Thursday, January 22, 2026

Visits with old friends

Here's something I never thought about until one cold morning in January 2026.  Every day it's part of my wake-
up routine to scroll down the list of memories facebook puts up. Today there were several replies posted by two friends who have died in recent years. As the realization dawned on me there were sudden moments of sadness. But soon enough I realized in a way they are still with me and for a few moments I am again connecting with them and sharing brief interludes and fond memories with each one. After this was posted, another friend (living) wrote about similar experiences. She likened them to social visits.

And there was this follow-up: Here's an example: A few days after I posted about the warmth in reading memory conversations with friends who have died, this came across talking about writing with a friend:

"Joe May
What about the blood on the floor, Tim???
Tim Jones
Beads of it dripping like perspiration from your brow.
Joe May
This evokes an image of someone hunched over an old Underwood typewriter pecking away by the light of a Coleman lantern. The raw plywood floor around his chair is spattered with new and old stains of blood, sweat, and tears. The rusty oil drum stove is surrounded by empty ravioli cans and ice cream cartons. How close is this?
Tim Jones
You just described the 10 x 14 cabin on the Susitna River where I wrote The Last Great Race. My typewriter was an office upright that dated back to the 1930s that I bought from the Chicago Tribune when I worked there. The only thing missing from your picture is the ermine who used to venture out onto the open floor, stand up on his hind legs and look at me like I was crazy."
    
 Since that time I have paid more attention to the comments on posts in my memories lists. Even if I find only one it shines a warm light into the approaching day.

Sunday, January 18, 2026

Sunday morning mayhem

  

PBS photo
 
On a Sunday morning: Help me get this straight. Out of a bunch of unconstitutional thugs an apparently innocent woman is shot to death in her car. Immediately our leadership blames her and denies access to the crime evidence to local authorities in the process. A city population responds with mostly lawful objection. Our elected democratic government leadership responds by threatening to send in military troops, not to defend the innocent, but to protect the perpetrators. Meanwhile that same government is threatening to intervene in a foreign country to protect demonstrators against that government, all the while that democratically elected government threatens military action against a supposed ally to take new territory and develop its own government in a third country already invaded and take over its economy. So, putting it all together the president has the United States threatening war on three fronts while sending troops against our own citizens. Do I have that right? Is this the land of freedom our forefathers envisioned? I don't think so.

PS: I might add, our elected leader of this mayhem believes he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.  

And then there's this, just to mention a few:

I owe my Trump-supporting friends an apology. I’ve been critical of the Trump presidency and am still exhausted from the experience. But to be fair, President Trump wasn’t that bad, other than when:
He incited an insurrection against the government
Mismanaged a pandemic that killed nearly half a million Americans
Separated children from their families, and lost those children in the bureaucracy
Tear-gassed peaceful protesters on Lafayette Square so he could hold a photo op holding a Bible in front of a church
Tried to block all Muslims from entering the country
Got impeached, got impeached again
Had the worst jobs record of any president in modern history
Pressured Ukraine to dig dirt on Joe Biden
Fired the FBI director for investigating his ties to Russia
 
