I just happened to look out the window when I saw, what I thought were two cats, streaking toward the abandoned railroad. Curious, I went out to see if the cats were running from something or just chasing each other. Was I surprised to see two rabbits, well fed rabbits, resting under a tree in my yard. They were probably some escaped pets who were enjoying the freedom of being a rabbit in the wild. They stayed under that tree for most of the day. The next morning they were gone.
There are coyotes in this neighborhood, so if they were pets, I would rather the owner have found them than they be eaten by a coyote! They made me think–we all need to escape from our comfort zone, every now and again. In escaping, we come to appreciate what we have.
I watched a video of a YouTuber lamenting the lack of habeas corpus and due process for the immigrants being deported. I couldn’t help thinking that the lack of habeas corpus and due process is nothing new for U.S. citizens who happen to be Black. What was Jim Crow but, among other things, a systemic lack of due process and habeas corpus? And, this lack has never really ceased, not for the citizens who are Black.
If one knows the poem–First They Came by Martin Niemöller, then one would have some insight into the history of these United States. But, unfortunately for those of us who are not in the majority, until a negative impacts white people, and white people with money, the negative does not exist. Now, some white people with money and influence, not enough, are beginning to realize what the African collaborators with the slavers realized too late. The persons who are greedy for power in these United States will not tolerate them, even as a buffer class. These people’s greed will consume all but themselves and then they will cannibalize each other. These people have no morals, no ethics, no compassion–they are beasts rife with greed and deluded as to who and what they really are.
Perry Mason–Season Eight–Black woman character who had been released from prison. I suppose it’s like Hattie McDaniel said, better to play a maid and make hundreds of dollars a week then to be a maid and make ten dollars a week or something to that effect. A young Paul Winfield as an auto mechanic.
Microplastics in the food, drinking water, the rainwater…microplastics everywhere. Seems like the plastic used in bottles, food storage, clothing–none of these plastics are inert. Plastics are continually shedding. What are the effects of microplastics which I understand are in all of our bodies? There is some evidence that the microplastics affect our brains and might be the cause of some types of senility. I read somewhere where the microplastics can impede the nutrient flow to the fetus through the umbilical cord. Our environment is toxic all to feed the greed of corporations and individuals who, I suppose, in their minds, that someone in the future will clean up their toxic mess. They don’t care as long as they don’t have to pay.
Scopes trial–I’d forgotten about the Scopes trial which was held in 1925. A public school teacher was charged with teaching evolution in violation of a state law. The teacher lost to the ignorance that was prevalent in 1925. Why is history repeating itself, not a century later? Ten Commandments in the school; religious institutions demanding state funds to teach their dogma in their private schools; a loud group of ignorants screaming that this is a christian nation when the most vocal of the founding fathers were Deists. Christianity was one of the causes of a thousand year dark age in Europe. Why do white people need a messiah, to be led like sheep, to wallow in ignorance?
Why are white people drawn to and participate in the worse human traits? Why do the bullies, the evil persons always find a following? Always someone to do their evil biddings–no questions asked? Go along to get along is that their mantra until they find themselves the victim of the inevitable purge?
Perry Mason–ninth season–one color episode, in different episodes, there was a Black maid working in a hotel, a Black policeman, a Black jailer, a Black character in the background as one of a Playboy Bunny like character.
Dick Clark of American Bandstand was a bad guy in the last episode. I never really thought of Dick Clark as an actor. I read his biography. He was not a trained actor. He was always in an emcee type of role, like he was on American Bandstand. Since he was host on American Bandstand at the time of the role on Perry Mason, that’s probably how he got the role. However, the role was anti his goody goody image.
Perry Mason–not one Black client, but Chinese, Japanese, Italian to name a few were represented. In the series, the murder weapon of choice was a gun–revolvers, shotgun, rifles; second murder weapon of choice–a sharp or blunt object–knives, all types, heavy desk objects, tools, etc.; third murder weapon of choice–poisons–pharmaceutical drugs and nature’s poisons; fourth murder weapon of choice–vehicles. When there was a jury, I never noticed anyone other than white males and females.
The white males that were showcased were mostly greedy, misogynistic, and abusive. The white women were often alcoholics, users of drugs like Valium, and desperate to marry a rich male. The women often wore mink coats and everyone smoked. White privilege was evident, but none more so than when a young hoodlum was given the opportunity to join the armed forces in lieu of jail. An aside, how much hairspray (lacquer?) was used to ensure that neither the females’ nor males’ hair moved, even when in a convertible with the top down?
It was an eye opener to look at the 1960s through the lens of the television show Perry Mason. One of the main takeaways from the vantage point of 2025 was the legacy of the patriarchy that is so prominent today–extract and despoil with no consequences. Of course, I understand that a TV show needs drama, conflict, etc. to draw and maintain an audience and people are fascinated with the machinations of evil. If I were an alien looking at this show, I would have a skewed view of the people who inhabited this Earth. However, I, the alien, would give this planet a pass. If this is your entertainment, what kind of people are you?
Has anyone noticed the lack of public transportation in the South? In the past, there were trains and buses. Now, there are no trains and the only bus with regular schedules is Greyhound. Greyhound wouldn’t be so bad, but the last time I rode the bus, Greyhound had instituted what I call “surge” pricing. The ticket prices during the day were much more than the late night ticket prices. I don’t know if that pricing is still in effect, for after being at the bus station at 3 a.m. in order to pay a reasonable price to my destination and then having to wait in a bus station that had no personnel and was not well kept for over three hours, I haven’t ridden the bus.
An aside: in addition to there being no personnel at the bus stations, there are fewer bus terminals. In small or medium sized towns, the bus stop is at a gas station or a sign in an industrial area with no protection from the elements, or a sign at the edge of an empty field at the edge of town. These places have some things in common–these places do not have the appearance of being safe, especially at night; there may be no way to know if the bus is on schedule because when the bus was three hours late, I had a cell phone and, I had received some notifications in the past…on that morning, I received no notifications about the delay; and there is no shelter from the elements. And, I don’t believe I’ve ever received a survey regarding customer satisfaction from Greyhound.
In the past, I didn’t mind flying, but now I do. But flying to destinations in the South from within the South is sometimes frustrating and time consuming unless one is flying to a southern hub from another southern hub. Is that part of this regression–isolate the South so the white supremacists can rise and control the poor, uneducated, clueless worker drone people who live in the South? The South is car dependent and the roads, especially in the rural areas, are not well-maintained.
When I was much younger, I would hitch-hike. I never had any trouble, but now…one would be foolish to consider hitch-hiking. In the past, most people had boundaries or feared the consequences if caught violating a person. Now, there is no bottom to the evil that people commit against other people, especially if one is considered an “other”.
If one has lived on the East Coast, one knows the ease of catching a train to wherever. And, back in the day, when I lived on the East Coast, the trains were usually on schedule, comfortable and well-maintained. Not so Greyhound, schedules appear to be wish lists and, unless one happens to ride in one of their newer buses, which I found to be comfortable and well-maintained, many of the buses I rode on were older, trash filled, and grungy.
Wouldn’t it be marvelous if there were a train depot in the towns across the South with trains that ran on schedule? Where for the price of a ticket, you could free yourself from a stifling environment that cared nothing for your well-being either emotionally or physically? In most places in the South, that ticket, at any price, doesn’t exist.
All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go; … I’m a-leavin’ on a jet plane;
I don’t know when I’ll be back again–Excerpt from Leaving on a Jet Plane sung by Peter, Paul and Mary and written by John Denver
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