Odds and Ends

 I've had some disparate thoughts lately:

--  I miss Jim Croce, John Denver and Dan Fogelberg.  Yeah, I listen to Van Halen, Metallica and AC/DC, but those three guys knew how to write songs.  I will never be ashamed to admit I like that music.

--  What is it that prompts some people to think they're more important than everyone else.  I'm amazed at people who feel the need to weave in heavy traffic simply to move up a spot or two in the lane.

--  So now Elizabeth Warren has come out and admitted she blew it when it came to her support for Obamacare.  Duh.

--  Although I'm very sad at the state of our country, I'm glad knowing that I don't have much longer to live in it.  That is, I may have another twenty-five years at best, and with the way things are going in this country, it's going to be ruined before too long unless something arrests that movement.

--  Before I go, however, I really want to see the aurora borealis.  There has been a lot of AB activity this year, some of it in northern Michigan.  It's absolutely amazing.  If I ever did see it I'm sure I'd be dumbstruck.

-- I'm getting the itch to resume writing.  I only have about four books in mind, one on my year in Spain, one about owning bulldogs, one about the legal profession and a novel based on my favorite sonnet.  We'll see.

--  I notice that as I age I'm getting more aches and pains for no good reason.  Getting up out of a chair is painful, walking up stairs is painful, lying in bed certain ways is painful.  Whoever said that hardest thing in life was getting old certainly knew what he was talking about.

--  Karen and I are headed to the Cayman Islands in the near future.  She really needs a beach vacation.  For all that she's done for other people, she needs something that is specifically devoted to her.

--  My family relations maxim is on point.  I dare anyone to argue it.

--  Television isn't getting any better.

--  We go to bed earlier and earlier these days.  It's not unusual for us to be in bed by 8.30p.

--  I want to buy more firearms and load up on ammunition.  Biden can't go fast enough.

--  I'm darned good at my job.  Just sayin'.

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles

Musicians' Deaths

 A few years ago, precisely 2016, there were a lot of very famous musicians who died.  It seemed like every week another world-famous musician died.  The list is quite stunning:

Prince, David Bowie, Ralph Stanley, George Michael, Leonard Cohen, Maurice White, Leon Russell, Glenn Frey, Paul Kantner, Jody Feek, Juan Gabriel...the obits never stopped.  

The old saw that famous deaths come in threes was blown up in 2016.

The next year there were some notable deaths -- Tom Petty, Greg Allman, Al Jarreau -- but the volume of famous musician deaths was considerably smaller.

Then came 2023.  It's like 2016 all over again.

Gary Wright, Tony Bennett, Jimmy Buffett, Steve Harwell, Burt Bacharach, Lisa Marie Presley (I guess... she qualifies...?), David Crosby, Harry Belafonte, Jeff Beck, Robbie Bachman, Gordon Lightfoot, Tina Turner, George Winston, Sinead O'Connor, Charlie Robison, Roger Whittaker...and we're only in September.

I'm not suggesting that there's a cluster or a conspiracy, but I find it odd that certain years feature more deaths of musicians than others.  I'm sure the same occurs with athletes, or politicians or even Nobel Prize winners, but somehow it's shocking to me when so many famous people in one class die in a given year.

I notice patterns.

It's what I do.

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles 

The Jose Canseco Effect and the Truth

It would seem any time an allegation is made that is injurious to the Left's cause or one of its darlings, it is immediately called into question.  Either the story is ridiculed as Russian disinformation, or the story is labeled a fabrication, or the source of the story is assailed and pilloried, or it's a combination of all three.  It's almost a knee-jerk reaction any time something surfaces that reflects badly on the Left, one of its cherished members or one of its platform issues.

Typically, if reporting is from any right-wing news organ, it's automatically deemed propaganda.  Cankles' infamous declaration of a vast right-wing conspiracy has given birth to numerous variations of this theme, and Leftist PACs dedicate infinite time and money to trying to destroy the allegations.  Sometimes, these counterattacks have merit.  Many times, as we've seen recently, they are utterly meritless.  Almost always, doubt is cast on the source of the story or the reporting agency, either of which has an agenda that is divorced from reality, according to the Left.

This is especially try if either Donald Trump or Fox News brings to light a story about questionable Leftist conduct.  As if on cue, various Leftist outlets descry the story as Russian disinformation, madness from Mr. Trump or figments of the Right's imagination.

Years ago, a baseball player named Jose Canseco wrote a book called Juiced, in which he outed himself and other players for using PEDs.  The book and its author were roundly dismissed, largely because Canseco, himself a lout, was viewed with great disfavor for his extra-curricular activities.  In truth, Canseco was hard to believe, since he engaged in clownish behavior and sought endless publicity for himself.  This was later borne out with his failed attempts at boxing, MMA and wrestling.

The odd thing, however, is that Canseco was telling the truth.  Several very successful fellow players were later forced to admit that they used PEDs after denying using them repeatedly.  Canseco reputation never rebounded, despite the fact that he was vindicated.

The phrase don't kill the messenger is widely known, attributed to Sophocles in his play Antigone:  For no man delights in the bearer of bad news.  Yet, instead of killing the messenger, the Left discredits, deplatforms and dismisses the messenger, especially if it's Donald Trump or Fox News. 

Now, however, the Left is eating massive amounts of crow.  Whether it be reports about the criminal family enterprise known as the Bidens, or the endless idiocy of the Harridan of Blair House, or Man of Dementia's worrisome mental decline, or the state of the southern border, the Left -- through its organ the MSM -- is now forced to admit that not only are these stories true, they are cataclysmically true.  The Left dances a fine line trying to admit that stories are true after poo-pooing them, while at the same time defending their paladins from blame.  It's quite laughable, were it not so blatantly false.  Had someone on the Left had the testicular fortitude to admit that either Mr. Trump or the Right may have been right, the contortions in which they were engaged would be unnecessary.

Canseco is largely relegated to history and carnival shows nowadays.  The same will not happen with Mr. Trump, no matter how hard the Left tries to sideline him.  This is yet another instance where Mr. Trump has been horribly mistreated.

He is deserving of an apology.

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles

 

When Women Imitate Men

 Men can be louts.  I should know.  I'm a man, and I've seen more boorish behavior from men than I care to remember.

