[PJ] The tragedy of wasted youth is one of the perennial sorrows of the human condition. The tragedy of youth that never gets the chance to grow old, to mature, to perfect whatever God-given talent they have been given is a double tragedy. Today marks the 100th birthday of a man who is both a seminal figure in country music and a reminder of the tragedy that lurks behind fame gained too early and too fast.
Hiram "Hank" Williams came from Mount Olivet, in Butler County, Ala., the son of a World War I veteran. He was born with spina bifida oculta, a painful medical condition that, in our so-called enlightened era, has often caused doctors to recommend abortion. Chronic disease in artists, Beethoven being a prime example, should be a reminder that the imperfect life is still worth living. To make creative use of suffering and failure, the crosses of life are always within reach.
When he was eight years old, Williams met Rufus "Tee Tot" Payne, a black blues guitarist who helped mentor Williams as he perfected the fusion of hillbilly and blues styles that became his hallmark. In time, Williams’s work would influence artists as different as Elvis Presley, Conway Twitty, Bob Dylan, and the Beatles.
While he helped bring country music into the mainstream, his descent into alcoholism helped precipitate his death at the young age of 29. He recorded 55 top-ten Billboard Country & Western singles in those short years. His distinctive twang is still part of the American musical lexicon; his voice is still recognizable.
He was one of those lost souls who managed to alienate just about everyone. Between getting into fights at the honky-tonks he played in, not showing up for gigs and radio shows, and losing his way on stage, his career and personal life zigged and zagged. He died after a charity performance in Montgomery, Ala., for a musician who had contracted polio. He fell asleep in the backseat of the car on the long drive to a New Year’s Eve performance in West Virginia, and after years of continued fighting and alcohol abuse, his heart gave out, and he never woke up.
The musical biography of his life, "Lost Highway," was a hit on the New York stage and continues to tour the country. Country star Roy Acuff, whose style Williams modeled himself on and who performed with him, once pulled Hank aside backstage, warning him to get off the liquor. "You’ve got a million-dollar voice, son, but a ten-cent brain," he warned him to no avail.
#2
His hit "Dear Brother" is one of the most heartbreaking songs I have ever heard. Its raw misery and description of middle Americans is tear inducing, and I'm not easily rattleable.
[FoxNews] U.S. military officials are searching for a missing F-35 jet after a "mishap" caused its pilot to eject on Sunday afternoon.
Joint Base Charleston said on Facebook that the aircraft was a Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II belonging to Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. The pilot ejected safely and was transported to a local medical center.
Oh, thank goodness.
The base is working with Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort to help locate the missing aircraft. Emergency response teams have been deployed to find the jet.
"Based on the jet’s last-known position and in coordination with the FAA, we are focusing our attention north of JB Charleston, around Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion," Joint Base Charleston said in a statement on Facebook.
#1
...This happened about ninety miles from me - it looks like he was fairly close to JB CHarleston when some truly horrendous weather came in (it flooded us out an hour or two before) and something happened. What ain't exactly clear, but he had enough time to secure things and get out under fairly controlled conditions. He came down literally in someone's backyard and got help.
The location of the airframe, however, is another matter entirely. Lakes Moultrie and Marion have got some genuinely deep spots, and if the bird came down in one of those, it's going to take a while to find it.
#5
For a change there isn't some moron from the Pentagone rushing out on TeeVee to expose just how good our coastal radars are.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
09/18/2023 12:58 Comments ||
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#6
#4 - I would think we'd shoot it down first
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/18/2023 13:22 Comments ||
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#7
Just checked my back yard. Not there.
Posted by: Tom ||
09/18/2023 16:18 Comments ||
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#8
Wasn’t the spy balloon downed off the coast of SC? I wonder if it’s flight path intersected with this jets path or it overflew that base. That would be an interesting coincidence. Maybe updating chips/software in f35’s?
Also autopilot brings to mind possibility of remote piloting.
