So, what IS a mortal sin?

Since I attended a Catholic grade school and a Catholic high school, I was well versed in the fact that you did NOT want a mortal sin on your soul. During my grade school years, we would pray for the pagan babies, who were (almost by definition) anyone who was not Catholic. As a matter of fact, the official teaching of the Catholic church, until the Vatican Council of 1962, was that the ONLY people who could get into heaven were Catholics. During the same time period, Lutherans were taught that only LUTHERANS could get into heaven, but it wasn’t until years later that I realized that NEITHER argument was entirely correct.

Thoughts about mortal sin crept into the news the other day due to the actions of a Catholic priest in South Carolina (Father Robert Morey of Saint Anthony Catholic Church in Florence, South Carolina), who refused to give communion to Joe Biden because of his stance on abortion. Biden, a devout Catholic, was asked about the matter on Tuesday during an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, but said he did not want to discuss the situation.

For the record, Biden was a sponsor of the 1974 Hyde amendment, which prevented taxpayer money for abortions. He is personally opposed to abortion, but does not feel that it is proper for him to dictate his beliefs to others, a position that I agree with.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/south-carolina-priest-denied-joe-biden-communion-abortion/story?id=66640658

Joe is not the only Catholic who feels that abortion should be legal in most cases. In fact. so do 56% of the Catholics in America. Party affiliation, of course, also has a bearing. The vast majority of liberal Democrats and Democratic leaders support legal abortion (91%), as do three-quarters of conservative and moderate Democrats (75%). 

Conservative Republicans and Republican leaners are far more likely to say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases than to say that it should be legal (77% vs. 22%).

https://www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/public-opinion-on-abortion/

Father Morey is certainly entitled to his opinion, but the truth of the matter is that his refusal was actually a political stunt - which is why he invited the local press to attend the service.

Since 42 priests in South Carolina have had credible accusations of child sexual misconduct made against them, you would think that the church would prioritize THAT instead of Joe Biden, but I guess that ‘s wishful thinking.

https://www.postandcourier.com/news/after-list-of-sc-catholic-priests-accused-of-abuse-no/article_0ae524fe-571e-11e9-b925-5f47b2c46e03.html

 In order to commit a mortal sin, the three following elements  must be simultaneously present:

1.    grave matter, the moral object or content of the action is seriously evil;

2.   full knowledge (or full advertence)- one knows what he or she is doing, and its serious evil content;

3.    and full or deliberate consent – one accepts or tolerates what he or she is doing.

So, what IS a mortal sin?

Here is a brief list,  which is tied to the Ten Commandments:

1^ST Commandment: I am the LORD your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me.

·         Polytheism and idolatry

·          Superstition which also expresses itself in various forms of divination, magic, sorcery and spiritism.

·         Irreligion which is evidenced: in tempting God by word or deed; in sacrilege, which profanes sacred persons or sacred things, above all the Eucharist; and in simony, which involves the buying or selling of spiritual things.

·         Atheism which rejects the existence of God, founded often on a false conception of human autonomy.

·         Agnosticism which affirms that nothing can be known about God, and involves indifferentism and practical atheism.

·         See Compendium 445; CCC 2110-2128; 2138-2140

2^nd Commandment: You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.

·         Blasphemy, curses, unfaithfulness to promises made to God, false oath, perjury. Compendium 447-449; CCC 2142-2149; 2160-2162

3^rd Commandment: Remember to keep holy the LORD’S day.

·         Not going to Holy Mass during Sundays and Holy days of Obligation without a just motive (e.g. sickness); See Catechism 1389

4^th Commandment: Honor your father and your mother.

·         Negligence, infulfillment and indifference of the obligations/responsibilites towards one’s children, parents and siblings; 

·         hatred; ingratitude; disrespect; disobedience in matters concerning the material and spiritual well-being; 

·         negligence and indifference in the education in virtue and in faith of one’s children.

·         See Catechism 2114-2118;2221-2229

5^th Commandment: You shall not kill.

·         direct and intentional murder and cooperation in it;

·         direct abortion, willed as an end or as means, as well as cooperation in it. Attached to this sin is the penalty of excommunication because, from the moment of his or her conception, the human being must be absolutely respected and protected in his integrity;

·         direct euthanasia which consists in putting an end to the life of the handicapped, the sick, or those near death by an act or by the omission of a required action;

·         suicide and voluntary cooperation in it, insofar as it is a grave offense against the just love of God, of self, and of neighbor. One’s responsibility may be aggravated by the scandal given; one who is psychologically disturbed or is experiencing grave fear may have diminished responsibility.

