#OnThisDay: The Lend-Lease Agreement, 1941.

Today’s blog post is about the Lend-Lease Agreement of 1941. Unless you are a history nerd, this topic probably holds little interest; however, as a bit of a history and political science nerd, I thought it worthwhile to mark the 85^th anniversary of the passage of that agreement.

I am of the belief that we are bound to repeat history if we do not learn from it. I don’t know how it is in public schools today, but I did not get to study post-American Civil War history until I went to college. Much of 20^th century history I’ve learned on my own or learned by living through half of it.

What follows is probably the most simplified description you will ever read of how the United States tried to stay out of World War II.

1920s and 1930s

Throughout the “Roaring Twenties,” the United States was still in debt over World War I. As a result, Neutrality Acts were passed by Congress in 1935, 1936, and 1937. In a nutshell, those acts made it unlawful for Americans to sell or transport arms or materiel to nations at war.

“Cash and Carry”

Then came World War II. Watching the aggression of Germany, Italy, and Japan, in 1939, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed amending the Neutrality Acts and following a “cash and carry” policy in which other countries could purchase arms from the United States but the US would not supply military personnel.

When I finally got to study World War II, I was shocked to learn how slow the U.S. was to jump into the fray and come to the aide of Great Britain.

During the Battle of Britain, in September of 1940, Britain sent a delegation of researchers to the United States to share secret radar technology. Britain’s energy and money had to focus on the war but, since the United States wasn’t fighting, it could give attention to research and development.

“Arsenal of Democracy” and Isolationism

Three months later, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill sent Roosevelt a 15-page letter asking for the U.S. to help them. In one of his famous “fireside chats,” Roosevelt responded by announcing that the U.S. would be the “Arsenal of Democracy” and would sell arms to Britain and Canada.

Isolationists in the U.S. maintained that the war was a European problem and that the U.S. should stay out of it. Gradually, more Americans agreed that their country should do more to back Britain but keep our military out of the conflict.

This is a stark example of hindsight being better than foresight. No doubt, if the United States had known what lay ahead over the next five years, it would have acted earlier and more forcefully. Being protected by the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Americans were lulled into a false sense of security.

That false sense of security came back to bite us on December 7, 1941, (and again on September, 11, 2001) but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Lend-Lease Act of 1941

“An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States” was introduced and eventually enacted on March 11, 1941 in the “Lend-Lease Act.” That Act permitted the U.S. to supply the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, France, the Republic of China, and other Allied nations with food, oil, and materiel, free of charge, for the duration of the war.

In March of 1941, the U.S. was still trying to stay out of the war militarily, but the Lend-Lease Act made it clear that the United States recognized that it was in its best interest to aide Britain because defending Britain was, in effect, defending the U.S.

Of course, we know now that nine months later, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, thrusting the United States into the war in the Pacific. It would be January 26, 1942, before the first American troops would arrive in Great Britain.

The Lend-Lease Act of 1941 was strengthened by the Lend-Lease Act of February 23, 1942.

Lend-Lease officially ended on September 20, 1945. In that five-year period, $51 billion in supplies were shipped from the United States. That would be equivalent to approximately $700 billion in today’s dollars.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

A rare author event

The title of today’s blog post might be misleading. I am not writing about rare authors but rather a rare event for this author.

I could look back through prior years’ records to determine when my last author event was, but let it suffice to say it has been quite a while.

I was delighted to participate in a “Local Author Showcase” at Thornwell Books in Morganton, North Carolina this past Saturday! Being a fan and cheerleaders for independent bookstores, I jumped at the chance to be included in this third annual event at Thornwell Books.

Ad for Third Annual Local Author Showcase at Thornwell Books, Morganton, NC

I had contacted Thornwell Books last year when I published my devotional book and its companion journal. I contacted the store’s owner again in November 2025, when I published Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories. I did not know if the store had any of my books in stock, but I thought it wise to participate on Saturday and meet Ashley Ewing, Thornwell’s Bookseller and Socia Media & Events Coordinator.

Thornwell Books was on my list of bookstores to visit the next time I got to travel in the Hickory to Asheville area, but I had not made it there yet. Even though I am not technically “local” to Morganton, I was invited to take part in the bookstore’s three-hour event last Saturday.

It turned out there were 11 authors there from all over North Carolina and one from Columbia, South Carolina, so I was not the only one who traveled 100 miles or so to the event.