Bragged about firing the FBI director on TV
Took Vladimir Putin’s word over the US intelligence community
Diverted military funding to build his wall
Caused the longest government shutdown in US history
Called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate"
Lied 30,000 times
Banned transgender people from serving in the military
Ejected reporters from the White House briefing room who asked tough questions
Vetoed the defense funding bill because it renamed military bases named for Confederate soldiers
Refused to release his tax returns
Increased the national debt by nearly $8 trillion
Had three of the highest annual trade deficits in U.S. history
Called veterans and soldiers who died in combat losers and suckers
Coddled the leader of Saudi Arabia after he ordered the execution and dismembering of a US-based journalist
Refused to concede the 2020 election
Hired his unqualified daughter and son-in-law to work in the White House
Walked out of an interview with Lesley Stahl
Called neo-Nazis “very fine people”
Suggested that people should inject bleach into their bodies to fight COVID
Abandoned our allies the Kurds to Turkey
Pushed through massive tax cuts for the wealthiest but balked at helping working Americans
Incited anti-lockdown protestors in several states at the height of the pandemic
Withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords
Withdrew the US from the Iranian nuclear deal
Withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership which was designed to block China’s advances
Insulted his own Cabinet members on Twitter
Pushed the leader of Montenegro out of the way during a photo op
Failed to reiterate US commitment to defending NATO allies
Called Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries
Called the city of Baltimore the “worst in the nation"
Claimed that he single handedly brought back the phrase “Merry Christmas” even though it hadn’t gone anywhere
Forced his Cabinet members to praise him publicly like some cult leader
Believed he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Berated and belittled his hand-picked Attorney General when he recused himself from the Russia probe
Suggested the US should buy Greenland
Colluded with Mitch McConnell to push through federal judges and two Supreme Court justices after supporting efforts to prevent his predecessor from appointing judges
Repeatedly called the media “enemies of the people"
Claimed that if we tested fewer people for COVID we’d have fewer cases
Violated the emoluments clause
Thought that Namibia was a country
Told Bob Woodward in private that the coronavirus was a big deal but then downplayed it in public
Called his exceedingly faithful vice president a “p---y” for following the Constitution
Nearly got us into a war with Iran after threatening them by tweet
Nominated a corrupt head of the EPA
Nominated a corrupt head of HHS
Nominated a corrupt head of the Interior Department
Nominated a corrupt head of the USDA
Praised dictators and authoritarians around the world while criticizing allies
Refused to allow the presidential transition to begin
Insulted war hero John McCain – even after his death
Spent an obscene amount of time playing golf after criticizing Barack Obama for playing (far less) golf while president
Falsely claimed that he won the 2016 popular vote
Falsely claimed that he turned down being Time’s Man of the Year
Considered firing special counsel Robert Mueller on several occasions
Mocked wearing face masks to guard against transmitting COVID
Locked Congress out of its constitutional duty to confirm Cabinet officials by hiring acting ones
Used a racist dog whistle by calling COVID the “China virus"
Hired and associated with numerous shady figures that were eventually convicted of federal offenses including his campaign manager and national security adviser
Pardoned several of his shady associates
Gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two congressman who amplified his batshit crazy conspiracy theories
Got into telephone fight with the leader of Australia(!)
Had a Secretary of State who called him a moron
Forced his press secretary to claim without merit that his was the largest inauguration crowd in history
Botched the COVID vaccine rollout
Tweeted so much dangerous propaganda that Twitter eventually banned him
Charged the Secret Service jacked-up rates at his properties
Constantly interrupted Joe Biden in their first presidential debate
Claimed that COVID would “magically” disappear
Called a U.S. Senator “Pocahontas"
Used his Twitter account to blast Nordstrom when it stopped selling Ivanka’s merchandise
Opened up millions of pristine federal lands to development and drilling
Got into a losing tariff war with China that forced US taxpayers to bail out farmers
Claimed that his losing tariff war was a win for the US
Ignored or didn’t even take part in daily intelligence briefings
Blew off honoring American war dead in France because it was raining
Redesigned Air Force One to look like the Trump Shuttle
Got played by Kim Jung Un and his “love letters"
Threatened to go after social media companies in clear violation of the Constitution
Botched the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico
Threw paper towels and toilet paper at Puerto Ricans when he finally visited them
Pressured the governor and secretary of state of Georgia to “find” him votes
