Tag: Obituary

Dolly Parton–R.I.P.

Sad news today an icon has passed away, Dolly Parton, her personality and music will be missed….the word is that she was dealing with cancer but no confirmation as of yet….

Stars are paying tribute to Dolly Parton, who died Tuesday in Nashville, Tennessee, at 80. Parton was among the most beloved personalities in music and beyond—the rare celebrity whose appeal transcended generations, geography, and politics, the AP reports. Here’s a roundup of notable reactions to Parton’s death and legacy:

  • Dionne Warwick. “The Heavenly Father has made the decision to bring another of his children to him. Dolly a true child of God is in the best hands now,” Warwick said in a statement.
  • Paul McCartney. “Her songwriting, her singing and her philanthropy were unrivaled in the world of country music and it is hard to imagine living in a world without Dolly,” McCartney wrote on Instagram. “She was a very clever business woman who understood the value of her music and, most importantly, the effect that she had on the people of the world. There was no greater honour for me than to have her sing my song ‘Let It Be’ and, even though I only made a small contribution to it, I am so honoured that she did it.”
  • Jane Fonda. “I never knew anyone like her. She was simultaneously a naughty, playful southern gal from the hollows of Tennessee and a deep, soulful thinker who could see through people right down to their true selves. She was many things … lyricist, songstress, player of many instruments, writer, prankster, visionary, loyal friend, who’d never go to bed before she and her friends had laughed so hard they’d have to cross their legs,” Fonda wrote on Instagram. She added: “To her gay and trans fans, I want you to know that she loved you. You know that without me telling you. She loved all her fans and they are legion. And you know she doesn’t want y’all to mourn now. Dress up and celebrate her spirit.”
  • Linda Ronstadt. “I am deeply saddened by the passing of my friend, Dolly Parton,” Ronstadt said in a statement. “One of the most extraordinary musical experiences of my life was recording with her. The world is a poorer place without her.”
  • Bette Midler. “Our beloved Dolly Parton has died. I am devastated, and I’m sure the nation will mourn her as I do, and for many years to come. She had a voice of pure gold and a heart to match. What a terrible, terrible loss,” Midler wrote on Instagram.
  • Ken Burns. “One of twelve children raised in a cabin, Dolly Parton left home carrying nothing but songs to become the most beloved figure in American music. She wrote ‘I Will Always Love You’ as a goodbye to Porter Wagoner. Today it belongs to all of us,” Burns, the filmmaker behind the Country Music documentary miniseries, wrote on X.
  • Reba McEntire. “Well, I just got the news that my buddy Dolly passed onto the higher and greater side,” McEntire wrote on X. “Dolly, thank you for all the wonderful things you did for us here on earth. Your love, your music and you gave so much with your huge huge heart. There will never ever be another you.”
  • Reese Witherspoon. “Throughout my entire career, she sent me little notes of encouragement and support, telling me to be the light in people’s lives and listen to my angels. Always signed: ‘I will always love you,'” Witherspoon wrote on Instagram.
  • Colman Domingo. “Dolly taught us that you can be anything and do anything and to do it with kindness. What a light. We are all grateful that we lived in a time of Dolly Parton. We will always love her,” the actor wrote on X.
  • Carol Burnett. “One of my favorite memories was taping the special ‘Carol and Dolly’ in Nashville,” Burnett wrote on Instagram. “We shot the week of Thanksgiving and Dolly made individual turkey dinners for every one of us, that she cooked herself. We were a family. That’s who she was.”
  • Beyoncé. “You were the barometer. The North Star. Bold and brilliant. Talented and tenacious,” Beyoncé said in a statement. “You taught so many lessons on how to be uniquely oneself. I am grateful for your art, your heart, your generosity, your humor, your entrepreneurship. I’m honored that I had the privilege to work with you. I will treasure that forever.”

As you can see she was loved by all those who knew her best.

As I said she will be missed….may she rest in peace and her family has our prayers….

As a closing tribute one of my favorite songs….from 1999….

 

I read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Remembering USS Liberty

Every year I post on the dastardly attack by Israel on the US Naval ship, USS Liberty…..I would like to now post on one of the survivors of that attack that is died.

On Friday, July 31, 2026, Lieutenant Commander James M. Ennes, Jr., US Navy, ret., slipped his cable and unfurled his sails. With the Great Pilot at the helm, he set a course to his final home port.