Ivanka visited Maui two weeks ago on a humanitarian mission Where's Oprah?
She distributed food and supplies with group CityServe International
Thousands remain displaced and rebuilding has yet to begin
There are approximately 6,000 displaced residents staying in Maui hotels, while another 1,100 are in Airbnb rentals.
Ivanka Trump and the group distributed food, water, local produce, gift cards and other needed supplies to displaced families and individuals staying at hotels, local distribution centers and pantries near Lahaina, CityServe said.
The group is also providing gas cards and air filters to residents, who are being advised not to drink the water and to stay away from fire-damaged areas.
Trump also used her connections to get other companies to donate goods to those in Maui, according to CityServe.
Next week, a 747 filled with $1 million worth of supplies will head toward Maui with ebikes, electric scooters, electronics, toys, dry foods, small appliances, ukuleles, and several pallets of Jockey clothing - 'all because of a Ivanka's connection,' the group said.
The wildfires are under control across the island but damage remains in the 2,170 acres burned. The death toll stands at 97 and 66 people remain missing.
The burn area of Maui remains restricted to authorized personnel as officials clean up the potentially dangerous ash and other debris. There is an estimated 2,200 damaged or destroyed structures.
The cleanup could take months. The early cost estimate is $5.5 billion.
Students won't be able to return to class until mid-October. Roughly 3,000 students from the four Lahaina public schools have been displaced in the fires.
Ivanka Trump has partnered with CityServe for almost four years.
She worked with them during the COVID pandemic to provide food to those in need.
She also has helped the group send 1 million meals to Ukrainians and visited Poland with them to aid the refugees.
The former first daughter has left politics - while she is supporting Donald Trump's bid for a second term in the White House she is not campaigning for him - and has focused on charity work and raising her three children with husband Jared Kushner.
The Kushner/Trump clan moved to Florida after the left Washington D.C. where Jared and Ivanka worked as advisers in President Trump's administration.
#2
A good example of the difference between true compassion, sincerity and actual hands on helping. Compared to those that announce things for maximum personal glory and camera Face time. OR those that swoop in to profit from it.
QUESTION: Where is DC & FEMA on helping those in this "accidental" disaster?
$700.00?
All while DC sends 100's of $$$ Billions of US Taxpayer funds and equipment to Ukraine and other countries?
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Minister of Communications and Media, spokesman for the government of the Republic of Congo, Thierry Lezin Mungala, on the social network X (formerly Twitter), denied rumors of a coup d'état, calling this information fake.
“Incredible information has emerged about some serious events taking place in the Congolese capital of Brazzaville. The government denies this fake news,” he wrote.
The minister assured that calm reigns in the republic. He called on the population to calmly go about their business.
Earlier, local media reported that on the evening of September 17, the Congolese army began seizing key facilities in the country's capital , Brazzaville. According to some reports, the head of the presidential guard, Serge Oboa, is leading the coup . Journalists recalled that Head of State Denis Sassou Nguesso is in New York, where he is taking part in UN events.
As Regnum reported, on the night of July 26, a coup d'état took place in Niger. A group of military men came to power in the country and removed the President of the Republic, Mohamed Bazoum, from government . The new authorities broke a number of economic and political agreements with France, in particular, they annulled the agreement on the military presence of French troops on the territory of the country.
[Telegram] The bizarre secret behind China's spy balloon
Top US General Milley told CBS News Sunday Morning that the balloon wasn't spying.
"The intelligence community, their assessment — and it's a high-confidence assessment — [is] that there was no intelligence collection by that balloon."
After the Navy raised the wreckage from the bottom of the Atlantic, technical experts discovered the balloon's sensors had never been activated while over the Continental United States.
#4
No intelligence collected? Was that because it was flying over Washington, DC?
