Where I live in east Littlerock in an area with few homes, the marijuana grows have sprung up like weeds.
There are 6 within a 5 minute walk from my house. Once they were empty plots of ground, 1 to 2-1/2 acres. It was quiet. There was little or no traffic. It was safe to walk, jog, walk your dog, ride your horse, kids could walk safely to catch their school bus. When the wind blew, there wasn’t any trash in it.
To the west of me are some nice homes. Now there are the many marijuana growers spread out and there are more of them than residents here. There is traffic. Gunshots ring out frequently. Trash is everywhere. Loose dogs causing problems, killing other animals. Small villages of 3-15 people now living out of RVs, tents and shacks.
Animals (dogs (especially ‘watch dogs’, chickens, and some farm animals) in questionable living situations. Big trucks (and trailers sometimes) rumble on our uneven dirt roads bringing big water tanks and containers, and mulch by the tons.
Mulch is being dumped on the properties and graded to flatten the surface several feet deep so more big trucks can drive up. The air smells of marijuana, mulch and garbage day and night. Huge trash piles are dumped in the middle of the dirt roads. So many vehicles everywhere on the properties one wonders just how many people live there or ‘work’ there.
A little investigation found that there is raw human sewage dumped into a ‘make shift sewer’ system which is a hole in the ground. And it just gets worse.
It’s a good thing I didn’t buy the extended warranty on my 1915 Edison record player. 107 years later it is still playing just fine.
The only caveat is it only plays Edison records, which are about 3/8” thick and weigh a pound a piece. The stylus looks like a giant hypodermic needle.
I have about 50 of these records, each with an A and B side. The time capsule they provide is remarkable.
“One hundred years from this day, will the people still feel this way, still say the things that they’re saying right now?”
That’s a lyric from another song off “Sweetheart of the Rodeo”, the country Byrds album I mentioned in another letter.
Based on some of the Edison records I have, I’d say the answer to that question is a resounding, “Yes!”
One of the Edison records I have is all about railing against the aid we were sending Belgium during World War One.
It’s harsh and funny and xenophobic and every bit the same as what we are experiencing right now sending all this aid to Ukraine and pretending the border is “closed”.
“Those Belgians” are the least of our problems now, but the general rhetoric today is no different than what people were saying 100 years ago.
This antique piece of beautiful Americana speaks loudly to the difference in quality in our current manufacturing.
The design of products today is specific for a timed failure to force us to keep buying them.
My Sony turntable failed after three years.
My Edison turntable — 107 years and it’s still going without electricity.
Just wind it up and let it turn, turn, turn.
Mr. Rios wrote: “I am never amazed how Latino organizations in America always remain silent on the flood of illegals and deadly drugs that cross the US border daily.”
I am positive that Mr. Rios will remain silent about the reasons why migrants come to the U.S. : Reason #1 – Cost Of Living In Mexico – “Companies leaving the US routinely report lower Mexico labor costs as the deciding factor primarily driving their decision… While Mexican workers in the US average $1,870 per month, the average wage in Mexico is $291 per month.” “Mexico Labor Costs Continue to Attract US Companies,” https//www.tecma.com/, 2017.
Reason #2 – Cartel Profits – “Cartels play an increasing role in the surge of migrants… …they make big profits helping smuggle people across, and those profits comprise a significant and growing portion of their vast riches.” “Cartels Reap Growing Profits…” courierjournal.com July 2021.
Reason #3 – U.S. Demand For Drugs – “After the government built fences in San Diego, drug smugglers turned to the ocean, underground tunnels and, …the ports of entry… Since 2001, the San Diego Sector’s Tunnel Task Force has found more than 60 smuggling tunnels in the county. “Drug Smuggling, And The Endless Battle To Stop It”, USA Today.
Reason #4 – Cartel Violence: “According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center in Mexico, there were 9,700 new displacements due to conflict in 2020, bringing the total count of people displaced within Mexico to 357,000 people as of last December. “Cartel Violence In Mexico Forces People To Flee…”, USA Today, Oct 2021.
Reason #5 – Guns – The Mexican government estimates that more than half a million guns are smuggled from the U.S. each year, arming Mexico’s deadly cartel wars.” “Where Do Mexican Cartels Get Their Guns?”, vox.com, Jan 2016
Working as a team is key, but Rios won’t do this.
