* Please read below the jump for important new information.
With a hard September deadline for my next David Mapstone Mystery and the demands of my Seattle Times job, I must take a break from Rogue. I regret that I can't sustain the old 16-hour workdays any longer.
You may use this as an open thread to discuss the issues of the day in the comments section. If something major happens, I may try to write. Otherwise, I will also try to update the daily Front Page, as well as Arizona's Continuing Crisis.
As always, the site's archives offer plenty, especially the Phoenix 101 history section. See you in mid-September, God willing.
If there's a story from years back that you want to save, act quickly. My apologies.
Always wondered how Jon managed to do it all.Now we know-16 hr. days.
Posted by: Mike Doughty | June 20, 2017 at 10:34 AM
Just read a Web site that was reporting a Phoenix hot spot of 128.8 and it's 70 in Seattle.
Posted by: Cal Lash | June 20, 2017 at 05:02 PM
Now 66 at 5 pm.
Posted by: Rogue Columnist | June 20, 2017 at 05:11 PM
Looking forward to the new book. Sixteen hour days are not pleasant. Edward Abbey advocated for working hard for the environment and then checking out to get into the desert. Wise, wise advice. Applicable for all of us no matter what our work lives are about.
Also, I have noted that the best creative ideas I get come when I am not working nonstop. I think that is why the goddess of travel invented road trips.
Happy Solstice.
Posted by: Mary Tooley | June 20, 2017 at 08:17 PM
Jon said,
God willing I will be back in September.
Guess like the evangelists,
Jon has NOT noticed,God was murdered by his trumphant stepbrother, The Donald.
"Keep Scribbling" Jon, see you in September.
Posted by: Cal Lash | June 21, 2017 at 09:38 AM
Some excellent Front Pages
Posted by: Cal Lash | June 21, 2017 at 07:40 PM
"Scared white people" turned the election, says UW Professor Christopher Parker, quoted in a Seattle Times column by Jon's colleague Danny Westneat:
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/uw-professor-got-it-right-on-trump-so-why-is-he-being-ignored/
The mantra from the Tea-Party right that makes a great deal of sense in light of this analysis is "we want our country back."
Posted by: Joe Schallan | June 22, 2017 at 11:48 AM
And the people the Pale faces genocided?
Posted by: Cal Lash | June 22, 2017 at 12:15 PM
I already wrote about this:
http://www.roguecolumnist.com/rogue_columnist/2017/02/white-majoritarianism.html
Posted by: Rogue Columnist | June 22, 2017 at 12:22 PM
Logging this in. New BEA data for 2015:
Arizona real per-capita personal income: $37,268, up 2.7 percent, vs. US average $43,996, up 3.4 percent.
Similar population states: Washington $45,349 and Massachusetts $53,624.
Arizona is only slightly more affordable than the national average.
Metro Phoenix $38,521, well below peer cities.
Now Bob Bobb can write another column saying this doesn't matter.
https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/rpp/2017/pdf/rpp0617.pdf
Posted by: Rogue Columnist | June 22, 2017 at 12:29 PM
I just visited Once Upon a Crime bookstore in Minneapolis as my extended drift through the city continues. A fine selection of crime fiction novels but none by Jon Talton. While chatting with the knowledgeable store manager I suggested his latest novel be added to the store's inventory especially because it appears everyone here white has an elder relative living in Phoenix. Phoenix to those here really means Sun City, Surprise or Scottsdale.
The city of Minneapolis is surprisingly diverse, seemingly tolerant, possesses a lot of fine buildings and the job situation is very strong. Excellent public transportation system.
Posted by: Drifter | June 22, 2017 at 01:08 PM
Good News and Bad News:
Sun in Nevada
http://www.hcn.org/articles/nevada-governor-signs-law-to-revive-rooftop-solar-industry?utm_source=wcn1&utm_medium=email
H20 and the trump conflicted and unethical developers
http://www.hcn.org/issues/49.9/conflicts-of-interest-dog-trumps-deputy-interior-secretary-nominee
Posted by: Cal Lash | June 26, 2017 at 11:13 AM
How the 1 percent commit murder. legally.
Limpieza social American style,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/democrats-cbo-health-bill-score_us_59517277e4b05c37bb78adec?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
My health insurance policy costs went down 50 percent in 2016. Bet they go back up in the future.