Janet and her half-table display space at Local Author Showcase March 7, 2026, at Thornwell Books, Morganton, NC

It was fun to get acquainted with other writers from the region and see what they writer. There were several children’s books authors, a fantasy author, an author of LGBTQ romance, a couple of self-help/inspirational authors, two non-fiction history authors, and the founder of the Spoken Word Society in Mt. Airy, North Carolina. If Mt. Airy sounds familiar, that’s because it is the hometown of Andy Griffin, one of North Carolina’s favorite sons.

Photo of the front cover of Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, by Janet Morrison — *Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories*, by Janet Morrison

Two or three of the authors made more sales than the rest of us. I only sold one copy of Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, but I knew going in that it might not be a lucrative financial venture. You just never know how author events will be received, and it was a beautiful and uncommonly warm late winter day that felt more like late April or May. It was more of a networking opportunity.

It was interesting to see how other authors displayed their books, and during slow times we had the opportunity to commiserate about the pitfalls of being a writer such as looking for publishers, the various routes to self-publishing, and how different writers structure (or don’t structure) their writing time. Some of us are outliners and others are “pantsers.” (Pantsers write by the seat of their pants, with no idea where their book’s plot is going. Yikes!)

Thornwell Books

Thornwell Books is located at 202 S. Sterling Street in Morganton, NC. Morganton is the county seat of a very old county (Burke) in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, some 60 miles east of Asheville and sits along I-40. The population is around 18,000.

The bookstore is in a former Ford car dealership. The architecture is unique and quite interesting. The shop includes a coffee and pastry bar. There are numerous tables in the second-floor loft to accommodate students wanting a place to work on their laptops and study. That area was extremely busy on Saturday, as was the coffee shop. Many locals popped in to get a coffee and buy a newspaper.

Coffee Bar at Thornwell Books and view of part of the reading and study loft

It is the kind of independent bookstore that every town needs. It’s a shame there are so few independent bookstores in existence.

Morganton, North Carolina

If you are ever in Morganton or simply passing through on I-40 on your way to somewhere else, take time to get off the busy interstate and drive into the town. Sterling Street is one of the main streets in the town and easy to find. Thornwell Books is just a couple of blocks from the old courthouse. There is on-street parking and parking on both sides of the store.

There is a downtown shopping district, an old courthouse to drive around in the center of town which features a wonderful statue of the late U.S. Senator Sam Ervin who was born and lived there, a local history museum, Western Piedmont Community College, a building that houses branches of several colleges including Appalachian State University, the North Carolina School for the Deaf, and a state-operated mental hospital.

Burke County Old Courthouse, Morganton, NC, as seen from Thornwell Books

The City of Morganton Municipal Center for the Arts (COMMA) is a beautiful facility that hosts various performances. “The Jazz Legacy Project – Billie Holiday: God Bless the Child” is scheduled for April 17, and the website says the tickets are selling fast. It sounds like a delightful event!

Big cities tend to look down their noses at small cities like Morganton but, as you can see, many of them offer wonderful cultural opportunities and great independent bookstore!

Interesting bench outside Thornwell Books

Meanwhile…

The war in the Middle East rages on as attacks spread throughout the region. A committee in Iran selected a new Ayatollah this weekend – the 56-year-old son of the one killed in the war the previous weekend. The bodies of the first six U.S. military personnel killed in the war were returned to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Saturday. A seventh U.S. military service person died this weekend from injuries sustained on Iran’s attack on Saudi Arabia on March 1. Russia is reportedly giving intelligence information about the U.S. military to Iran. Ukraine is going to help the United States with drone expertise.

Our European allies continue to watch and wait without making any commitments, except for Germany and Italy. And who can blame them? This is Trump and Netanyahu’s war of choice.

As more countries get dragged into the war to various degrees, it remains a dangerous situation without a clear path to an end.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

#OnThisDay: New York Times v. Sullivan, 1964

Today is the sixty-second anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court case, New York Times v. Sullivan. It is a landmark case regarding free speech. I give a simplified synopsis of the case in today’s blog post.

The New York Times published an advertisement written in the form of an editorial. The purpose of the ad was to raise money for the defense of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a perjury case.

In the ad, allegations were made against the police in Montgomery, Alabama. Although he was not mentioned by name in the ad, Montgomery’s Public Safety Commissioner L.B. Sullivan took offense at some of the statements in the printed advertisement. The ad criticized the Montgomery police for their treatment of civil rights protesters. Since they were subordinates of Sullivan, he believed his reputation was damaged by the allegations.

