tRump Cuts Endanger Alabama Civil Rights History

 From a Washington Post story:

 

Dynamite outside a synagogue: Civil rights stories imperiled by federal cuts

A young janitor’s role in thwarting an attempted bombing in 1958 is the latest addition to an Alabama oral history project now facing the loss of federal funds.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — He came to historic Temple Beth-El to tell his story, which is also the congregation’s story: How, during the early turbulence of the Civil Rights era, he helped to foil what would have been a devastating attack on their synagogue. 

The risk of stories like Pruitt’s being lost forever is growing. In March, President Donald Trump issued an executive order dismantling the federal agency funding the project, the Institute of Museum and Library Services. On April 15, Mjumbe received an email citing the order and saying his $242,000 grant would not be renewed because the work “no longer serves the interest of the United States.” The agency, the email explained, was “repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the president’s agenda.”

The oral history project has a list of at least 150 more people to interview — many in their 80s and 90s — before their memories fully fade or they die. Mjumbe’s father-in-law recorded his own story about being a Freedom Rider in the early 1960s as young activists challenged segregated buses across the South. Not long after, he developed dementia.

“Every day there is a very real likelihood that there is something that could be lost in terms of their recollections,” said Mjumbe, who titled the project “Evidence of Things Not Seen.”

Thanks tRump. 

 

Minnesota Shooting Suspect Due in Court on Friday

 From a CBS story:

Documents reveal that investigators found a total of 48 guns in Boelter's home as well as a tub of ammunition. Of those guns, there were 20 rifles, 15 revolvers, nine shotguns and four pistols. Additionally, charges say officers found at least three AK-47 assault rifles and a 9mm handgun inside an SUV registered to Boelter. 

 

Are supporters of gun rights OK with this? I mean, is there ANY number of guns that is too large for an individual to have? (I found the photo below online. It displays a gun collection that has no connection to Boelter).

 

Weather

96.5 Degrees in Montgomery now...."feels like" temp is 107!

 

 

10 Year Aniversary of Flag Removal

     The confederate flags surrounding the memorial were removed, without notice, by Governor Robert Bentley, on June 24, 2015. 

 

 

 

Bentley resigns on 4-10-17: NY Times story is HERE.

The Draft

 With all of this military war talk, there's also talk of renewing a military draft. My nominee for the first draftee?

 

Barron.

I have no idea what his draft classification is. Back in my draft era I was "1A" (Available for military service.) I have no idea if there is a "bone spur" classification.

Sports has it's own language. In English the word commit is defined this way:

 To commit oneself to a course of action, a principle, or a relationship. This means making a promise or declaration to do something or to be involved in something, often with the expectation of following through

 But in sports "commit" basically means nothing. Even though we refer to an athlete as being a "commit" and "committing" to a team, they frequently do NOT follow through.

Auburn football's 2026 recruiting class down to 6 commits as LB Shadarius Toodle flips to UGA

Perhaps a better phrase would be "thinking about it"? Perhaps they didn't offer English classes at Cottage Hill Christian Academy? 

Minnesota Shooting Suspect Update

 From The Washington Post:

 

People in the community who knew the Boelters have been struggling to reconcile the neighbor they knew with the man authorities say tried to rampage and kill Minnesota politicians. He declared himself a born-again Christian at age 17, and based on his recent online activity, an expert said his views appeared to align with those of the political “far right” of American Christianity. 

 

Tick Tock

  

Time is a liar.

It calculates my age as 75.

(but how can that be? I was just 45 a few years ago!)

  

Uh, don't hold back now......

"I WITNESS: Stephen Miller, architect of doom

He is relentless, cruel, and without a soul. He is a malignancy, a carbuncle, a malformed lump on the body politic, a sinister, hissing Trump-whisperer, a villain."

 

Source: (https://theberkshireedge.com/i-witness-stephen-miller-architect-of-doom/) 

Rainfall in Montgomery

May: Montgomery typically receives an average of 4.20 inches of rain in May.

 

......but last month 9.65 fell here. 