Thought that the Virgin islands had a President
Drew on a map with a Sharpie to justify his inaccurate tweet that Alabama was threatened by a hurricane
Allowed White House staff to use personal email accounts for official businesses after blasting Hillary Clinton for doing the same thing
Rolled back regulations that protected the public from mercury and asbestos
Pushed regulators to waste time studying snake-oil remedies for COVID
Rolled back regulations that stopped coal companies from dumping waste into rivers
Held blatant campaign rallies at the White House
Tried to take away millions of Americans’ health insurance because the law was named for a Black man
Refused to attend his successors’ inauguration
Nominated the worst Education Secretary in history
Threatened judges who didn’t do what he wanted
Attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci
Promised that Mexico would pay for the wall (it didn’t)
Allowed political hacks to overrule government scientists on major reports on climate change and other issues
Struggled navigating a ramp after claiming his opponent was feeble
Called an African-American Congresswoman “low IQ"
Threatened to withhold federal aid from states and cities with Democratic leaders
Went ahead with rallies filled with maskless supporters in the middle of a pandemic
Claimed that legitimate investigations of his wrongdoing were “witch hunts"
Seemed to demonstrate a belief that there were airports during the American Revolution
Demanded “total loyalty” from the FBI director
Praised a conspiracy theory that Democrats are Satanic pedophiles
Completely gutted the Voice of America
Placed a political hack in charge of the Postal Service
Claimed without evidence that the Obama administration bugged Trump Tower
Suggested that the US should allow more people from places like Norway into the country
Suggested that COVID wasn’t that bad because he recovered with the help of top government doctors and treatments not available to the public
Overturned energy conservation standards that even industry supported
Reduced the number of refugees the US accepts
Insulted various members of Congress and the media with infantile nicknames
Gave Rush Limbaugh a Presidential medal of Freedom at the State of the Union address
Named as head of federal personnel a 29-year old who’d previously been fired from the White House for allegations of financial improprieties
Eliminated the White House office of pandemic response
Used soldiers as campaign props
Fired any advisor who made the mistake of disagreeing with him
Demanded the Pentagon throw him a Soviet-style military parade
Hired a ton of white nationalists
Politicized the civil service
Did absolutely nothing after Russia hacked the U.S. government
Falsely said the Boy Scouts called him to say his bizarre Jamboree speech was the best speech ever given to the Scouts
Claimed that Black people would overrun the suburbs if Biden won
Insulted reporters of color and women reporters and women reporters of color
Suggested he was fine with China’s oppression of the Uighurs
Attacked the Supreme Court when it ruled against him
Summoned Pennsylvania state legislative leaders to the White House to pressure them to overturn the election
Spent countless hours every day watching Fox News
Refused to allow his administration to comply with Congressional subpoenas
Hired Rudy Giuliani as his lawyer
Tried to punish Amazon because the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post wrote negative stories about him
Acted as if the Attorney General of the United States was his personal attorney
Attempted to get the federal government to defend him in a libel lawsuit from a women who accused him of sexual assault
Held private meetings with Vladimir Putin without staff present
Didn’t disclose his private meetings with Vladimir Putin so that the US had to find out via Russian media
Stopped holding press briefings for months at a time
"Ordered” US companies to leave China even though he has no such power
Led a political party that couldn’t even be bothered to draft a policy platform
Claimed preposterously that Article II of the Constitution gave him absolute powers
Tried to pressure the U.K. to hold the British Open at his golf course
Suggested that the government nuke hurricanes
Suggested that wind turbines cause cancer
Said that he had a special aptitude for science
Fired the head of election cyber security after he said that the 2020 election was secure
Blurted out classified information to Russian officials
Tried to force the G7 to hold their meeting at his failing golf resort in Florida
Fired the acting attorney general when she refused to go along with his unconstitutional Muslim travel ban
Hired Stephen Miller
Openly discussed national security issues in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago where everyone could hear them
Interfered with plans to relocate the FBI because a new development there might compete with his hotel
Abandoned Iraqi refugees who’d helped the U.S. during the war
Tried to get Russia back into the G7
Held a COVID super spreader event in the Rose Garden
Seemed to believe that Frederick Douglass is still alive
Lost 60 election fraud cases in court including before judges he had nominated
Falsely claimed that factories were reopening when they weren’t
Shamelessly exploited terror attacks in Europe to justify his anti-immigrant policies