As required by Alabama law in libel cases, Sullivan requested in writing that the newspaper retract the information. The newspaper refused.

Sullivan sued The New York Times and a group of African American pastors for libel.

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled in favor of Sullivan and awarded him $500,000 in punitive damages.

The New York Times appealed and the case went to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a unanimous decision, the Court ruled in favor of the newspaper. The decision raised the bar for defamation lawsuits. Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. wrote the opinion. The decision established that it is not sufficient for a public official to prove that statements written about them are false; they must prove malice.

Prior to The New York Times v. Sullivan, in libel law, “malice” meant knowledge or gross recklessness. It was accepted thought that a person would not knowingly disseminate false information unless they had bad intentions.

The ramifications of the ruling

New York Times v. Sullivan made it more difficult for public officials to prove that they have been libeled. The case established that the plaintiff must prove that the words in question were written with “actual malice” which is not an easy thing to prove.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

Puzzling banner at U.S. Department of Education

In celebration of the 250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Department of Education has chosen a questionable way to display its mindset. I suppose it accurately portrays the mindset of the Trump Administration, but one-third of the presentation seems odd, inappropriate, and partisan to me.

I did not find a photograph of the building including the banners I am referring to, so this picture will have to suffice. If you have not seen the banners I’m blogging about today, you can find various pictures by using a search engine.

U.S. Department of Education office in Washington, DC.
Photo by Andy Feliciotti on Unsplash

Keep in mind that Donald Trump promised in his campaign to abolish the Department of Education. As a first step toward doing that, his nominee to head the department was a woman whose administrative work experience was in the wrestling industry. Her job description was essentially: ‘Demolish the department you oversee.”

Since his inauguration in January 2025, Trump and his Department of Education have attacked education on every turn. But one of the three banners now hanging from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education headquarters in Washington, DC surely wins the prize for the most inappropriate way the department could have marked our country’s 250^th birthday.

(I take that back. The most inappropriate banner would have been one of King George III of Great Britain.)

Two of the banners make sense. Booker T. Washington and Catharine Beecher had huge influence and impacts on education in the United States. But what did Charlie Kirk do for education?

Charlie Kirk founded Turning Point USA, a conservative nonprofit organization. Through Turning Point, Kirk held political debates on some college campuses. I do not see how that in any way qualified him for the third place in a total of three banners at the Department of Education. Surely there was someone else in American history who contributed more to public education than Charlie Kirk.

Julius Rosenwald readily comes to mind. Rosenwald was the financial and driving force behind the building of approximately 5,000 schools for black students when schools for non-white citizens were not supported by the government. I wrote a series of newspaper articles about Rosenwald Schools. (Those articles are included in my book, Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book One, available on Amazon.)

Photo of the front cover of Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 1, by Janet Morrison — *Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book* 1, by Janet Morrison

Or perhaps a better choice than Charlie Kirk would have been a banner filled with the multi-racial, multi-ethnic faces representing the millions of teachers who have taught generations of Americans.

The banner displaying the stern and threatening face of Donald Trump hanging off the side of the U.S. Department of Justice headquarters marking our 250^th birthday is reminiscent of the images I have seen of dictators adorning buildings in China and North Korea, except the facial features of those dictators are not as menacing as the images of Trump.

It is the image of himself that Trump chose to represent his second term in office. His squinty eyes project a sense of foreboding. I imagine it scares children. There is nothing comforting or reassuring about it.

When I saw pictures of that banner of Trump at the Department of Justice, I do not recall mentioning it on my blog, but what has been done at the Department of Education caused that image to come back to mind.

I do not recall other U.S. Presidents hanging banners of their faces on government buildings. Much of this seems like a frivolous waste of money. Am I wrong about that? It seems un-American and creepy to me for a U.S. President to plaster his name and glaring face on so many things.

The Trump Administration turning our nation’s 250^th birthday into a political prop and personal display should come as no surprise. It would have been a perfect opportunity for the administration to put politics aside and celebrate like we did our 200^th birthday in 1976, but they just cannot do that.

That is unfortunate, especially for the children and young adults who could have learned so much from a year-long true celebration. An organized year-long celebration could have inspired patriotism. I just don’t see the boxing or wrestling match planned for what’s left of the White House lawn doing that, but I digress.