Posted by: Cal Lash | June 26, 2017 at 03:23 PM
Article on how elderly Democratic leaders are holding the party back from a fresh, new message and the need for new blood in leadership and in major candidates. Similar articles have appeared in a number of publications lately.
Matt Bai: https://www.yahoo.com/news/pelosi-go-take-60s-generation-090032524.html
I agreed with a lot of his points. I don't think the Democrats can win the Presidency by being a party of old ideas, be they old liberal ideas or old conservative ideas. They need energy and a new/modern message to motivate the occasional/irregular voters who propelled Obama to bother to vote again.
My personal hope is for a GOP primary challenger to Trump in 2020 who didn't tap out to Trump in 2016 in the name of preserving their own political future -- i.e., someone new and principled who can run on a message of restoring morality, sanity, conservative orthodoxy and pride to the Presidency. It's an approach any good GOP candidate should excel at, but given the last candidate the party gave us, I take nothing for granted.
Posted by: Mark in Scottsdale | June 29, 2017 at 06:57 AM
"new and principled" and Republican?
When pigs fly.
Posted by: B. Franklin | June 29, 2017 at 01:07 PM
KFC is sending a chicken sandwich up with Tucson's World View, why not a pig?
Posted by: terry dudas | June 29, 2017 at 03:12 PM
Independence day:
"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."
--George Washington
As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality.
George Washington
"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
--Thomas Jefferson
“Let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarcy, that in America the law is King. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other.”
― Thomas Paine
“If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.”
― Tom Paine
Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.
Abraham Lincoln
You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.
Erma Bombeck
Winston Churchill on USA Independence day: Tyranny, external or internal, is our foe whatever trappings or disguises it wears, whatever language it speaks, or perverts. We must forever be on our guard, and always vigilant against it…in those realms of thought which are consecrated to the rights and the dignity of man, and which are so amazingly laid down in the Declaration of Independence.
Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.
Albert Camus
Freedom is the oxygen of the soul.
Moshe Dayan
Americas indigenous people 0n July 4th:
http://nativevillage.org/Inspiration-/Iindependence_day_for_the_native_.htm
https://patch.com/massachusetts/westborough/s/g639k/do-you-know-which-three-presidents-died-on-independence-day
Another country’s independence day from England:
http://zeenews.india.com/news/india/independence-day-life-and-times-of-mahatma-gandhi_1917429.html
Edward Abbey
The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.
Cal Lash agreeing with Edward Abbey:
"My loyalties will not be bound by national borders, or confined in time by one nation's history, or limited in the spiritual dimension by one language and culture. I pledge my allegiance to the damned human race, and my everlasting love to the green hills of Earth, and my intimations of glory to the singing stars, to the very end of space and time".
Edward Abbey
Posted by: Cal Lash | July 02, 2017 at 10:13 PM
“Summertime is always the best of what might be”. Charles Bowden
It’s another great day in the great Sonoran Desert, The heat is on and the Canadians are long gone. The birds and rabbits, lizards and snakes are hanging out in my shaded oasis and yesterday I photographed a large owl. A gentle breeze from the southwest along with some shade and a little water makes the summer desert a great quiet place to be. Calash
Take a break: https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/projects/673393/photo-main.jpg?1397833552
https://d4rri9bdfuube.cloudfront.net/assets/images/book/large/9780/8165/9780816510818.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61NPQDX17SL._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/200x150/5a/8f/4b/5a8f4ba034ac2e1a7dc016eed1f336f4.jpg
Some of my heroes.
http://www.hcn.org/issues/46.17/charles-bowdens-fury/bowden4-jpg/image
Have a great summer.
Posted by: Cal Lash | July 07, 2017 at 10:50 AM
The continuing Joseph Smith delusional Mormon (not deranged Muhammad Muslim theocracy) jihad to establish and expand a LDS Theocratic caliphate.
http://www.hcn.org/articles/monuments-how-grand-staircase-escalante-was-set-up-to-fail?utm_source=wcn1&utm_medium=email
Of course its all god justifiable:
"And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”"
Genesis 1:28 ESV:
Like George Carlin said, It's all bullshit and its bad for you.
Posted by: Cal Lash | July 11, 2017 at 11:40 AM
Earth:"The environment is everything that isn't me".
Albert Einstein
"It's really cold outside, they are calling it a major freeze, weeks ahead of normal. Man, we could use a big fat dose of global warming!"
