I write southern historical fiction, local history, and I've written a devotional book. The two novels I'm writing are set in Virginia and the Carolinas in the 1760s. My weekly blog started out to follow my journey as a writer and a reader, but in 2025 it has been greatly expanded to include current events and politics in the United States as I see our democracy under attack from within. The political science major in me cannot sit idly by and remain silent.
Tomorrow marks the 249th birthday of the United States of America. It was on July 4, 1776 that our national Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia.
Photo by Kyle Mills on Unsplash
This has been a tough year so far. In the months leading up to July 4, I wasn’t sure how festive this year’s celebration would or could be. Many of us are embarrassed by the actions and words of the current US President, the US Congress, and the US Supreme Court.
Many of us are worried about the future of our country and its standing in the world. Many of us are worried about our financial security as individuals. Many of us are grieving for the rights and benefits we and the poorest of the poor in the world have lost at the hands of the Turmp Administration. People are starving and dying unnecessary of preventable diseases because the aid that the United States had funded and promised has been halted in the name of efficiency, waste, fraud, and diversity.
What should I blog about just hours before Independence Day?
A week or so ago, I decided to mark this Independence Day by posting “A Light and Lively Look at Independence Day in America.” I had the whole post written, illustrated, and scheduled for 5 a.m., July 4, 2025.
I included links to comedian Nate Bargatze’s skits on the iconic TV show, “Saturday Night Live” or “SNL.” Both skits featured Bargatze as General George Washington and four regular SNL cast members (Bowen Yang, Mikey Day, Kenan Thompson, and James Austin Johnson) as American soldiers under his command in 1776 and 1777.
Bargatze’s trademark deadpan delivery made the skits hilarious. I thought sharing links to video recordings of the skits would be a good way to remind Americans that we need to laugh at ourselves. We shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously.
But as the days went by this week, I had a nagging feeling that I could not in good conscience go forward with that post tomorrow. It didn’t feel right. We have nothing to laugh about on this Independence Day.
Our country is in a precarious place. Our democracy and everything we thought we knew about our country are crumbling in front of our eyes.
This is my 73rd Independence Day. Until this year, it has always been a happy day – a day to be proud of my country, a day to pick wild blackberries, a night to hold a sparkler with close adult supervision when I was a young child, a day to go to a parade, a day to eat hotdogs and hamburgers, a day to watch a fireworks display, a day to sing patriotic songs, a day to wave the flag, a day to celebrate our freedoms.
Not this year. Now, none of that feels right. Oh, we still have some freedoms, but the current U.S. President and his minions have them in a vice grip. They are tightening the screws more each day. Those freedoms are being crushed and trampled on.
The last straw for me was seeing “Alligator Alcatraz” on TV and hearing some Republicans in high places of power making jokes about it. They’re making jokes about how the alligators and pythons will keep the detainees in line.
They joke about how the human beings detained there — and yes, although they are here illegally, they are human beings – will have to learn to run in a zigzag fashion while being chased by alligators. They joke about how security will be a small expense because the alligators and pythons work for free. They are human beings with names and families and very few of them are criminals. Coming into the United States without the proper paperwork is not a felony. It is a misdemeanor.
Even with all that “free” security provided by wildlife, we are told that “Alligator Alcatraz” will cost the American taxpayers $450 million-a-year. Florida will pay that upfront and then be reimbursed by FEMA. Personally, I don’t think that was why the Federal Emergency Management Administration was intended for. Even so, the cost in money is beside the point.
This “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center looks like a concentration camp. The human beings will be kept in cages – just like the first Trump Administration kept detainees in the first time. The wire cages are inside tents, and the Trump Administration claims these tents can survive a category 2 hurricane. We might find out over the next five months if that claim is valid.
While in Florida to visit “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Everglades, Trump was asked by a reporter how long individuals would be held there. He gave a long and typically incoherent response that did not address the question at all. He talked about how he lives in Florida and will spend “a lot of time here…” and how he has redecorated the Oval Office. It was a bizarre response to a simple question, but in its bizarre-ness it was one of his typical nonsensical “weaves”
Where are the people who called President Joe Biden incompetent? Where are they now that we have a U.S. President who is incapable of forming a complete sentence or staying on topic?
But that is not my main point.
My thoughts today and each day this week as I anticipated the 4th of July are… disbelief and horror. I am horrified that the United States of America is constructing a concentration camp – just as it did during World War II. Then the camps were built to restrict the movement of people of Japanese descent. In 2025, they are for anyone with brown skin or a Spanish accent.
The photographs of the masked ICE agents are horrifying. They look exactly like the masked Boko Haram self-proclaimed jihadist militant group in Nigeria, except those thugs were black and most of the ICE agents are white. What they have in common in addition to their face coverings is a penchant for terrorizing people, including little children. What they appear to have in common is hate and a personal delight in inflicting pain and terror.
Police officers in the United States don’t wear face masks. People who are ashamed of what they are doing wear face masks. People who don’t want to be caught or recognized wear face masks. Have the dark face coverings of ICE agents in 2025 replaced the white hoods of the Ku Klux Klan? The sight of the masked ICE agents triggers that comparison in my mind, and the first word that comes to mind is “cowardice.”
What kind of person – mostly men – takes a job as an ICE agent? Who takes a job in which they have to trade their souls for a mask and a pair of handcuffs or wad of zip ties? Are they so filled with hate and racism that they enjoy terrorizing families and children?
And those ICE agents? They will, no doubt, say they were just following orders. If that lame excuse rings a bell, it is because that’s what Hitler’s henchmen cried at the Nuremberg Trials in 1945 and 1946.
I don’t recognize this America. I don’t understand this America. I cannot celebrate this America.
As I indicated in my blog post yesterday, #OnThisDay: 26th Amendment Ratified, 1971 – Part One, when I started researching the history of the 1971 ratification of the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age in federal elections in the US from 21 to 18 years of age, I got in over my head quickly and the blog post grew like topsy.
Therefore, I split the post into two posts. My post yesterday gives important background information which helps to put today’s post in perspective.
Starting with the beginning of America’s involvement in World War II, here is how the 26th Amendment finally came about. As I said in yesterday’s blog post, the military draft and the setting of the voting age in the United States became intertwined decades ago.
World War II
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. Congress gave President Franklin D. Roosevelt the authority to send US military personnel anywhere in the world. The distinctions between draftees, regular army, National Guardsmen, and Reservists were removed for the war. They were all part of the army.
Eleven months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Congress lowered the draft age to 18 and raised the upper limit to the age of 37.
Also in 1942, West Virginia Congressman Jennings Randolph introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to lower the voting age from 21 to 18. That was the first of 11 times that Randolph would introduce such legislation in his political career which eventually found him in the US Senate.
It seems that Randolph had a particular faith in the youth of America. He is quoted as saying that American young people, “possess a great social conscience, are perplexed by the injustices in the world and are anxious to rectify those ills.”
What seems idiotic to us in 2025 is the fact that black men were not considered for the draft until 1943. The so-called reasoning for that was the assumption that white men and black men could not work together in a military setting and white racists believed that black men were not capable of serving in the military!
As a result, in 1943 a racial quota system was put in place under which black men were drafted in numbers to coincide with their percentage of the general population. At that time, just over ten percent of the US population was black.
But even with this new quota, black soldiers were restricted to serving in “labor units.” That changed, though, as World War II progressed and they were needed in combat positions.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt lowered the minimum age for the age to the age of 18 during World War II, but the minimum voting age held at the age of 21. At that time voting age was set by each state.
The slogan, “Old enough to fight, old enough to vote” gained momentum in 1943, and George became the first state to lower voting age for state and local elections from 21 to 18.
By the end of World War II, of the 34 million men registered for the draft, 10 million had been inducted into the military.
Post-World War II until the Korean War
In 1947, President Harry S. Truman asked Congress to let the 1940 Selective Training and Service Act expire and recommended that the US military could rely on voluntary enlistments.