Meanwhile, every day the Trump Administration gives us a different explanation for why we bombed Iran on Saturday morning. They apparently expect the American people to get as excited as they are about this war without telling us the same story twice about why they started this war. In fact, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told us that we did not start it.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

“If This House Could Talk” – historical essay

Today’s blog post is about the last story in my new book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories.

*Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories*, by Janet Morrison

The house

Actually, “If This House Could Talk” is more of an essay than a short story. It is written from the viewpoint of an old abandoned one-and-a-half-story wooden farmhouse that I saw a thousand times in my life.

That house fascinated me because it did not face the main road. It faced a dirt driveway that led to a couple of other houses. Often, when we would pass it, my father would point and say, “the old Snell place was over there.” I didn’t know any Snells and, as a child, did not care that they once “lived over there.”

It was only after I was an adult and discovered the 1777 estate papers of my Morrison 4^th-great-grandparents that I discovered that Francis Snell taught my 3^rd-great-grandfather in the 1770s. By then, I had also met a descendant of Mr. Snell’s who lived in Ohio.

Why is it that you don’t know what questions to ask your parents until after they are gone? But I digress.

The essay/story

“If This House Could Talk” is set in the 1970s, a few years before the house at the center of this essay was demolished. After doing some genealogical and Civil War research, I discovered some incredible things about the family that occupied that house in the mid-1800s.

I did not know the history of the house until I was researching the 72 men and boys from Rocky River Presbyterian Church in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, who were killed or died of disease during the Civil War.

“If This House Could Talk” gives that house an opportunity to tell us what it witnessed during that time as it reminisced about a much different time more than 100 years earlier. There were happy times and sad times for the family that house sheltered when it was young.

What kind of memories is your home making, in case a writer decides to let it talk years from now?

Links to the blog posts about the other 12 stories

I hope you have enjoyed reading about each of the stories in Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories over the last several months in my blog. If you like my book or know someone who might, tell them that they can get a print or electronic copy on Amazon or a print copy at Second Look Books in Harrisburg, NC.

Update on Hurricane Helene recovery in North Carolina

As we get further away from September 2024’s Hurricane Helene, it is easy to forget how long it takes for a place and a people to recover from a natural disaster of such proportions. I have little new to report since my last update on February 2.

Hurricane Helene has dropped from the news cycles even here in North Carolina, except for an occasional reference, but I’m still trying to shine an occasional light on the recovery on my blog.

Via Facebook I keep up with some of the things Beloved Asheville has done and continues to do since the hurricane. As of last week, Beloved Asheville delivered its 140th new home to a family who lost their home in the flood. After living in an RV for 17 months, another family finally has a home. It might just look like a mobile home to a lot of people, but it is life-changing for this family. To learn more about Beloved Asheville, go to https://www.belovedasheville.com.

Several roads remain closed in the mountains due to the record-breaking rain (upwards of 30 inches in some places) during Hurricane Helene. For example, I read that Sampson Road in Watauga County reopened a couple of weeks ago after two sections were washed out during the storm. When a road “washes out” in the mountains, it often means that the road and all the soil beneath it slid down the mountainside. It is a feat of engineering to rebuild the roadbed so the road can be reconstructed. That is one reason why recovery takes so long in the mountains.

Portions of the Blue Ridge Parkway have not reopened since Hurricane Helene. I-40 at the North Carolina-Tennessee border remains just one lane in each direction with a 35 mile-per-hour speed limit. Highway construction is hampered by snow and ice in the winter months.

The National Park Service reported: “As of February 12, 2026, many sections of the Parkway remain closed due to winter weather, though recreation is authorized at your own risk in these areas. Specific closures include a bridge rehabilitation project from milepost 63.5 to 63.9, with detours in place. Visitors should exercise caution, as ungated sections may still be accessible but are subject to emergency closures.”

There were at least 57 landslides in the 269 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. Work is ongoing and has moved into Phase 2 in which repairs to 21 landslides between milepost 318.2 and 323.4 are underway, with completion expected by fall 2026. That includes the North Toe River Valley Overlook, Chestoa View Trail, and Bear Den Overlook.

Sign blocking travel by car, bike, or on foot on National Park Service property on Blue Ridge Parkway at Asheville, NC, June 10, 2025 — A road closure sign on the Blue Ridge Parkway in June 2025.

The thousands of us who are fans of the Blue Ridge Parkway can hardly wait for all of it to reopen. I’ve read hints that that might occur by the end of 2026.

