This post was first published in September, 2014. Sorry for the delay today. Late night, didn't get home until 2 a.m. A couple of weeks ago, I was reading some interesting stuff about societies and how they eventually crumble and implode. More than a few people have postulated that the first things to go wanting are values, morals, and integrity. This was first proposed by Socrates and then expanded on by Plato as they spoke of virtue as moral excellence. How are people supposed to understand the importance of virtue if your society doesn't teach it and your leaders don't possess it? Not only do we lack any type of "leadership by example" but when was the last time you actually heard anyone, anywhere, describe a President or a  Congressman as honest?  If all you ever see is this current day "dog eat dog mentality" from your leaders doesn't that become the standard? If you look outside politics, you see greedy corporate pirates such as the Koch B

 I was lost and now I am found. A month or so ago, I was messing around with my control panel and managed to lose everything on my computer before re-installing it. This is what happens when you barely have enough know how to turn your computer on and then attempt to change all the settings. Anyhow, what was lost is now found. After an ample amount of work and cursing. In the comments, I saw an old friend ask if I was still around. To MM and my 3 other readers, yes, and while I have achieved a level of writer's block that has me wondering if I should have even bothered to restore the settings on my laptop- I am still here looking for new subject matter. This morning I was perusing the old town's newspaper when I came across the obituary of a former colleague of mine. I am so used to feeling a sense of loss every time one of my old friends die- that I have never felt an opposite emotion. A bit of glee when an old enemy left this earthly coil. Now I've never gone looking for

 Mrs. Elizabeth Powel asked Benjamin Franklin the question. What do we have, a republic or a monarchy? Franklin answered, "A republic if you can keep it." Probably historically true.  In a republic, the power to govern is held by the people or their elected representatives. By consent. We have checks and balances for those representatives, and we have a rule of law. That theory was meant to keep an oppressive government at bay. To keep them from acquiring too much power In a democracy, the people directly make every decision. There are no representatives. Democracies often devolve into mob rule democracies. Like the one we have now. A republic is meant to protect the minority from the oppression of the majority. A rule of law is what keeps it civil. A minority member's interests are protected. Until the mob takes over. Now we can debate who, what, when, and how we have lost our republic. We can even debate whether we still have one or not. On paper, we might have a republ

"Anger is brief insanity." Mom attributed that quote to Hemingway. Having been on the receiving end of mom's wrath more than a few times, that phrase has always made sense. Craig Robertson, age 75, died in Provo, Utah on August, 9, 2023. He was killed by an FBI tactical team for making threats. He was an Air Force veteran, welding inspector, and wood worker. He had been married twice and widowed twice. He had three children.  He was not in the best of health and walked with a cane. He loved guns and was a member of the NRA. Robertson was no fan of the democratic party. To be fair, Robertson had made several threats regarding Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and Attorney General Merrick Garland, among others. These were descriptive threats wherein Robertson went into great detail about how he would accomplish the killings of those individuals. We must assume that he actually made those threats on social media, since he never

 This week was one for the ages. The Michigan State Police confirmed that hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots, a conspiracy in the swing states, was not only caught on video and investigated- Michigan did nothing and the FBI did nothing. This video amazingly coincides with the 3 a.m. miraculous election of Joe Biden in 2020 who was losing and then suddenly pulled a Presidency out of a hat. Via the Gateway Pundit, you will likely not see this anywhere mainstream.  https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/08/now-we-have-proof-tgp-exclusive-massive-2020/ The Biden family was paid over 20 million dollars by Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian and Kazakhstan nationals while Joe was the VP. Funny now that Biden and the democrats have been sponsoring the Ukrainian war with US tax dollars after receiving bribes in the millions. This while Obama was President. What did he know?  https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/foreigners-paid-more-than-20-million-to-biden-family-associates-bank-records-5453849 The J

 Every once in a while, the question of "What would have been your dream job?" comes up. The last time I think- was during a game of trivial pursuit- now almost 20 years ago.  "A defensive cornerback or safety in the NFL" was always my answer. There were only a few things stopping me from attaining my dream. A commitment or plan to study and work hard, my lack of speed, strength, and leaping ability. Hell, we moved twice during high school. I didn't even play football my junior or senior years. But I got a taste of greatness. Once.  So it was, I was relegated to mediocrity. A mediocre college, a mediocre trade school, a mediocre career as a lawman. I was alright with mediocre. In hindsight, I might not have even deserved mediocre. I had no desire to conquer the world, skim hard working bank accounts like an investment banker. I had no money to buy or develop real estate or pirate the business world with some monopolized invention. I had no clue what those things