LCDR Ennes, then Lieutenant Ennes, was serving aboard the USS Liberty (AGTR-5) when, on June 8, 1967, Israeli forces began a combined aerial and naval assault, lasting over an hour, that killed 34 Americans and wounded more than 170 others. LCDR Ennes was seriously wounded in the attack. The official record indicates that Navy medical staff expected him to remain on medical leave for seven months as he recovered from multiple shrapnel wounds and multiple fractures of his left femur. LCDR Ennes did recover sufficiently to serve in the Navy as a cryptologic officer until his retirement in 1978.

On the day of the attack, the Liberty was repeatedly reconnoitered by Israeli military aircraft over the span of several daylight hours and positively identified as an American ship flying the American flag. The Liberty never approached closer than thirty-eight nautical miles to the Israeli coast. Nevertheless while steaming in clear weather and calm seas in international waters of the Mediterranean Sea northwest of the Egyptian city of al-ʿArīsh, the Liberty came under repeated aerial attack by Israeli forces at approximately 2 PM, local time, followed by an assault by Israeli motor torpedo boats.

https://original.antiwar.com/michelle_kinnucan/2026/08/09/remembering-lcdr-james-ennes-of-the-uss-liberty-1933-2026/

As long as I breathe I will post on the murderous actions of Israel against Americans (that many seem to have forgotten)….not me.

May LCDR Ennes rest in peace….

I Read, I Write, You KNow

“lego ergo scribo”

OMG! Mouth Of The South Is Dead!

+++I delayed posting on this story to see if there would be more information coming out+++

Yesterday I was awoken to the sounds of MAGA weeping profusely….one of Donny’s staunchest fans has passed into the great unknown.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina a long time cheer leader for Donny is gone.

Stunning news out of Washington, DC: Sen Lindsey Graham died Saturday night at age 71. The office of the South Carolina Republican said only that he “passed away from a brief and sudden illness,” reports Politico. The Washington Postreports that emergency responders were called to his Capitol Hill home to treat a man with chest pain about 8:30pm. Responders said after arriving that they were performing CPR and that the man was in cardiac arrest. In a Truth Social post, President Trump called Graham, one of his staunchest allies on Capitol Hill, “one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known,” and labeled him “a true American Patriot.”

Graham, first elected to the House in 1994 and the Senate in 2002, became one of the GOP’s most visible figures on foreign policy and national security. He was in Kyiv on Friday meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as he pushed for new sanctions on Russia, and he was scheduled to appear on Meet the Press Sunday. Once a Trump critic who ran for the GOP nomination himself in 2016, Graham later emerged as a key defender of the president, opposing both impeachment efforts. He did break with Trump at times, notably with his vote to certify the 2020 election results and with his criticism of the mass pardon for Capitol rioters.

South Carolina’s Republican governor, Henry McMaster, will appoint someone to serve out Graham’s term, which runs through January. Graham fended off five challengers last month to win his primary in a bid for a fifth term, notes the New York Times. In the meantime, Graham’s death trims the GOP’s majority in the chamber to 52-47.

Guess what?  The quickness of his death has the MAGA conspiracy machine working overtime….

Libertarian talk show host Clint Russell told his nearly 300,000 followers to “get your tinfoil ready” before he suggested, without evidence, that Russia was somehow to blame for Graham’s death in Washington, D.C.

Graham was in Ukraine as recently as Friday for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, reports show.

“I’d say there is a decent chance that Russia blew up Lindsey Graham,” Russell wrote in a comment liked more than a thousand times.

https://www.rawstory.com/lindsey-graham-2677207649/

This is the story so far……

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s death appears to have stemmed from a major heart complication, according to preliminary findings released by his office. The District of Columbia medical examiner identified the cause as an aortic dissection linked to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease—an aortic dissection is a tear in the inner wall of the body’s main artery that can rapidly become fatal, Politico reports. The New York Times adds that the type of disease referred to involves weakening and hardening of the arteries over time, and the Washington Post notes that such tears typically occur in people with high blood pressure. The medical examiner’s office is still conducting toxicology and microscopic tests, and Graham’s death certificate will remain listed as pending until that work is complete and the manner of death is formally classified.

That bit of info will not silence the conspiracies.