Still hasn’t come up with a healthcare plan
Still hasn’t come up with an infrastructure plan despite repeated “Infrastructure Weeks"
Forced Secret Service agents to drive him around Walter Reed while contagious with COVID
Told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by"
F***ed up the Census
Withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the middle of a pandemic
Did so few of his duties that his press staff were forced to state on his daily schedule “President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings"
Allowed his staff to repeatedly violate the Hatch Act
Seemed not to know that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican
Stood before sacred CIA wall of heroes and bragged about his election win
Constantly claimed he was treated worse than any president which presumably includes four that were assassinated and his predecessor whose legitimacy and birthplace were challenged by a racist reality TV show star named Donald Trump
Claimed Andrew Jackson could’ve stopped the Civil War even though he died 16 years before it happened
Said that any opinion poll showing him behind was fake
Claimed that other countries laughed at us before he became president when several world leaders were literally laughing at him
Claimed that the military was out of ammunition before he became President
Created a commission to whitewash American history
Retweeted anti-Islam videos from one of the most racist people in Britain
Claimed ludicrously that the Pulse nightclub shooting wouldn’t have happened if someone there had a gun even though there was an armed security guard there
Hired a senior staffer who cited the non-existent Bowling Green Massacre as a reason to ban Muslims
Had a press secretary who claimed that Nazi Germany never used chemical weapons even though every sane human being knows they used gas to kill millions of Jews and others
Bilked the Secret Service for higher than market rates when they had to stay at Trump properties
Apparently sold pardons on his way out of the White House
Stripped protective status from 59,000 Haitians
Falsely claimed Biden wanted to defund the police
Said that the head of the CDC didn’t know what he was talking about
Gave himself an A+ for his handling of the pandemic
Tried to start a boycott of Goodyear tires due to an Internet hoax
Said U.S. rates of COVID would be lower if you didn’t count blue states
Deported U.S. veterans who served their country but were undocumented
Claimed he did more for African Americans than any president since Lincoln
Touted a “super-duper” secret “hypersonic” missile which may or may not be a new “hypersonic” missile or may not exist at all
Retweeted a gif calling Biden a pedophile
Forced through security clearances for his family
Suggested that police officers should rough up suspects
Suggested that Biden was on performance-enhancing drugs
Tried to stop transgender students from being able to use school bathrooms in line with their gender
Suggested the US not accept COVID patients from a cruise ship because it would make US numbers look higher
Nominated a climate change sceptic to chair the committee advising the White House on environmental policy
Retweeted a video doctored to look like Biden had played a song called “F**k tha Police” at a campaign event
Hugged a disturbingly large number of U.S. flags
Accused Democrats of “treason” for not applauding his State of the Union address
Claimed that the FBI failed to capture the Parkland school shooter because they were “spending too much time” on Russia
Mocked the testimony of Dr Christine Blasely Ford when she accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault
Was proven to be close friends with the biggest sexual predictor of young girls
Obsessed over low-flow toilets
Ordered the rerelease of more COVID vaccines when there weren’t any to release
Called for the construction of a bizarre garden of heroes with statutes of famous dead Americans as well as at least one Canadian (Alex Trebek)
Hijacked Washington’s July 4th celebrations to give a partisan speech
Took advice from the MyPillow guy
Claimed that migrants seeking a better life in the US were dangerous caravans of drug dealers and rapists
Said nothing when Vladimir Putin poisoned a leading opposition figure
Never seemed to heed the advice of his wife’s “Be Best” campaign
Falsely claimed that mail-in voting is fraudulent
Announced a precipitous withdrawal of troops from Syria which not only handed Russia and ISIS a win but also prompted his defense secretary to resign in protest
Insulted the leaders of Canada, France, Britain, Germany, and Sweden!!
Falsely claimed credit for getting NATO members to increase their share of dues
Blew off two Asia summits even though they were held virtually
Continued lying about spending lots of time at Ground Zero with 9/11 responders
Said that the Japanese would sit back and watch their “Sony televisions” if the US were ever attacked
Left a NATO summit early in a huff
Stared directly into an eclipse even though everyone over the age of 5 knows not to do that
Called himself a very stable genius despite significant evidence to the contrary
Refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power and kept his promise, and a whole bunch of other things I can’t remember at the moment.
But other than that. . .
Whoever wrote this deserves credit but I don't know who it is..