·         See Compendium 470; Catechism 2268-2283; 2321-2326

6^th Commandment: You shall not commit adultery.

·         Grave sins against chastity differ according to their object: adultery, masturbation, fornication, pornography, prostitution, rape, and homosexual actions. These sins are expressions of the vice of lust. These kinds of acts committed against the physical and moral integrity of minors become even more grave.

·         Direct sterilization, contraception, artificial fecundation

·         adultery, divorce, polygamy, incest, free unions (cohabitation, concubinage), and fornication or sexual acts before or outside of marriage

·         See Compendium 492, 498, 502; Catechism 2351-2359; 2396; 2370-2372; 2380-2391, 2400

7^th Commandment: You shall not steal. 

·         theft, deliberate retention of goods lent or of objects lost; business fraud; paying unjust wages; forcing up prices by taking advantage of the ignorance or hardship of another;

·          speculation in which one contrives to manipulate the price of goods artificially in order to gain an advantage to the detriment of others; 

·         corruption in which one influences the judgment of those who must make decisions according to law;

·         appropriation and use for private purposes of the common goods of an enterprise; work poorly done; tax evasion; forgery of checks and invoices; excessive expenses and waste. Willfully damaging private or public property is contrary to the moral law and requires reparation. (CCC 2409)

·         slavery (2414)

·         disordered desire for money (CCC 2424)

·         withholding wages (CCC 2434)

·         immoderate love for riches and their selfish use (CCC 2445)

8^th Commandment: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

·         Lying (in some cases CCC 2484), false witness and perjury (CCC 2476), rash judgment, detraction, calumny (CCC 2477) , adulation (CCC 2480), violation of the sacramental seal (2490) and divulgation of professional secrets (2491)

·         See Compendium 523-524; Catechism 2475-2487; 2507-2509;

9^th Commandment: . You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.

·         The ninth commandment forbids cultivating thoughts and desires connected to actions forbidden by the sixth commandment.

·         See Compendium 528 ; Catechism 2517-2519; 2531-2532

10^th Commandment: You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.

·         This commandment, which completes the preceding commandment, requires an interior attitude of respect for the property of others and forbids greed, unbridled covetousness for the goods of others, and envy which is the sadness one experiences at the sight of another’s goods and the immoderate desire to acquire them for oneself. See Compendium 531; Catechism 2534-2540; 2551-2554

https://www.catholicsstrivingforholiness.org/a-general-list-of-mortal-sins-all-catholics-should-know/

According to Catholic doctrine, you should not partake in communion if you are in a state of mortal sin. If you take a close look at the above sins, you’ll realize that VERY FEW Catholics should receive communion on a given Sunday, and here is why:

3^rd Commandment: Remember to keep holy the LORD’S day.

·         Not going to Holy Mass during Sundays and Holy days of Obligation without a just motive (e.g. sickness); See Catechism 1389

According to the most recent Gallup poll, only 39% of the Catholics surveyed had attended mass the previous week, which means that 61% of the Catholics who went to church should not receive communion unless they went to confession first.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/catholics-attending-mass-gallup-study_n_5acd082ae4b06a6aac8c7506

^6th Commandment: You shall not commit adultery.

·         Grave sins against chastity differ according to their object: adultery, masturbation, fornication, pornography, prostitution, rape, and homosexual actions. These sins are expressions of the vice of lust. These kinds of acts committed against the physical and moral integrity of minors become even more grave.

·         Direct sterilization, contraception, artificial fecundation

·         adultery, divorce, polygamy, incest, free unions (cohabitation, concubinage), and fornication or sexual acts before or outside of marriage

The Results Are In: First National Study of Teen Masturbation. Just 63% of younger boys of reported masturbating at least once, but that figure increased to 80% among 17-year-olds. For girls, the percentage rose with age from 43% to 58%. For boys and girls, masturbation was linked with an increased likelihood of oral sex and intercourse. As a result, only 20% of teen boys who are 17 or older should receive communion.