Not to worry I am sure that the appointment will be another closed mind racist of the MAGA brand.

Speaking of closed minds…….Donny has a choice for a replacement…..(already)….

The race to replace the late Sen. Lindsey Graham on South Carolina’s primary ballot is about to move quickly, Politico reports. President Trump told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday that he already has a preferred contender in mind but declined to name the person, saying it was “too soon.” State law calls for a special one-week filing window for GOP hopefuls starting July 21, followed by an Aug. 11 primary and, if no one tops 50%, an Aug. 25 runoff. The winner will then be on the general election ballot in November for a full six-year term beginning in January.

In the meantime, Gov. Henry McMaster will name a temporary replacement to serve out the year. There’s no legal deadline for his decision, but governors typically fill Senate vacancies rapidly. McMaster can either pick a short-term placeholder who agrees not to run for the office or hand the job to an active candidate—potentially giving that person an edge heading into the compressed primary fight. The Democratic nominee is Annie Andrews, a doctor who expressed her condolences in a statement after Graham’s death, per WYFF, saying he’d “proudly served our nation as a JAG Officer and Colonel in South Carolina’s Air National Guard.” The state’s other senator said on Meet the Press that he doesn’t have any clues about McMaster’s choice. It’s “hard to swallow that life moves so quickly, and the party doesn’t stop, ever,” GOP Sen. Tim Scott said.

Possibilities: Among the South Carolina Republicans thinking about running is Rep. Nancy Mace, per Politico. who challenged Graham in the 2014 Senate primary. She still has federal campaign cash on hand after an unsuccessful campaign this year for governor. Rep. Joe Wilson posted on X that he won’t be a candidate after speaking with Trump. NBC News was told Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette has received “dozens of phone calls and texts” encouraging her to run. She received a last-minute endorsement from Trump before the primary for governor, then lost a runoff to state Attorney General Alan Wilson. Mark Lynch, a businessman who lost the primary earlier this year to Graham, also said it’s too soon to say whether he’ll run. “While we had our political disagreements, today is not a day for politics,” he said.

Donny needs a ass kisser to replace Graham….he needs the Senate to keep his assault on Democracy.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Joe McDonald–R.I.P.

The name may not mean much to the younger readers but I one served in Vietnam then Country Joe and the Fish was the anti-war song that meant the most.

The anti-war icon has died….

A voice that helped soundtrack the Vietnam era has gone quiet, USA Today reports. “Country Joe” McDonald, the frontman of Country Joe and the Fish and a defining figure of 1960s protest music, died Saturday in Berkeley, Calif., at 84 from complications of Parkinson’s disease, his band announced. He was “surrounded by his family,” according to the statement; no public memorial is planned.

Born Joseph Allen McDonald in Washington, DC, and raised in California, he served in the Navy before emerging in Berkeley’s folk and protest scene and co-founding Country Joe and the Fish in the mid-1960s. Their 1967 debut, Electric Music for the Mind and Body, helped cement San Francisco’s psychedelic rock sound, but McDonald became best known for his biting anti-Vietnam War song “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag” (a “talking blues” song done in the “deadpan” style of Woody Guthrie, the Guardian reports) and his expletive-laced cheer at Woodstock—moments he later said “changed everything in America.” NPR calls the song “a signature anthem of the 1960s counterculture,” and the Woodstock performance “one of the defining scenes of the festival.” The cheer, however, did once get McDonald arrested and fined after he used it at a Massachusetts show.

After his band broke up, McDonald continued to perform and release solo work for decades, often focusing on civil rights, environmental causes, and humanitarian issues, before retiring to focus on his family. He also expressed consistent support for the troops, and was involved with veterans’ issues throughout his life. He is survived by his wife of 43 years, five children, and four grandchildren; the family suggests donations to Swords to Ploughshares or the Michael J. Fox Foundation in his memory.

For me his voice and conscience will be missed for he help us antiwar protesters get through all the torment….

Thank you for your help and your voice in protest to a dumb ass war…..you and your morals will be missed.

Plus old farts like me will not forget what you did in our name.

His most famous antiwar song in remembrance of a great musician for the cause.

Thank you Country Joe and may you rest in peace.

chuq

For Sue: A Tribute

Today would have been Sue’s 70th birthday.