 

Wednesday, January 7, 2026

You know it's cold when …

Today I posted a grouse photo and over the day came to realize I have posted other "you know it's cold" items. over the years and thought maybe worth putting together a list.

Here's one of my favorites: 

You Know it's cold when with arms full you nudge the door open with your head and your hat freezes to it. 

And, here's another, but no picture:

You know it's cold when you come indoors and take something out of the freezer to thaw for dinner and it feels warm in your hand. 

 

 


And a puffed out pine grosbeak. 

 









And a redpoll too:
And in the extreme, you know it's cold when you see  a grouse the size of a basketball.

 

Monday, December 1, 2025

It's about following illegal orders

 The issue of shooting supposed drug transporters in the Caribbean has taken a serious turn as evidenced by the following, It is a series of posts that showed up on facebook in the evening of November 30, 2025. I've gathered them here to present the case and emphasize the importance.

The law

From Occupy Democrats

BREAKING: HE’S GUILTY! A group of top former US military lawyers declare that Pete Hegseth committed murder and call on US military officers to DISOBEY his illegal orders!
The “former JAGs Working Group” was formed in response to Hegseth’s firing of top military lawyers in February of this year, and they just issued a joint statement in which they declared:
“The Former JAGs Working Group unanimously considers both the giving and the execution of these orders, if true, to constitute war crimes, murder, or both.”
“If the U.S. military operation is not an armed conflict of any kind, these orders to kill helpless civilians clinging to the wreckage of a vessel our military destroyed would subject everyone from SECDEF down to the individual who pulled the trigger to
prosecution under U.S. law for murder.”
“We call upon Congress to investigate and the American people to oppose any use of
the U.S. military that involves the intentional targeting of anyone – enemy combatants,
non-combatants, or civilians –rendered hors de combat (‘out of the fight’) as a result of
their wounds or the destruction of the ship or aircraft carrying them.”
“We also advise our fellow citizens that orders like those described above are the kinds of
‘patently illegal orders’ all military members have a duty to disobey.”
The group made it clear that these orders were carried out BECAUSE Hegseth worked so hard to tear down the legal guardrails keeping illegal orders from being given.
Trump’s lawlessness extends to every part of the government, and it’s terrifying to think of where this could go now that Hegseth has let illegal murder out of the box.
That’s why it’s so important that we prosecute him IMMEDIATELY and put an end to this madness as soon as possible.
 
RESISTANCE 
Another from Occupy Democrats
 BREAKING: Indiana Republican REFUSES Trump’s summons to the Oval Office and publicly accuses him of violating the law in blistering takedown!

Donald Trump’s once ironclad grip on the Republican Party is slowly but surely splintering as more and more Republicans find their spine and refuse to bow and scrape before the would-be king. Indiana Republicans in particular are proving to be a real headache for Trump, derailing his demands for unfair redistricting to net Republicans more seats in next year’s midterms.

Sen. Greg Walker of Colombus announced that he refused Donald Trump’s invitation to travel to Washington and meet with him, saying that it violated the Hatch Act and would have reported it to the authorities “if I thought that there was anyone of integrity in Washington that would follow through on my accusation and actually cause someone to lose their job over it.”
“I refused (the invitation), but the underling who reached out to me is trying to influence the election on my dime,” Walker told The Republic. “That individual works for me. He works for you. He’s on my payroll, he’s on your payroll, and he’s campaigning on company time. That’s a violation of the Hatch Act. He’s a federal employee. He works in the White House. But does anyone care about the rules anymore? Not that I can tell.”
But Walker wasn’t done there. He continued, “How does (Trump) have the time to mess with a nobody like me with all of the important matters that are to take his attention as the leader of the executive branch in this nation?”
“There is no way that he should have time to have a conversation with me about Indiana mapmaking when that’s not his business, for starters. But secondly, doesn’t he have anything better to do? I can make a big list of things that are more important for him to focus on.”
All very good questions, Mr. Walker. It’s rare to see a Republican so openly refusing to pay homage to the Great Leader, and Walker is far from the only Republican to do so recently.
While you never have to hand it to a Republican for doing the bare minimum, it is still very refreshing to see a Republican refusing to kowtow to Trump. This is exactly why Trump is so relentlessly obsessed with enforcing loyalty and forcing people to make displays of obedience — it only takes one brave person with a backbone to start inspiring others to do the same. 
 