 Many years ago, I began to focus on writing one good post every week. Writing is often a trial-and-error event. We write some very good things, and we write some hideously bad things. Thus as our mood changes, the good writing becomes quite apparent to us and the bad writing is also revealed. I note this on several blogs I read daily and weekly. Some are better than others. But what's obvious to me is that the writers have no ill intent. They are writing not because they are being compensated- they are writing because they love to write.  So years ago, I wrote the Sunday Collage. The Sunday Collage was a collection of all my thoughts and observations during a week, like snipped pictures or images, that I had collected in my mind. Then I would gather those images and write about them here.  It was perfect. One well thought out piece of writing each week.  Once, I had some angry woman comment that I didn't even know what a collage was. Of course, I laughed at that- knowing full

 Last week, I read a Mia Farrow tweet which immediately preceded a lightning bolt to my head and an "aha!" moment. Farrow was bitching about President Trump and the language he uses. According to her, it was so abrasive that she would not allow her children to be in the same room as a TV broadcast featuring Trump. Not one to simply separate words from a speaker, she went on an anti-Trump rant. That's when I had the "aha!" moment. She wasn't bitching about low inflation, low gas prices, or a secure border- she was bitching about the language Trump uses. This is what the democratic party has become. A mob of pussies hell bent on trying to make us use their silly ass pro nouns and words while they topple over our history. I started applying my newly discovered Mia Farrow "aha" moment to everyone in my life. It was true. Liberals absolutely hate direct speech that they find offensive- because it does not agree with them.   Conversely, they loved Obama

 "Without God, all things are permissible." -from "The Brothers Karamazov." Doug and I were brought together by circumstance. We were a couple of lost souls with a willingness to do just about anything. Both of us were sired by alcoholic maniacs, which is to say, our parents were obsessed with their own problems. There was very little energy left for raising children. So that was our draw. You either get the "Leave it to Beaver" parents or you get ours. I like to think of it as the "birth lottery." A friend calls it the "ovarian lottery." So you do the best you can. Whining about the birth lottery might explain your unpreparedness for adulthood, but it garners no sympathy. And so it was that Doug and I stumbled through life and eventually came out on the other side. We very clearly remember our mistakes and we understand now, how it all came to be. It's not with a fit of rage or jealousy that I examine the perfect lives of others. I

This may or may not be an actual quote from Franklin Graham.  Time is like a river.  You cannot touch the water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again.  Reverend Franklin Graham was speaking at the First Baptist Church in Jacksonville , Florida , when he said America will not come back.  He wrote: “The American dream has ended." The first term of Joe Biden has been the final nail in the coffin for the legacy of the white Christian males who discovered, explored, pioneered, settled and developed the greatest republic in the history of mankind.   A coalition of blacks, Latinos, feminists, gays, government workers, union members, environmental extremists, the media, Hollywood, uninformed young people, the “forever needy,” the chronically unemployed that do not want to work, illegal aliens and other “fellow travelers” have ended........Norman Rockwell's America. You will never again out-vote these people.  It will take individual acts of defiance and massive

 I ran across this clip today after arguing economics and money with some prof and his loyal following on Twitter. What shocked me was that Milton Friedman used the term Frankenstein Government long before I ever saw this clip. Indeed.

 It would appear so. Many years ago now, I named this blog "Frankenstein Government." I did that as the United States Government, Hank Paulson, and a host of other cowardly government banker types helped themselves to a one trillion dollar taxpayer funded bailout. Only in America of the 2008 variety, could you commit all sorts of felonies and fraudulent acts and escape prosecution thanks to Barack Obama. The minions grumbled a bit and then went away. Like they always do.  On this day, in 2008, we were nearly 10 trillion in debt.  https://www.usdebtclock.org/2008.html Some 15 years later, we are now 32 trillion in debt.  https://www.usdebtclock.org/ That cumulative cash burn smoothed out over 15 years is pretty close to 1.5 trillion a year. An enormous amount of spending, deficits, and debt accumulation. Now I don't want to get sidetracked here with "where did that money go" because we can't do anything about that.  If you are a real numbers geek, you can loo