This has been the most difficult post to write….I find myself at a loss of words for this good-bye.

I have a difficult time putting into words just what Sue means to me.

On the night of 12 March 2025 my partner, Sue, passed away from cancer.  She had been fighting aggressive skin cancer for 5 years and it finally took its toll.

We had been partners for 18 years, we found each other late in life and it was a magical moment….we found that we had so much in common that we were drawn together immediately.

We were both veterans….she was Navy and I Army our military jobs were very similar….we both had disastrous encounters with the opposite sex….we both enjoyed a simpler way of life.

It was a great 18 years we traveled and lived life to the brink…..I was very happy more so than I had ever been in any other relationship I had up to that point.

Our first date was in a tavern called Skeeters where we spent about 5 hours talking, eating and just getting to know each other….although at first she let me talk way too much as I was very nervous at first.

We found out that we enjoyed many of the same things like peanut butter, she liked smooth I liked crunchy and cheese different types although she did not like what she called stinky cheese.

We spent the next days IMing (those were the days before smartphones or texting) each other in the early morning hours before she had to get ready for work.

After a couple of weeks of dating we decided that we would like to try being exclusive and that worked well.  She eventually sold her house and moved in with me and we never looked back……18 years of joy and love.

After all those years it seemed if we could read each minds for many of our thoughts were insych.  We both did not deal with idiots lightly……I was the vocal one and she was there to keep me in line and avoid some sort of confrontation….I miss that.

We never let a day go by without saying ‘I love you’….I miss that.

Sue would do anything for anybody that needed help which I could not do for I am a suspicious person deep down.

Although she has been gone for over 6 months I still cannot reconcile that she has left….I still look for her in her favorite spots in the house and I find myself talking to her on occasion.

It has been difficult at times without her around to keep me from being an ass…..my daughter who Sue loved like her own is missing her as much as I….we console each other when necessary.

My words are feeble to express my admiration, respect, love for the woman that became my rock in trying times.

I just want to say ‘Happy Birthday’ my love and we miss you so very much.

These are the three songs that Sue loved….I cannot listen to them right now without getting misty…..enjoy.

Thanks for reading and this will be my only post today for I need the day.

chuq

James Lowe R.I.P.

James Lowe?

Not a name that too many will remember but I do for as a fan of ‘acid rock’ his group the Electric Prunes was a favorite.

In the beginning of ‘acid rock’ there were few names like First Edition, Procol Harum, Cream , Hendrix, Canned Heat, Moody Blues and the Electric Prunes…..these names brought the electric guitar to new heights.

Lowe passed away at age 82….

Psychedelic rock pioneer James Lowe, of The Electric Prunes, has died at age 82.

Lowe’s family — namely his three children — announced the news of their father’s passing via the band’s official Facebook page on Thursday, May 29.

“It is with heavy and electric hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved dad, James Lowe – lead singer and founder of The Electric Prunes,” Lowe’s kids wrote in their heartfelt tribute to their father. (Lowe shared children Lisa, Cameron and Skylar with wife Pamela, to whom he was married for more than 60 years.)

“He passed away peacefully of natural causes on Thursday, May 22nd, 2025, surrounded by music, our incredible mom, and the three of us – his kids: Lisa, Cameron, and Skylar,” they continued. “Dad leaves behind a legacy of sound, love, and boundless creativity. At the center of it all Was our amazing mom, Pamela – his guiding star, enduring muse, and wife of 62 years.”

The Lowe family concluded their statement with wise words from the “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)” singer.

In his words – Rock On!” they declared. “And we will.”

The Electric Prunes were known for their psychedelic sound in the 1960s, with hits like “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)” and “Get Me to the World On Time.”

(parade.com)

This was probably their most popular song…..

When I was in base camp in Vietnam I would play this tune for my fellow grunts every Sunday.

For people like me he will be missed…..and wish his family all the love and respect that he deserved.

May his legacy live on in people like me and those that appreciated fine music and talented musicians.

James Lowe…Rest In Peace.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Jimmy Carter–Rest In Peace

The sad news has broken that ex-president Jimmy Carter has passed away.

