassed to say I even play there

It is very cheap. During the week the green fee with a cart is only $25 for 18 holes.  Most courses anymore are around $40 – plus or minus – during the week for seniors.  Some are much, much more expensive.

The clientele is mostly the very old, the very young, and lots of hoosiers, the term used here for rednecks. At times you will see expensive cars there, but that is generally the very young driving Daddy’s Beemer or similiar luxury vehicle.

I was there a month or two ago, and they had this sign in the club house by the door.  Yup, stay out of the corn and soy bean fields.

Nothing but the best for yours truly.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #9,306

yeah I know you did not ask!

You should so be blessed – well cursed at times actually – with a mind such as mine, making all these weird connections between my rumored neurons. Just be thankful that I do not share all of my random thoughts.

Tattoos and piercings are like spices… a little will do ya.

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Bruce Springsteen – Streets Of Minneapolis (Irish Folk Version)

The world is weighing in on the tRumpian craziness…

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This Machine Kills Fascists

The image below is from a phrase Woody Guthrie wrote on his guitar. It is very sad that here we are, 75 years later, and we are fighting this fight again.  The reality is that it seems to be a struggle that never ends, the clash of humanity’s dark side against its humanistic side.

As my cousin, The Don Quixote of West Texas, said, “This political nightmare is turning into a field day for musicians.”

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Bruce Springsteen – Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)

The Boss needs no comment from yours truly. His words say it all. I would say enjoy, but this is a time for action.  This monstrous malAdministration needs to go and like yesterday…

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My Tombstone

Most of my posts of late have been rants about the monstrous malAdministration currently at the center of US politics. That wears after a while, even on me. So I thought I would try something a little lighter, perhaps a little contemplative, what I want on my tombstone.  There is a long history of humorous grave markers, so why not mine.

Truth is that it is a moot point, as my wish it to be cremated.  As a teenager my favorite novel was  Robert A. Heinlein‘s, Stranger in a Strange Land. The protagonist of the novel, Mike, was raised on Mars by Martians. Mars, being a planet of scarce resources, the Martians did not waste anything, including the dead. Towards the end of the novel, after Mike had been killed – sacrificed or crucified, if you will – and Continue reading “My Tombstone”