The Godfather is dead . . .

Wednesday, October 15, 2025. It's Odin's day . . . and moderate Southeasterlies are forecasted to maintain warm sunny skies for TulseyTown, with upper 80's this afternoon.

Jack Smith is back in the news. And he's not holding back. – Joyce Vance, in Civil Discourse.

Smacking synchronicity – today is the birthdate of novelist Mario_Puzo (The Godfather), born in 1920 New York City.

An update on the government shutdown was posted last night by Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American.

Today is the birthdate of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, born in Röcken, a village in 1844 Prussia.

“God is dead...and we have killed Him.” – Nietzsche.

Nietzche is often misquoted as having said only that “God is dead.” By “we have killed him” he meant the strangulation and ritualization of religion by languaged attempts to put God in a box. He may have been reading Virgil.

Speaking of Virgil. Today is also his birthdate. The Roman poet was born Publius Vergilius Maro on this day in 70 B.C.E. near Mantua, Italy.

“ If I cannot move heaven, I will raise hell.” ― Virgil, The Aeneid, line 312

While The Organ Peeled Potatoes — by Anonymous

It was midnight on the ocean;

Not a street car was in sight.

The sun was shining brightly,

And it rained all day that night.

'Twas a summer's night in winter

And the rain was snowing fast.

A barefoot boy with shoes on

Stood sitting on the grass.

The rain was pouring down,

The moon was shining bright,

And everything that you could see

Was hidden out of sight.

It was evening and the rising sun

Was setting in the West.

The little fishes in the trees

Were huddled in their nest.

While the organ peeled potatoes,

Lard was rendered by the choir.

While the sexton rang the dish rag,

Someone set the church on fire.

"Holy Smoke," the preacher shouted,

And in the rush he lost his hair.

Now his head resembles heaven,

For there is no parting there.

I saw a great, big, tiny house

Ten thousand miles away.

And to my view 'twas out of sight

Last night, the other day.

The walls projected inward,

The front door round the back.

Alone it stood between two more.

The walls were whitewashed black.

A great, big, tiny house I saw

Ten thousand miles away.

And to my view 'twas out of sight

The other day, last night. – in the public domain (I think. There are many variations)

Pretty bubbles in the air . . .

Tuesday, October 14, 2025. It's Tiw's day . . . and easy Southerlies are forecasted to bring a cloud mix to the skies over TulseyTown with upper 80's.

If it’s true we are alone, we are alone together, the way blades of grass are alone, but exist as a field. – Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Live in a way that the Earth will be grateful for us.

There are moments when the world feels increasingly troubled, when change comes quickly, and when the ground feels less certain. In these times, it helps to remember that we can still choose to be a steady light. It radiates when you show up—for the possibility of a wiser, world. We see it in the quiet strength that ripples outward when people come together in kindness, and courage.

Rather than it being a “hate-America” rally – that's the label Trump et al have attempted to label it – Saturday’s rally is an opportunity for all of us who love America to express our determination that our nation’s ideals not be crushed by the Trump regime.

The week ahead. – Joyce Vance, in Civil Discourse.

Trump’s office issued an official proclamation declaring yesterday, October 13, “Columbus Day.” The proclamation completely misunderstands the fifteenth-century world of expanding European maritime routes that entirely reworked world trade—including trade in human beings—and the role of Italian mariner Christopher Columbus, who worked for Spain’s monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, in that expansion...There is a difference between history and commemoration. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American.

Forever bursting bubbles. – Robert Reich, Beware the Oligarch's Two Bubbles, online today 10.04.25

The Orchard

I have dreamed of accomplishment

I have fed ambition.

I have traded nights of sleep

for a length of work.

…

all winds blow cold at last

and the leaves vanish

in the great, black

packet of time,

in the great, black

packet of ambition,

and the ripeness of the apple

is its downfall.

– Mary Oliver, from “The Orchard,” in Red Bird, Beacon Press, 2008.

It's an American tune, so it's all right . . .

Monday, October 13, 2025, It's the Moon's day . . . A rainy day is in the forecasts for TulseyTown today. Moderate Easterlies bring much cooler temperatures to the afternoon in the mid 70's. Rain on/off/on into the early evening.

Today is Columbus Day. A federal holiday celebrating a tyrant. In some quarters the name is dropped and replaced as being Indigenous People's Day. There is a movement afoot to make it a permanent replacement for Columbus, relegating him to a footnote.

Paul Simon turns 84 today. The multi-awarded-laureate, singer-songwriter brought a sensibility to rock an' roll was born in 1941, Newark, New Jersey.

Something dramatic has happened over the last two weeks — as America sees more vividly than ever who Trump is, where he and his trio of lapdogs (Miller, Vought, and Vance) want to take the country, and how we’re all potential targets. – Robert Reich, The Big Reveal, online 10.12.25

No Kings Day is this coming Saturday on October 18. It is likely to be one of the biggest days of protest in American history—and, in that world of shoulds aughts, we should be a part of it. There are two locations of such events scheduled for TulseyTown. More in Bartlesville and Muskogee. Check out the map.

Fascism always runs out of “others” eventually—and when it does, it comes for its own believers, too. A MAGA superfan found out about Trump's fascism the hard way.

Trump has opened the door to a possible pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell.

An Enlightened Society – one that is truly awake, grounded in love, compassion and acceptance – is the community you’re in, right here, right now. You and your family. You and your roommate. You and your coworker. It begins with how you work with your own mind, and it starts right where you are. – Pema Chödrön

It's all right 'cause it's an American tune.