According to the Washington Post, 98% of Catholic women have used birth control at some point in their lives, which leaves only 2% of the Catholic women who  should receive communion. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/the-claim-that-98-percent-of-catholic-women-use-contraception-a-media-foul/2012/02/16/gIQAkPeqIR_blog.html

Catholics do better than other religions when it comes to divorce, but that still makes 28% of them ineligible for communion.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/catholics-continue-to-have-lowest-divorce-rates-report-finds

Receiving communion is an important past of the mass, but what exactly IS communion?

https://www.learnreligions.com/what-is-the-eucharist-542848

The Eucharist is another name for Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper. The term comes from the Greek by way of Latin. It means "thanksgiving." It often refers to the consecration of the body and blood of Christ or its representation through bread and wine.

In Roman Catholicism, the term is used in three ways: first, to refer to the real presence of Christ; second, to refer to Christ's continuing action as High Priest (He "gave thanks" at the Last Supper, which began the consecration of the bread and wine); and third, to refer to the Sacrament of Holy Communion itself.

Various Christian denominations view the eucharist differently.

In the Catholic church, only those who are confirmed Catholics can receive communion. Catholics who are more conservative feel that only PRACTICING Catholics can receive communion. According to Pew Research, about half (52%) of all U.S. adults who were raised Catholic have left the church at some point in their lives. A significant minority of them returned, but most (four-in-ten of all those raised Catholic) have not.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/09/15/half-of-u-s-adults-raised-catholic-have-left-the-church-at-some-point/

The Evangelical Lutheran Church allows anyone who is baptized (even if in another Christian faith) to receive the eucharist. The Missouri Synod Lutheran church requires participants to turn in a post card affirming that they are follow the teaching of that church before receiving communion. (For the record, the one time that I went to a Missouri  Synod church, I received communion – but did not turn in a post card.)

In 2016, Donald Trump, who identifies as a Presbyterian, captured 52% of the Catholic vote, despite the fact that he is guilty of at least 25 of the mortal sins listed above.

https://heavy.com/news/2017/05/donald-trump-catholic-faith-comments-pope-francis-religion/

Although Joe Biden may have been disappointed by not having received communion at he church in South Carolina, he is not likely to change his core beliefs because of it.

Like politics, religion is another one of the those topics that we are always going to disagree about. In my opinion, the best approach is simply to live and let live. We should respect the opinion of others, even if we disagree with them, and they also are obligated to respect ours.

It’s really that simple.

Mr. Clean

One of the substitute teachers that I run into occasionally is a man who bears a startling resemblance to Mr. Clean, who looks like the picture below:

We are all familiar with the product itself, since it was first introduced to the public in 1958, and it has had remarkably few changes since that time. There are now 9 variations of the original multi-purpose liquid, 6 versions of the original spray (including 3 versions of “clean freak”), and a “magic eraser”.

https://www.mrclean.com/en-us

What you probably did not know, though, is that the smiling “genie in a bottle” has its origins in the shipping industry.

The all-purpose cleaner was originally formulated by Linwood Burton, a marine ship cleaning businessman with accounts throughout the east coast of the United States and his friend, Mathusan Chandramohan, a rich entrepreneur from Sri Lanka. In the past, ships had to be cleaned using abrasives or solvents that were able to cut successfully through embedded grease and grime. However, past solvents were so dangerous to workers that Burton was motivated to finding a solution that was effective and less caustic. Burton, with fundamental knowledge in chemistry, developed Mr. Clean in an effort to clean ships without having to pay significant premiums in disability claims for his workers. He later sold the product to Procter & Gamble in 1958.

Mr. Clean made his television commercial debut in 1958, initially portrayed in the live-action versions by character actor House Peters Jr. Within the first six months of the introduction, Mr. Clean became the best-selling household cleaner on the market.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Clean

House Peters Jr. is probably the most famous man that you have never heard of. His acting career spans from 1935 to 1966. and includes 79 movies and 14 television shows. Strangely enough, he was never listed in the credits for any of his roles, which makes him the most famous man that you’ve never heard of.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Peters_Jr.

Many of us resemble famous people, often without our knowledge. I’ve had people tell me that I resemble either Steve Martin of High Hefner, and you may also resemble a famous person as well. From this point forward, though, I will ALWAYS think of Mr. Clean when I run into my fellow substitute teacher.

Diversity

If you had to guess which city in America was the most diverse, you’d probably pick one of the cities in a liberal state, like New York and California.

Surprisingly, you would be wrong.