One of my best vacations ever was a leisurely drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway from its beginning just southeast of Waynesboro, Virginia to its end near Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. The wildflowers were spectacular and so varied all along the 469 miles!

Businesses in the affected areas continue to rebuild and reopen. Many had to relocate and many will not reopen. Brother Wolf Animal Rescue, which I have mentioned in earlier blog posts, is relocating to higher ground in Asheville. I understand that the town of Lake Lure is well on its way to reopening for the summer tourist season and the lake itself is expected to be back to full-pond stage in May.

The town of Chimney Rock, just a few miles up US-74 from Lake Lure, is still in recovery mode, as the little tourist village was almost wiped off the map by the hurricane.

Life in my part of the state quickly returned to normal after the hurricane, with only small pockets of flooding, but life and the landscape were changed forever in various hard-hit parts of the Appalachian Mountains in the western part of North Carolina.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

War in Iran and My Second DIY Writing Retreat

Donald Trump and Israel started a war with Iran just after midnight Eastern Time on Saturday. I say “Donald Trump” and not “the United States” because Trump did this without the blessing of the U.S. Congress. He did this after telling the American people that, if elected, he would not start a war.

This is the man who was furious over not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

There must be “an imminent threat” against the American people for the U.S. President to take such an action. Democrat members of the U.S. Congress are furious and saying that intelligence reports indicated no such threat.

The U.S. Constitution gives the U.S. Congress the power to declare war. In this case, the Congress was not even informed that this was about to happen.

As I write this on Sunday night, Iran is retaliating by bombing numerous countries where the U.S. has military bases. Three U.S. military service members were killed and five seriously injured in a Iranian drone attack on a U.S. military base in Kuwait.

It has been reported that Lebanon has bombed Israel and Israel has bombed Lebanon.

No one knows what the near or far future holds as a result of this attack on Iran.

Trump says he joined Israel to take this action to save American lives – not today, but in the future. He expects the Iranian people, who are not organized and have few resources, to now waltz in and create a new government since the bombs have killed the supreme leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

I don’t see that happening. It would be wonderful if the Iranians, who have suffered under a brutal regime for 47 years could take control of their government, but I fear they do not have the wherewithal to do that.

I see the U.S. mired in another endless war started on a whim by a man who dodged the draft five times during the Vietnam War.

By the time this blog post “goes live” eight hours from now at 5:00 a.m. Monday, Eastern Time, there is no telling what will have happened.

I’m a “night owl,” so I was still awake after midnight last Friday night when I learned that Trump and Israel had started this war in Iran. I had already planned my second DIY (Do It Yourself) Writing Retreat for Saturday afternoon.

It was difficult to turn off the TV and distract my brain from current events and focus on 1768 in North Carolina, but I managed to do that.

I needed to make a major change in my historical novel’s plotline. Research last week had uncovered a fact that changed the course of the story somewhat. That necessitated deleting many paragraphs, rewriting others, and juggling some scenes.

It was tedious work, but I committed to it for around six hours. The result was a net gain of 2,200 words – one of my most productive writing days. My word count stands at 60,000. I’m aiming for 90,000 words.

After accepting the fact last week that I am a binge writer and I cannot force myself to set daily business hours to work on my novel, freed me to stop feeling guilty for not working on it every day. I plan to schedule more DIY Writing Retreats in the near future as I continue to find a writing process that suits me.

I plan to blog about the last story – which is more of an essay – in my latest book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, on Tuesday. I’ll just “wing it” after Tuesday, depending on what the coming days bring.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

My new discovery: I’m a binge writer!

Every weekend, I make to-do lists for each of the next seven days. I am a list-maker. I can’t help it. I get great satisfaction when I get to check an item off my list as “done.”

Some tasks on my list appear every single day. Some pertain to daily habits for my health, some pertain to social media, some are book marketing, some of writing, some are categorized as “household.” There is even a “decluttering” category.

Unfortunately, I haven’t checked anything off my decluttering list in several weeks. That section of my list is like a black cloud hanging over my head. Until I feel the urgency in checking those items off, they will continue to just be moved to the next day and then to the next week.

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

It is the “writing” category on my to-do list that worries me the most. If I don’t finish the first draft of my historical novel, I will suffer with guilt feelings. I want to finish it, get it published, and move on to the next book. I have told people I’m writing a novel. They’re getting tired of asking me, “How’s your novel coming? When are you going to finish writing your novel?”