However, in 1948, the minimum number of military personnel was not reached, so Truman asks for the draft to be reinstated. The new act called for the drafting of men between 19 and 26 years old for twelve months of active service.
Korean War (June 25, 1950-July 27, 1953)
Mean between 18½ and 35 were drafted for an average of two years. Men who had served in World War II were not required to sign up for the Korean War draft; however, I know a fighter pilot who served in World War II who was called back into active service during the Korean War. (By the way, he is 100 years old now.)
The Universal Military Training and Service Act passed in 1951. It required men from 18 to 26 years old to register. The next year, Congress enacted the Reserve Forces Act. It required every draftee and every enlisted man to an eight-year military service obligation. That obligation meant that after their term of active duty, they were assigned to standby reserve and knew they could be called back into active duty upon a declaration of war or a national emergency.
Post-Korean War until Vietnam War
In his 1954 State of the Union address, President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “For years our citizens between the ages of 18 and 21 have, in time of peril, been summoned to fight for America. They should participate in the political process that produces this fateful summons.”
Jennings Randolph (mentioned above in the US Congress in the 1940s) was a Democrat. As a US Army General, Dwight Eisenhower had led US forces in the European Theatre in World War II and was a Republican. So why did it take until 1971 for the 26th Amendment to the US Constitution to come about?
Vietnam War, Civil Rights, and Voting Rights
The US provided military advisors in South Vietnam beginning in the early 1950. The war in North and South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos continued.
President Lyndon B. Johnson started pressuring Congress to let him send active-duty troops to Vietnam after a military incident in the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2, 1964. The US was carrying out a covert amphibious operation near North Vietnamese territorial waters. North Vietnam responded, and then based on skewed intelligence the US falsely claimed that another incident occurred on August 4, 1964.
There was very little support in the US for America to send troops to fight in that war, but what a tangled web we weave once we set out to deceive!
The first US Marines landed in DaNang, South Vietnam on March 8, 1965. The first anti-war demonstrations took place in the US since the end of the Civil War. Ironically, that was the same day that the US Supreme Court handed down its decision in US v. Seeger, which broadened the definition of conscientious objection but it was still based on religious beliefs.
Although President Johnson appointed a study commission to come up with changes to the Selective Service system, the war raged on and thousands of young men left the US to avoid the draft.
Photo by Ryan Stone on Unsplash
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 make discriminatory practices based on race illegal; however, some states continued to enforce poll taxes and literacy tests. That necessitated the adoption of the 24th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1964 which outlawed poll taxes.
Some states still had literacy tests that had to be passed before a person could register to vote. It was seen as a way to prevent black people from voting. Therefore, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was necessary. It prohibits any racial discrimination in voting in the United States.
Photo by Unseen Histories on Unsplash
And yet, if you were under 21 years old, you could be drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam but you still could not vote.
In 1969, President Richard M. Nixon ordered a “random selection” lottery system for the draft in place of drafting men at the age of 19. In 1970, Nixon wanted Congress to end student deferments.
On June 15, 1970, in US v. Welsh, the US Supreme Court ruled that men holding ethical and moral beliefs against the war could be exempt as conscientious objectors.
The US Supreme Court handed down its decision in Oregon v. Mitchell (a case brought by Oregon, Arizona, Texas, and Idaho) on December 21, 1970. In a 5 to 4 decision, the Court ruled that the federal government can set voting age in federal elections but not on the state and local level. It also made it illegal for states to require passage of a literacy test in order for an individual to register to vote. Oregon v. Mitchell
There was no end in sight for the US sending troops, which included female nurses, to Vietnam, but they could not vote until they reached the age of 21. Sadly, many of the soldiers in all the wars up to and including most of the war in Vietnam never got the chance to vote because they died before the 26th Amendment was ratified.
Photo by Ryan Stone on Unsplash
Ratification of the 26th Amendment
Under increasing pressure to lower the federal voting age to 18, on March 10, 1971, the US Senate unanimously voted in favor of the proposed 26th Amendment. Thirteen days later, the US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in favor of it. It went to the states for ratification, and in a record-setting two months, the required three-fourths of the state legislatures ratified the amendment. It went into effect on July 1, 1971, and President Nixon signed it into law on July 5, 1971.
Post-Vietnam War (for a military and draft perspective)
A cease-fire was reached between the US and North Vietnam on January 27, 1973, and US prisoners-of-war began to return home. The last US combat troops left South Vietnam on March 29, 1973.
The 1967 Selective Service Act, which had been extended by Congressional action, was allowed to expire in 1973. Therefore, the draft ended.
The United States operates with an all-volunteer armed forces now; however, all male citizens between 18 and 26 years of age are required to register for the draft and are liable for training and service until they reach the age of 35.
Until my next blog post
Keep reading that novel or nonfiction book that has you captivated. We all need an escape from daily worries and current events.
Never take your family or friends for granted.
Don’t forget the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
I can always remember the year the 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified. It lowered the legal voting age in the United States from 21 years old to the age of 18.
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash
The argument that ultimately won the day and the ratification of the 26th Amendment was that if 18-year-olds were old enough to fight a war in Vietnam, they were old enough to vote.
I just happened to turn 18 years old in 1971. My high school male classmates were receiving draft notices (and at least two of the females in my senior class did, too, because their first names could also be the first names of males), so the argument made sense to me.
What puzzled me was the fact that 18-year-old males had been drafted and sent to war as early as 1778, so why did the voting age not get lowered to 18 before the last years of the Vietnam War?
To find the answer to that question, I went down a rabbit hole. When will I learn that nothing has a simple answer?
It turns out that the question of the draft and the question of at what age an American should be given the right to vote have been intertwined for a very long time and started coming to a head during World War II.
I found it impossible to address the voting age without addressing the age of conscription.
Keep in mind that until 1920 women could not vote in the United States, and black men were not drafted until 1943. And black men and women were not allowed to vote in various states until the 1960s despite the adoption of the 15th Amendment in 1870 which gave black men the right to vote.
Depending upon your age, this might seem like ancient history, but I assure you it is not.
I have divided today’s post by wars or eras up to but not including World War II, in case you aren’t interested in the total progression of this and how the 26th Amendment became part of the US Constitution in 1971.
Tomorrow’s post will pick up with World War II to the ratification of the 26th Amendment.
Revolutionary War
A regular army (the Continental Army) was raised from 1775 until 1783 by men who enlisted given cash bonuses and a promise of land “on the western waters) when the war was over.
My great-great-great-great-grandfather Morrison’s youngest brother took advantage of that offer. After 84 months of service, he was awarded 640 acres of land “on the western waters”, i.e. in Tennessee. Six of his 11 children pulled up stakes in piedmont North Carolina and moved to that land approximately 400 miles away in Tennessee.
War of 1812
The US Government recruited men to serve for 13 months. They were given a $16 sign-up bonus and were promised three months’ pay and 160 acres of land after their service. The US Congress authorized President James Madison to call up 100,000 militiamen from the states, but some of the states refused to cooperate.
Mexican War (1846-1848)
One-year enlistment times for many troops expired and military operations had to wait for replacements to arrive.
Civil War
In the North, Congress authorized President Abraham Lincoln to draft men from 20 to 45 years old. For $300, a rich man could hire another man to serve in his place. Draft riots occurred for four days in New York City on July 13, 1863, after Governor Horatio Seymour declared the conscription act unconstitutional. Government offices were burned, shops were looted, and black men and anyone else refusing to join the protest were tortured. Less than two weeks after the Battle of Gettysburg, New York soldiers there were called home to put down the riot. Approximately 1,000 people died! Governor Seymour finally gave in and the draft in New York started again.
In the South, the Congress of the Confederate States of America passed a conscription law in April 1862. All white men ages 18 to 35 were required to serve for three years in the military. As in the North, substitutes were allowed which contributed to low morale and low number. That eventually resulted in conscription between the ages of 17 and 50. By 1865, slaves were being called into service.
Spanish-American War (1898)
The US Congress made all white men between the ages of 18 and 45 subject to the draft.