The ‘best’ things in life are free
Response to Vincent Whites letter 7-1-22. I have written numerous letters in the past regarding youth crime prevention to include gun violence, it all starts in the home.
We as a society have also failed to except the negative effects Hollywood movies and violent graphic video games has on young children in their early development, innocence lost.
Children are very impression ate and copy what they see and hear not only in the home but outside the home. When it comes to violent crime prevention I believe in being pro-active not re-active after the fact which will never get one rich famous or politically inclined which community organizers with hidden political agendas only seek.
I started the Tolerance Club at Highland H.S in 1993 before hate and tolerance became a political tool now used by the LPD Liberal Progressive Democrats in dividing America. The program was effective in solving and preventing many school related problems all out of pocket at zero cost to the School District.
I also started the Street Smarts, Stay In School, Against The Odds and the Opening Hearts and Minds program all aimed at crime prevention. I am still active in the many programs I started and go where Im invited to speak 100% free as a public service, proving the best things in life are free.
I have been active for the last 44 years and Im proud to say….i never made one cent off peoples pain misery or suffering. I work with no strings attached in serving the public not some liberal woke ideology supported and controlled by progressive Democrats.
In an opinion article June 26th, Vincent White writes a long opinion regarding the January 6 insurrection, and ends by saying the BLM riots were 90% peaceful.
Both the BLM riots of 2020 and the January 6th events were wrong and I condemn both, but look at the facts. Although internet articles vary, here is what I’ve found as a general consensus.
On January 6th, approximately 30,000 to 50,000 attended the rally. The entire event including the insurrection lasted 7 hours and 377 were arrested that day or shortly after.
Only one person died due to the violence Ashli Babbitt a 35-year-old unarmed female protester by a Capitol police officer. Damage was estimated at $1.5M. In contrast the BLM riots of 2020 lasted roughly 100 days, resulting in $1B to $2B in damages (1000 to 2000 times higher than January 6th).
Protests occurred in 140 cities of which 574 protests turned into riots. 2000+ police were injured and 60,000 assaulted. 25 civilians died, 24 by rioters and 1 by police.
There were 2,385 instances of looting resulting in 13,600+ arrests. This is the same BLM organization that raised millions of dollars for their organization, spent almost zero for black victims but instead bought mansions for themselves and hired relatives for six figure salaries for jobs with no responsibilities.
To even use the word BLM and peaceful in the same sentence is disingenuous.
Many scientists believe that Co2 is not an evil for our society.
Plants absorb Co2 to grow and they emit oxygen. Of all the Co2 in our atmosphere man contributes 3.2 percent.
Before you relax there is another evil on the horizon and it is methane gas. A big contributor might be a large well watered tree or a flatulent cow.
As we go on with our lives, the Earth will warm and cool according to the predictable cycles of our sun, just like it did during the ice age.
We don’t need a poll to tell us about the decline in morality in America.
We can witness on TV what’s happening in the streets of the major cities. This decaying morality is enough to make any person who is trying to live a decent, honest life, want to throw in the towel.
I believe the major reason for this downward trend is that America has forgotten God, or perhaps never believed in Him.
We are on the road to anarchy, suffering, and the continual death of thousands of young people as they turn to drugs and lawlessness. They have lost their moral compass, and they search aimlessly for meaning.
Guns are not the problem. A lack of morality can cripple any country. A nation without God, and the absence of law and order, is American on the road to destroying our way of life.
We need the presence of God, and for those who say “where was He when we needed Him?,” don’t blame it on God. He gave each of us the free will to do what we choose with our lives, and He waits patiently, with love, for each of His children to return to Him.
So, what can we do to reverse America’s moral decay? Stand firm on God’s laws, the Ten Commandments, and simple living in the right way ourselves.
Raise our children to be kind and respectful, and personally hold to good and high morals.
In every religion in the world there is a common denominator. In one form or another it is expressed as “do to others as you would have them do unto you.”
In reply to Mr. White’s letter on the NRA …
AR 15 rifles are not assult rifles. Ask any one who served in our military what an assult rifle can do.