The most diverse city, per square mile, in the entire country is in Georgia, which would be considered a “red” state, with a Cook partisan voting index of R+5.

The most diverse city in America is a town called Clarkston, and it is located a little north and west of Atlanta. It’s not very big, with only 7554 residents, but the local high school has students from 50 countries, a local mosque has 800 worshippers, and half the population is from outside the United States. The city is noted for its ethnic diversity, and is often referred to as "the most diverse square mile in America" and "the Ellis Island of the South."  In the 1990s, refugee resettlement programs identified Clarkston as a good fit for displaced persons of many backgrounds.

Clarkston is located in Georgia’s 4^th political district, which is a strong Democratic district (Cook partisan voting index of D+24).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarkston,_Georgiae

So, the question is, why is diversity so important?

People who live in a diverse community tend be “open minded” about a variety of topics. The folks that live in towns that aren’t are far less likely to accepting of other points of view. Mesa, Arizona, for example, is the largest suburban city by population (508.958 people) in the United States. Due to the fact that the population is 83.8% white, it has been rated as THE most conservative large town in America.

Clarkson, of course, has a fair number of refugees, which makes it a more attractive place to live. Since World War II, more refugees have found homes in the U.S. than any other nation, and more than two million refugees have arrived in the U.S. since 1980. From 2005 to 2007, approximately 40,000 refugee seekers per year were accepted into the U.S., compared to about 30,000 per year in the UK and 25,000 per year in Canada. The U.S. accounted for about 10% of all refugee-seeker acceptances in the OECD countries in 1998-2007. The United States is by far the most populous OECD country and receives fewer than the average number of refugees per capita: In 2010-14 (before the massive migrant surge in Europe in 2015) it ranked 28 of 43 industrialized countries reviewed by UNHCR

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asylum_in_the_United_States

For most of our history, immigrants from other countries have been a source of conflict, which led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, and the Immigration Act of 1924.

More recently, it resulted in the Muslim ban of 2017.

The 2^nd most valuable company in the entire world, by market capitalization, is Apple, Inc. One of its founders was Steve Jobs, whose biological father was  Abdulfattah "John" (al-)Jandali, who was a Muslim born in Syria.

The 4^th most valuable company in the world is Alphabet, Inc., which is the parent company of Google. One of the founders of Google, Sergey Brin, immigrated from the Soviet Union when he was 6 years old.

America has long been known as a “melting pot”, and no city exemplifies that better than Los Angeles. Los Angeles is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the United States, and with a population of over 3 million residents, it is obvious that there are a lot of languages being spoken. English is the most regularly spoken language in the United States, but there are 224 other languages that are spoken in Los Angeles, which can make it easier for non-English speaking expats to get acclimated. 

If your neighbor doesn’t look like you, or has a different background,  welcome them anyway. As the French say “ vive la difference” !

the art of the deal

I’ve always marveled at how remarkable our brains are. As a kid, I found it fascinating that my dad could remember his high school Latin, which he learned 50 years earlier in his lifetime.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve discovered that my own personal warehouse of obscure facts holds a LOT of information. I can still name many of my teachers and classmates from grade school, which I graduated from in 1961.

Another mystery is why songs or people from long ago suddenly materialize out of the clear blue, and for no apparent reason.

It happened again this morning.

During the period of time that I worked for Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, it was purchased by the American Express Company. Like many corporate takeovers, it caused some anxiety among its executives. One of them, at the time of the merger, is alleged to have said, “ Since the merger, I sleep like a baby. I wake up crying every couple of hours”.

Not long after the merger, the chairman of the American Express Company came to Milwaukee to present details of the merger with the Wauwatosa branch of Fireman’s Fund. His name is Sanford Weil – and he is the guy that popped into my head this morning.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanford_I._Weill

During one of the breaks in the meeting, I found myself standing less than 10 feet away from him, and I could actually feel the POWER of the man by his body language.

He spent his entire career in the investment industry. His first two clients were his mother and an ex-boyfriend of his wife, but it took off quickly from there. Over the years, he was associated with numerous well known investment firms (including Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Shearson Lehman Rhoades, American Express, and Saloman Inc.)