You will never, ever make money by owning gold because that's not the purpose of owning gold.  In practical terms, you must sell the good currency (gold) to buy the bad currency (US dollar) before it can be used. Gresham's law in reverse. Whether that's 1200 an ounce or 2000 an ounce makes no difference. Gold simply represents how much the currency has been debauched. Gold holds steady while the US dollar flops around like a fish on the riverbank. As the dollar rises- as it has been doing recently because of rate hikes- gold's value goes down. When rates go down and money is sloshing around everywhere- the value of gold goes up. It has always been that way. That's the way gold moves in the short term. Longer term... Gold has a US dollar inverse relationship. It sniffs out dollar debauchery and moves accordingly. It is the perfect barometer. Gold was 35 bucks an oz in 1971. It is 1830 bucks in 2023. That 5000% rise over 52 years represents the lost buying power of a

 George Alan Kelly is a rancher who lives just north of the Mexico border on a ranch.  Now you might wonder, why would anyone buy a ranch on the Mexican border? Well, Mr Kelly bought the ranch back in 1997 when we protected the border. It wasn't a free for all until President Biden and his illegal immigration handlers turned it into a drug running, human trafficking, do whatever you want, war zone.  Perhaps Biden and friends should be charged with aiding and abetting illegal immigration. That'll be the day. At any rate, Mr Kelly is eating lunch at his home and hears a single gunshot and sees a number of men, likely Mexican nationals, on his property armed with guns that he believes were AK 47s. He arms himself, fires a few warning shots, and the aliens eventually disburse. He calls police. The police come out, take the report and leave. Hours later while searching his ranch, Mr. Kelly finds a dead body- shot thru the chest or back- depending on the entrance wound. He calls poli

I have been back to Butte more times than I can count. I have visited the Granite Mountain Memorial and gazed to the southeast where the Granite Mountain/Speculator headframes used to stand. I have scoured Walkerville and the Alice Mine area- now overgrown with weeds. I have stood in front of the boardinghouse where Frank Little was kidnapped. It is gone, replaced with some hideous motel. I have been in the Hennessey Building as a child but never up on the Company's top floor. I have stood in the entryway where Jere Murphy was killed, and I've been in the ballroom at the Finlen Hotel where Murphy and other armed men were seen discussing something about 12 hours before Frank was murdered. And no matter what I do or what I read, I simply can't escape Edward Morrissey. What a piece of work. Violent, mean, ill tempered, and drunk. How does a guy like that become Chief of Detectives? He was in that position because that is where Jere Murphy wanted him to be. Two Irish born sons.

 I have been furiously writing for 3 days now. A friend asked me to post a podcast link which I gave her and now I will post that link here. This podcast is 10 episodes long and it is focused on all of the characters in the Frank Little murder.  https://deathinthewestpod.com/ After listening to this a bit, you can see how easy it is to become distracted by all of the theories, the allegations, the false leads, conjecture, and gossip. I call this white noise. I first encountered these distractions while reading newspaper accounts wherein newspapers actually named suspects as though they had direct access to the best witnesses and knew for a fact- who the bad guys were. Today they would be sued for defamation. The biographer of Frank Little, is Frank Little's great grandniece, Jane Botkin Little. In addition to being a fantastic writer and researcher, Jane probably knows more about Frank Little than anyone on the planet. In 2016, Jane and I had mutual friends in Butte that introduced

 One of the hardest parts of solving a 99-year-old murder is trying to stay focused. The murder of Frank Little wasn't a robbery. It wasn't an angry husband or spouse. It was a very deliberate killing. It was meant to send a message. Let this be a message to anyone who comes to Butte and talks about mineworker's rights and strikes. You are going to be killed just like Frank was. So, a thorough examination of Frank Little was where I started back in 2016. I knew the history. I knew that Frank was a union organizer. I knew that his employer sent him from a mine in Bisbee, Az to Butte. I knew that the United Workers of the World or the Wobblies, were commonly viewed as socialists although I think that is inaccurate. I couldn't grasp the threat level. What did Frank do that was so bad that persons unknown would kidnap him in the middle of the night and brutally murder him? This is where we need context. We need to paint that picture to fully understand why Frank Little was