Pews and Pencils

Yes, I hug trees.  I will hug anything that manufactures oxygen for free, and which provides shade and the fixings for pencils and pews as well.

Pity the Nation by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Pity the nation whose people are sheep, and whose shepherds mislead them.

Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,

and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.

Pity the nation that raises not its voice, except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.

Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own and no other culture but its own.

Pity the nation whose breath is money and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.

Pity the nation — oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode and their freedoms to be washed away.

My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.

An American Cardinal

Tougher Than a Honey Badger

ON THIS DAY IN 1775, Samuel Whittemore was in his fields when he spotted an approaching British relief brigade under Earl Percy. Whittemore loaded his musket and ambushed the British Grenadiers of the 47th Regiment of Foot from behind a nearby stone wall, killing one soldier. He then drew his dueling pistols, killed a second grenadier and mortally wounded a third. By the time Whittemore had fired his third shot, a British detachment had reached his position; Whittemore drew his sword and attacked.

He was subsequently shot in the face, bayoneted numerous times, and left for dead in a pool of blood. He was found by colonial forces, trying to load his musket to resume the fight. He was taken to Dr. Cotton Tufts of Medford, who perceived no hope for his survival. 

However, Whittemore recovered and lived another 18 years.

More here >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Whittemore?

America Is Now a Terrorist State

Check this out:  SS Schutzstaffel meets Nazi Gestapo: 

▪️Web site >> https://hstf.gov

▪️Mother Jones article >> https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/04/homeland-security-task-force-new-website-sanitizes-trump-deportations-ai-big-balls/

This is what happens just before a country starts rounding up and disappearing its own citizens. 

Yes, that’s right; Stephen Miller has created his own government-funded paramilitary force. 

The massive detention facilities now being built, and the huge Homeland Security budget that accompanies it, are far too big for “criminal illegal aliens” alone.

Once built and staffed, those detention facilities will have to be filled to justify their continuing cost. 

Guess who they are going be filled with?  

Anyone with a conscience.

America is now a terrorist state ruled by a madman made possible by a cowardly and complicit Congress.

In the end, America was simply bought for cash and compromised with the most base and common kind of Kompromat. 

Pedophile rapist and money launderer Jeffery Epstein was (and is) a massive and long-running Israeli honey-pot operation using young girls (and some boys) to lure powerful economic and political players into compromising situations.  

The scheme destroyed Bill Gates’ marriage and Prince Andrew’s life. 

People all over the world have lost their jobs, their marriages, and are under investigation for criminal acts, but in the US, NOT ONE CHILD RAPIST has gone to jail.

Illegal sexual perversion compromises, but money paid to politicians has aways been a tried and true way to steer the ship of state.

Israel and Saudi Arabia paid cash and bought American lives with it, while reaping hundreds of billions of dollars in American military might and weapons sales for their investments.  

Was it a 100 to 1 return?  No, it’s been much higher than that.

The Gaza genocide is part of it, as so too is the Lebanon genocide and land theft.

And, of course, the Big Play was Iran, where American bombs are killing thousands of non-combatants, not only in Iran, but around the world as rising fertilizer, gasoline, and natural gas costs lead to rising prices, declining farm yields, anf lost lives.

And who benefits, other than the already named players?  

Why Russian and the big oil companies, of course. Both have pocketed many billions in new profits.  

And then there are the folks in Trump’s immediate orbit, who have made billions in pump-and-dump bets on oil and gas futures.  Trades have often been made minutes before Trump flips or flops on one issue or another.

America is now a terrorist state, and there is no reason for any country to ever trust us again.

I am not sure we were ever good, but the scale of the evil now in motion is truly unprecedented, as is the political cowardice.  

The press is not protecting us; they sweep most of it under the rug or work to normalize it.  

What does get through is mostly headlines — headlines that leave us numb and feeling helpless at the speed and scale of the corruption and cruelty sweeping the nation.

One third of the American people has always been brain-dead and absent from the voting booth, while another third appears to be nakedly racist, cruel, and cheerleaders for fascism and kleptocracy.  

I would not have thought the percentage was that high in the second group, but polls confirm it is.

Quo Vadis?  Where are we going?  

I do not know.

In the 19th-century, it was said four boxes defended American liberty; the soap box, the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.

That last box —bullets — is looking more important every day.

Perhaps it’s time we turned around that threat on the “Homeland Security Task Force” web site.

?? We don’t negotiate. We dismantle.” ?? 

Right.

That’s a strap line the American people and the world need to embrace as regards the Trump Administration.  

And we need to do it, in the immortal words of Jean-Paul Sartre, Frantz Fanon, and Malcolm X, “By any means necessary.”

Signs of Covid Times

Back in 2020, I walked the local streets of downtown Frederick, Maryland to document the signs of that time.

In Maryland in 2020, we followed our sane Republican Governor, not the insane and morally bankrupt Trump who won through fraud and was cheering death while intentionally killing with abandon.

The Radical Notion of Responsibility

A true revolutionary does not talk of overthrowing the state; he or she talks of getting people to shoulder individual and collective responsibilities.

How often would we go to war if the financial bill for the war was presented at the front, and never mind the emotional and physical bill? 

How many people would have children if the financial cost was presented at the front, and never mind the environmental and opportunity costs? 

Isn't the entire health care debate about the need for individuals to shoulder responsibility for the fact that everyone, Republican or Democrat, rich or poor, rural or urban, thin or fat, will eventually get sick?

 

Two New Hive Stands for Six Hives

Made two new 7-foot long hive stands, each to hold three 10-frame hives with added deeps and supers.  

Each hive stand has longer back legs to counter the slope of the ground. These stands are pretty heavy duty, and made with pressure treated wood — I don’t expect this is a job that will need redoing.

The next big job will be moving the hives to replace the old stands with the new. Trust me, that won’t be fun, as the bees feel attacked when the heavy hive sections come apart, and they attack back in kind.  The idea that smoke sedates bees to docility is a nice theory that comes apart when the hive sections do. I’m told commercial bee places knock out the bees with cold or CO-2.

Don’t Confuse Judaism and Zioni

JUDAISM IS AN HONORABLE 4,000 year old religion based on law.  Zionism is a 140-year old political cult based on theft and murder.  Do not confuse the two!

Tony Jackson :: The Grand Tour

Better than George Jones!

Scars Always Tell A Story

Dan Tyminski :: Hey Brother

And Expensive Too!

Cartoon by Ellis Rosen >> https://ellisrosen.com/

When You Need a Short Answer

“Breeding bobcats?”

That’s the question a fellow panelist asked me at a conference where I was speaking.  

It was a hot day, and I’d taken off my jacket and rolled up my sleeves.

My reply:  “Anyone that tells you they’re gentle lovers is a liar.”

It was an easier response than explaining multiflora rose and terrier work.

The Economics of Stimulus Packages

It is a slow day in Twin Town, Iowa, and the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody is living on credit.

 

A tourist visiting the area drives through town, stops at the motel, and lays a $100 bill on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs to pick one for the night. As soon as he walks upstairs, the motel owner grabs the bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.

 

The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer.

 

The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill to his supplier, the Co-op.

 

The guy at the Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her "services" on credit.

 

The hooker rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill with the hotel owner.

 

The hotel proprietor then places the $100 back on the counter so the traveler will not suspect anything.

 

At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, picks up the $100 bill and leaves. No one produced anything. No one earned anything...

 

However, the whole town is now out of debt and now looks to the future with a lot more optimism.

 

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a Stimulus package works.

Preparing for Hive Expansion

I’ve got 6 bee hives going at the moment, four of which seem to be roaring, and two brand-new splits with new queens which I *think* are doing OK.  They will soon be moved back to my house from a nearby farm.

Three of the hives are in wooden Nuc (5-frame nuclear hive) boxes, one of which has a second brood box riser on it that, on very quick inspection, seems to be filling up quickly.  I will probably transition that hive to a 10-frame brood box on Saturday. Everything is ready for that, but in the interim, I am painting a few 10-frame boxes, landing stands, bottom boards, and inner covers in expectation (hope springs eternal!) that the two splits will be successful.

Bees take more equipment than you think, and it’s lucky I have a big shed very close to the hives to store hive bodies, top and bottom pieces for the same, bee management equipment, and the like.

I will paint the hives yellow, with stenciled leaves and red flowers, as before.  The bees don’t care much, and hives collect dirt and bee detritus, so it’s always a bit shabby in actual operation if you get close enough, but clouds of bees at hive entrances keeps visitors back far enough that things look “good enough for government work,”which is the low standard I aspire to when it comes to bee keeping.

I am always learning, and with bees the more memorable lessons seem to come with stings or complete hive collapse or loss to swarming.  In 10 more years, I think I might pass muster as a beginner.

Are You Ready to Think?

Nick Fox has written a book about hunting ethics, a topic too rarely discussed or written about.

A couple of points….

Nick Fox is an OBE, a PhD professional zoologist, a livestock farmer, a falconer, and an author of numerous books. He wrote the successful submission to UNESCO that resulted in Falconry being inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Mankind. He has been Master of the Northumberland Crow Falcons for over 32 years.

In short, he most assuredly knows more than I do… or you do.

This is not to say you or I have to agree with him on every point.  

It is to say that, where you and I may disagree, it is very likely that, if we are not wrong, we should certainly **entertain** that possibility!

Where to start?

A good place to start is to read Marc Bekoff’s interview of Mr. Fox. It stands alone and is not a waste of your time (promise). >> 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/animal-emotions/202503/hunting-ethics-facing-up-to-the-many-muddled-moral-mindsets

Second, order the book. I ordered my copy from Coch-y-Bonddu books in Wales, but you can also order it from Countryside Books >> https://countrysidebooks.co.uk/pages/hunting-ethics? or International Wildlife Consultants at >> 

https://www.falcons.co.uk/product/hunting-ethics-a-personal-journey/

The interview is excellent, and even before reading the longer book, Nick Fox has fallen into that rarest of folders:  writers and thinkers who challenge, who avoid easy answers, and whose opinion — if I disagree with it — is assumed to be right (and mine wrong).

More to be posted later, but suffice it to say Mr. Fox has found a fan.

What Endures vs What Renews

Mountains last, but dams do not, 

and a river is new every day.