I enjoy writing, and I enjoy doing the research to back up my historical fiction writing. Where am I getting this wrong? Why can’t I finish writing that book?

I subscribe to Janice Hardy’s Fiction University Narrative Nuggets email. I trust her writing recommendations. She makes things easy to understand. Of course, the problem lies in putting them into practice.

Her “Narrative Nuggets” on Tuesday hit me between the eyes. She addressed the fact that all writers have slumps. We all hit a wall. We all get discouraged. We all get stuck. We all beat ourselves up when this happens; however, Janice Hardy said on Tuesday that “we” might not be the problem. The problem might lie in our process.

Most writers who write or speak about their writing process tell us that we must write every day. Some tell us that we should treat our writing as a job, putting ourselves on a daily 8 to 5 schedule with a lunch break, if we must.

That does not work for me. For one thing, at my age, I no longer want to maintain an 8 to 5 workday schedule. For another thing, chronic fatigue syndrome and other health issues have completely wrecked my circadian clock. Since I rarely go to sleep before 3:00 a.m., it would be useless for me to sit down at my computer at 8:00 a.m. sharp and expect to write anything worth reading.

Janice Hardy gave me permission to stop feeling guilty for not following someone else’s writing schedule. She said I need to find what works for me.

I’ve read that before, but it really resonated with me this time.

Ms. Hardy wrote:

“Do you swear you’ll write every day, then only produce on weekends? Maybe you’re a binge writer who needs longer stretches full of sprints, not daily sessions.”

Thank you, Janice Hardy! Thank you for taking away the guilt I feel when I move “Write Scene 48 – Sarah meets Betty Jackson” from today’s to-do list to tomorrow’s and even to next week’s list.

Ms. Hardy nailed it! I am a binge writer, and it’s high time for me to admit it, accept it, and go forward with it!

I hope you have a good book to read. If you are a writer, I hope you have learned what your writing process is so you don’t have to feel guilty for not following someone else’s schedule.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

“Ghost of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse” – historical ghost story

The twelfth story in my book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, is a story about a ghost from the American Revolutionary War.

The story takes place in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1965, but it is about the ghost of a British soldier from the Battle of Guilford Courthouse which took place during the American Revolutionary War on March 15, 1781. It is my first (and possibly, last) ghost story.

This story was inspired by some unexplained happenings at the condominium my sister and another teacher shared near the Guilford Courthouse Battleground in the 1980s.

None of us had any particular interest in ghosts until the commode upstairs would flush when no one was up there and even guests on occasion had the feeling that someone had entered their bedroom when there was no one to be seen. A can randomly falling off a pantry shelf was also unsettling.

I hope my ghost story will make you a little more knowledgeable about the Battle of Guilford Courthouse which was one of the last battles before Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia.

There is a dog in the story for all you dog lovers.

Note: I made an error in the story. I originally had it set in the 1970s. At the last minute, I changed it to 1965. One of my 1970s characters called 9-1-1, and I forgot to change that when I shifted the story to 1965. It has been brought to my attention by an astute read and fellow writer that 9-1-1 emergency telephone service did not begin in the United States until 1968. My apologies. I try to have all details in my historical fiction writing to be accurate, but this one got past me.

Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble.com, or ask for it at your favorite independent bookstore. Stores that I know try to keep it in stock are Second Look Books in Harrisburg, NC; Highland Books in Brevard, NC; and Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville, NC.

I thank those stores and I thank you for supporting my writing!

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

I’m not just about politics

Spring is teasing us here in the southern piedmont of North Carolina. February is the month when our daffodils pop out of the ground and remind us that spring is coming.

As usual, though, winter is reluctant to give up its grip. The last two weeks of February this year brought us a record-breaking one-day foot of snow and two record-breaking high temperatures in the high 70s.

The day the first daffodils bloom is perhaps my favorite day of the year. That’s how much I don’t like winter!

Among my earliest memories is watching in February for that first daffodil blossom, running back into the house for a pair of scissors, and going back out into the yard to cut that flower.

I would take it in the house and my mother would share in my excitement as she reached in the kitchen cabinet for a little vase. We would put that vase and its precious flower in the center of the kitchen table to be enjoyed for days as more daffodils opened and joined it in a larger vase.

It was nearly 80 degrees here on Thursday and Friday. Today’s predicted high is 46 degrees.