The NRA is about 6 million (out of 350 million boys and girls in America) why shouldn’t they lobby congress? Why are you so afraid of us?
What exactly don’t you get by the wording of the second amendment?
Long ago, when the democratic party was not socialist or in the process of turning commie, like today, they supported god, guns, military, American workers, American farmers, family values, and all Americans. Look back to those years, and you will find thousands of democrats who were NRA members. I, myself, was one, now, I am a republican life NRA member.
Many republicans wrote letters to the editor, condemning mass shootings.
Of the total membership of the NRA, a great many are former and current military, law enforcement, correctional officers, security personnel, teenagers who grain on gun safety with NRA people, women, tall, short, slim, fat, young, aged, white, black, mixed, gay, straight, republicans, who are loyal, god-fearing men and women, who want our constitution to stand. Surprise, some do not own any guns, pistols, weapons of any kind, yet they love our country.
The only thing you wrote; I agree we all need to work together; there is nothing wrong with the constitution. Nothing.
The Supreme Court has finally reversed Roe vs Wade, a legally flawed decision and sent it back to our elected representatives to make into law, like CA did many years ago.
For half a century Roe vs Wade has existed as a flawed decision, which could have been corrected when the US House and Senate were controlled by the other party. They never did this.
I remember from high school civics that the court interprets the law, it does not make the law. I further learned that some judges are Strict Constitutionalists others, Judicial Activists who sometimes make the law.
What the Supreme Court has done is to return the issue to our elected representatives in the legislatures, as CA has done.
The Court could have ruled that a fetus is a human and has the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. Now that would have caused some real howling.
I remember in the 1960s, the Republicans supported free abortions for any woman on welfare. The Democrats accused the GOP of practicing genocide.
In the past fifty years, the Democrats have controlled both the US House and Senate, yet they never tried to protect the flawed Roe vs Wade decision. Why? I think that they knew this would become a useful political issue in the future, which they could use as an issue.
I am utterly disgusted by the complete lack of urgency from senior Democrats regarding all the decisions coming from the Supreme Court over the last week.
The Christian theocratic majority on the current Court is not content with criminalizing abortion. They want to criminalize access to contraception. They want to criminalize consensual sex between adults. They want to criminalize gay marriage. They want to limit the rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness to a chosen few, instead of recognizing all humans as humans.
People are dying and suffering because they can’t access medical care, simply because a minority of powerful Christians don’t understand that healthcare includes abortion and access to transitioning treatments.
What is the precious bipartisanship and sacred legitimacy that my elected officials are still trying to uphold?
How many of the current Supreme Court justices were appointed by presidents that didn’t even win a popular vote? How is this court legitimate?
As Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other Progressive Democrats have stated, there are clear actions Democrats need to take right now:
1) Entertain expansion of the SCOTUS
2) End the Senate filibuster
3) Repeal the Hyde Amendment
4) Codify the right to abortion, same-sex marriage, contraception, and interracial marriage
Biden’s taxes increase inflation in your Check-out costs. An excise tax hike on household items was buried in Joe Biden’s (D) $1 trillion infrastructure package last year, with the help of House Democrats, and went into effect on July 1, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
Their “common sense” taxation on America. A roughly $13 billion tax increase on 42 chemicals, metallic elements and critical minerals was included in Biden’s (D) Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Common household items like rubber, soap, concrete, plastics, light bulbs, electronics and more are impacted.
Superfund chemical excise taxes were previously in place between 1987 and 1995, according to the IRS. The infrastructure package, which the White House called “a once-in-a-generation investment,” triggered the re-implementation of the taxes. A “once-in-a-generation investment?”, we know this is false.
This democrat calls his tax an investment. What is he, a stand-up comedian? He is not funny, even for a demagogue.
Biden’s (D) tax impacts Americans who import, produce or manufacture identified chemicals. Importers, manufacturers and producers will pay between $0.48 and $9.47 per ton in tax on chemicals.
These new taxes are passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices they pay. As such it affects all Americans.
Biden’s counterfeit infrastructure bill was drafted to raise taxes on and kill jobs in the petrochemical industry by $1.3 billion; his campaign promise. His taxes ravage families.
There isn’t a tax that Biden (D) doesn’t like; it is the American consumer and worker that always pays.