Former President Jimmy Carter, who was turned out of office by voters after one term and went on to build houses for the poor and champion democracy around the world, died Sunday. He was 100 and the longest-living US president. His son said Carter died at his home in Plains, Georgia, the Washington Post reports. His wife, Rosalynn, to whom he was married for more than 77 years, had died in November 2023, and Carter made his final public appearance at her memorial service. Among his last appeals to his country was in an op-ed after the attack on the US Capitol in 2021. “Our great nation now teeters on the brink of a widening abyss,” Carter warned, adding, “Americans must set aside differences and work together before it is too late.”

Born Oct. 1, 1924, Carter was the eldest of four children and grew up in a house without running water or electricity. His family had a peanut farm two miles from Plains. When he was 19, Carter entered the Naval Academy, then became one of the first officers assigned to its nuclear submarine program under future Adm. Hyman Rickover, who drove his staff hard and didn’t believe in praise. “I think, second to my own father, Rickover had more effect on my life than any other man,” Carter said. He returned to Plains and the family business when his father died, per the New York Times. Although he called himself a peanut farmer when he entered politics in the early 1960s, his father had expanded and diversified as he prospered, and Carter ran a significant commercial enterprise by that time.

Carter was elected a state legislator, then governor, shaking up Georgia politics by declaring, “The time for racial discrimination is over.” He served one term but built a political team with an eye on the presidency. In 1976, he ousted President Gerald Ford, who later became a close friend, to become the nation’s 39th president. He had run as a moderate Democrat and born-again Southern Baptist who promised to never lie to Americans, drawing contrasts to the recently resigned Richard Nixon. He also brought technocratic plans to make government more efficient, per the AP. Carter had successes in office that included a landmark treaty in the Middle East. But his support faded under the weight of double-digit inflation and the taking of US hostages in Iran, and he lost the 1980 election to Ronald Reagan.

His presidency has risen in historians’ estimation recently, but it was Carter’s work after he left office that was most widely admired. He won the Nobel Peace Prize and hammered nails alongside his wife as they built homes for Habitat for Humanity. The couple founded the Carter Center in Atlanta, under which they traveled the world to promote peace, democracy, and humanitarian efforts. “I thought he was a great president because he was a president of values, and he acted upon the values,” former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi once said. “He went from the White House to building houses for poor people. He glorified that work. Others wanted to do it because he did it,” she added. “That’s powerful.”

Of all the modern presidents he was the most selfless and committed to serving the people of this country even after he was no longer president.

Past presidents tell of Jimmy Carter….

A moment of silence was held for Jimmy Carter at the Atlanta Falcons’ game at the Washington Commanders Sunday night—a game with multiple links to the former president, a native of Georgia who led the country from 1977 to 1981 from the White House, less than eight miles from the Commanders’ stadium, the AP reports. Meanwhile, current and former US presidents were also honoring Carter, who died Sunday at age 100, WBAL reports:

  • President Biden: “Today, America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman, and humanitarian,” Biden’s lengthy statement starts. “Over six decades, we had the honor of calling Jimmy Carter a dear friend. But, what’s extraordinary about Jimmy Carter, though, is that millions of people throughout America and the world who never met him thought of him as a dear friend as well. With his compassion and moral clarity, he worked to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil rights and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless, and always advocate for the least among us.”
  • President-elect Trump: “Those of us who have been fortunate to have served as President understand this is a very exclusive club, and only we can relate to the enormous responsibility of leading the Greatest Nation in History,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “The challenges Jimmy faced as President came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude.” Yahoo News notes that in a second post, Trump added, “While I strongly disagreed with him philosophically and politically, I also realized that he truly loved and respected our Country, and all it stands for.”
  • Former President Barack Obama: Framed as a story about Carter’s frequent Sunday school teachings, Obama made note of Carter’s accomplishments during “the longest, and most impactful, post-presidency in American history—monitoring more than 100 elections around the world; helping virtually eliminate Guinea worm disease, an infection that had haunted Africa for centuries; becoming the only former president to earn a Nobel Peace Prize; and building or repairing thousands of homes in more than a dozen countries with his beloved Rosalynn as part of Habitat for Humanity.”
  • Former President George W. Bush: “James Earl Carter, Jr., was a man of deeply held convictions. He was loyal to his family, his community, and his country. President Carter dignified the office. And his efforts to leave behind a better world didn’t end with the presidency. His work with Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Center set an example of service that will inspire Americans for generations.”
  • Former President Bill Clinton: “From his commitment to civil rights as a state senator and governor of Georgia; to his efforts as President to protect our natural resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, make energy conservation a national priority, return the Panama Canal to Panama, and secure peace between Egypt and Israel at Camp David; to his post-Presidential efforts at the Carter Center supporting honest elections, advancing peace, combating disease, and promoting democracy; to his and Rosalynn’s devotion and hard work at Habitat for Humanity—he worked tirelessly for a better, fairer world.”

Kind words for a kind man.

More on the legacy of this superb American….read and understand….

https://www.commondreams.org/news/jimmy-carter-dying

Here is a look at photos of this well respected man….

In the mid-1970s, Jimmy Carter campaigned as a political outsider for the White House promising honesty, good governance and respect for human rights. These were issues that remained at the forefront of his thinking both during and after his one-term presidency.

Carter, who turned 100 on October 1, 2024, is the longest-living president and has spent more than four decades out of office. During these years he continued his human rights and humanitarian work. He undertook several (sometimes controversial) peacekeeping missions abroad, and helped build homes for charity alongside his wife, Rosalind (1927-2023), well into his late 90s.

“One of the things Jesus taught was: If you have any talents, try to utilize them for the benefit of others,” President Carter told People magazine in 2019. “That’s what Rosa and I have both tried to do.”

Below, look back at some of the key moments in Carter’s life, from his rustic Georgia upbringing to his post-presidency honors.

https://www.history.com/news/jimmy-carter-photos

He will be missed for he was the very model of what an American should strive for in life….service to community and the nation.

Thank you Jimmy….for your service and you will be missed….R.I.P.

I shame that more ex-presidents have not followed in his footsteps for this country would be so much better than it is today.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Kris Kristofferson–R.I.P.

Another star is gone.

A musical icon from the 60s has died….this time it is one of my favorites….Kris Kristofferson.

Kris Kristofferson, a Rhodes scholar with a deft writing style and rough charisma who became a country music superstar and A-list Hollywood actor, has died, reports the AP. Kristofferson died at his home in Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday, family spokeswoman Ebie McFarland said. He was 88. McFarland said Kristofferson died peacefully, surrounded by his family. No cause was given. Starting in the late 1960s, the Brownsville, Texas, native wrote such classics standards as “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” “Help Me Make it Through the Night,” “For the Good Times” and “Me and Bobby McGee.” Kristofferson was a singer himself, but many of his songs were best known as performed by others, whether Ray Price crooning “For the Good Times” or Janis Joplin belting out “Me and Bobby McGee.”

Kristofferson, who could recite William Blake from memory, wove intricate folk music lyrics about loneliness and tender romance into popular country music. With his long hair and bell-bottomed slacks and counterculture songs influenced by Bob Dylan, he represented a new breed of country songwriters along with such peers as Willie Nelson, John Prine, and Tom T. Hall. “There’s no better songwriter alive than Kris Kristofferson,” Nelson said during a November 2009 award ceremony for Kristofferson. “Everything he writes is a standard and we’re all just going to have to live with that.”

As an actor, he played the leading man opposite Barbara Streisand and Ellen Burstyn, but also had a fondness for shoot-out Westerns and cowboy dramas. He was a Golden Gloves boxer and football player in college, received a master’s degree in English from Merton College at the University of Oxford in England and turned down an appointment to teach at the US Military Academy at West Point to pursue songwriting in Nashville. Hoping to break into the industry, he worked as a part-time janitor at Columbia Records’ Music Row studio in 1966 when Dylan recorded tracks for the seminal “Blonde on Blonde” double album.

His music will live on but he will be missed.

In closing I leave you with a couple of my favorite songs …..

This one is from the American Outlaws, The Highwaymen tour with Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings….

Great music for the soul of us old farts….thank you Kris!

May he rest in peace.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

JD Souther R.I.P.

Sad news today a musician from my youth in the 60s has died.

As an old fart my musical taste ran to the folk singer side of things in the beginning….Joni Mitchell, Peter, Paul and Mary, Dylan, et al….JD Souther was one of those voices that I will always remember because it was so soulful.