One of the worst incidents occurred when I was in high school.  The only basketball player from our state to ever make an all-state team -- albeit honorable mention -- was dating this girl and slept with her on her birthday, then promptly broke up with her when they were finished.  To make matters worse, for me anyway, he later started dating the girl I was interested in and they ended up getting married.  If only to prove that God has a sense of humor, they have five daughters, no sons.

In any event, I apologize to women everywhere for the conduct of my brethren who were not taught manners.  The way some men behave is not only shocking, but it's shameful.  It's certainly nothing to imitate.

Well, at least one would think it's not something to imitate.

Recently, three stories came out of famous women who seemed to think that acting like an overserved frat boy was the way to behave.  If what was said in these stories had been said by men, I wouldn't have been surprised.  But that each was said by a woman is not only shocking, it's saddening.

First, Rachel Bilson was being interviewed on some online podcast and was asked what she missed about her former boyfriend, Bill Hader.

His big dick, she answered.

Now, Mr. Hader may find the free advertising advantageous to his future romantic endeavors, but if I were him, I wouldn't like the statement for two reasons:  First, that anything so private was now public knowledge and, second, that of all my qualities that's the only one she found worth mentioning.

Not to be outdone, Christina Aguilera, one of the best singers of our time, lowered the bar for all women with her appearance on some podcast called Call Her Daddy, which can be watched here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQnFT328bGg

When it comes to oral sex, Christina Aguilera made a revealing confession on the podcast "Call Her Daddy" that could be considered inappropriate, the singer came out in favor of the protein within semen.

"Swallowing is actually a good thing, it's got a lot of protein in it. There's something to be said for it after working hard," Aguilera said on the podcast.

Again, this is similar in baseness to what I've heard guys talking about when they're six sheets to the wind.  I expect better from women.

Finally, a woman I love to hate, Gwenyth Paltrow, couldn't help herself from joining the conversation.  She of the conscious uncoupling declaration regarding her then-impending divorce from Chris Martin, Paltrow also appeared on Call Her Daddy and ended up in a discussion about the sexual talents of former lovers Ben Affleck and Brad Pitt.  

Paltrow said this:

Paltrow was then asked who was better in bed, and praised both men in different ways.

"That is really hard. Because Brad was like the sort of major chemistry, love of your life, kind of, at the time," she said. "And then Ben was, like, technically excellent. I can't believe my daughter's listening to this!"

During a game of "Fuck, Marry, Kill," Paltrow said she'd get back in bed with Pitt, saying: "I think Brad. Ben, yeah, bless him."

Mind you, Paltrow is fifty-years-old. She's not some twenty-year-old sorority girl who had one lemoncello too many.

I'm not a prude.  I can discuss subjects like this in private.  But putting these things out there for public consumption is too much.  And when it comes from women, I think it's even sadder.

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles

The MSM Abdicating Its Responsiblity

I coined the phrase The Fourth Estate has become a Fifth Column.  Anyone who says otherwise is lying.  I rarely come up with truly novel thoughts or expressions, but I'll lay claim to this one.  And I'm right about it.

The MSM, which long has patted itself -- sometimes correctly -- as being the country's watchdog for abuses of power by our governments, both state and federal.  Modern examples of its excellent work include the Pentagon Papers and Watergate.  These incidents, painful though they were at the time, were necessary to our republic.  The ethos that spurred these journalistic triumphs is no more.

Recently, the MSM has been an accomplice to perpetuating hoaxes attacking Donald Trump, whom the MSM and the Left abhor.  At one time, there may have been reason to pursue the Russian interference/collusion story, but once it became obvious that it was a ginned up story, the focus should have shifted to the perpetrators.  Instead, the MSM mocked those who sought to debunk it and pilloried them, going so far as to call for censorship for, ironically, misinformation.  Rather than uphold the tenets of the First Amendment, the MSM pushed the need to have people and outlets deplatformed.  This is inimical to the underlying philosophy of the First Amendment.  In these days of partisan politics, however, the Left has abandoned all impartiality and embraced the Left's agenda wholeheartedly.

Now, with the Republicans having retaken the House, whistleblowers from the IRS and former associates of Hunter Biden, Man of Dementia's dissolute son, have testified before Congress as to the Biden Criminal Family Enterprise's illegal activities.  The MSM has twisted itself in knots trying to defend the Bidens while at the same time tacitly admitting that the charges are true.  The irony is unbelievable, yet there is no shame on behalf of the MSM.  Even Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame has sought to defend the Russian collusion hoax.  The world is indeed upside down.

Not to be outdone, the Right has lost its collective mind.  Although I would readily agree that what's been done to Donald Trump is unfair beyond measure, to elect him president out of spite for the three and possibly four indictments he's facing is ridiculous.  The Right's bench is infinitely deeper than the Left's -- there is no viable alternative to either Man of Dementia or the Harridan of Blair House -- so there are other options.  But people on the Right are so angry -- and rightly so -- that they've lost all reason and are willing to elect Donald Trump even if he's convicted.

The MSM could have prevented all of this by doing its job.  But instead, with its craven politics being put ahead of the well-being of the country, we're facing a crisis that we don't even acknowledge.  What with Russian, China and its client states on the warpath, we need to be united, no matter who goes down.

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles

Blockbusters Hollywood Is Ignoring

It is pretty well understood that Hollywood is a Leftist outpost.  Located in the blue state of California, it is an unpaid arm of the Democratic Party.  Many of these fools see themselves in the same roles as their forebears who, during the McCarthy Era, stood up for traditional American values.  What these idiots see now as American values are foreign to me.  

With their vast platform, they make movies mocking conservative presidents and touting Leftist icons.  W, Rendition and other movies that pillory conservative figures were made, while On the Basis of Sex, about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, conveniently sidesteps the first female justice, Sandra Day O'Connor, because she didn't vote the way Leftists liked.  The power that Hollywood has to twist history is vast.

Imagine, though, the movies Hollywood is bypassing to protect their Leftist politician friends.  These films would make millions.  Sadly, until theirs a seismic shift in Hollywood, these will never be made:

--  The Clinton Family Fraud Machine:  The story about a family that goes into politics for personal gain, all the while pretending to care about the ordinary citizen.  Special attention is paid to the Clinton Global Initiative in Haiti, which received virtually no money after the devastating earthquakes while the family got rich, Slick Willy's name on the Jeffrey Epstein manifests for flights to Pedophile Island, Cankle's destruction of her hard drives, Chelsea Clinton getting six figure salaries for doing nothing for CGI and other nuggets from a lifetime of corruption.

