John Steinbeck’s novel, “The Grapes of Wrath,” shows economic devastation of the 1930s. Made into a movie, the story is about the Joad family, evicted, like many families, from their Oklahoma farm. Banks seized a lot of land thanks to the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. 1/5

In an op-ed on Daily Kos this week, AuntieB wrote of her conversation w/a family member of the owners of an orchard near her: “A few years ago, the family refinanced to install solar panels and new walk-in…

Our country is being destroyed. Since January our Federal government has been chopped up & pieces tossed aside. The qualifications to head an agency seem to require holding views antithetical to the reasons the agency was created. [FN1] And then there’s ICE. 1/12

ICE seems to be everywhere and its masked agents act like secret police the U.S. once trained in other countries. [FN2] Of course we have election interference in favor of GOP candidates, and it consists of more than the…

By degrees on a continuum or by categories of qualitative distinction, there are different kinds of surprise. From pleasant albeit mundane to mind-shatteringly & life altering, some types of surprise are far and away clearly different. Yesterday, I experienced the latter. 1/8

Saturday morning’s rain gave way to an afternoon of clear skies and high temperatures. Humidity also was high. River City Pride was held in downtown Peoria on the riverfront. A lot of people stopped at the…

Stephen Colbert’s Late Show is being canceled. For those of the “maga” world, who espouse the freedom of speech in the marketplace of ideas, please understand: Colbert succeeds. [FN1] The show is being canceled because it airs on CBS. CBS is owned by Paramount. 1/8

A sale of Paramount to Skydance Media is pending, but requires trump administration approval. [FN2] CBS already wimped out & paid damages to trump for a segment of “60 Minutes” trump didn’t like. History shows that…