World War I
In May 1917, the Selective Service Act was passed by the US Congress. It established local, district, state, and territorial civilian boards to register white men between the ages of 21 and 30 to serve in World War I. There was widespread opposition to the Act which resulted in tens of thousands of men applying for exemptions. More than 250,000 men did not even register. Arrests were made, including one round-up of 16,000 men in New York City in 1918. In light of all that, all attempts to set up military training standards and service were defeated in Congress in the years immediately after the war.
The National Defense Act of 1920
That act established a system of voluntary military service. After all, World War I/The Great War was supposed to be “the war to end all wars.”
Leading up to World War II
The US was reticent to get involved militarily in World War II. The Burke-Wadsworth Act passed in both houses of the US Congress in September 1940. It imposed the first peacetime military draft in US history. In December 1940, all white men ages 21 to 36 were required to register for the draft. Although 20 million men fell into that category, half of them were rejected for military service during the first year due to either health reasons or illiteracy. (An astounding 20 percent of them were illiterate!)
Hurricane Helene Update
Surprise news: I-40 reopened on Friday, just two days after Tennessee Department of Transportation indicated they were trying to get it reopened by July 4.
More good news: Chimney Rock State Park has reopened after being closed for nine months due to hurricane damage to the park and the Town of Chimney Rock.
As of Friday, 62 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene. That count included five US highways, nine state highways, and 48 state roads.
Like my report as of Friday, June 20 showed an increase in closures due to Hurricane Helene over the Friday before, this report is a slight increase in closures over the one for June 20. There is no explanation, just a chart showing each category of closures by NC DOT district. I assume some damages were longer showing up than others and/or some roads that were passable for the months immediately after the storm have now been closed for repairs.
Until my next blog post, which will be tomorrow
I hope you have a good book to read.
Keep family and friends close in your thought, prayers, and activities.
Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
Many of my blog posts this year have been about the mess we’re in. American democracy is being challenged like no other time in recent history, if ever.
Some people have been known to say in the last six months that we could have another civil war in the United States. Perhaps you’ve thought it yourself or heard someone else say those words.
Series of Webinars Sponsored by The Carter Center
President Jimmy Carter
Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash
This spring I watched a series of webinars sponsored by The Carter Center about our divided country. Panelists explored how we got to this place, how we can learn from other countries, what we can do to avoid what other countries have experienced, and where we can start.
The country that served as the example in the four webinars was Northern Ireland.
The facilitator for the webinars was the Rev. Dr. Gary Mason, a Methodist minister, peacemaker, and peacebuilder from Northern Ireland. Dr. Mason founded Rethinking Conflict in 2015. It seeks to model the principles of Northern Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement.
That agreement finally ended the conflict on Good Friday, April 10, 1998. Dr. Mason has taken this model to the Middle East and now, to the United States.
Dr. Mason spoke from personal experience growing up during “The Troubles.”
What if “The Troubles” happened in the United States?
British troops occupied Northern Ireland in August 1969. Everyone thought it would be over before Christmas, but there was an amazing amount of violence over the next 30 years. It was the longest occupation by the British Army in history.
To give Americans some perspective on the amount of violence that took place in Northern Ireland during “The Troubles,” Dr. Mason gave the following statistics: At that time, Northern Ireland had a population of 1.5 million. During The Troubles, nearly 4,000 were killed, 47,000 were injured, there were 37,000 shootings, 30,000 people went through the penal system, there were 22,000 armed robberies, and 16,000 bombings.
He extrapolated that out to compare with the population of the United States over a 30-year conflict. If we had such a civil war in the US, we could see 800,000 killed, 9 million injuries, 7 million shootings, 6 million political prisoners, 4 million armed robberies, and 3 million bombings.
Imagine that level of carnage in America. I can’t.
An estimated 618,000 Americans died in our Civil War in the 1860s. To bring it “home,” I’ve studied the local losses in my own church in that war. Out of a membership of 400 white members and 200 black enslaved members, the congregation lost 74 men in the war. I cannot imagine that number of deaths in this community.
Just like it, undoubtedly, took decades for my community to recover from the war, 27 years after the Good Friday Agreement, Dr. Mason says in Northern Ireland “we are still wrestling with the legacy of the conflict. It’s really the one piece of unfinished business of the peace process.”
Indeed, in the United States we’re still wrestling with the legacy of our civil war. Confederate statues were taken down, but Trump wants them put back in place. Confederate names were removed from US military installations, but now the names are being restored, albeit technically they are not being renamed for the Confederates.
For example, Fort Bragg here in North Carolina was originally named for Braxton Bragg, a Confederate Army General who owned slaves. His name was removed, all the signs and letterhead replaced to say “Fort Liberty” in June 2023, and then in February 2025, Fort Liberty was renamed Fort Bragg but this time for a decorated Private in World War II, Roland X. Bragg.
We are still wrestling with the legacy of our Civil War, so it is not surprising that 27 years after the fact, the people of Northern Ireland are wrestling with theirs.
In Northern Ireland, People Hated Each Other
When peace talks began in Northern Ireland, the people in the room hated each other. No wonder it took so many years for them to develop a peace agreement.
Is that where we are today in the United States of America?
In polite society, we generally get along with each other. But, as I wrote about in my April 17, 2025, blog post, Is your family getting together during Holy Week? Brace yourself!, it only takes one person making an inflammatory remark and a heated argument can break out even among a group of friends or a family gathering.
Do Americans hate each other?
I don’t hate anyone, but I hate what some individuals and groups are doing to our country.
I hate that the US Congress has relinquished its legislative responsibilities to a US President who is legislating via Executive Orders.
I hate that thousands of federal employees have been fired or forced to take early retirement.
I hate that medical research funds and researchers have been eliminated.
I hate that people are being shipped off to a prison in El Salvador without due process.
I hate when people are shipped off to a prison El Salvador by mistake, the US President says he is powerless to do anything about it.
I hate that USAID was halted and will result in people starving.
I hate that universities, museums, and libraries are being targeted and punished.
I hate that Moms for Liberty think they have the right to dictate which books should not be read.
I hate that the Heritage Foundation was able to slide Project 2025 into the White House while the Republican Presidential nominee denied having anything to do with it.
I hate that many of the most vocally hateful voices in this country come from people who claim to be Christians. They give Christianity and Christians a bad name.
So how do we get out of this mess?
If we take the peacemaking and peacebuilding experience of Dr. Gary Mason into consideration, since he has lived through a civil war, we will open avenues of communication with people with whom we disagree.
LEAPFROG: How to hold a civil conversation in an uncivil era, by Janet Givens, M.A.
Taking Dr. Mason’s advice, we will then calmly and sincerely ask the person or persons why they feel the way they do about the topic with which we know we disagree with them, and then we will respectfully listen to their story.
Hopefully, they will be equally curious about our story and allow us to explain our position and why or how we arrived at it. Without honesty by both parties and a genuine curiosity by both parties, and a real listening by both parties… it won’t be a successful conversation.
Then, we move on to another person with whom we disagree and repeat the process.
Hmmm. Sounds easy on paper?
No, it doesn’t even sound easy on paper, much less in real life.
Bottom line is, I don’t know how we get out of this mess.
It has been my experience that people who stand on the opposite end of the political spectrum from where I stand, are not interested in hearing my story. They tend to be loud, rude, and condescending. They tend to call names and belittle, like their political leader on Pennsylvania Avenue.
So I really don’t know how we will get out of this mess. When I consider having “that difficult conversation” with anyone I know who supports Trump, I honestly cannot imagine that I would be able to have a productive conversation with them about politics. Our worldviews and core beliefs about democracy are just that far apart.
A chilling perspective
I just reread White Robes and Broken Badges: Infiltrating the KKK and Exposing the Evil Among Us, by Joe Moore. I blogged about that book on October 7, 2024, in What I Read Last Month & a Hurricane Helene Update, and I will blog about it again on July 7.