--  The story of how the SCOTUS leaker was never pursued by the media, contrasted with Deep Throat and the Watergate story.

--  The Biden Crime Family, with an expose of how family members were paid by foreign governments for doing nothing.

--  The story of Bill Gates, who stole the idea of Facebook from fellow students, built it up to the behemoth it is today, then fooled around on his plain wife and then decided to lecture Americans on what to eat.

--  The Clinton Hit Squads.  Vince Foster and a cast of dozens whacked under mysterious circumstances.  More films have been made about Jack the Ripper with less evidence.  Jeffrey Epstein, anyone?

-- The real story of how Barack Obama came to power -- see, Jeri Ryan -- and the scandals that occurred under his watch that the Left refuses to acknowledge.

--  The true story of the 2020 election and how voting regulations were changed or ignored to allow Man of Dementia to defeat Donald Trump.

--  The true story of the concerted effort by Hollywood, the Democratic Party and the MSM to tar and feather Donald Trump every day of his life since he announced his candidacy for the 2016 presidency.

--  The mystery of the election of John Fetterman to the US senate.

--  The story of Nancy Pelosi and her enrichment while in Congress.

--  A film about Fast and Furious.

--  A film about the shysters in BLM.

--  The true story of how the Left ignored the brave men in Benghazi and denied them the support they needed to defend Americans.

--  The story of how illegal aliens are getting into the country and the wealth of benefits they received under the Biden administration.

These are just a few of the tasty morsels Hollywood is ignoring.  

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles

Country Music and Women

 I like country music.  There are certain artists I like better than others -- Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Martina McBride, the Judds, Toby Keith, Casey Musgraves, Sugarland -- and I don't really get involved in the controversies that arise in Nashville.  From what I hear, women in country music aren't getting their fair share of air time on country radio, and they're upset about it.

From my perspective, they have every right to be upset.

There are some good young male singers in Nashville.  My favorite, bar none, is Luke Combs.  Not only does he have a distinctive voice, but he has hilarious songs and poignant songs and songs that evoke the true spirit of country music.  He even came out with a cover of Fast Car by Tracy Chapman, and it's phenomenal.

But I find most of the rest of young male artists lacking.  They drone on about whiskey, beer, girls shaking their booties and...little else.  Not only that, few of them are nice to listen to.  Alan Jackson has a deep, rich baritone.  Garth Brooks has a nice, even twang.  Some of these yokels now sound like they dropped out of high school and have been working on oil rigs out in the Gulf of Mexico far from English speakers.

Young women, on the other hand, usually can not only carry a tune, but they sing about interesting themes that tell a story beyond getting drunk.  Miranda Lambert is a master storyteller.  Casey Musgraves writes intricate, thought-provoking lyrics.  Megan Moroney has a song, Tennessee Orange, that's almost an apology for falling for someone from a different fanbase, something to which people in the south can certainly relate.

The Judds' songs were all soulful.  They had great harmony and were almost the kind of discussions one would have with family members or friends.  Sugarland -- yes, it's a duo with both a man and a woman, but Jennifer Nettles carries it -- has thoughtful lyrics.  Rare is the male artist who can match the material the women are putting out.

Certainly, my bias is also rooted in the fact that I love to listen to women sing.  Not all women nowadays are nightingales, but the vast majority of them have pretty voices.  The soulful lyrics they write and then sing are easy on the ear.

Country radio -- Give the women the airtime they deserve!

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles

Recent Random Thoughts

 --  Since we'll be in Alaska sometime this summer, I intend to ask a fast-food joint why coupons and offers from the Lower 48 aren't good in Hawaii and Alaska.  I've always been very curious.

--  Watch out for Congressman Dan Goldman from Connecticut.  He thinks very highly of himself.  He's not as good looking as Gavin Newsome, nor does he run anything, but one can tell that he's ambitious and he's the heir to the Levi Strauss fortune.  First the Senate, then the presidency.

--  I'm constantly amazed at politicians who contradict themselves with public statements.  Don't they realize that in this day and age of the internet, virtually everything they've ever said is taped somewhere?

--  Think what you will of Megyn Kelly, but her podcast is one of the best out there.  She has very interesting guests and the discussions are usually quite informative.

--  I really have given up on most sports.  The NBA is a woke league, the NFL bores me, the NHL is fine but underpublicized and MLB is too long unless my Cubs are doing well.  I doubt I could even participate in a fantasy league anymore -- which used to be quite fun -- because I just can't pay attention.  Even the NCAA, with its NIL rules and instant transfer rules, is no longer much fun.

-- I'm very interesting in the upcoming SCOTUS rulings in the affirmative action cases.  It's high time affirmative action went away.  Not because I was ever affected by it; if I was, I was unaware of it.  Rather, it stigmatizes African-Americans unfairly.  And at what point do we say merit over skin color?

--  The View is a joke.  I like Senator Tim Scott, and I applaud his courage in going on there and showing how to debate without getting in the gutter.  But the sanctimonious tone of the show and the absolute hypocrisy of the panelists is disgusting.

--  So CNN will have a new boss.  Soon enough it will rival post-war Italy for changes in leadership.

-- Jonathan Turley is a national treasure.  For a Democrat born in Chicago who attended Northwestern University Law School, he's amazingly fair and balanced.  I highly recommend him to everyone interested in straightforward analysis.

-- I don't watch Fox much.  I admire Shannon Bream, Dana Perino, Bill Hemmer and Bret Baier.  I watch The Five.  But the rest of that lineup is nothing more than a right-wing arm of the Republican Party.  Still, it's got to be better than CNN and MSNBC.

-- Yard work is getting more tedious by the year.

-- I'm quite comfortable being alone.  I always have been.  But what makes me curious is why I'm almost always the one to reach out to my friends to see how they're doing.

-- Why is it called America's Got Talent when almost every act on there is from a foreign country and all the judges are foreign born?  Why not just rename it We Are The World Got Talent?

-- No one -- and I mean no one -- can plan a vacation like my Karen.  She could teach the military a thing or two about logistics.