 

June: Montgomery typically receives an average of 5.62 inches of rain in June

.....but almost 10 inches have fallen as of the 18th of this month.

 The grass certainly seems very green. 😀 

Really?

 

"160-year-old Tuskegee newspaper to remain in business after purchase by Macon County"

 

And can residents expect a government owned paper to report anything negative about the government?

Reminds me of the first question I asked during my interview for the job I held at Alabama Public TV. How free am I to ask questions of people who may have the power to increase or decrease APT funding? (The answer satisfied me to the point that I was offered and accepted the job!) It was a great job!

 

HOT HOT HOT, Including in Alabama, of course.

 Read this Washington Post story about the coming heat wave!

 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2025/06/19/maps-extreme-heat-humidity-forecast/?utm_source=newsshowcase&utm_medium=gnews&utm_campaign=CDAqDwgAKgcICjCO1JQKMLfRdDC9yoYE&utm_content=rundown&gaa_at=g&gaa_n=ASWzDAhnjBrhytqhg1PiMRG38faLMlIWmrkamXaOqSueqbZlDkelZg7RZC8Z-o7RQEC6SjkjNqW3I0rgFr0Sb01FCgb6VWWhgrbbQPU%3D&gaa_ts=685479e7&gaa_sig=Tj0iJTeFNcy-srC_DZLOmI6p05bl0E3hWNqJM6AYW0yALW184e4YRBLVHXSnqGBs-Xeoxs_oHv7fo8hVUTvHXg%3D%3D 

Weather Today

 

Birmingham Mayoral Candidate Defends himself after two prostritution arrests:

 “I didn’t try to lay down with a child or a kid or a man or a boy, so I don’t apologize for being a man,” he (Kamau Afrika) said.

(AL.COM Story HERE)

Good luck!

 Really? You think someone will recognize him from this photo? I doubt his own mother would!

 

Extreme Heat

Exreme Heat forecast for the next two weeks.....

Y'a think Alabama is included? 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2025/06/17/extreme-humidity-heat-city-forecast-maps/ 

 

Oh yea. 

Titles

 I'm surprised tRump hasn't adopted the same title as used in this headline:

 

"Trump teases possible US strike as Iran supreme leader warns America:"

 

"Donald tRump, Supreme Leader" 

 

 

One Trillion Stars in a single photo

 

The extraordinary image was captured by ESA’s Flyeye telescope in May 2025 during its first light campaign. This was not just a technical test; it became a powerful demonstration of the telescope’s capabilities. 

Capturing Andromeda in a single frame

The image was produced from 16 simultaneous 30-second exposures, each corresponding to one segment of the instrument’s view. What’s remarkable is that this relatively brief imaging session managed to capture the entire span of Andromeda in a single frame. 

“For a dedicated astronomical telescope such as the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, viewing the whole Andromeda Galaxy requires stitching together hundreds of individual observations. This Hubble image of Andromeda, for example, took over 10 years and 600 snapshots to make,” noted ESA.

SOURCE: https://www.earth.com/image/andromeda-one-trillion-stars-in-a-single-frame/ 

Vietnam Redux

 From a N.Y. Times story about something that gives me mixed feelings: Groups who reenact scenes from The Vietnam War.

"This small group of young, conservative men was dedicated to recreating key U.S. military operations and battles from the war in Vietnam on one member’s 100-acre wooded property. Among them were a product manager at Thomson Financial, a former National Guard driver, a mortician and a carpenter. Too young to have served in the conflict, none of these men had ever experienced real combat. Yet they were obsessively committed to the authenticity of their “impressions” — meticulous in their attention to equipment, clothing, food and supplies, whether portraying the Vietcong, the North Vietnamese Army or American soldiers. Participation was by invitation only." 

Here is the full NY Times story.

1970. My arrival in Quang Tri, Vietnam, boots still relatively clean. I was 19. 

The buildings that made up Detachment 5 of the Armed Forces Vietnam Network. The sandbags were there to prevent the roof from blowing off during monsoon season.
 

 

A Huey chopper evacuates an injured soldier near the DMZ in 'Nam in 1970.
 