 Sen Mark Kelly responds
BREAKING: BRAVO! Sen. Mark Kelly issues POWERFUL, defiant response to Pete Hegseth’s investigation into him for telling the military to disobey illegal orders!
Writing on Twitter, Sen. Kelly reflected on his years of service to our great nation — which is more than Trump can say — and took a powerful stand for the Constitution and the rule of law.
“When I was 22 years old, I commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy and swore an oath to the Constitution. I upheld that oath through flight school, multiple deployments on the USS Midway, 39 combat missions in Operation Desert Storm, test pilot school, four space shuttle flights at NASA, and every day since I retired – which I did after my wife Gabby was shot in the head while serving her constituents.”
“In combat, I had a missile blow up next to my jet and flew through anti-aircraft fire to drop bombs on enemy targets. At NASA, I launched on a rocket, commanded the space shuttle, and was part of the recovery mission that brought home the bodies of my astronaut classmates who died on Columbia. I did all of this in service to this country that I love and has given me so much.”
“Secretary Hegseth’s tweet is the first I heard of this. I also saw the President’s posts saying I should be arrested, hanged, and put to death.”
“If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won’t work. I’ve given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies who care more about their own power than protecting the Constitution.”
This is exactly the kind of response that Trump and Hegseth’s shameless efforts to bully their critics into silence requires. The Democratic Party needs to fight back twice as hard to hold Trump and Hegseth accountable for their actions and protect the Constitution from the fascistic authoritarianism of a demented old man.
"Senator Mark Kelly’s powerful response to political intimidation is a call to protect the Constitution and uphold the rule of law. Will you stand up for democracy? Join the conversation and fight for the future of America!"
 

 

 

Friday, November 28, 2025

A thanksgiving to be thanful for

                                                            

A facebook post Wednesday November 26, 2025
 

As I don't intend to be online Thanksgiving Day (we'll see how that goes 😇), I am posting this the day before. Recently I realized something I am thankful for, but haven't acknowledged previously. I am thankful for all the people who interact with me online, especially those here on facebook. I have very little social interaction IRL any more so what's here is greatly appreciated. Thank you all. Happy Thanksgiving. Adding this to the Alaska With Attitude page because I appreciate blog readers as well.

Following are facebook comments: 

Jeanne Passin
Happy Thanksgiving Tim!

Judy Youngquist
Happy Thanksgiving! I'm grateful for staying connected.
 
Carrie Ann Nash
Happy Thanksgiving, Tim!!
 
Marian Nattrass
from Buffalo

Darlene DeBenedictis
Gobble Tim, enjoy Thanksgiving
 
Joe Cantil
I too am thankful for the online engagement. Good one!!

Sharon Northrup
Happy Thanksgiving from Colorado!
 
Steve Lindbeck
Happy Thanksgiving, Tim! I always appreciate your wisdom, wit and friendship online— and otherwise.
 
Louis Tex Edwards
Happy Thanksgiving Tim. Whether we agree on politics or not, will always be good friends!

Paula Ann McCann
Happy Turkey day Tim!

Lori King
friends on FB are a welcome port in a storm!
 
Lori King
And I’m thankful for you
 
Frank Gerjevic
Happy Thanksgiving, Tim. Missed your message, so sent an email. It'll keep for a few days, like the turkey in the fridge.
 
Suzy Peakall
Happy Thanksgiving, my friend! I am thankful for you!
 
Betty Sederquist
I agree. I enjoy my FB friends.
 
Mark Fuerstenau
Happy Thanksgiving, Tim
 
Sue Bee
Happy Thanksgiving to you Tim. I appreciate our interactions & wish u a great day tomorrow.🦃🍗🥕🍲🥧
 
Michele Longenbach
Happy Thanksgiving, Tim 🙂

Mike Lewis
Happy Thanksgiving, bud!


Best headlines ever

Naked pair fed LSD gummy worm to dog

Owners of a Noah's Ark replica file a lawsuit over rain damage

In Southcentral Alaska earthquake, damage originated in the ground, engineers say

A headline that could only be written in Alaska: At state cross country, Glacier Bears and Grizzlies sweep, Lynx repeat, Wolverines make history — and a black bear crosses the trail

Man kills self before shooting wife and daughter

Alabama governor candidate caught in lesbian sperm donation scandal

Sister hits moose on way to visit sister who hit moose.