(c) 2023  The Truxton Spangler Chronicles 

Questions In the Aftermath of the Durham Report

Now that we finally have the Durham Report, which investigated the whole notion of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign, let the questions begin.

First, here's the link to the report:  https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23813490-durham-report

Now, the questions:

-- When will Cankles be forced to answer for what she's done to the country and to Donald Trump?

-- Will any responsible journalist ask Cankles about her involvement in the Steele dossier and the funding of the effort to brand Donald Trump as a Russian agent?

-- When will St Barack be forced to answer about his knowledge of the plot and the fact he did nothing to stop it?

-- Is there any punishment available for the intelligence officers -- Comey, Brennan, Clapper, etc. -- and the FBI underlings -- Page, Strzok, etc. -- who perpetuated the fraud on the American people?

-- Will anyone begin investigating the Bidens and their criminal family enterprise that participated in this hoax to give the family cover to engage in more corruption?

-- Does the Pulitzer Prize Committee rescind the prizes it awarded to the Washington Post and the New York Times for its shoddy investigative reporting and its likely involvement in perpetuating the Russian Collusion Hoax on the American people?

--  Can Merrick Garland be impeached for abdicating his responsibility as Attorney General to put a special counsel in place to investigate, independently, the government's complicity in the hoax?

-- Likewise, can Garland put in place a special counsel to investigate corruption at the FBI and the CIA?

-- Will Congress tweak Section 230 to provide some measure of oversight on social media companies to prevent their interference on the transmission of opposing viewpoints that run counter to their political affiliations?

-- Do the American people owe Donald Trump an apology for not only accusing him of being a Russian agent but also for believing it?

-- What can be done to prevent this from happening again?

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles

The Emperor's Clothes

Watergate was a terrible event in our political history.  Frankly, our historical past is littered with dirty tricks, horrible personal attacks and outright lying.  But in my lifetime, I've never witnessed such obvious misrepresentation on the part of a sitting president coupled with the assistance of the mainstream media.

The hatred of former president Trump is palpable.  They're still going after the man.  As insufferable as he is and was, he's also the most mistreated political figure in the country's history.  No one deserved the attacks that he's endured from his political opponents.  Yet because he's brash and combative, not to mention an outsider, his opponents are sworn to destroy him.  They won't, but the next best thing for them is to keep him from a second term.

To that end, they are willing to reelect the most unqualified and corrupt president we've had in my lifetime.  Joe Biden -- the Man of Dementia -- the man who never knew a lie he didn't like, is the chosen tool the Left and the MSM have chosen to occupy the White House in place of president Trump.  No matter what harm comes to the country because of this fool, the Left and its complicit MSM are determined to reelect him.  

They are willing to keep him in place as their puppet despite the patently obvious corruption of the man and his family, who have enriched themselves at the expense of the country while lying about it.  Man of Dementia always says his ne'er-do-well son, Hunter, hasn't done a thing wrong despite the confirmed veracity of the laptop that idiot left with a repair shop in New Jersey, the testimony of countless of Hunter's colleagues, a treasure trove of emails detailing meetings with Man of Dementia while he was Obama's Vice President and a lack of an explanation for how Joe Biden, despite being a public servant for nearly five decades, amassed the amount of wealth he has acquired.

What's particularly worrisome is that Man of Dementia has used Kamala Harris, the master of the word salad and as quick on the draw to cry racism as Jemele Hill, for her skin color to get the black vote.  As vice president she is, as they say, a heartbeat away from the presidency, and Man of Dementia is nearly eighty; he will be the oldest serving president in our history if he's reelected.

At some point, accountability for both the Bidens and the MSM has to happen.  Sadly, it may not come until historians are able to uncover the truth.  

I hope I live long enough to see it.

(c)  2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles

Racism On Every Corner

I'm getting tired of being called a racist simply because I'm white.  Or because I disagree with a black person.  Or because I was born white.  The cries of racism have gone too far.

Don Lemon was let go by CNN because, frankly, he was horrible.  It wasn't because he was black or because he was gay.  He was horrible and insufferable.  But Jemele Hill, who seems to have racism on the tip of her tongue any time something happens to a black person, descried the racist firing.

Phil Jackson, the venerable coach of my Chicago Bulls, complained about how the NBA was too woke now.  Jalen Rose, another person who can find racism in anything, complained that Jackson's statement showed his true colors, suggesting without saying it that Jackson is racist.

It's gotten to the point that any time there's a negative outcome for a black person, someone will cry racism.  It's diluting the actual racist incidents and it's insulting.

When Martin Luther King declared that he dreamed of a day when his daughters would judged by the content of their character and not by the color of his skin, he meant that his daughters would be judged by the same standards as white people.  Blacks nowadays seem to think that what Dr. King said was that whites cannot judge black people.  If that's so, then blacks and whites are not equal.  Moreover, it begs the question of whether blacks can judge whites.  Most whites, I believe, have no truck with a black judging them.  As with blacks, whites would hope for fair judging.  And as with blacks, they would be entitled to fair judging.  Undeniably, our history is rife with examples of unfair judging of blacks by whites, but there are plenty of examples of fair judging of blacks by whites.

To start with, Brown v. Board of Education, the SCOTUS opinion that overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, was a unanimous decision.  Although the case was argued for Brown by Thurgood Marshall, the decision rendered by the SCOTUS was brought by nine white justices.  Thus, it is more than possible that blacks can get a fair judgment from white judges.

If blacks are to be truly equal to whites, they have to accept judgments against them that are unfavorable to them.  To insist that every judgment rendered must favor them is illogical.  It is also racist in and of itself.  The law of averages suggests that it's not possible for one group to always win.

I'm not sure what's worse:  Blacks feeling aggrieved at every unfavorable decision of liberal whites declaring that unfavorable decisions against blacks are based in racism.  At some point, for true equality to exist, blacks have to accept the good with the bad, just as whites must.  This does not deny that there are still, very unfortunately, instances where racist decisions are rendered against blacks.  These racist institutions must be rooted out.  But to insist that every unfavorable decision is based in racism is wrong.  And it's tiresome.

What these incessant calls of racism have done to me is make me draw back and stop engaging with blacks.  I used to try to debate them, honestly, but all I'd ever get was a lecture.  I probably read more books about the black experience in America than most whites who aren't woke, so I don't need the lectures.  I'm really open to learning, but I want it to be an engagement, not a lecture.  