Snark O'The Day
Posted by: Tom ||
09/18/2023 16:19 Comments ||
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#5
Confucius say, "Worthy Red gentlemen
Would never read letters of Fetterman
Or Feinstein or Biden,
So no point in hiding...
That smell just Confederate jessamine!"
Prease pardon potential poetic confusion of honorable non-jasmines. And thanks to Cholie for AM meditation on Virginia vs Rangoon creepers.
Posted by: Boss Gliper9117 ||
09/18/2023 22:29 Comments ||
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#6
The Chinese will do anything for decent internet reception.
[Messenger] Several U.S. airlines are reporting a sharp decline in consumer travel demand at a time when lower fares, pricier jet fuel, and more seats entering the market are complicating the financial outlook.
Ultra-low-cost airlines Spirit and Frontier are predicting losses for the third quarter. Frontier said Wednesday that its expected third-quarter profit has instead turned to red ink as "sales have been trending below historical seasonality patterns" in recent weeks.
"You’ve gone from industry sales being up, to flat, to now being down versus 2019, and that’s coming at a time that capacity is going up," Frontier CEO Barry Biffle said Wednesday at a Morgan Stanley investor conference. "And then the third leg of that stool is fuel. So you’ve got fuel, capacity and demand all going the wrong direction."
American Airlines also trimmed its earnings guidance, with quarterly income of no more than 30 cents per share, 68% below the high-end target it issued in July. American cited the jump in fuel prices and the cost of its new pilot contract as factors contributing to the decline.
Jet fuel prices have risen about 30% since early July. Airlines from Southwest to JetBlue to Spirit and Frontier all have been eager to boost flying this year, and into next, to recover capacity lost from the pandemic and as a means to lower their unit costs. (More seats provide a larger base across which an airline spreads non-fuel costs.)
#3
The new Greyhounds Buses of the Sky, were a lot better when flying was not like a Bus mass transit system with wings and the nut jobs were far and in between.
#4
When it's herding into tiny seats with no legroom and stuck on the tarmac for an hour after departing from the gate (for time penalty reasons) - I'll pass
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/18/2023 7:16 Comments ||
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#5
Gee, I would have thought less cash in peoples' pockets might have been a factor.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/18/2023 8:21 Comments ||
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#6
I'll just drive on highways on the ground as Gaia intended. Thank you.
#7
Air travel has become an ordeal and I stopped travelling before Covid and have no plans to do so again until I'm horizontal, in a box, and headed to Arlington in the cargo hold.
[DW] German police say 26 officers were among those injured after violence on the sidelines of an Eritrea ...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age... n event in Stuttgart. Tensions run deep within the diaspora over the eastern African nation's polarized politics.
Police in the southwestern German city of Stuttgart on Sunday said dozens of people, including at least 26 officers were maimed amid unrest surrounding an Eritrean cultural festival.
Along with 26 officers, four people participating in the event and two protesting it were maimed, police said in a statement. Six of the injured officers were being treated at the hospital.
The clash was the latest in a string of incidents at such events in Germany and elsewhere, with fights breaking out between Eritrean government supporters and opponents.
Police said they took 228 people into custody with police citing "massive violence" between the two groups.
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE FESTIVAL?
The police force described those attending as supportive of the dictatorial regime that rules the Horn of African country. There were roughly 80 to 90 people at the cultural event.
Some 300 officers were deployed to deal with several hundred opponents of President Isaias Afwerki's regime who came out to protest the event.
Protesters were assigned an area to demonstrate, but they headed for the meeting venue, police said. The demonstrators then charged at those participating at the event, throwing metal rods and rocks at the police.
Police officers used pepper spray and batons to break up the crowd. Participants at the venue were moved to a safer location under police protection. Officers took down notes of those protesting. The event was all but over in two hours.
Stuttgart police vice president Carsten Höfler condemned the protesters' action saying that "neither the extent nor the intensity of the violence was apparent in advance."
City officials said there was no reason to ban the event in advance, but that they will take steps to prevent similar unrest in the future.