Man caught driving stolen car filled with radioactive uranium, rattlesnake, whiskey

Man loses his testicles after attempting to smoke weed through a SCUBA tank

Church Mutual Insurance won't cover Church's flood damage because it's 'an act of God'

Homicide victims rarely talk to police

Meerkat Expert Attacked Monkey Handler Over Love Affair with Llama Keeper

GOP congressman opposes gun control because gay marriage leads to bestiality

Owner of killer bear chokes to death on sex toy

Support for legalizing pot hits all-time high

Give me all your money or my penguin will explode

How zombie worms have sex in whale bones

Crocodile steals zoo worker's lawn mower

Woman shot by oven while trying to cook waffles

Nude beach blowjob jet ski fight leads to wife's death

Woman stabs husband with squirrel for not buying beer Christmas Eve

GOPer files complaint against Democrat for telling the truth about Big Lie social posts

Man shot dead on Syracuse Street for 2nd time in 2 days

Alaska woman punches bear in face, saves dog

Johnny Rotten suffers flea bite on his penis after rescuing squirrel

Memorable quotations

The best way to know you are having an adventure is when you wish you were home talking about it." — a mechanic on the Alaska State Ferry System. Or as in my own case planning how I will be writing it on this blog.

"You can't promote principled anti-corruption without pissing off corrupt people." — George Kent

"If only the British had held on to the airports, the whole thing might have gone differently for us." — Mick Jagger

"You can do anything as long as you don't scare the horses." — a mother's favorite saying recalled by a friend

A poem is an egg with a horse inside” — anonymous fourth grader

“My children will likely turn my picture to the wall but what the hell, you only get old once." — Joe May

“Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.” — Ernest Hemingway

When I write, I feel like an armless, legless man with a crayon in his mouth. Kurt Vonnegut

“If you wrote something for which someone sent you a cheque, if you cashed the cheque and it didn't bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented.”Stephen King

The thing about ignorance is, you don't have to remain ignorant. — me again"

"It was like the aftermath of an orgasm with the wrong partner." – David Lagercrants “The Girl in the Spider’s Web.”

Why worry about dying, you aren't going to live to regret it.

Never debate with someone who gets ink by the barrel" — George Hayes, former Alaska Attorney General who died recently

My dear Mr. Frost: two roads never diverge in a yellow wood. Three roads meet there. — @Shakespeare on Twitter

Normal is how somebody else thinks you should act.

"The mark of a great shiphandler is never getting into situations that require great shiphandling," Adm. Ernest King, USN

Me: Does the restaurant have cute waitresses?

My friend Gail: All waitresses are cute when you're hungry.

I'm not a writer, but sometimes I push around words to see what happens. – Scott Berry

I realized today how many of my stories start out "years ago." What's next? Once upon a time?"

“The rivers of Alaska are strewn with the bones of men who made but one mistake” - Fred McGarry, a Nushagak Trapper

Many people hear voices when no one is there. Some of them are called mad and are shut up in rooms where they stared at walls all day. Others are called writers and they do pretty much the same thing. – Meg Chittenden

A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity. – Franz Kafka

We are all immortal until the one day we are not. – me again

If the muse is late, start without her – Peter S. Beagle

Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. ~Mark Twain Actually you could do the same thing with the word "really" as in "really cold."

If you are looking for an experience that will temper your vanity, this is it. There's no one to impress when you're alone on the trap line. – Michael Carey quoting his father's journal

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. – Benjamin Franklin

It’s nervous work. The state you need to write in is the state that others are paying large sums of money to get rid of. – Shirley Hazzard

So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence -- Bertrand Russell

You know that I always just wanted to have a small ship to take stuff from a place that had a lot of that stuff to a place that did not have a lot of that stuff and so prosper.—Jackie Faber, “The Wake of the Lorelei Lee”

If you attack the arguer instead of the argument, you lose both

If an insurance company won’t pay for damages caused by an “act of God,” shouldn’t it then have to prove the existence of God? – I said that

I used to think getting old was about vanity—but actually it’s about losing people you love. Getting wrinkles is trivial. – Eugene O’Neill

German General to Swiss General: “You have only 500,000 men in your army; what would you do if I invaded with 1 million men?”

Swiss General: “Well, I suppose every one of my soldiers would need to fire twice.”