Unfortunately, that's not the tenor in this country.

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles

Why I Left the Catholic Church

 I was raised Catholic.  I was an altar boy.  I faithfully adhered to Church doctrine as a child, although I became more of a buffet style Catholic as I grew older.  But one day I'd had enough.

My reasons for leaving the Church are many.  My Mother, good Irish Catholic that she was, is probably rolling in her grave.  But the Church lost me as I learned more about its perfidy toward its flock.  The decision, when I reached it, wasn't that hard.  

First, the roll of the Church in Ireland, where it hit the congregation hard to ensure its survival from its British masters, irks me.  The Church should have protected its flock from the Brits, not catered to the Brits to ensure its survival.  The way it sold babies from unwed mothers to wealthy Americans, how it would separate families for any perceived shortcoming, was particularly vile.

Second, pedophilia.  Res ipsa loquitur.

Third, it's amazing to me how wealthy Catholics are able to get annulments so they can remarry in the Church.  Name a Kennedy and you'll probably find an annulment.  Vanessa Williams got an annulment from her first husband so she could marry her third husband in the Church.  Boris Johnson was allowed to remarry in the Church after getting an annulment.  

Fourth, the Church's stance on in vitro fertilization is ridiculous.  According to the Church, in vitro fertilization is immoral.  But here's my quandry:  Thomas Aquinas, the doctor of the Church, declared there was such a thing as a just war.  Man, in pursuit of a just war, can use the genius God gave him to develop artificial means to take life in violation of a Commandment to which there is no exception of which I'm aware.  Meanwhile, man can not use the genius God gave him to bring life into being, which violates no Commandment of which I'm aware.

Fifth, the Church miraculously is divinely inspired to carve out exceptions to the rules.  For example, priestly celibacy was the result of divine inspiration, although priests have been allowed to be married for centuries...until prelates abused the practice.  But married Lutheran ministers who wish to convert and continue as a priest, are granted an exception.  Why?  The concern about the priest having to decide between his flock and his family is still there with the Lutheran minister turned Catholic priest.  

I was just tired of the inconsistencies, tired of the lying, tired of the unfairness.  Surely, this isn't what God ordained.

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles

Death

 Lance Reddick died on St. Patrick's Day.  Although he was in many things, I knew him as Charon in the John Wick series of movies.  He didn't get a lot of screen time, but when he was on the screen, he made the most of it.

The report of his death claimed that he died of natural causes.   What exactly constitute natural causes got me wondering.  Did he die of old age, of sickness?  Did he die of a genetic trait that took various family members early (Mr. Reddick was sixty-years-old at the time of his death) which, for his family, would be natural?  

But then I got to thinking about how we describe someone's death.  Some are easy:  He was murdered.  He died in the line of duty.  She died giving birth to her child.  We know how those people died, for the most part.

Yet, there are various ways in the English language that we use to relate how someone died.  For example, she died in her sleep.  OK, that's generally assumed that she went to bed and didn't wake up.  But babies do the same when they die of SIDS.  Was she sick?  Did she swallow something and choke to death?  For the most part, that phrase is understood to mean that she went to bed and didn't wake up, that there was nothing nefarious in her death.

Another oft-used phrase is that he passed away.  Passed where, exactly, and away from what? This is another phrase that's used to denote a non-violent death, but it allows for an illness to have taken the deceased.

Some are more colloquial:  He kicked the bucket, for example.

People can get fidgety when describing death.  Surely, for loved ones it's a hard thing to describe a loved one's death.  There's an attempt to soften the deceased's leaving them behind.  But sometimes, family members try to protect the decedent by couching the death in nebulous language that obscures the death that they view, somehow, as shameful.  Take AIDS, for example.  When the outbreak first occurred, there was a lot of shame for people to admit that they had the disease, so to die of it wasn't something that the remaining family members wanted to trumpet.

It's weird how humans address death.  

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles

What If Hollywood Were Conservative?

 Hollywood is Leftist.  Virtually anyone outside of Hollywood would agree with that assessment.  And it's used its platform to attack conservatives in movies, sitcoms and talk shows.  The First Amendment allows this -- although, were the shoe on the other foot, there would be attempts to ban these as Hate Speech -- as it should.  But consider for a moment all the tales that Hollywood is leaving on the table because of its leanings.  

Imagine, for a moment, that Hollywood were run by conservatives.  The wealth of stories that would rival what the Left has put out over the past forty years is amazing.  Consider the following movies:

-- A movie about how Chinese spies were able to infiltrate the offices of a congressman (Eric Swalwell) and a senator (Diane Feinstein).

-- A film about how Congressmen and -women were able to enrich themselves via insider trading that was allowed by a loophole that the politicians themselves passed.

--  The whole Biden family criminal enterprise.

-- The whole Clinton family criminal enterprise...including all the dead bodies in its wake.

-- The lies that allowed Obamacare to get passed, including:

    -- Nancy Pelosi claiming it had to be passed so people could know what was in it;

    -- Jonathan Gruber, one of the architects of Obamacare, referencing the stupidity of the American                voter;

    -- Obama himself claiming if you want to keep your doctor, you can keep your doctor.

-- The coordinated effort of the MSM to attack a presidential candidate and continue its jihad after he         was elected;

--  The Russian collusion hoax;

--  The Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings;

--  The incompetence of the Biden-Harris administration;

--  The disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan;

--  The East Palestine, Ohio trainwreck;

--  The ongoing idiocy of The View;

--  The double-standard of BLM protests and people not allowed to worship;

--  The mostly peaceful protests during the George Floyd riots;

--  The incestuous relationships between the MSM and the Democratic Party; and

--  The Fetterman senatorial campaign and ultimate election.

There are countless stories put out by the Hollywood Left that attacked conservatives -- sometimes fairly, most of the time unfairly -- so it would be nice were there an opportunity to see both sides of this political coin.  Hollywood is missing out on an huge revenue stream.  Millions of people would flock to these movies if they were only made.  But that's what Hollywood fears:  The truth being revealed to the electorate would sink the hopes of the Left of ever holding power again.

One can dream...

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles

Finally a Michigander, At Last

 On February 17, 2013, I left the cesspool that is the state of Illinois and came to Michigan to begin my new life at the age of fifty-two.  Besides meeting and later marrying Karen, it was one of the best things I've ever done.