White Robes and Broken Badges, by Joe Moore
Speaking from the unique place of having infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan twice for the FBI, Moore stated in his book, “The radical right cares nothing about process, only outcome. They’re not interested in a civil discussion to work out differences, because they are so consumed by ideology that it has hijacked their civility. They have a clear vision of what they want the country to look like, and democracy itself is the only thing standing in their way.”
That leaves us in a hopeless situation. I don’t want to be hopeless, but I admit I don’t know how to have a productive conversation about politics with anyone who supports Donald Trump.
Even when Donald Trump is no longer in office, the people who agree with his tactics will still be with us. Our mess is bigger than an election or two can clean up.
Until my next blog post
How do you think we can get out of this mess?
What have you tried? Did it work?
It is going to take all of us to get our country out of this mess. The politicians certainly aren’t going to save us!
Remember the people of Northern Ireland, Ukraine, and western North Carolina.
Janet
P.S. I wrote and scheduled today’s blog post before the United States bombed three nuclear facilities in Iran on Saturday night, Eastern Time.
There are more pressing worries today in the Middle East than what is happening at the Smithsonian Institute, but I am posting this as planned.
I mentioned my concerns about the Smithsonian Institution in my March 31, 2025, blog post, Words Trump wants federal agencies to “limit or avoid”, but like many parts of the US Government that don’t directly affect our lives on a daily basis, the Smithsonian has dropped from the headlines.
“The Castle” – the most iconic building of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Photo by Sara Cottle on Unsplash
My only other substantive mention of the Smithsonian in my blog since then was on June 3, 2025, when I wrote, “On Friday, Trump fired Kim Sajet, the Director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. She had held the position for 12 years. Her crime, according to Trump was for being ‘a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI.’”
President Trump replaced Ms. Sajet with Lindsey Halligan, Esq.
I have wondered since then what Ms. Halligan is up to, but I’m afraid to ask. Plus, who would I ask? My United States Senators and my US Representative certainly would not know.
The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC Photo by Sung Jin Cho on Unsplash
On March 27, President Trump signed an Executive Order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” I don’t know about you, but as a student of history, the title alone makes me cringe.
It turns out there is one person mentioned by name in that Executive Order: Lindsey Halligan, Esq.
The Executive Order states that Halligan will consult with Vice President J.D. Vance to “remove improper ideology” from Smithsonian properties. That sounds like she is going to have some say so in more than the National Portraits Gallery.
So, again, what are her qualifications? I ask, because so many of Trump’s appointees have no qualifications for their jobs. You know who they are, and they know who they are.
According to Maura Judkis’s article in The Washington Post, Halligan is a Trump attorney who moved to Washington in January. She visited the Smithsonian museums of Natural History, American History, and American Art and she did not like what she saw.
It seems that she thought the Smithsonian was “weaponizing history.” To me, those words coming from a Trump associate translate into “We don’t want to be reminded that America was never perfect.” Halligan told the newspaper that she reported her concerns to the President.
Poof! She is now consulting with the Vice President to apparently rid the Smithsonian of collections and exhibits that offend her sensitivities.
But how did she get in a position to have such a level of access to and influence over Donald Trump? She competed in the Miss Colorado USA Pageant back in 2009 when Trump co-owned the parent organization of the Miss Universe pageant, for which the state Miss USA pageants is a preliminary event.
Ms. Halligan might be a well-qualified attorney. What she knows about art or portraits was not covered in the newspaper article.
The Smithsonian’s Mission
According to the website for The Smithsonian Institution (https://www.si.edu/), its purpose is: “The increase and diffusion of knowledge.”
The Smithsonian’s stated vision: “Through our unparalleled collections and research capabilities, and the insight and creativity we foster through art, history, and culture, the Smithsonian strives to provide Americans and the world with the tools and information they need to forge Our Shared Future.”
In other words, the Smithsonian Institution is for the whole world. Keep that in mind, as we delve into what Lindsey Halligan did not like when she visited a few of its museums in January.
What is “improper ideology” at the Smithsonian?
More troublesome than Ms. Halligan’s credentials is, “What is considered ‘improper ideology’ for the Smithsonian?”
I will quote two paragraphs from Maura Judkis’s newspaper article:
“During her visits to the museums, Halligan says she saw ‘exhibits that have to do with either another country’s history entirely or art and sculpture that describes on the placards next to it that America and sculpture are inherently racist,’ though she did not offer specific details.
“She says she also saw exhibitions that did not focus on America at all. ‘There’s a lot about other countries’ history that has nothing to do with America, and I think, you know, America is so special,’ she says, adding: ‘We should all be focused on how amazing our country is and how much America has to offer.’”
What happens to the history of slavery in the US?
Today we mark the 160th anniversary of the day that the last black slaves in the state of Texas found out that they were free: June 19, 1865. That’s the day U.S. Army Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas. It is now a recognized holiday known as Juneteenth, a portmanteau of “June” and “nineteenth.”
But what is happening to the history of slavery in the United States, when the Trump Administration wants to erase all traces of the unpleasant chapters in our national history?
Photo by Tasha Jolley on Unsplash
We know certain museum exhibits have been removed from the Smithsonian. What happened to them? Were they thrown in the trash?
We know the Trump Administration doesn’t want any mention of slavery in our children’s history textbooks or any discussion of such things in our classrooms because it might make the white children feel bad. That is absurd, short-sighted, and evil.
Need we know more?
If you want to know more, Ms. Judkis’s article gives many more details, but I think those two paragraphs tell us everything I need to know.
Ms. Halligan’s statements as quoted above are in direct conflict with the stated purpose and vision of the Smithsonian.
I hope when the Trump regime is a distant memory, people who have knowledge of world history and how to operate museums will be able to piece the Smithsonian back together.
Crackdown on ideology to the extreme
It has been reported that there are now signs up (or will be soon) at the National Zoo in Washington, DC instructing visitors to report anything they see that they think is in conflict with the ideology of the US Government.
It is a zoo, people! It. is. a. zoo.
This does not bode well for Bao Li and Qing Bao, the two pandas on loan from China. I hope they will keep their anti-American thoughts to themselves!
Photo by Harrison Mitchell on Unsplash
If they aren’t careful, Trump will place a tariff on them like he did that island inhabited only by penguins.
Read everything you can get your hands on. Watch a little bit of the news every day.
Learn the history of your country and the world. Your democracy and way of life might depend on that someday. The knowledge of history needs to influence for whom you vote on every level of government.
Do whatever you can to make this world a better place.
Remember the people of Ukraine and eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. I-40 in Cocke County, Tennessee sustained major flooding again yesterday and a new landslide. The interstate highway is closed in both directions near the TN/NC line until damage can be cleaned up and assessed. Motorists must use I-40 to I-81 in TN to I-26 to Asheville, NC to I-40. The Hurricane Helene saga continues. That area just can’t seem to get a break as we approach ten months since the hurricane.
After I settled on the title for today’s blog post, I realized you might think this is going to be about cosmetics and shades of makeup. That’s not where this is going.
Saturday’s parade
Photo by Filip Andrejevic on Unsplash
I think we all know what Saturday’s parade in Washington, DC was about, and it wasn’t for the US Army’s 250th birthday. The reason for the parade was to stroke President Trump’s fragile ego. He wanted a North Korean-style military parade and he was finally about to finagle a parade of sorts under the guise of celebrating the US Army. Oh, and it was also Flag Day. And, by the way, it was his birthday.
The adoring crowd was not what he expected. It turned out that the patriotic and enthusiastic crowds were too buy participating in the “No Kings” protests all across the country to be bothered by Trump’s birthday parade.
I understand from a former US Army NCO that the lack of crispness and precision in the soldiers’ marching in the parade was a sign of low morale and their way to have a silent protest against Trump. It was quite noticeable in the photos I saw. I did not watch the parade.
That gives me hope that at least some members of the US military remember that they do not have to follow an order if it is for them to do something illegal. I don’t think their commander-in-chief understands that or cares.
I couldn’t help but wonder why the soldiers representing the Revolutionary War were wearing red jackets and white wigs. I thought the British were the “redcoats,” and I really don’t think our soldiers were issued white wigs! It just looked odd.