Writing is the only thing that when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.—Gloria Steinem

Exceed your bandwidth—sign on the wall of the maintenance shop at the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center

One thing I do know, if you keep at it, you usually wind up getting something done.—Patricia Monaghan

Do you want to know what kind of person makes the best reporter? I’ll tell you. A borderline sociopath. Someone smart, inquisitive, stubborn, disorganized, chaotic, and in a perpetual state of simmering rage at the failings of the world.—Brett Arends

It is a very simple mind that only knows how to spell a word one way.—Andrew Jackson

3:30 is too late or too early to do anything—Rene Descartes

Everything is okay when it’s 50-below as long as everything is okay. – an Alaskan in Tom Walker’s “The Seventymile Kid”

You can have your own opinion but you can’t have your own science.—commenter arguing on a story about polar bears and global warming

He looks at three ex wives as a good start—TV police drama

Talkeetna: A friendly little drinking town with a climbing problem.—a handmade bumper sticker

“You’re either into the wall or into the show”—Marco Andretti on giving it all to qualify last at the 2011 Indy 500

Makeup is not for the faint of heart—the makeup guerrilla

“I’m going to relax in a very adult manner.”—Danica Patrick after sweating it out and qualifying half an hour before Andretti

“Asking Congress to come back is like asking a mugger to come back because he forgot your wallet.”—a roundtable participant on Fox of all places

As Republicans go further back in the conception process to define when life actually begins, I am beginning to think the eventual definition will be life begins in the beer I was drinking when I met her.—me again

Hunting is a “critical element for the long-term conservation of wood bison.”—a state department of Fish and Game official explaining why the state would not go along with a federal plan to reintroduce wood bison in Alaska because the agreement did not specifically allow hunting

Each day do something that won’t compute – anon

I can’t belive I still have to protest this shit – a sign carriend by an elderly woman at an Occupy demonstration

Life should be a little nuts or else it’s just a bunch of Thursdays strung together—Kevin Costner as Beau Burroughs in “Rumor has it”

You’re just a wanker whipping up fear —Irish President Michael D. Higgins to a tea party radio announcer

Being president doesn’t change who you are; it reveals who you are—Michelle Obama

Sports malaprops

Commenting on an athlete with hearing impairment he said the player didn’t show any “uncomfortability.” “He's not doing things he can't do."

"… there's a fearlessment about him …"

"He's got to have the lead if he's going to win this race." "

"Kansas has always had the ability to score with the basketball."

"NFL to put computer chips in balls." Oh, that's gotta hurt.

"Now that you're in the finals you have to run the race that's going to get you on the podium."

"It's very important for both sides that they stay on their feet."

This is why you get to hate sportscasters. Kansas beats Texas for the first time since 1938. So the pundits open their segment with the question "let's talk about what went wrong." Wrong? Kansas WON a football game! That's what went RIGHT!

"I brought out the thermostat to show you how cold it is here." Points to a thermometer reading zero in Minneapolis.

"It's tough to win on the road when you turn the ball over." Oh, really? Like you can do all right if you turn the ball over playing at home?

Cliches so embedded in sportscasters' minds they can't help themselves: "Minnesota fell from the ranks of the undefeated today." What ranks? They were the only undefeated team left.

A good one: A 5'10" player went up and caught a pass off a defensive back over six feet tall. The quote? "He's got some hops."

Best homonym of the day so far: "It's all tied. Alabama 34, Kentucky 3." Oh, Tide.

"Steve Hooker commentates on his Olympic pole vault gold medal." When "comments" just won't do.

"He's certainly capable of the top ten, maybe even higher than that."

"Atlanta is capable of doing what they're doing."

"Biyombo, one of seven kids from the Republic of Congo." In the NBA? In America? In his whole country?

"You can't come out and be aggressive but you can't come out and be unaggressive."

"They're gonna be in every game they play!"

"First you have to get two strikes on the hitter before you get the strikeout."

"The game ended in the final seconds." You have to wonder when the others ended or are they still going on?

How is a team down by one touchdown before the half "totally demoralized?"

"If they score runs they will win."

"I think the matchup is what it is"

After a play a Houston defender was on his knees, his head on the ground and his hand underneath him appeared to clutch a very sensitive part of the male anatomy. He rolled onto his back and quickly removed his hand. (Remember the old Cosby routine "you cannot touch certain parts of your body?") Finally they helped the guy to the sideline and then the replay was shown. In it the guy clearly took a hard knee between his thighs. As this was being shown, one of the announcers says, "It looks like he hurt his shoulder." The other agrees and then they both talk about how serious a shoulder injury can be. Were we watching the same game?

"Somebody is going to be the quarterback or we're going to see a new quarterback."

"That was a playmaker making a play.”