Michigan is a beautiful state.  People mistakenly believe that the whole state is like Detroit.  There are two things wrong with that view.  First, although there are depressed neighborhoods of Detroit, the downtown area is very nice.  Second, the rest of the state couldn't be more different than Detroit.

The state is divided in two:  The lower peninsula and what is always referred to with capital letters as the Upper Peninsula.  Even within the lower peninsula, there's a division:  tradition holds that on a line from roughly Pentwater to Pinconning (a great cheese town), anything north of there is considered Up North (again, capitalized).  As one drives north of that imaginary line, the towns become more scarce, the landscape becomes more recognizable and, in the autumn, becomes a wonderful palette of changing colors in the leaves of the trees.

It has one of the longest coast lines of any state.  It has contact with four of the five Great Lakes.  People who have never seen it before swear that Lake Superior is an ocean.  It is said that one cannot go more than six miles in any direction without hitting either a river or a lake.

It has myriad small towns, pleasant paths like the Tunnel of Trees along Route 119 by Lake Michigan north of Harbor Springs.  Saugatuck, Traverse City, Mackinaw City, Gaylord, South Haven, Holland -- there are plenty of picturesque towns that are worth a weekend visit in and of themselves.

Cherries, peaches, apples; fish, deer and fowl.  The land provides plenty a cornucopia of goodness.  Fishing and hunting are big here; the opening day of deer season is a holiday, with students especially Up North and the the UP getting the day off to hunt.

Fat Tuesday with its paczki, Opening Day at Tiger Stadium, and something peculiarly Detroit called Jobbie Nooner make Michigan unique.  Of course, there's Motown and the Motor City.  But there's also the Detroit Institute of Art, the Ren Cen (the Renaissance Center, home of GM) and Willow Run, where the arsenal of democracy took root in World War II.

It has some of the best and most challenging town and street names of any state:  Dowagiac, Paw Paw, Gratiot, Schoenherr and my favorite -- the Tittabawasseee River.  Tittabawassee just rolls right off one's tongue.

I am now rooted here.  I don't understand why anyone moves from Michigan unless it's for a job or health reasons.  I have a driver's license, a license plate, a voter registration card, a law license and a concealed carry permit all issued by the State of Michigan.  But most importantly, since February 17, 2023, I've been here ten years.

It was a slightly scary thing to move here ten years ago, but I'm so happy I did.

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles

Random Thoughts....

 I feel the urge to blog, but I can't get my thoughts straight on any one of the topics I'm considering, so here goes:

--  I'm probably more conservative than I am liberal.  Certainly, when it comes to defense and spending, I'm conservative.  But when it comes to social things, I'm more tolerant, I guess.  So on the issue of gay rights, I split:  I have no truck with gays having the same rights as straights when it comes to most things, but my Christian beliefs won't allow me to consent to gay marriage.  I can, however, accept civil unions.  Gays adopting children are no more likely to screw them up than straight couples.  But don't expect me to accept transgender rights on the same footing.

--  Pets are wonderful to have.  They bring great joy and laughter most times.  They also bring a lot of responsibility and, as may have been noticed on this blog, sorrow.  With our bulldog puppy Fergus, our Bengal cat Mayhem and our old Manx cat Bupkes, we're kept busy.  Sadly, yesterday our neighbor had to bury his last labrador dog, Pepper.  I had to help him do it.  It was very sad.

--  The disparity in temperament among judges is as wide as it is among attorneys, which is to be expected.  The difference is the judges have the power to control the courtroom, whereas we attorneys can only try to influence the outcome.  When the judge thinks he's the Second Coming, it's rough.

--  Why must celebrities air their dirty laundry under the guise of wanting to help other people?  Are their sorrows and tragedies any worse than any other person's?  And what platforms does the ordinary citizen have to air their troubles?

--  For anyone who would like a more centrist viewpoint on the media and how it manipulates the news, read any of Sharyl Atkisson's fantastic books:  Stonewalled, Smeared and Slanted.  I've read the first two and am in the middle of the third.  They're excellent for exposing the ugly underbelly of what used to be called journalism.

--  When it comes to anything outside basketball, LeBron James is a Hall of Fame hypocrite.

-- Karen and I are probably done traveling internationally, save perhaps Canada (does that really count as international travel?).  Mexico has never interested me and what with the cartels controlling the country, there is no way I'd go there now.

--  Political commercials are annoying, but at least they only appear every two years.  The two year between the onslaught used to be relaxing, but now we're subjected to endless gambling ads.  I don't gamble unless the lottery gets above $50M, and even then, I only spend $2.  So these are a monumental waste of time.

--  I'm still stymied how young people can claim not to know about things from the past when those things occurred before they were born.  I once was discussing the concept of Borking with a fellow, but much younger, attorney, during the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings.  I had to explain not only what Borking was, but how it came to be and even who Judge Robert Bork was.

--  When will Europe start to act like the confederation it strives to be and not some bloated welfare state that acts on feelings?

--  I love chopping firewood.  I can see the outcome when I'm done, something that eludes me when I practice law.

--  My favorite beers are Guinness, Samuel Adams, Mahau and Yuengling.  In a pinch I'll drink Miller Genuine Draft.  All the rest are donkey urine.

--  I wish I could find people who play Axis and Allies and could teach me how to play.  I love games of strategy.  Sadly, my wife's family only plays card games which, with the exception of Uno, I loathe.

--  I miss my Mom.

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles

Questions I Would Ask the MSM

In my mind, the MSM is the biggest threat to freedom and our Republic.  Nevermind the two major political parties.  The MSM is the mouthpiece of the Left and has its own agenda that it will further under the guise of the First Amendment and freedom of the press.  Try as it might to argue that it's impartial and objective, the vast majority of Americans understand that that's not true.

To that end, I've often wondered what it would be like to have members of the MSM forced to answer questions under oath, under penalty of perjury, with jail sentences awarded to those who perjure themselves.  Add to that a real judge who could force the witness MSM members to answer questions and not dodge them, as they are wont to do, and televise it during prime time.  I do believe that such a spectacle would be the highest rate television program of all time.