This is what we expect in February and March. The electric blanket won’t come off my bed and be put away until mid-May. Just in case!

Janet

P.S. The U.S. President’s State of the Union Address is scheduled for tonight. I have not yet decided if I can bear to watch it. The sitting President does not command my attention or respect; however, a part of me believes I should watch it so I will know what he says. It will anger me, but I suppose I will watch it as a concerned citizen.

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

To tariff or not to tariff? That is the question.

I celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Friday in the Learning Resources, Inc v. Trump case! FINALLY! Finally, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to rein in Donald Trump’s overreach of presidential powers!

In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the tariffs Trump has inflicted on other nations (and, ultimately, the American consumer!) over the last 13 months under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) were illegal. The Court ruled that the IEEPA cannot be used to impose tariffs.

The Court reminded Trump that tariffs are a form of taxation, and taxation is a power of the U.S. Congress – not the U.S. President.

Trump did not take the Court’s decision well, to put it lightly.

Trump responded by making one of his typically rambling, long statements, calling the U.S. Supreme Court Justices derogatory names including, “fools and lapdogs for RINOs” (Republicans in Name Only). He accused them of being anti-American and under the influence of foreigners. He said they should be ashamed of themselves and their families should be ashamed of them. It went on and on from there. I cannot quote his entire rant here.

Following his statement, he held a press conference in which he refused to answer a question from CNN (calling the news network “fake news” because he is offended by the truth) and answered the questions posed by other reporters and journalists as vaguely as he chose.

The event was a display by Trump unlike any other statement and press conference by any other U.S. President in history. He was a toddler whose parents had said, “No,” but whose parents had then left him to his own devices and allowed him to vent his anger and frustration on the world stage. There are no guardrails on his words and temper.

His remarks would have been embarrassing; however, after 13 months, I will not be embarrassed by anything Trump says or does. I did not vote for him. I have not been shy about expressing my opinions about Trump and his childish incompetence, hatefulness, racism, and disregard for the U.S. Constitution.

I watched his entire public statement and press conference on Friday afternoon. In a word, it was horrible. In other words, it was painfully indicative of how Trump believes he is above the law and can do anything he wants to do. He said, “I can do anything I want to do.” It wasn’t the first time he has said that.

In addition to lashing out at individual U.S. Supreme Court Justices who had been appointed to the Court by Trump himself and from whom he expects loyalty to him instead of loyalty to the U.S. Constitution, he then twisted the ruling into a pretzel by quoting at length the dissenting opinion of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Although a dissenting opinion in a U.S. Supreme Court decision is not law – it is part of the minority opinion, — Trump clung to Kavanaugh’s words and later said that Kavanaugh is his “new hero.” (I can’t help but think back to Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation hearings in 2018 after Trump nominated him. All I can remember from the hearings is Kavanaugh’s repeated, angry defense, “I like beer!” Not exactly “hero” material in my book.)

In the press conference, Trump said nothing will change. He will continue to impose any tariffs he desires. He announced a new 10% global tariff on top of all the existing tariffs. On Saturday, he announced the new global tariff will 15% instead of 10%.

There’s no telling what that global tariff will be by the time this blog post goes live on Monday, February 23. (I am writing it on February 21.) This new global tariff is imposed using Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. That Act allows the U.S. President to impose duties up to 15% for 150 days to deal with “large and serious” balance-of-payment issues. Friday and Saturday’s 15% global tariff takes effect today.

Trump indicated that he is exploring additional ways to get around the Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump ruling. His Commerce Department, headed by Howard Lutnick of Epstein file fame, is investigating Trump’s options.

Trump’s tariffs on steel, aluminum, and motor vehicle imports were not affected by Friday’s Supreme Court ruling.

As only Trump can do, he portrays himself as the most pitiful victim in history and repeated on Friday that the United States is the most victimized country in history. As a 73-year-old American, I have never felt that the United States was a victim. I have counted it a privilege to have been born in and lived my entire life in the most blessed and prosperous country in the world.

For the first 72 years of my life, the United States was the “beacon on a hill.” It was the world’s symbol of freedom. It continues to be the world’s greatest experiment in democracy, but it is currently being tested from within like it has not been tested since the Civil War in the 1860s.

Just as people in the midst of a war or national crisis don’t know what the outcome will be, I don’t know how this greatest experiment in democracy will end. However, Friday’s 6-3 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court was the first ray of hope I have seen in 13 months.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: