After Woody Harrelson joked about an imaginary script he turned down because it portrayed politicians and the media as in the pocket of Big Pharma, rebel journalist for Rolling Stone, Marlow Stern, wasted no time rushing to the defense of the unfairly maligned big drug companies. The publication that once featured the work of Hunter S. Thompson and P. J. O’Rourke had a reputation to uphold and could not allow a big shot, pro-pot Hollywood celebrity to get away with mocking the defenseless pharmaceutical industry. A grave injustice of irresponsible stand-up comedy had been committed and Marlow Stern rushed to set the record straight. “Woody Harrelson went full anti-vax conspiracy theorist during his SNL Monologue tonight,” the intrepid journalist wrote just hours after the actor delivered his dangerous rant. I’ve only seen a short clip that features just a few of Harreson’s remarks, but I expect to catch the entire “full anti-vax,” misinfo monologue once it’s posted. According to Stern, Harrelson has a history of not sticking to “the science” when he delivers his stand-up routines. One can only assume the actor must have been high and mistakenly strayed away from the thoroughly fact-checked comedy routine he was supposed to deliver. Anyway, the damage was done. It’s been less than 24 hours, but it may take weeks or months to fully understand the harm Harrelson has inflicted on the pharmaceutical companies. A lie travels halfway around the world before the truth puts its pants on. Where does Big Pharma go to get its reputation back? Thankfully, the industry has Marlow Stern and Rolling Stone magazine to defend it against these falsehoods and mischaracterizations. Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, and Huffpost should be praised for exposing the big conspiracy lie that Big Pharma buys influence with Washington and spends millions to promote its products in the media.
Month: February 2023
The devil’s trailer Part 2
Severed Legs
There could be no doubt that a sinister force had announced its presence that Valentine’s Day afternoon 1987. The fact that it chose Little Cedar Grove Baptist Church to reveal itself was an indication it intended to mock a gathering place of life, joy and family with its offensive brand of gruesome handiwork. The additional fact that it seemed to taunt the community by offering only the dismembered legs of the victim, making identification nearly impossible, was proof this evil desired to inflict maximum horror and anguish on the community for as long as possible. State and local law enforcement wasted no time gathering available facts and casting a wide net in hopes of quickly capturing the elusive evil.
Aside from the presence of the severed legs, the rest of the scene appeared mostly undisturbed. The legs lay about thirty feet apart in a wooded area near an embankment off of U.S. 52, about two miles southeast of Brookville, Indiana. Investigators revealed the legs were those of a white female and were severed about eight inches above the knee. They were clad in blue jean pant legs, with the feet and lower part of the leg in red and white striped socks inside tan, suede cowboy boots size 8 ½. “It is a pretty awful crime,” said Indiana State Police Cpl. Charlton R. Beard, “and right now, we don’t have lead one about it.”
From the appearance of the scene and the lack of blood traces, investigators concluded the legs weren’t severed at the site but were transported there. “It looks like someone just pulled off the road and threw them off an embankment.” said Indiana State Police Detective Sgt. Philip E. Wietholter. Authorities combed the area around Brookville, trying to uncover additional evidence or leads that might help them identify the victim. Officers checked abandoned buildings and area motels. They followed potential leads from local residents reporting suspicious looking cars in the area. More than a dozen police officers fanned out across the countryside trying to track down clues, but an intensive search of the area along U.S. 52 between New Trenton and Brookville revealed no additional evidence.
Plans were made to transfer the severed limbs from the state police post in Connersville, Indiana to the Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis for a pathology examination. Without the rest of the body, identifying the victim was going to be a hard task. “Unless someone identifies the shoes or socks, it’s going to be a difficult situation,” Weitholter said. Hoping the examination could determine where the victim’s boots were purchased, Detective Weitholter thought the information might lead to an id of the victim. However, another sad but promising development had already begun to take shape. The desperate parents of missing loved ones had been contacting local law enforcement agencies with information. Some parents had even reported that their missing daughters may have been wearing a similar color and style of boots at the time of their disappearance.