When we listen to music, we tend not to look past the name of the artist and the name of the song. That means there can be an assortment of people who worked on the track whose contributions may evade you. It’s not uncommon to have songwriters help out on a track, shaping a hit that is somebody out there’s favorite of all time. In the case of JD Souther, he had credits on a bunch that can be considered all-timers, especially if you’re a fan of the monumental American rock band the Eagles. But sadly, he is now no longer with us…

Establishing himself as a Southern California songwriting legend, JD collaborated with the aforementioned Eagles as well as the likes of Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor. He was also a solo artist, best known for the track You’re Only Lonely.

After forming the band Longbranch Pennywhistle in the ’60s, one of its members Glenn Frey went on to form the Eagles in 1971. JD may not have come aboard as an official band member, but that doesn’t mean his impact on the group wasn’t important.

He worked on some of the band’s tracks including James Dean, Best Of My Love, and New Kid In Town. His songwriting also contributed to the classic song Heartache Tonight, which became a significant hit and cemented the band as rock titans.

He produced Linda’s fourth album, Don’t Cry Now, credited as a writer on a handful of the songs, and then there’s his work on James’ Her Town, Too.

Evidence of his creativity and passion for music was evident throughout that time, as he was also in the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band; this was made up of the Byrds’ Chris Hillman and Poco’s Richie Furay.

Tributes are already surfacing fast online, with fans sharing the music that helped make his a name that will never fade.

“JD Souther gave us so many memorable songs,” one tearfully wrote on X.

“Just received the devastating news that American folk singer JD Souther has passed away,” another was shocked to tweet. “He was the greatest songwriter from those shores and Only Lonely – without a doubt, the greatest single ever from America. RIP legend.”

Other posts have remembered him as a “songwriting legend” and a “great talent.”

“One of my most cherished and admired songwriters,” one mourned, with another adding: “Had the honor to hear JD Souther last Saturday in Sellersville Pa. RIP to a master of music.”

(celebritytidbit.com)

May he Rest In Peace.

His music for those that are not familiar with Souther’s body of work.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Henry Kissinger Dead

The former NatSec adviser and former Sectary of State has died….

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, his consulting firm said. He was 100, reports the AP. With his gruff yet commanding presence and behind-the-scenes manipulation of power, Kissinger exerted uncommon influence on global affairs under Presidents Nixon and Ford, earning both vilification and the Nobel Peace Prize. Decades later, his name still provoked impassioned debate over foreign policy landmarks long past.

A nice generic obit….

But there was more to his tenure than the niceties that the MSM wants you to know….his tenure was more about death and war than it was the BS spread by a warmongering press and analysts….

Do not speak ill of the dead. That’s an honorable admonition. But what of the truth? When a person dies, should he be remembered accurately? That question is acutely posed by the demise of Henry Kissinger. The veteran diplomat passed away on Wednesday at the age of 100, leaving behind a long legacy that includes such highs as the opening to China, as well as foul deeds that resulted in mayhem and death—thousands and thousands of deaths. His obituaries will be filled with hosannas from the foreign policy establishment that hailed him as the wisest of wise men. Unfortunately, those who were slaughtered in part due to his global gamesmanship are not able to comment on his contribution to international affairs.

(Mother Jones)

Thanx to Mother Jones let’s look at the blood on his hands….

Cambodia: In early 1969, shortly after Nixon moved into the White House and inherited the Vietnam War, he, Kissinger, and others cooked up a plan to secretly bomb Cambodia, in pursuit of enemy camps. With the perversely-named “Operation Breakfast” launched, White House chief of staff H.R. “Bob” Haldeman wrote in his diary, Kissinger and Nixon were “really excited.” The action, though, was of dubious legality; the United States was not at war with Cambodia and Congress had not authorized the carpet-bombing, which Nixon tried to keep a secret. The US military dropped 540,000 tons of bombs. They didn’t just hit enemy outposts. The estimates of Cambodian civilians killed range between 150,000 and 500,000.

Bangladesh: In 1970, a political party advocating autonomy for East Pakistan won legislative elections. The military dictator ruling Pakistan, Gen. Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, arrested the leader of that party and ordered his army to crush the Bengalis. At the time, Yahya, a US ally, was helping Kissinger and Nixon establish ties with China, and they didn’t want to get in his way. The top US diplomat in East Pakistan sent in a cable detailing and decrying the atrocities committed by Yahya’s troops and reported they were committing “genocide.” Yet Nixon and Kissinger declined to criticize Yahya or take action to end the barbarous assault. (This became known as “the tilt” toward Pakistan.) Kissinger and Nixon turned a blind eye to—arguably, they tacitly approved—Pakistan’s genocidal slaughter of 300,000 Bengalis, most of them Hindus.

Chile: Nixon and Kissinger plotted to covertly thwart the democratic election of socialist president Salvador Allende in 1970. This included Kissinger supervising clandestine operations aimed at destabilizing Chile and triggering a military coup. This scheming yielded the assassination of Chile’s commander-in-chief of the Army. Eventually, a military junta led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet seized power, killed thousands of Chileans, and implemented a dictatorship. Following the coup, Kissinger backed Pinochet to the hilt. During a private conversation with the Chilean tyrant in 1976, he told Pinochet, “My evaluation is that you are a victim of all left-wing groups around the world and that your greatest sin was that you overthrew a government which was going communist.”

East Timor: In December 1975, President Suharto of Indonesia was contemplating an invasion of East Timor, which had recently been a Portuguese colony and was moving toward independence. On December 6, President Gerald Ford and Kissinger, then Ford’s secretary of state, en route from a visit to Beijing, stopped in Jakarta to meet with Suharto, who headed the nation’s military regime. Suharto signaled he intended to send troops into East Timor and integrate the territory into Indonesia. Ford and Kissinger did not object. Ford told Suharto, “We will understand and will not press you on the issue. We understand the problem and the intentions you have.” Kissinger added, “It is important that whatever you do succeeds quickly.” He pointed out that Suharto would be wise to wait until Ford and Kissinger returned to the United States, where they “would be able to influence the reaction in America.” The invasion began the next day. Here was a “green light” from Kissinger (and Ford). Suharto’s brutal invasion of East Timor resulted in 200,000 deaths.

Argentina: In March 1976, a neofascist military junta overthrew President Isabel Perón and launched what would be called the Dirty War, torturing, disappearing, and killing political opponents it branded as terrorists. Once again, Kissinger provided a “green light,” this time to a campaign of terror and murder. He did so during a private meeting in June 1976 with the junta’s foreign minister, Cesar Augusto Guzzetti. At that sit-down, according to a memo obtained in 2004 by the National Security Archive, a nonprofit organization, Guzzetti told Kissinger, “our main problem in Argentina is terrorism.” Kissinger replied, “If there are things that have to be done, you should do them quickly.” In other words, go ahead with your savage crusade against the leftists. The Dirty War would claim the lives of an estimated 30,000 Argentine civilians.

Throughout his career in government and politics, Kissinger was an unprincipled schemer who engaged in multiple acts of skullduggery. During the 1968 presidential campaign, while he advised the Johnson administration’s team at the Paris peace talks, which were aimed at ending the Vietnam War, he underhandedly passed information on the talks to Nixon’s camp, which was plotting to sabotage the negotiations, out of fear that success at the talks would boost the prospects of Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Nixon’s opponent in the race. After the secret bombing in Cambodia was revealed by the New York Times, Kissinger, acting at Nixon’s request, urged FBI director J. Edgar Hoover to wiretap his own aides and journalists to discover who was leaking. This operation failed to uncover who had outed the covert bombing, but, as historian Garrett Graff noted in his recent book, Watergate: A New History, this effort seeded “the administration’s taste for spying on its enemies—real or imagined.” 

In 1976, Kissinger was briefed on Operation Condor, a secret program created by the intelligence services of the military dictatorships of South America to assassinate their political foes inside and outside their countries. He then blocked a State Department effort to warn these military juntas not to proceed with international assassinations. As the National Security Archive points out in a dossier it released this week on various Kissinger controversies, “Five days later, Condor’s boldest and most infamous terrorist attack took place in downtown Washington D.C. when a car-bomb, planted by Pinochet’s agents, killed former Chilean ambassador Orlando Letelier and his young colleague, Ronni Moffitt.”

These are just a few of the major actions….yes I remember them all as I am old and was a teacher and lecturer in international relations.

When Kissinger was up for a Noble Peace Prize I sent a letter condemning the idea to the Noble Committee but like most of these things it was ignored no matter how many of us protested the very idea.

Whatever his accomplishments, his legacy includes an enormous pile of corpses.

Sorry to say he will not be missed by me….that is cold and hard but so is the truth.

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