So here are some questions that I would like posed in my hypothetical, knowing full well that I'll never live to see the day that a member of the MSM will testify, honestly, and answer these questions:

--  Given the obvious proof of your partisanship, how can you still call yourselves journalists?

--  Do you see any parallels with what you do and what Josef Goebbels did?

--  Do you think you should return any and all awards received for the Russia collusion hoax story?

--  Do you agree with Lester Holt's statement that both sides of an issue no longer need to be aired?  Explain.

--  Is there an incestuous relationship between the MSM and the Democratic Party?

--  Can you explain how virtually every major network -- CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC -- uses the same phrase when attacking or defending against conservatives?

--  Do you believe that Kyle Rittenhouse is a murderer?  Explain your reasoning.

--  Did Nicholas Sandman act in a racist manner or was there a rush to judgment?

--  Why did you help bury the Hunter Biden laptop story?

--  Explain what CRT is and why it is useful?

--  Do you believe Edward R. Murrow would be happy with what he sees in journalism today?

--  Is it the role of the press to shape public discourse and determine who our leaders are?  Explain.

--  Are half-truths and full omissions now acceptable in reporting?

--  Should journalists be liable for lying or misreporting stories to the public?

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles

Reward Programs

Reward programs are great things conceptually.  Patrons are rewarded for being loyal with bonuses, whether they be free products, discounts on purchases or cash.  The trouble with reward programs, however, is the wide gulf in quality between the programs.  

There are a number of factors that go into making a good rewards program.  The nature of the reward, the difficulty in qualifying for the reward, the ease of redeeming the reward and the consistency of the program.  The first three are self-evident.  The last is harder to define but easier to describe.

I belong to several reward programs.  I love the idea of getting stuff for free.  I blame Columbia House records.  Back in the day, one could order one album and get twelve free.  Before that, even, the Military Book Club was ridiculous:  Buy four books for a penny, pay shipping and handling and have no obligation to buy anything further.  I abused this horribly.  After every order I would cancel my membership only to receive the same offer from MBC a couple of months later.  I probably got about forty-eight hardbound books for nothing more than shipping and handling of each four-book order; shipping and handling then being no more than $12.95.  So for $155.40, I bought books that ranged from $25 to $40; I estimate that I bought roughly $1,000.00 for $155.40.  It took Military Book Club a while to catch on.

The sad thing about it was Book of the Month Club had the same program.  Yes, I abused that one, too.

Nowadays it seems that every retailer has some version of a rewards program.  Some are better than others.  A few are downright horrible.

In my experience, this is what I've found:

Speedway:  I like this program because I get points for every purchase.  In the age of Man of Dementia, I can get .25-.50 off a gallon of case, which is very helpful.  And all I need is my password, which I've made easy to remember.

Panera:  Another easy to use program, all I have to give them is my phone number.  The downside with Panera is that their rewards are miserly.  I may get a free muffin or scone after eight visits.  

Kroger:  Another valuable rewards program when it comes to buying gas.  Kroger has surveys that earn fifty points every week.  For every one hundred points I earn I get ten cents off a gallon.  All I have to do is buy something -- anything -- and then do the survey at the end of the week and I get at least twenty cents off a gallon each month. My purchases count dollar for dollar, and gift cards count two or four times the point, depending on the season.  During the summer, weekend purchase earn double the points.  Every bit helps in the age of Man of Dementia.

Arbys:  I get a free sandwich on my birthday.  Otherwise, it's worthless.

McDonalds:  This one's relatively new.  With each purchase I earn points, but the points expire after a certain time.  The free items I can purchase are niggardly; it takes a ton of points to earn a small ice cream cone, for example.  To earn anything of significance would mean I'd have to eat myself into a diabetic coma over a month of purchases first.  Then, points expire after a certain time...but I'm never sure when they're going to expire.

Chilis:  Who knows how this program works?  I give them my phone number every time, but so far the only thing I've been able earn is free chips and salsa.

Outback Steakhouse:  By far the worst of the programs.  There is no rhyme or reason as to how, or when, I can earn rewards, what the rewards are or if there's even a program.  Considering how expensive Outback has gotten, it's all irrelevant now.

(c) 2023  The Truxton Spangler Chronicles

Big Tech and the First Amendment

There were some Congressional hearings this week of interest to the nation.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure how many people paid attention.

The House Oversight Committee brought four former Twitter employees in to explain themselves and the way they censored people.  There were two topics of particular interest:  Covid-19 and the Hunter Biden laptop story.  In each case, these four people made decisions not based on their elevated expertise, but on craven political considerations.  They banned conservatives and newspapers over the Biden laptop, they banned Stanford- and Harvard-trained doctors over the Covid-19 matters...and they did it with the complicity of the FBI.

Democrats on the committee repeatedly claimed that the committee was wasting its time, that it should instead be doing work the improve the country.  I'm sure Republicans made similar claims during the Watergate hearings.  

That Democrats are doing everything they can to deflect because they realize that, finally, the laptop has been verified as authentic and that the money trail will lead back to Man of Dementia.  They are scared to death that the support they have in the country will disappear despite the co-opted MSM.  They fear power slipping from their grip.  And they would be right to worry were it not for a MSM that has totally lost its way.  I've said it many times:  The fourth estate has turned into a fifth column.

Once the Republicans retook the House, I hoped that they would not turn revenge into a series of endless committees as payback for the insanity that was the last Congress.  I made exceptions for two things:  The laptop story and the FBI, and big tech and the First Amendment.  Representative Jim Jordan is a bulldog, and I admire the way he's grilling these four.  

Alas, I'm not sure that any of this will bear fruit.  With the majority of the MSM wedded to the Left, there's little chance of fair and accurate reporting that will make its way to the electorate.  That means that there will still be voters who believe the pablum the Left is serving them, despite facts to the contrary.

It is doubtful that anyone will hail what he has done, but Elon Musk has done the country a huge favor by releasing the Twitter Files.  Matt Taibi, Bari Weiss and others have done yeoman's work sifting through the evidence to present an unbiased report of just what Twitter under these four traitors was doing.

It will never happen, but I'd like to see these four have their heads shaved in public as was done to collaborators with the Nazis in countries like the Netherlands, France and Italy.  They could be branded with a scarlet T and left to their devices in the general public.  I don't want them shot because then they'd be martyred.  

We're only in the first stages of this national travesty.  