Worst Bed Bug Cities. Montgomery/Selma is #50

 

Using service data from more than 300 branches nationwide, Terminix has identified the top 50 U.S. cities with the highest number of bed bug control services. We spoke with Eric Braun, a Technical Service Manager at Terminix, who offered insights into the growing demand for bed bug control. Braun shared, "We have seen a consistent increase in bed bug control service performed since the ‘new normal’ post-COVID-19 pandemic."

Philadelphia takes the top spot for the second year in a row, while New York and Cleveland—Akron both climb higher into the top five, reflecting continued struggles with these persistent pests. When looking at which states appear the most, Ohio, Texas, Florida, California, and Pennsylvania dominate, suggesting regional trends in infestations are likely tied to climate, housing trends, and travel hubs.

 

 

Book Banning by the APLS

 

APLS Chairman John Wahl: Fairhope Library Must Fully Comply

with State Code for Funding to Be Restored

MONTGOMERY, AL — Alabama Public Library Service (APLS) Chairman John Wahl issued the following statement in response to the Fairhope Library Board’s decision last night to retain the majority of books challenged by parents for sexually explicit content in the library’s youth sections. The APLS Board will formally review Fairhope’s decisions at its upcoming July meeting, and state funding will only be restored if all books containing sexually explicit content—as defined by the APLS Board—have been relocated out of youth sections.

Gotta sell a LOT of pillows now

From The NY Times: 

 

"The MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, who spread baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, defamed a former employee of Dominion Voting Systems, a federal jury in Denver found on Monday.

The jury awarded $2.3 million in damages to the former employee, Eric Coomer, after a two-week trial, according to one of his lawyers, David Beller."

Full story is HERE. 

 

Which Party in in danger?

 MINNEAPOLIS — Authorities in Minnesota said Monday that the man arrested in a Saturday attack that killed one state lawmaker and left another wounded had a "hit list" of 45 elected officials — all Democrats.

Advertiser photo/story

 

Families tour the Rosa Parks bus as Troy University’s Rosa Parks Museum hosts its 10th annual Juneteenth celebration in downtown Montgomery, Ala., on Saturday June 14, 2025.

Mickey Welsh / Advertiser

(Alas: Unfortunately the actual bus in which Rosa Parks was arrested was located and restored by a Detroit group. It is now a major feature of a museum there.) 

Museums often showcase artifacts that represent significant technological advances as symbols of our scientific progress. Cultural innovation, however, is more difficult to convey. In our quest to spotlight social change, curators at The Henry Ford search for objects that embody some of America’s most compelling cultural movements.

On December 1, 1955, African-American seamstress Rosa Parks was arrested for failing to give up her seat on a Montgomery city bus to a white man, breaking existing segregation laws. Many believe this act sparked the Civil Rights movement. When the opportunity arose, our staff recognized that the Rosa Parks bus would be an extraordinary addition to the museum—though it would be a long journey to acquire and restore it.

Questioning the Bus’s Authenticity

The bus identification number was not recorded in any official documents when Rosa Parks was arrested, so years later, many museums and organizations were searching for the bus, but no one was quite sure which bus it was. When bus #2857 was retired in the early 1970s, Roy H. Summerford of Montgomery bought it. At the time, company employees told him that it was the Rosa Parks bus. Summerford and his descendants kept the bus in a field and used it to store lumber and tools. When Summerford passed away, the bus became the property of his daughter and son-in-law, Vivian and Donnie Williams. Although the Williamses knew that this had been identified as the Rosa Parks bus, they had no documents to prove it.

Robert Lifson, President of Mastronet, an Internet auction house, decided he wanted to auction off the bus for Mr. and Mrs. Williams. He began a search for documents authenticating the bus—and he found one.

 

Murder suspect quote

 Minnesota murder suspect Vance Boelter arrested overnight, spotted by drones:

 

“There’s people, especially in America, they don’t know what sex they are,” he said. “They don’t know their sexual orientation, they’re confused. The enemy has gotten so far into their mind and their soul.” 

Boelter quoted in today's NY Times story.