We can all hope that’s Trump’s last attempt at a grand military parade. That kind of thing really rubs Americans the wrong way. He didn’t know, even though his military advisors during his first term in office tried to explain it to him.
Why the “About Face!” on US Steel-Nippon Steel Merger?
Photo by yasin hemmati on Unsplash
In case you wondered why President Trump was against the merger of US Steel and Nippon Steel until he was suddenly in favor of it, the truth came out last Thursday. According to The Associated Press, “President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will gain control of U.S. Steel as part of a merger deal with Japan’s largest steelmaker.”
The report quoted Trump as saying, “We have a golden share, which I control.” He went on to say he was “‘a little concerned’ about what future presidents would do with their golden share, ‘but that gives you total control.'”
The New York Times reported the so-called “golden share” “would effectively allow Washington to inject itself into the fabric of a foreign-owned, yet strategically critical, American enterprise.”
I have not read the agreement, but what jumps out at me is how The New York Times is reporting “Washington” will have some say so in how the new company is run, but Donald Trump said he will control the company.
That’s cringe-worthy, especially considering how many businesses Trump has bankrupted. It is cringe-worthy since doing the merger talks Trumps referred to Nippon Steel as Nissan three times. Does he think Nippon Steel makes steel, or does he think it makes cars? It’s also cringe-worthy if by “Washington” The New York Times means the US Government will control it. That sounds like the nationalization of a company.
What happened to the Republican Party’s support of private enterprise? The Biden Administration opposed the merger due to national security concerns. Did those concerns magically disappear on January 20?
It is a done deal, so it remains to be seen how it plays out.
Trump’s true colors
Photo by Jay Rembert on Unsplash
We saw two political assassinations and two attempted political assassinations in the United States in the wee small hours on Saturday morning.
President Trump and the White House were silent about the events for hours. And hours. Would Trump and his spokespeople have been silent for so long if the Minnesota elected officials had not been Democrats? Or maybe Trump would have picked up the phone to call the Minnesota governor if that governor were a Republican?
Trump showed his true colors on Sunday morning when ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott reached him by telephone more than 24 hours after the assassination. Scott reported on ABC’s Sunday morning news commentary show that when she asked him if he would call Minnesota Governor Tim Walz regarding the tragedy, he responded by saying he “might call him” and then immediately said that Governor Walz is a “terrible governor” and “grossly incompetent.”
Those were Trump’s personal, political opinions and they had nothing to do with the truth or Saturday’s horrific assassinations. His words were tacky and small-minded.
Trump’s reckless rhetoric fuels political violence.
As of yesterday, Trump still had not called Governor Walz. Former President Joe Biden called Walz early Saturday morning.
The assassin was apprehended on Sunday night.
Until my next blog post
I hope you have a good book to read.
Take care and stay informed. As I write this on Monday night, June 16, it appears that the United States is gearing up to get directly involved in the war between Israel and Iran. Israel started the war, and we’re being told “the United States will have to finish it.” Thanks a lot, Netanyahu! The US Government supports Israel, no matter what it does. Trump is suddenly leaving the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta tonight to return to Washington, DC without meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.
Don’t forget the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
I have been wanting to go to the mountains in western North Carolina for months, not to sightsee but to try to support some small businesses. My sister and I were in the mountains for three days last week. We were on a mission.
I tend to plan trips in detail. Sometimes things go as planned, but I have a poor track record when it comes to selecting restaurants in advance.
Our first stop on Tuesday was Montreat. The Presbyterian Church USA has its conference facilities there, and the place is near and dear to our hearts. The town suffered much landscape and street damage from the flood that accompanied Hurricane Helene last September. We knew from Facebook that Lake Susan had been completely cleaned out and restored. It was good to see people enjoying the lake again. Recovery work in Montreat continues.
Lake Susan, Montreat, NC June 10, 2025
We planned to eat lunch at a small diner in Swannanoa. I had read online that it had been owned and operated by the same family for 30 years. Unfortunately, when we got there, the sign on the door said they were closed for the week. Maybe The Breakfast Shop will be open the next time we’re in the area.
We drove back to Black Mountain and ate lunch at the Black Mountain Bistro, so we were still able to patronize a local business. Lunch there is always good.
We continued back through Swannanoa on US-70. The little town of Swannanoa had a lot of damage from the flood. Recovery will take a long time. One thing we noticed along US-70 for many miles is that there is still much dirt by the curb – a sign that street and highway crews have had much more pressing work to do than to get the dirt from the curb. The state of things indicates that every rain washes more dirt and debris into the highway. It wasn’t a major issue. It was just something we don’t normally notice.
US-70 become Tunnel Road in Asheville, and from Tunnel Road we were able to access a couple of miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway. At the entrance to the wonderful Folk Art Center on the parkway we were faced with this signage.
Barricade on Blue Ridge Parkway beside entrance to Folk Art Center at Asheville, June 10, 2025
It was sad to see the parkway closed. In the distance, we could see work being done and we met a dump truck hauling away storm debris.
We bought a couple of items at the Folk Art Center. Artisans from the Southern Appalachian Mountains sell their handcrafted merchandise there. There are quilts, blown-glass, leatherwork, woodwork, pottery, Christmas ornaments, and pottery.
Folk Art Center on Blue Ridge Parkway at Asheville, NC, June 10, 2025
From Asheville, we took Interstate 26 west through Weaverville to Mars Hill, where we had reservations for the night. We had never been to Hot Springs in Madison County, so we set out to have dinner at a small restaurant there, Smoky Mountain Diner. My mouth was watering for local trout, but the restaurant was closed for a private party.
We returned to Mars Hill. By then, it was getting late and we’d had a long day. “Plan B” was Stackhouse Restaurant in downtown Mars Hill, but when the hostess told us it would be a 45-minute wait we reluctantly settled for sandwiches at Subway. Not a good substitute for local mountain trout or a burger at Stackhouse.
So, Day One was more than a little disappointing. We were beginning to wonder if our trip was going to help the local economy at all.
On Wednesday we took US-19E through Burnsville to NC-226A to Little Switzerland. We went into downtown Burnsville. Recovery work was still being done on at least one street, and tree damage was obvious. Some roads that turned off US-19E were still closed, and we could only imagine the extent of tree and infrastructure damage.
There was lots of storm damage visible along NC-226-A and many asphalt patches in the highway. As was true on our entire trip, damage wasn’t constant, but was especially noticeable where there had been landslides or near creeks where there was obvious flood damage.
Here are a series of random photos I took on June 11, 2025, where we could safely pull off the highway as we drove from Mars Hill, NC to Little Switzerland, NC.
Area beside a creek with obvious major repairs having been done.
Example of tree damage on the side of a mountain, although by far not the worst we saw.
A sign of hope: a wildflower blooming in the midst of Hurricane Helene flood damage on June 11, 2025
Tree and underbrush damage by the roadside.
Small stream, but evidence of major creek bank repairs and reseeding.
Throughout the three days we were amazed at the massive water damage still visible along what were once again tiny creeks and branches. It is amazing what 30 inches of rain in a couple of days can do to little mountain streams!
Storm debris waiting to be hauled away.
Tiny stream now, but look at the damage it did last September.
The remains of a home surrounded by evidence of the flood and a small landslide in the background.
We ate lunch, as planned (success at last!) at Little Switzerland Café. We had eaten there before. It is a good place to get soup, a sandwich, or homemade quiche. It is a short distance off the Blue Ridge Parkway near the Orchard at Altapass. The address of the orchard is Spruce Pine, but it is out in the country, right on the parkway.
Little Switzerland Cafe, Little Switzerland, NC, June 11, 2025
After lunch we had planned to visit the orchard. There is a general store there and walking trails, but the Blue Ridge Parkway was unexpectedly closed there. When I checked online a few days before our trip, the National Park Service website hade indicated that a couple of miles of the parkway were open there and the orchard was accessible. Apparently, more damage occurred or was discovered and the website couldn’t keep up. That’s understandable.
As is stated on https://altapassorchard.org/, “The mission of the Altapass Foundation, Inc. is to preserve the history, heritage, and culture of the Blue Ridge Mountains; protect the underlying orchard land with its apples, wetlands, butterflies, and other natural features; and educate the public about the Appalachian experience.”
Please take eight minutes to watch this 2023 PBS NC video clip, “How an apple orchard is preserving Appalachian views | State of Change: Seeds of Hope” about The Orchard at Altapass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bTKjLipjGI, so you can see why we wanted to visit it again and why you should include it on your itinerary the next time you’re in the area.
The orchard was planted by the Clinchfield Railroad at the lowest pass through the Blue Ridge Mountains for 100 miles. The railroad constructed 18 tunnels in 13 miles of track beside and below the present-day orchard and opened in 1908. Some of the trees in the orchard are still producing apples at nearly 100 years old. Hurricane Helene killed hundreds of the apple trees, but thousands survived.
From there, we made our way to Newland, Linville, Grandfather Mountain, and Boone, where we had reservations for the night. Along the way, especially where we crossed or drove beside mountain streams, the ravages of Hurricane Helene were visible.
We ate supper at Mike’s Inland Seafood in Boone. We discovered it on our last visit, which was exactly two weeks before the hurricane hit and Boone was flooded. We drove around the college town and were amazed at how the town and Appalachian State University campus have been almost completely cleaned up and restored since last September. From what we saw, someone who did not know there had been a flood would not be able to tell there was one less than a year ago unless they veer off the main streets.
A side street in Boone being repaired on June 11, 2025. That’s part of Rich Mountain in the background.
We enjoyed walking up and down King Street in Boone. We bought “Go Mountaineers! And Boone tee-shirts and postcards. My sister just happened to be reading a book about Watauga County musician, Doc Watson, so it was nice to stop and see his statue again at the corner of King and Depot Streets.
Alex Hallmark, a sculptor from nearby Blowing Rock, designed the statue of the blind musician seated and playing his guitar. A black steel bench was designed to fit the seated statue, so visitors can stop and sit awhile next to Doc. When we arrived, a mother and her little girl were sitting with Doc and enjoying ice cream cones. I wanted to take a picture, but I did not want to intrude.
We walked and shopped for a few minutes and I took this picture later.
Statue of Doc Watson at corner of King and Depot streets in Boone, NC, June 11, 2025
Thursday was the day that really made our trip worthwhile. From Boone, we drove to West Jefferson. We can’t go to West Jefferson without stopping by the Ashe County Cheese store. We purchased some of the cheese made at the factory across the street from the store along with some jams and jellies made especially for Ashe County Cheese Company. We looked at the fudge counter but resisted temptation.
There were jars at the cash registers at the Ashe County Cheese Company store for monetary donations to the Ashe Food Pantry, Inc. The organization accepts online donations at https://ashefoodpantry.org/ or a check can be mailed to Ashe Food Pantry, Inc., P. O. Box 705, Jefferson, NC 28640.
From West Jefferson, we headed north on NC-194 toward Lansing. We passed through Warrensville where I had planned for us to stop at The Baker’s Addict Bakery on our way back from Lansing, but we made a spontaneous decision to come home another way. My apologies to The Baker’s Addict Bakery. We’ll be sure to stop by on our next trip to northwestern North Carolina.
The little community of Lansing was hit extremely hard by Hurricane Helene. The community was left isolated for weeks and weeks after the storm. The little creek that flows beside NC-194/Big Horse Creek Road appears to be just a nice little bubbling brook last Thursday morning. There is a lovely park there and we delighted in seeing a group of young girls skating on the sidewalk in the park. We assumed they were local girls and we were so glad to see them having fun again after the natural disaster they lived through. The way it flooded all of the little business district last September was hard to imagine.
The park in Lansing, NC
There are just several businesses there, and we tried to support each of them. We had never been to Lansing before, so our knowledge of the businesses there came from the internet.
Part of the business district in Lansing, NC, June 11, 2025
Our first stop was at The Squirrel and The Nut. It is a delightful shop that specializes in locally-made handcrafted items and vintage items. I had looked at the rope bowls and was trying to decide what to buy – those or a quilted item or a vintage pitcher or a hand-painted necklace. My sister had done the same thing. For some reason, those rope bowls kept calling my name.
I returned to the display and was contemplating which ones to buy. About that time, my sister stopped beside me and picked up one of the bowls. The shop owner noticed us and explained why there were several color variations on the insides and outsides of the bowls. I had noticed that on the price tags was handwritten: “Suggested donation” along with a dollar amount. What I did not notice on the tag was where it was printed: “Helene Bowl.”
As I studied two of the bowls, the shop owner said, “Those rope bowls survived the hurricane. They were in the mud. The woman who made them lost a lot of her supplies and finished products in the flood. It was five months before she could bring herself to try to wash the mud out of those bowls. The discolorations were caused by other rope bowls fading on the ropes bowls during the flood.” By then I was tearing up. I went to the cash register with two of the rope bowls and my sister followed with another rope bowl and the vintage pitcher we had both picked up and considered.
Our Hurricane Helene rope bowls made by The Infinite Daisy, Lansing, NC.
The larger of the two I purchased had been designed and made to be a dough proofing bowl, but the shop owner cautioned me that it probably shouldn’t be used for a food product considering its history. I was so emotional, I could scarcely say anything as the shop owner wrapped my bowls in tissue.
There was a hint of a strain in the shop owner’s voice as she told us about the items she lost in the flood and the bookcase that she knew she was going to need to discard. She said it just takes a while to come to grips with such losses.
She smiled and told us of the vintage cabinet radio she purchased the week before and laughed about how her partner struggled to carry it into the shop and place it exactly where she wanted it beside the front window.
Before we left, she recommended the dress shop two doors down and lunch at The Liar’s Bench at the end of the row of old businesses. We told her we had already planned to eat lunch there, so that worked out great.
We stopped in the little clothing store and I bought a pretty, soft, pastel yellow tee-shirt with various wildflowers on the front. I was tempted to buy a wristlet/crossbody purse, but I did not need it. It would have been perfect for our great-niece’s wedding last February.
We visited Old Orchard General Store, where Marie purchased a book to give to a friend and I bought a loaf of locally-made Country Multigrain Sourdough sliced bread made by Stick Boy Bread in nearby Boone. That bread is delicious! I should have bought more than one loaf!
We ate turkey BLT croissant sandwiches and drank the best sweet tea I’ve had in I don’t know when at The Liar’s Bench at 144 S. Big Horse Creek Road. It was a one-man operation and there were just four other customers the entire time we were there. The sign said they have live music every Friday night.
The Liar’s Bench Restaurant in Lansing, NC
The sandwiches were delicious, but I felt compelled to tell the cook/cashier how good the tea was. He laughed and said, “I was afraid I’d ruined it. I put in four cups of sugar.” We were afraid to ask him how much tea he had sweetened with four cups of sugar! I told him it was perfect and my sister and I left with take-out cups of more iced tea for our trip home.
My sister asked him if the flood waters got in all the businesses along the road. He pointed out the window to a stop sign and said, “It got up to there. It was really bad.” His voice nearly broke. There was a sorrow in his voice and a sadness in his eyes. One couldn’t help but notice.
Lots of character inside The Liar’s Bench Restaurant in Lansing, NC.
It was obvious that the people in the little community of Lansing, North Carolina, have had a traumatic experience and already a difficult nine-and-a-half-month recovery.
My sister overheard one of the other restaurant customers saying, “I have 1,100 tomato plants, and if he doesn’t open and take them to sell, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t want to take them all the way to West Jefferson.” Apparently, she is hoping another local business will reopen in time for her to sell her tomato plants.
After lunch, we decided to take NC-194 north to US-58 in Virginia instead of heading back to the bakery in Warrensville. I hate we missed giving the little bakery some business, and we wished we had stopped on our way to Lansing; however our spontaneous change in routing turned out to be a very interesting decision.
First of all, we unknowingly missed that NC-194 makes a 90-degree turn, so we happily continued straight on S. Big Horse Creek Road. Since we had never been in that part of Ashe County before, we did not realize we had missed a turn.
Sometimes a missed turn can lead to trouble, but sometimes it takes you on a bit of an adventure. Looking back on the route we took from Lansing, we know that God was looking out for us. We could have easily come to a road closing or worse, but we did not.
After returning home, I pulled up the map online and figured out exactly where we went after leaving Lansing. We continued north on S. Big Horse Creek Road for many miles. It became Big Horse Creek Road. We then took Mud Creek Road which took us into Virginia and to US-58/Highlands Parkway a few miles east of Damascus, Virginia.
We stopped at Tuckerdale Baptist Church in the community of Tuckerdale, NC because it was such a beautiful, peaceful place. A calm little creek ran between the church and the road. There is a one-lane steel bridge over the creek to the church. A huge poplar tree between the creek and the sanctuary provides shade for much of the parking lot. That tree is well over 100 years old. What a story it would have if it could talk!
Tuckerdale Baptist Church, Tuckerdale, NC.
A new one-lane bridge across Big Horse Creek to the parking lot of Tuckerdale Baptist Church at Tuckerdale NC.
We saw storm damage all along the way on the above referenced roads. Damage to the landscape and to houses was sobering. There were some houses that had been completely gutted by the flood waters. Their remains stood guard beside and above the little stream of water that had destroyed them as if daring the creek to rise again.
Bridges had been replaced, and there were numerous cases where we saw new bridges across the streams and creeks giving the people who live on the other side of the water access to the highway. We saw that time after time after time. We saw where the flood waters had gouged out the sides of the mountains.
We saw some tree debris that has not yet been picked up. It brought back memories of Hurricane Hugo here in 1989 and six months of tree debris lining the streets of Charlotte until it could all eventually be picked up.
We saw dump trucks hauling tree debris all three days in the mountains. It is overwhelming to realize those trucks have been hauling away debris for more than 200 days… and the work remaining to be done is massive. We saw staging areas where tree debris is piled high. Some of it has been converted into mulch… mountains of mulch.
We saw more places than I can estimate where trees are down all up and down the mountainsides. We saw where there were landslides. I have seen photos of the tree damage along the Blue Ridge Parkway, but I now have a better idea of how hundreds of miles along the parkway must still look. And it would be impossible for all those trees to ever be sawed up and removed, even if the National Park Service budget and workforce had not been slashed. It is literally thousands and thousands of trees and huge rhododendrons that were destroyed or badly damaged by the storm.
We reached a point where the pavement ended and we wondered if we were still on the state highway. Little did we know… we weren’t! I guess we were on Mud Creek Road by then. In a couple of miles, we got to paved road again.
One of the sights we happened upon after crossing into Virginia was this historical marker about the Virginia Creeper Railroad at Whitetop. The Virginia Creek Recreational Trail is the path that’s visible in the photographs below. The trail’s southern terminus is at Whitetop.
Virginia Creeper Trail alongside the old Whitetop, Virginia, train station.
It was a quiet, peaceful place. There were a couple of houses in sight, but we didn’t see anyone. There was a rabbit enjoying the trail, but I couldn’t get a picture of it. I didn’t want to disturb it.
“Virginia Creeper” Railroad historical marker at Whitetop, Virginia, with a little of the Virginia Creeper Recreational Trail visible beside the sign.
Even after we got on US-58 between Damasus and Independence in Virginia, the damage continued. I knew the southwestern part of Virginia was heavily damaged by Hurricane Helene, but I didn’t know to what extent.
All along US-58, we saw trees down here and there and we could tell where what looked like a quiet little stream last Thursday had been a raging river last September. The first part of US-58 that we were on was a very winding mountain road – the kind I love to drive on! –with many switchbacks and 90-degree curves posted with “Speed Limit 15” signs.
Orange daylilies blooming along a roadside
A highlight on all three days of our trip was the profusion of old-timey orange daylilies here and there along roadsides and by highways. The largest patches of them were where I could not safely get a picture. We had never seen so many of them as we did on this trip!
At Independence, Virginia, we took US-21 by Sparta, North Carolina, and got on Interstate 77 to come home.
It was a trip we had anticipated for many months, and we really did not know what to expect. We put 500 miles on the car and visited some places in our own state that we’d never been to before. We are already hoping to return to that area and other parts of the mountains of North Carolina before the year is over. Those restaurants and shops will still need our support. Next time, we’ll look for a sign telling us that NC-194 hangs a right in Lansing!
In conclusion
After we returned home and had time to reflect on what we saw on our trip, we realized that in addition to the natural and physical damage we saw, we don’t know about the losses we did not see. We don’t know what we did not see because it was there no more. We don’t know about the houses and businesses we did not see because they were washed away in the flood.
We don’t know about the people we did not see at the restaurants and shops because they did not survive the hurricane.
We’ll never know who and what we did not see.
If our time in The Squirrel and The Nut in Lansing had been the only stop we made on our trip, it would have been worth it. My sister and I did not “need” those rope bowls or the vintage pitcher. We’re in that stage of life when we are getting rid of stuff instead of buying more stuff!
Our beautiful and priceless Hurricane Helene rope bowls made by The Infinite Daisy, Lansing, NC.
Those three rope bowls now have a place of honor in our family room. Knowing they literally survived the mud produced by Hurricane Helene makes them priceless works of art. Don’t you agree?
Hurricane Helene Update
As of Friday, 49 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene. That count included five US highways, three state highways, and 41 state roads.
Until my next blog post
Keep reading good books.
Hold your family and friends close.
Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
There will be a parade in Washington, DC tomorrow to supposedly mark the 250th anniversary of the creation of the United States Army. June 14th is, coincidentally, Flag Day in the US.
The United States flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing, according to the official Flag Code.
Photo by chris robert on Unsplash
The US flag is never to touch the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise.
The US flag cannot be thrown in the trash when it becomes damaged or is updated with an additional star when a new state is added to the union. It must be disposed of in a flag retirement ceremony.
Those flag retirement ceremonies are conducted by organizations such as the American Legion, and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). In those solemn ceremonies, the flag is burned.
Setting fire to a US flag other than in on officially-sanctioned retirement ceremony is considered desecration.
Flying the US flag upside-down is a distress signal.
President Woodrow Wilson declared June 14 as Flag Day in 1916. Although not an official holiday on which banks and government offices close, since 1916 it has been a day set apart for us to stop and think about our flag and the sacrifice and freedoms it represents.
But then came Donald Trump
Donald Trump was born on June 14, 1946, and therein lies a problem.
Trump wanted a big military parade in Washington, DC during his first term in office, but he had rational military advisors then who told him (1) that’s not what we do in America and (2) the city streets in Washington, DC were not constructed to withstand the weight of army tanks. The military advisors in place then were able to shut down the idea.
But fast forward to 2025. All the military brass in a position to or with the courage to say “No” to President Trump are gone. Therefore, there will be a military parade with tanks on the city streets in Washington, DC tomorrow.
Is Trump concerned about that? Of course not! In fact, The Huff Post on June 2, 2025, quoted him as saying that $16 million is “peanuts compared to the value of doing it.”
US Army tanks from Fort Cavazos in Texas were transported to the nation’s capital just for this event. That is 1,500 miles. Soldiers need practice in transporting tanks, but 1,500 miles just for a parade seems excessive.
One-inch-thick steel plates have been placed at strategic places on the streets in Washington, DC and the tanks have been outfitted with new track pads to minimize street damage.
Members of the US Army Golden Knights parachute team are scheduled to drop in to hand a US flag to Trump.
What a spectacle it will be all while the US Congress, at the instruction of President Trump, cannot find the money to fund the National Park Service or USAID or medical research or the Corporation for Public Broadcasting or Medicaid or the National Weather Service or….
It is beside the point that democracies don’t have military parades in their capital cities to show their military might. That’s what the Adolph Hitlers, the Vladimir Putins, the Kim Jong Uns, and the Xi Jinpings of the world do.
