Whew!

My daylong struggles to fix the last post forced me to finally give up that effort.  I took a brief interlude to go out for a flu shot today, but when I came back, the same problems still remained.  The blog deities just kept on blocking and harassing me, continuing to do so with impunity and at every conceivable turn.  So now they have won.  I have simply surrendered.  I'm just not sure quite what they have wanted, so it's been a lot of trial and error, mostly error, here on my part.  But that's all over  Let's simply move on now.

Instead, let's just briefly review the timeline leading to Tennessee's attempts to execute Christa Pike, the very first woman scheduled to be executed in that state in over 200 years.  Back in January1995, more than 30 years ago, Pike then age 18 had killed Colleen Slemmer, whom she'd considered to be a romantic rival--killed her by hitting her on the head with a big chunk of asphalt.  Her accomplice boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, was only age 17 at the time.  Because of his age, Shipp was sentenced to life in prison and might eventually be released, though not any time soon.  His next parole hearing is in October 2031, five years from now.  Since his incarceration, Shipp has converted to Islam and wears a black skull cap and a flowing white beard.  You can easily find his current image in the mainstream press, while I am still being blocked.  The same now with Pike, but soon both their images will be readily available everywhere.  Meanwhile, readers can certainly find those images elsewhere for now.  

After her original arrest back in 1996, Pike was sentenced to death, then kept in solitary confinement for more than 20 years until 2024, when a legal challenge allowed her to associate with other prisoners.  Her escape plan back in 2012, concocted with a prison guard, had been thwarted and he was removed from his position, but she still remained in solitary right after that.  

Soon after being allowed to associate with other prisoners more recently, just in 2024, Pike was accused of trying to strangle another inmate with a sash, but the circumstances were uncertain.  Pike had argued that she was only trying to protect another prisoner, so then she was not returned to solitary, but neither was she exonerated.  Finally, after many appeals, Pike's death sentence was allowed to proceed, with the family of her victim, Colleen Slemmer, there right in the death chamber when she was given 2 supposedly lethal injections.  But now the governor has suspended all executions in Tennessee at least until the end of the year. 

Wash. Post, Florida executes inmate with same method used in botched case

It would be good to see a moratorium on all executions everywhere, including now here in the US.  Norway has done it, even with their notorious serial killer, who has never been executed.  He is on indefinite solitary confinement that keeps being extended, with his food being delivered through a portal without any human contact.   

Better yet would be an elimination of the death penalty altogether, which would then give us all a chance to focus our attention elsewhere, as I plan to start doing here right now.  

===============================================================

Wash. Post, After heated hearing, judge orders Trump officials to testify about tree removal

Numerous trees have already been cut down to smooth the way for Trump's future DC golf outings, which he apparently plans to continue there, even after his presidential term ends.  

Willfully and deliberately ignoring the judge's orders not to remove them, the trees have already been cut down as per Mr. Trump's own commands to workers.  Now that the trees are all gone, what can the judge do then, since Trump is actually the president?  Put him in jail?  If she even tried to do that, Trump would simply exonerate himself.

=========================================================

Like plunging a stick into a wasp nest just to see the result, Donald Trump now has found out what might actually happen after he had decided to bomb Iran for no reason.  There actually was a reason, after all, to defer his pal Netanyahu's corruption trial, which, in fact, has now been deferred.  Have we forgotten all about that?  Trump would really like to exit the Iran war, but he just doesn't know how to do that.  The war was very easy to start, but is proving quite hard to actually end.  Mr. Trump just doesn't seem to have found a way to end it right now.  Iran is not yet calling "uncle" and so the Iran war still continues. 

Here us one of the longest wars in history, The Reconquista (711–1492).  Lasting about 781 years, this was a series of campaigns by Christian kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula to reclaim territory from Muslim rulers.  Let's hope the Iran war doesn't last nearly that long. 

===============================================================

Wash. Post, Trump posts a made-up quote from Denzel Washington praising him

Can citizens trust Donald Trump to always tell the truth?  Readers already know the right answer. 

====================================

          Pope Leo has just had surgery to remove a cancerous lung nodule. He is now in recovery.

               Reuters' photo

People: At age 194, Jonathan the tortoise offers clues to longevity, study says

The research found a subset of Jonathan’s genes remained remarkably stable despite his age.

My own son Jonathan, bearing the same name, says maybe this tortoise is a very distance relative related to him from the Jurassic period. 

==================================================================

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust” is apparently not in the Bible, but is often invoked at Christian burial ceremonies. 

OK, folks, darkness has already fallen, so this post will be uploaded right now before I go to bed, just in case it might disappear by the next morning  

I don't see my book titles being mentioned here any more, but if any reader can give me feedback on that, I would appreciate that now.