WHY WERE PEOPLE FIGHTING?
The fight is the latest to break out at festivals to celebrate Eritrea's 30 years of independence. Eritrea has been ruled by Afwerki in a one-party dictatorship since 1993.
Those who fled the country said they fled danger and persecution so celebrations have angered them. Rights groups also say that Afwerki is one of the harshest and most repressive dictators in the world.
Eritrea has neither a legislature nor a judiciary, according to a report by the Human Rights Watch. It also has no independent civil society or media outlets.
Similar festivities were reported in Tel Aviv, Israel, in early September, with the event accounting for one of the most violent mostly peacefulfestivities among African asylum seekers and migrants colonists in the city's recent memory.
In July, festivities between supporters and opponents erupted in the western German city of Giessen, which is not far from Frankfurt. The clash left 26 coppers injured.
Analysts have previously said that events — if they're organized at the Eritrean Embassy, as was the case in Israel — generate funds for the heavily embargoed Eritrean government and serve to exert pressure on Eritreans who are far away from their homeland.
Image how easy the same logistics are with children. A highly distressing thought.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
Hundreds of vehicles were intercepted at US ports in 2023 and the number is on the rise
Canadian investigators have uncovered the fate of stolen cars as they are found sitting in lots in Africa
Social media accounts show what happens once they arrive in places like Ghana and Nigeria
Cars with foreign plates have been showing up in Africa in staggering numbers, with the majority hailing from Canada and the United States.
A whopping 80 percent of stolen vehicles in Canada are said to leave the country's ports and most end up in countries like Ghana.
Authorities have also noticed an increase in the number of stolen cars departing the United States for West Africa. An ongoing investigation has seized cars at major shipping ports like New Jersey and Baltimore.
In August, Homeland Security said it had already seized about 300 stolen vehicles at the Port of Newark this year, marking a a 32 percent increase from last year.
Many vehicles are carjacked, a process that is becoming easier with push-to-start technology. Syndicates will retag a stolen car by altering its Vehicle Identification Number, or VIN, a unique serial number.
The international gangs may then obtain a counterfeit Certificate of Title, which serves as the official proof of ownership, to match the new VIN. The cars are then sold to people who will ship them overseas.
Some gangs may use the sale of these vehicles to fuel other crimes like money laundering and the purchase of drugs.
An estimated 10 percent of stolen cars in the United States are believed to end up overseas. HSI agents look at anomalies in trends relating to imports and exports and often conduct random searches.
Social media accounts show the fate of vehicles sent to places like Nigeria. Some have US plates still attached. Others are marketed as 'foreign used,' a term indicating that they may have been stolen and sent abroad.
The comment section is rife with remarks reading 'Straight out of Quebec' and 'Stolen car from Canada'.
The cars are often older models of luxury brands like Lexus and Land Rover as well as the odd family SUV.
An investigation by CBC identified dozens of vehicles that wound up in Ghana after they were stolen from Ontario and Quebec. Most had their registration and insurance documents still in the glove box.
Journalists discovered a vehicle belonging to Toronto man Len Green and called him upon finding a certificate with his phone number.
'I'm pretty sure I'm sitting in your once-stolen vehicle in West Africa,' the reporter said.
'No way,' Green said. He recounted his wife's shock upon finding that the car had gone missing from their driveway.
Ring footage captured the moment a car pulled up to his house around 3am. Two men got out and approached the Acura. A mere four minutes later, it was gone.
Det.-Sgt. Mark Haywood of Peel Regional Police told the publication that a large number of stolen cars were leaving Canada.
'You'll see about 80 percent of them going out through the ports,' he said.
#2
But the RCMP are all over anyone who supported the Trucker Convoy.
My car is 24 years old, my wife's cat is 19 years old and NOBODY has any interest in either one of them. They're both manual transmissions and NOBODY can drive them anymore. Fun times, fun times.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