But Donald Trump was jealous of them and their grand parades.
So Donald Trump will have a military parade on his birthday, and the US taxpayers be damned.
Until my next blog post
I hope all the American taxpayers who are working two jobs just to make ends meet have a nice Flag Day.
Tomorrow is also “No Kings Day” in the United States. We thought we made it clear in 1776 that we didn’t want a king. Someone will be reminded of that in 1,800 scheduled protests tomorrow.
I decided yesterday to write a blog post for today about how Trump blackmails people, universities, states, etc., and I will get to that in a minute.
Calling up the Marines
But first, after a seven-hour power outage when I was blissfully unaware of what was going on in the world, Trump decided to ramp things up in Los Angeles. When my electricity was restored around 8:30 last night, I turned on the TV and lo and behold on the bottom of the screen it said, “700 active-duty US Marines being sent to Los Angeles.”
Sending active-duty US military personnel to scare the American citizens into submission? Is this what it has come to in the country I love? Will the two active-duty US Marines I know answer the call?
I pray for all who serve today in all the branches of the US military. I pray that when the current Commander-in-Chief orders them to turn on their fellow citizens they will do the right thing.
We are in a very bad place in the United States, and I don’t think I can forgive the people who voted for this. God, help me.
Blackmail
Day-by-day, our democracy in the United States takes another hit. The people in charge are taking chisels, sledgehammers, and chainsaws to the foundations of our long-held values and way of life.
When the US President can boldly say without any outcry from his political party that if Elon Musk gives any money to support Democrats, there will be “serious consequences,” we are in a dangerous place.
The public spat Musk and Trump had last week should have embarrassed both of them, but I doubt either of them can be embarrassed.
Trump has already threatened to halt all the contracts Musk has with the US Government. Granted, that wouldn’t be an altogether bad thing, but I don’t like to see a US President blackmailing anyone… not even Elon Musk.
Trump tired to blackmail other countries by threatening tariffs up to 145%. All he did was make all our allies mad… and rightfully so. You have to be pretty low on diplomatic smarts to attack Canada.
Trump’s blackmailing of universities has been going on for weeks now. His latest threats are against not only the university system in California, but he threatens to withhold all federal funds from the state because a transperson was allowed to participate in a sporting event.
By the way, California sends more money to Washington, DC than it gets in return.
The President thinks he can bully corporations, states, cities, and countries to cave to his lame desires and threats. So far, it has worked with the US Congress, and some days it appears to have worked with the US Supreme Court.
It is his modus operandi. He does not know any other way to operate, and it is a disgusting and hideous way to run the greatest experiment in democracy the world has ever seen.
Where does this end?
Until my next blog post on Friday…
I hope you have a pleasant and peaceful week in preparation for June 14. I fully intend not to blog again until Friday. I will explain later.
Remember what the core values of our country are and be ready to defend them.
Mr. Ira Lee Taylor of Harrisburg, North Carolina, was an unassuming man. I grew up knowing him as my mailman and the father of a friend at school. It wasn’t until 2006, when I started writing a local history column for Harrisburg Horizons newspaper that I learned from another local World War II U.S. Army veteran that Mr. Taylor took part in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day.
That invasion took place 81 years ago today. Very few veterans are still here to tell their stories. Interviewing Mr. Taylor a number of times in the six years I wrote for the newspaper was one of the privileges of my life.
Instead of June 6, 1944, only being a date in a history book, it became a day of incredible heroism and sacrifice as I heard Mr. Taylor’s vivid memories of that day, the training in preparation for it, and the other battles he was in throughout the war in Europe.
Mr. Taylor served in the U.S. Army’s 4th Division. The entire 4th Division left New York City on four ships on January 19, 1944. About passing the Statue of Liberty, he said, “That was a beautiful thing. We said, ‘We don’t know whether we’ll ever see you again or not.’” Many of them never did.
More than one hundred other ships joined the 4th Division over the next three days. The Liberty Ships were carrying ammunition, food, and other supplies. He said the ships would scatter during the day, but at night they would close in almost touching each other. It took eleven days for them to cross the Atlantic and arrive in Liverpool, England.
They were transported by train from there to Devonshire, England, where they trained for the invasion of Normandy which was occupied and heavily fortified by the Germans.
He talked about how they meticulously prepared their trucks and other equipment so they would be sea worthy. They practiced loading everything up and going to the port of Plymouth. From there, they would sail down the English Channel to a place that was set up to look like “Utah Beach” in Normandy where they would train for the invasion.
Each time they set out, they didn’t know whether it was the real thing or another practice run. Of course, they did not know exactly what they were training for.
After months of planning and incredible secrecy, the invasion was scheduled for June 5, 1944. General Dwight D. Eisenhower knew he had a small window of opportunity before the moon would begin to wane.
No, June 5 is not a typo. That was set as the day for the invasion. The night before, Mr. Taylor said the troops were briefed. They were told, “The 4th Division will make the landing on D-Day. We’re sacrificing the 4th Division to make that landing. We anticipate eighty percent casualties. You’ll pass two islands in the Channel on the way – one’s Guernsey and the other one’s Jersey. You might hear some shooting and all, but don’t worry about it. That doesn’t concern you at all. Two other outfits are taking care of that.”
“The morning of June 5, the gate was locked with an MP guarding it. They wouldn’t let us out, and the boys started singing, ‘Don’t Fence Me In,’” Mr. Taylor said with a chuckle. But then the mood turned somber and they knew this was it.
Mr. Taylor’s outfit set out late on the evening of June 4. They got halfway across the English Channel and a huge storm came up. General Eisenhower was forced to call off the mission, but the invasion had to take place no later than June 6.
So Mr. Taylor’s outfit loaded up again on the night of June 5 before dark. He was on one of 499 ships that took part in the invasion.
Patton’s 3rd Division, the 90th Division, and the 4th Division were all lined up, but the 4th went out first because it was to hit the beach in the first wave.
If you’ve seen the movie, “Saving Private Ryan” or some war documentaries, you might have an inkling of an idea what the invasion was like, but I don’t think any of us can really grasp the horror of it. One thing a film doesn’t give you is the smell, but Mr. Taylor talked about the smell.
He talked about how special troops sneaked onto the Normandy coast before daybreak on June 6 and disarmed many of the mines on the beaches, right under the noses of the German soldiers. At the same time, glider troops were silently landing inland carrying tanks and infantrymen. The 82nd and 101st Airborne dropped ten miles inland, behind enemy lines.
Mr. Taylor talked about the four hundred light and heavy bombers that flew over them until six o’clock in the morning.
The 4th Division missed its target by about a mile, but started landing on Utah Beach at 6:30 a.m. on June 6, 1944.
Mr. Taylor talked about the mines and the iron crosses all over the beach as the Germans anticipated an invasion, the 50-caliber machine guns, the wounded soldiers being taken back to the Landing Ship, Tank (LST) he was on. It carried twenty tanks and 200 troops and doubled as a hospital.
Mr. Taylor was in many battles, including the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of Huertgen Forest. He had majored in Forestry at North Carolina State University at Raleigh, so he had a particular appreciation for the Huertgen Forest of fir and pine trees, but it was there that the 4th Division lost half of its men and the forest was shattered in the fighting.
Mr. Ira Lee Taylor with his World War II medals, February 24, 2007.
Needless to say, Mr. Taylor felt fortunate to survive the war. He came home, married his sweetheart, and got a job at the post office. Somehow, he put the horrors he had witnessed behind him, but in his later years he wanted to share his story. And I’m a better person for having interviewed him.
If you are interested in reading all of Mr. Taylor’s stories, my five-part newspaper series can be found in Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 1, which is available in paperback at Second Look Books in Harrisburg and in paperback and e-book from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Harrisburg-Did-You-Know-Cabarrus-ebook/dp/B0BNK84LK1/). That book contains the first 91 articles I wrote for the newspaper.
Until my next blog post
Take some time today to think about the men who took part in the D-Day invasion. We owe them a debt of gratitude that we can never repay.
Janet's Writing Blog 