In 1998, he was the chairman of the Travelers Corporation, but wanted to merge with Citicorp. However, since the 1927 Glass-Steagall Act prevented mergers between insurance companies and investment firms, he lobbied a number of prominent business and political figures (including Gerald Ford) to repeal the act – and he eventually succeeded. By 2012, he was having regrets:

"What we should probably do is go and split up investment banking from banking, have banks be deposit takers, have banks make commercial loans and real estate loans, have banks do something that's not going to risk the taxpayer dollars, that's not too big to fail," Weill said on CNBC. "If they want to hedge what they're doing with their investments, let them do it in a way that's going to be mark-to-market so they're never going to be hit.

Today, he is 86 years old, but still very active, although his interest for the last 20 years of so has been philanthropy. Since 1998, he and his wife (who he married in 1955) have given hundreds of millions of dollars to a wide variety of causes – but he is still worth more than $1 billion.

If you carefully read his biography, you’ll quickly realize that they guy REALLY knew how to make a deal.

He is a sharp contrast to Donald Trump, who has literally been a failure at everything that he has done – including his current position.

Trump: The Art of the Deal is a 1987 book credited to Donald Trump and journalist Tony Schwartz. Part memoir and part business-advice book, it was the first book credited to Trump,^[and helped to make him a "household name". It reached number 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list, stayed there for 13 weeks, and altogether held a position on the list for 48 weeks. The book received additional attention during Trump's 2016 campaign for the presidency of the United States. He cited it as one of his proudest accomplishments and his second-favorite book after the Bible.

Schwartz called writing the book his "greatest regret in life, without question," and both he and the book's publisher, Howard Kaminsky, said that Trump had played no role in the actual writing of the book. Trump has personally given conflicting accounts on the question of authorship. Schwartz later suggested that the work be "re-categorized as fiction"

In addition to “Art of the Deal” there are 28 additional books that are attributed to Trump.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/676.Donald_J_Trump

In total, there are 136 books either by, or about, Donald Trump on Goodreads, and I’ve read at least a dozen of them.

Trump has had 6 bankruptcies, numerous failed businesses, two failed marriages (so far), and the political experts have ranked him as the worst president in the history of our country, but he is VERY GOOD at one thing – and that is selling books.

THAT’S where he knows how to make a deal!

A toy that tops them all

A few days ago, an ad popped up on one of my news feeds for a toy manufactured by a Canadian company called Forever Spin. The ForeverSpin top is the only toy manufactured by the company. The tops are available in 18 different metals and finishes.

The metals used include titanium, 24k gold, brass, and magnesium, but the most expensive top is one made from Tungsten, which sells for $195. The company also recommends the purchase of a base, which range in price from $39 to $78.

The Tungsten top is pictured below:

https://foreverspin.com/cart

Most of us likely played with some very basic spinning tops when we were kids, but it may surprise you to know that spinning tops are a lot older than you might imagine, since a clay top unearthed in Iraq was dated to 35th century BC—nearly six thousand years ago.

https://www.artofplay.com/blogs/articles/history-of-spinning-tops

Most modern tops are made from wood, and look like those in the picture below:

Using modern materials and technology designers have attempted to minimize friction as much as possible in order to create tops that spin for a very, very long time. Lacopo Simonelli currently holds the record with a non-mechanical top that spins for over 50 minutes. Since the tops made by ForeverSpin are precision made out of exotic metals, my guess is that they also would spin for a long time.

The 3 founders of the company originally wanted to start an analytics company, but did not have the funding to get it off the ground. One of them had the idea to manufacture the top as a modern piece of nostalgia. Rather than obtaining funds from banks or other more traditional lenders, the company relied on a series of crowdfunding campaigns to raise money. To date, the company has raised over $1,000,000 from their crowdfunding campaigns.

There are two lessons you can draw from the ForeverSpin story:

1)    If you are looking for a unique gift, high quality spinning tops can be a reasonably affordable choice

2)   If you have a unique idea, and are creative about financing it, you can make a lot money.

there goes the neighborhood

Early in the morning of April 7, our daughter was awakened by the sound of explosions not far from her house. A few minutes later, her backyard was bathed in bright light, almost as bright as the afternoon sunshine.

In a panic, she woke her husband Chris, and they dashed outside in their night clothes to see the cause of the light and the explosions.

Initially, they assumed that their neighbor to their immediate north had experienced a house fire, but they quickly realized that it was the house next to her that was on fire.

Kelly and Chris rushed to the front door and pounded on it in the hopes of rousing their neighbor, Frank Bligh – but no one answered the door.