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles

Years Too Late and Many Dollars Short

At my advanced age, I've seen a lot of progress, both societally as well as with inventions.  Granted, I haven't seen nearly as much progress as my Mother did, considering that she was born in 1931.  But I have seen my share of progress.

Lately, I've been thinking about all the things that have come to pass since the time when I got too old to do anything about them.  I've missed out on some fun.

For example, the sport of paintball.  I used to run around the neighborhood with a fake Daniel Boone flintlock playing war.  Putting aside the anachronism, I would envision killing nazis or Japs with my rifle, hiding behind bushes or trees and shooting it out with the bad guys.  The concept of paintball just didn't exist.   The closest thing we had was the game Capture the Flag...but that didn't involve shooting anyone.

Flavored potato chips didn't exist.  Sure, there might have been barbecue-flavored chips, but not sour cream and chive, mezquite, jalapeno, cheddar, dill or whatever other flavor tickled your palate.  Now, there's a surfeit of flavors available to anyone.  And don't even mention Pringles.

When we were younger, when one got a soft drink, we had to make it last.  There was no such thing as free refills.  Nowadays, free refills are the norm.  Thank you, Taco Bell, the company that made this happen.  Fortunately, I was able to partake from this for a few years before I learned how bad soft drinks were for you.  But I still benefit from free refills of iced tea -- unsweet iced tea.  Not that dreck that is mistakenly called sweet tea.

I love to travel.  I'm pretty good at navigating, and (most) foreign cultures intrigue me.  Why, o' why, didn't The Amazing Race exist when I was still young enough to do it?  Sure, I could do it now, but I'd lose to anyone able to run in a final sprint.  I was never fleet of foot, but at least I could pick 'em up and put 'em down.  I can barely hobble now.  I've seen places on that show that I'd never see otherwise; I wonder what it would have been like to see them in person -- and on the show's dime.

Other things like cycling were around when I was younger, but I knew next to nothing about them.  Until I lived in Spain and watched Greg LeMond get screwed over by Bernard Hinault in the Tour de France, I had no conception of competitive cycling.  I don't know that I would have made a good cyclist, given my girth, but I would have enjoyed trying the sport.

Likewise, the Navy SEALs are now a very prominent, special forces group.  They are, arguably, the most dangerous special forces unit in the world.  Growing up, I knew nothing about them.  As with cycling, I knew nothing about them growing up, but I might have tried to join them.  I may not have been qualified enough to make it, but I might well have tried.

There are so many other things that have come to be that would have been nice to have when I was young enough to enjoy them.  But now I'm depressed...

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles

Tony Timpa, Edward Bronstein and George Floyd

 On August 10, 2016, Tony Timpa was killed by Dallas police.  Mr. Timpa was white.

On March 31, 2020, Edward Bronstein was killed by California Highway Patrol officers.  Mr. Bronstein was white.

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police.  Mr. Floyd was black.

Only one of these murders made national headlines.

The murder of George Floyd sparked nationwide protests, riots and a movement to defund the police.

The murders of Tony Timpa and Edward Bronstein barely made national news.

Today, I was listening to a podcast when I first learned of the murders of Mr. Timpa and Mr. Bronstein.  I was gobsmacked.  Where was the outrage in the MSM for these heinous murders?  I'd like to think I'm fairly well informed, but I'd never heard these men's names, much less what happened to them.

I'm livid.  Not that two white men were murdered, but that two men were murdered in by police, -- one of them -- Mr. Bronstein -- in a fashion eerily similar to the method employed to kill Mr. Floyd.  Yet nary a word was mentioned in the MSM.  No panels were conducted on police brutality, no calls for defunding the police were made, no riots ensued.  No politicians took to the floors of the House or Senate to descry the obvious violations of the decedents' civil rights.  Man of Dementia said nothing.  It's as if these deaths didn't occur.

This week, that proto-racist Caryn Elaine Johnson on The View suggested that perhaps the killings of black men, such as Tyre Nichols, wouldn't happen so much if white people were killed like black people were being killed by the police.  Interestingly, tenured Professor Roland Fryer of Harvard published a paper with his findings that blacks were not more likely to be shot by police than whites.  Professor Fryer is a genius.  For his troubles, the woke mob invoked #MeToo attacks on him, other professors criticized his methodology and Harvard ultimately suspended him for two years, then closed his lab and forbade him from hiring assistants.  He can only teach graduate courses.  A documentary has been produced that posits that the allegations against Professor Fryer are merely a sham to allow Harvard to smear him and his study, thereby discrediting both.  

All three deaths were the result of police conduct that was criminal and actionable.  Three men lost their lives unnecessarily.  But given that two of the three were white, it can't be that the deaths were result of white supremacy or racist behavior.  

I have long argued that, as with any profession, there is good and bad.  The police are no different.  There's an Internal Affairs division for a reason.  Even within the legal profession there is good and bad.  I know this firsthand:  At one of my last jobs, the person who was hired to replace me after I left the firm was later charged with and found guilty of being a peeping Tom.  Not once, but twice, the second time while wearing an ankle monitor.  Ironically, perhaps, this attorney is black.

When it comes to police malfeasance, I submit that this is Barney Fife Syndrome.  Those familiar with the Andy Griffith Show will remember the feckless deputy who thought he was big and bad because he carried a badge and a guy.  There are, I submit, cops that have that mindset in this country.  Sure, sadly there are racists in our society; I'm convinced a judge before whom I appear now and then is a racist.  He, too, is black.  So I'm not suggesting that racism is dead and gone in this country.  I know it exists.  But given its status as a lightning rod, I suggest that we look first at other reasons for the misbehavior.  Finding that a cop has an inferiority complex, a God complex or a need to overcome how he was treated in high school is not nearly as divisive as branding the cops are racist.

Politically, I'm a Marxist:  I'd never join a club that would have me as a member.  The Democrats and the Republicans are more partisan than we've ever seen them, but to a degree, that's natural.  Political parties are necessarily partisan.

But the MSM that claims to front power with the truth, is the real enemy.  Its selective story telling, its editorial ways, its condescension to the very public it claims to serve, is the bigger problem.  The Fourth Estate has become a Fifth Column.  

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles 

PD:  If Mr. Timpa and Mr. Bronstein are googled, videos similar to the one shown ad nauseum about Mr. Floyd's murder can be found.