Nevaeh Bravo
Jackie Cazares, 10
Makenna Lee Elrod, 10
Jose Flores, 10
Eliana “Ellie” Garcia, 9
Irma Garcia
Uziyah Garcia, 10
Amerie Jo Garza, 10
Xavier Lopez, 10
Jayce Luevanos, 10
Tess Marie Mata
Miranda Mathis, 11
Eva Mireles, 44
Alithia Ramirez, 10
Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10
Maite Rodriguez
Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, 10
Layla Salazar, 10
Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10
Eliahana Cruz Torres, 10
Rojelio Torres, 10
Filed under News
No bad deed goes unpunished – even if forces beyond one’s control exacts the punishment. Joseph McKinnon, a Trenton, South Carolina man, died after suffering a heart attack while digging a pit to bury his girlfriend after killing her.
McKinnon had told a neighbor that the hole he was creating in his yard was meant for a water feature to enhance his garden. But when another neighbor subsequently spotted McKinnon laying face-down and motionless beside the pit one Saturday morning, they called police.
After officials determined McKinnon had succumbed from cardia failure, Edgefield County Sheriff Jody Rowland says his office set out to locate and alert McKinnon’s next of kin.
That’s when authorities realized McKinnon’s live-in girlfriend, Patricia Ruth Dent, 65, had vanished. They learned Dent’s co-workers had been trying reach her without success.
“That took us back to the pit he (McKinnon) was digging,” Rowland stated.
After digging further, they discovered Dent’s remains bound in duct tape and wrapped up in black trash bags. An autopsy determined she’d been struck in the face and had been strangled.
A neighbor had already seen the hole in the ground. But, when police arrived, McKinnon had refilled it, before dying.
Rowland emphasized the extraordinary circumstances, but noted, “Basically this case is over.”
My only hope is that McKinnon will spend eternity in the After Life digging holes in hard dirt and suffering one fatal cardiac event after another.
Filed under Curiosities
“The importance of family led me to explore ideas of inheritance and the identity that is simultaneously lost and gained through preserving a legacy. Of course, where I’m from plays a big part of who I am, but whether its pride, loyalty, pressure, or a sense of responsibility, family history finds a way to influence the present and future.”
Filed under Art Working
“Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their customs, privileges, or beliefs. This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking; where it is absent, discussion is apt to become worse than useless.”
Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy, On Life and Essays on Religion
Metanoia
[me-tə-noi-ə]
Noun
Greek, late 19th century
A transformational change in one’s way of life; a change resulting from repentance and spiritual awareness
Metanoia has sometimes been personified throughout history as a shadowy goddess cloaked in sadness. She was accompanied by Opportunity, and was known to cause regret for having missed important moments. Metanoia literally translates to “afterthought.” The ending -noia has long been associated with thought, as it is in “paranoia,” which are thoughts that don’t reflect reality.
Example: I experienced a moment of metanoia when I decided my opinion of myself mattered more than that of others.
Filed under News
“The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia, and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq – I mean of Ukraine.”
Former President George W. Bush, in a speech criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin
Filed under News
“Because a mentally ill teenager murdered strangers, you cannot be allowed to express your political views out loud. That’s what they’re telling you.”
Tucker Carlson, responding to the mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York grocery store on May 14
Carlson also stated that “hate speech” is just speech that other people hate. He and other right-wing pundits have been criticized for propagating “replacement” theory, which claims that native-born (White) Americans are being replaced by immigrants from other (non-Western European) countries.
“Abortion is not the way to help single Black mothers.”
Sen. Tim Scott, in an editorial criticizing a speech by Janet Yellen, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, about the impact overturning abortion rights could have on many working women
Yellen had stated, “I believe that eliminating the right of women to make decisions about when and whether to have children would have very damaging effects on the economy.” She went on to say how abortion affects “particularly low-income and often Black” mothers and how a lack of access to abortion “deprives them of the ability often to continue their education to later participate in the workforce.”
Scott declared, “To me, this was stunning. I thought I had misheard her. Was Yellen making the case for how abortion is good for America’s labor force? But when questioned, Yellen doubled down on what I believe is a callous, inhumane reason for ending innocent life.”
Filed under News
“I would like to see sensible gun control. I would like to see ending hate speech on the internet, on social media. It is not free speech. It is not the American way.”
Byron Brown, Mayor of Buffalo, New York, after a mass shooting at a local grocery store on May 14
Brown also declared, “We are not a nation of haters. We are not a nation of hate. We need to send the message that there is no place on the internet for hate speech, for hate indoctrination, for spreading hate manifestos. I will be a stronger voice for that. I believe that what happened in Buffalo, New York, yesterday is going to be a turning point. I think it’s going to be different after this, in terms of the energy and the activity that we see.”
“Parents and caretakers across the country cannot wait. They need our support now. This bill takes important steps to restore supply in a safe and secure manner. Additionally, with these funds, FDA will be able to help prevent this issue from occurring again.”
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, after passage of a bill in the U.S. Congress that would help to alleviate the current baby formula crisis
One of the bills provides $28 million in emergency funding to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to address the shortage. The money would also be used to increase staff at the FDA, such as inspectors who could help the agency accelerate the approval process for formula manufacturers.
It has to be noted that an overwhelming majority of House Republicans voted against the bill, even though a majority have been complaining about the ongoing baby formula shortage.
Filed under News
Chief Writing Wolf 