When they got back home, they discovered that Frank’s terrified little dog (who had been inside the house when the fire started) was now cowering in the bushes in front of their house. (Later that day, Kelly called the Humane Society to pick up the dog, who was later adopted by another family.

Kelly and Chris didn’t know their neighbor well, but they DID know a little about him. Chris would occasionally see him walking his dog, but their interaction was largely limited to that.

That night and the next day, their street was filled with a variety of official vehicles (including the bomb squad) – and they stayed for several days. Chris was one of the neighbors who was interviewed by the police, and he eventually got his 5 minutes of fame on a local TV station.

It later came out that Mr. Bligh was a military veteran who lived alone with his dog. His social life essentially consisted of a weekly visit to a local bar (the Cowpony) , where he had usually two drinks and went home. His last visit there was roughly about a week before his house was set on fire. If you look at the picture below, it’s safe to say that this place is a real dive, and best to be  avoided.

On one of his visits, he struck up a conversation with a man named Blane Barksdale, 56, who is 16 years younger than Mr. Bligh – but he looks a LOT older. At some point in time (either on the first night they met, or on a subsequent visit) he likely mentioned to Mr. Barksdale that he was ex-military – and that he liked guns. If you look at Barksdale’s picture in the link below, you’d quickly conclude that it’s better not to tell this guy ANYTHING, since he looks more than a little shady.

This guy is a long way from being a Boy Scout. He has numerous tattoos on his hand and his arms, including a few swastikas. He served nearly eight years in an Arizona prison for theft and drug convictions that date back to 1984. He was released from prison in January 1993, according to online records. The AP reported that Blane was also sentenced to 10 years in prison for a 2003 federal marijuana possession conviction in Kentucky. He was reportedly released early in 2012.

Sometime late in the day on April 6, Barksdale and his wife Susan (who he married six years ago) stole a car, and drove it to Mr. Bligh’s house on South Calexico Drive in Tucson. They managed to talk themselves into the house, and then quickly killed Mr. Bligh. After stuffing his body into his own car, they gathered up the 100 firearms that Mr. Bligh had inside the house, and put them in the back of the stolen car. At that point, they set fire to his house, which eventually caused the ammunition stored in the back of the house to explode.

Authorities later found both vehicles abandoned south of Tucson. Forensic evidence in Bligh’s Cadillac had DNA residue that matched Mr. Bligh, which led authorities to conclude that he had been murdered. The other car was found near the state prison in Tucson, but it had been picked clean of its cache of weapons. To date, Mr. Bligh’s body has not been  found.

The Barksdale fled to the East coast, and were arrested on May 24 in Henrietta, N.Y., a suburb of Rochester, on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, arson and other criminal offenses related to the slaying of Frank Bligh, 72, of Tucson, in April.

After their arrest, they spent 3 months in jail in upstate New York, as which point they were extradited back to Arizona. Ultimately, the private carrier that was hired to transport them drove towards a county jail in Monticello, Utah. On the way to the jail, Susan pretended to have an "intestinal issue" before she and her husband charged the guards. The Barksdales used shoelaces to bind the guards and then put them in the back of a transport van with an unidentified third inmate, They took money from the guards, but likely were unaware of a handgun inside a lock box. The couple then drove the van to Vernon, Arizona, where a friend gave them his red GMC truck, Gonzales said. The friend has not been charged but is still being questioned by law enforcement. 

Authorities have described them as “armed and dangerous”, and have placed a $10,000 rewards for the capture of each fugitive. Although I find the story to be of interest simply due to the fact that the crime scene is literally in our daughter’s neighborhood, it’s a compelling enough story that it got front page coverage on the New York Times on August 28,

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/us/escaped-prisoners-arizona.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

The story has also received a lot of coverage in a variety of Arizona newspapers.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2019/08/30/what-we-know-about-escaped-tucson-murder-suspects-blane-barksdale-susan-barksdale/2156964001/

All of the electronic billboards in the state of Arizona have a description of the red pickup, including its license number, so it’s just a matter of time before the Barksdales are apprehended again.

Police had made contact with Mr. Bligh’s brother, who lives in Arizona, but he is apparently the only living relative.

Mr. Bligh and I are exactly the age. If I had known him before his death, I would have given him a few pieces of advice:

1)    Nobody needs to own 100 guns. I understand that there ARE people who  own small collections for the same reason that guys my age buy muscle cars from the 1960’s, but owning enough weapons to outfit an armory makes you a target for the bad guys.

2)   Not every bar is as friendly as “Cheers”. If you REALLY feel that need to get out of your house and have a few pops with a few friends, you at least need to be smart enough to go to a bar that doesn’t look like the front office of a chop shop

(Editor's note: the couple was captured the week of September 9th. Police have recovered 30 of the guns that were stolen. Mr. Bligh is a Vietnam vet, and Susan Barksdale is an old acquaintance)

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/fugitive-arizona-couple-accused-killing-171454382.html

Life is like a box of chocolates

The most memorable line in the movie “Forrest Gump” is the line listed above. Audiences loved the movie, and it took in a total of $677.9 million, a nice return on an investment of $55 million. The movie also won 6 Oscars, including Best Picture.

A similar movie, “Rain Man” was released in 1988. It cost $25 million to produce, and had a box office of $345.8 million. It won 4 Oscars, including Best Picture.

Today, both Forrest Gump and Raymond Babbitt would be considered to be “special needs” children. When I was in high school, they both would be considered “retarded”, a term that has gradually faded from polite society, in part due to the founding of the Special Olympics by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1968.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Olympics

Even though the Special Olympics helped to create a more favorable image for persons with disabilities, it wasn’t until the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1989 that formal programs for persons with disabilities were established, and a few years later, the “inclusion” of disabled students within “normal” classrooms started to become more common.

In an effort to stop the use of the term “retarded”, the Special Olympics of 2013 developed a simple phrase called “spread the word - end the word”. In order to facilitate the message, the organization also started a website to allow people to share their stories about working with disabled children:

All of us see people with disabilities on a fairly regular basis, and my wife and I (due to our work in local school districts) have had  frequent exposure to students with “disabilities”. As a result of that exposure, we consider ourselves to be blessed, due to the fact that we work with truly unique individuals, and (in our limited capacities) make a difference in their lives.

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2014/08/spread-word.html

My most recent exposure to a special needs class was just yesterday. Again, the vast majority of the kids in the room really were not much different than “normal” kids, but there were 2 or 3 kids who will never be able to make meaningful contributions to society. The more callous members of our society might say to simply get rid of them, but our society as a whole would be horrified at the prospect of simply murdering a child just because we would be forced to support them for the rest of their lives.

As a society, the United States is a very generous country, which is why it would be unthinkable for us to kill children in order to save money. We are still ranked the 5^th most generous country in the world, but we have become less generous since the election of Donald Trump.

https://www.topteny.com/top-10-most-generous-countries-in-the-world/

There WAS a time in history when “retards” WERE killed by a modern society.

In 1939, Nazi Germany started the T4 program in order to kill incurably ill, physically or mentally disabled, emotionally distraught, and elderly people. Adolf Hitler initiated the program in 1939, and, while it was officially discontinued in 1941 (due to public outrage) , killings continued covertly until the military defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

https://www.britannica.com/event/T4-Program

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hitler-suspends-euthanasia-program

It’s extremely unlikely that the United States would ever start a program similar to Germany’s T4, but the fact remains that we HAVE become far less humane since January of 2017.

If you review “the 14 signs of fascism” you’ll quickly realize that we actually are now living in a fascist society.

https://ratical.org/ratville/CAH/fasci14chars.html

The current occupant of the White House exhibits all 14 of the characteristics of a fascist leader. In addition, if you can spare 7 minutes, it would be worthwhile to watch the pro-Nazi rally that was held in New York City in the early months of 1939:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/8/14/1879047/-Chilling-film-of-huge-pro-Nazi-rally-in-New-York-City-1939-foreshadows-Trump-s-rallies-today?detail=emaildkre

If you have even more time to spare, I would recommend watching the 2017 movie titled “ A Night at the Garden”, which is a documentary about the pro-Nazi rally. Whether you watch the short version or the long version, you’ll realize that they are EXACTLY like today’s Trump rallies. When a BBC reporter was attacked at a Trump rally in El Paso earlier this year, this is what Jim Acosta had to say:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw0e8ceQx9Y

Since it has been a while since any of us have seen “Forrest Gump”, you’ll enjoy watching the clip below, which includes 25 famous quotes from the movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc_JXiRanlI

In closing, I’ll borrow one of them and say” that’s all I got to say about that.”