Donald Trump
"I have a very positive attitude to anyone who is protecting the environment, but it's inadmissible when people are using it as a means of promoting themselves, using it as a source of self-enrichment. I don't want to name any specific examples... but often, environmentalism is used to blackmail companies".
Vladimir Putin
"The United States has long thought of itself as the land of infinite plenty, and historically we did have abundant resources. But now we are gradually exhausting our fisheries, our topsoil, our water. On top of that, we're coming to the end of world resources".
Jared Diamond
"Chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans have been living for hundreds of thousands of years in their forest, living fantastic lives, never overpopulating, never destroying the forest. I would say that they have been in a way more successful than us as far as being in harmony with the environment".
Jane Goodall
"Our population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth are growing exponentially, along with our technical ability to change the environment for good or ill".
Stephen Hawking
"You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment. In that insight of inter-being, it is possible to have real communication with the Earth, which is the highest form of prayer".
Thich Nhat Hanh
And regarding the European invasion and genocide of the Americas.
"Infectious diseases introduced with Europeans, like smallpox and measles, spread from one Indian tribe to another, far in advance of Europeans themselves, and killed an estimated 95% of the New World's Indian population".
Jared Diamond
Posted by: Cal Lash | July 16, 2017 at 02:29 PM
Well, now our oligarchy comes into the open, with the plan of Senator Ducey heaving into sight before McCain is even dead.
Michelle Reagan is going to be flipping disaster, Goldwater is going to run everything, along with Cathy Herrod.
Ah well, get some popcorn, because here comes the next crash, suckas.
Posted by: Concern Troll | July 23, 2017 at 09:13 PM
Don't worry, I'm sure they're going to run government "just like a business"!
A bankrupt business, one where the workers get stiffed and only the banks come out ahead.
Posted by: B. Franklin | July 24, 2017 at 01:14 PM
They voted for Trump?
http://billmoyers.com/story/white-supremacy-age-trump/
Posted by: Cal Lash | August 10, 2017 at 08:57 AM
The busboy and the yard man:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/08/business/economy/immigrants-skills-economy-jobs.html
Posted by: Cal Lash | August 10, 2017 at 09:02 AM
http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/the-last-man-on-earth-image.jpg
Posted by: Cal Lash | August 12, 2017 at 03:40 PM
Remembering
Charles Bowden, 30 August 2014.
http://www.motherjones.com/media/2015/03/charles-bowdens-fury/
Posted by: Cal Lash | August 27, 2017 at 04:49 PM
Wow, crowded room.
Somebody said I should weigh in anyway. Just copying and pasting here, don't get too excited.
I am horrified, Edvard Munch horrified, by Arpaio's pardon. I have always tilted at this "Badged Ego," as you have wonderfully tagged him. I have had interactions, and I've been under his, uh, "patronage."
There is the opinion piece in the AZ Republic:
http://deconstructingthemanifest.blogspot.com/2009/02/comin-atcha-sheriff-joe.html
There is the song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVKmVPm1Ikw
I know it's provincial of me to react to the latest Trumpism (and know that the giant orange middle-finger has had me retching since November,) but this latest slight against Law I find to be generally, and personally, beyond the pale.
If this Arpaio is not part and parcel of Trump's downfall, then his downfall will mean little to me.
And his downfall is coming. I will eat crow with relish if I am wrong about this. Because it will be my last meal.
Posted by: Petro | August 28, 2017 at 10:24 PM
*If this Arpaio pardon...
Posted by: Petro | August 28, 2017 at 10:29 PM
Good to hear from you Mike.
Posted by: Cal Lash | August 29, 2017 at 09:23 AM
"When the white man turns tyrant, , it is his own freedom he destroys. He becomes a sort of hollow, posing dummy, the conventionalized figure of a sahib". George Orwell in Shooting an Elephant.
Posted by: Cal Lash | August 29, 2017 at 09:08 PM
I think I remember Arpaio saying that he wasn't going to allow a judge to tell him how to run his office.Now that the worm has turned he whines like a $itch.Trump's pardon shows that he thinks the rule of law is what he says it is.I can't wait to see what happens next.
Posted by: Mike Doughty | August 30, 2017 at 08:50 PM
Shifting sands: Climate Change, Trump and the Humpty dumpty castle at Mara a Largo.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/01/opinion/harvey-rain-record-climate-change.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region&_r=0
Posted by: Cal Lash | September 02, 2017 at 10:26 AM
"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within". - Will Durant
Posted by: Cal Lash | September 03, 2017 at 02:09 PM