While the medical examination did provide additional details regarding the victim, it failed to uncover information that would readily point to an identification. According to Sgt. Reginald Brewer of the ISP, the examination revealed that the white female was between 20 and 30 years old. She was approximately 5 foot 5 inches and weighed around 170 pounds, give or take 20 pounds. Brewer said pathologists could not determine the color of the woman’s hair, or how long the woman had been dead. However, investigators believed the legs had been present at the site for less than 48 hours. Authorities surmised a very sharp object, such as a knife or a saw, had been used in the dismemberment, because it produced a clean cut. Sounding a bit pessimistic, Det. Weitholter added, “There was no evidence of scars or deformities that would have made it easier to identify.”
The search for the body of the young woman continued on Tuesday, February 17. An air search had been planned for that day but had to be called off due to snowfall in the area. It was around this time, however, that investigators caught a break. The family members of a missing Cincinnati woman were able to identify the severed legs as belonging to Monica Denise Lemen, 21, who had been missing since February 9. Family members recognized the socks and were able to identify distinct markings on the boots. “They recognized the stains on her boots, the size is right, and they even told us where the boots were bought. We checked the store, and the boots had their code on them,” said Detective Weitholter. Lemen’s father had reported the young woman missing on February 10, after she failed to show up for work the previous day and had not returned home that night. The worried parents called around to friends during the night, but no one knew of her whereabouts.
Monica Lemen had been employed as a waitress at Busken Bakery in downtown Cincinnati, and had shared an apartment on First Ave. with her boyfriend, Dennis Whitt, who aided in the identification of the severed legs. She had been a student at Cincinnati Technical College where she took management courses. Co-workers at the bakery described her as quiet and dependable, and someone who aspired to make something more of herself. A search of Dennis and Monica’s Price Hill apartment was conducted, but investigators discovered no evidence of foul play. Dennis Whitt was never considered a suspect in Monica’s disappearance and apparent homicide. However, investigators did focus on one person of interest in fairly short order. According to Monica’s mother and friends, the young woman entertained an interest in the occult, and this interest had brought Monica into the orbit of a very dark character.
Sources:
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Dayton Daily News
The Indianapolis Star
The Indianapolis News
The Star Press (Muncie, Indiana)
The Brookville Democrat
Franklin County Historical Society
Canadian hybrid super pigs invading northern United States
Last week it was spy balloons and unexplained aerial phenomena crossing into US airspace from Canada. This week brings reports of Canadian hybrid super pigs making incursions from Canada into the northern United States. It is not yet known if Sidewinder missiles are being deployed to take out the cunning and elusive beasts.
The super pigs are reported to be a highly intelligent cross between domestic pigs and wild boars. They are larger than normal pigs and more tolerant of cold temperatures. The super pigs will eat almost anything, including deer and elk, but are especially fond of waterfowl.
In addition to brutalizing native species, the super pigs have proven quite difficult to eradicate through hunting. Sportsmen report the devious swine do not conform to normal rules of the hunt, often engaging in evasive maneuvers like going nocturnal. When pursued, they frequently split up their packs and change their routines, rendering their habits and movements less predictable.
No one knows yet what the super pigs want, but it seems clear they have their sights set on the United States. They’re expected to make appearances in Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota very soon. Given the recent assault on our northern border by hostile foreign powers, it is clear that America cannot allow this aggression by hordes of clever and duplicitous hybrid super pigs to stand. Like the Gangsta’s Fairytale says, “Time for the pigs to get turned to bacon.”
The devil’s trailer Part 1
A gruesome discovery
The Little Cedar Grove Baptist Church congregation was formed in 1806, not long after the Treaty of Greenville opened an area in the southeast of what would become the State of Indiana for settlement by European pioneers. Lacking a permanent place of worship, the early residents of Franklin County would often meet in each other’s log cabins for services. For five years the church community carried on like this, delaying the building of a permanent home for their church. That is until 1811 when a not-so-subtle message was received by Little Cedar Grove’s dawdling congregants in the form of an earthquake that rocked the midwest. According to a witness, the Rev. Allen Wiley, “The people ran to and fro, called for prayer meeting, exhorted each other to good deeds and repented of their sins as if Judgement Day was at hand. Then they met in solemn conclave with the Almighty that if He would send no more earthquakes, they would build Him a church.” So in short order they purchased land in Brookville Township, hired a carpenter and a mason, and set about building a sturdy little church made of brick, which has warded off comparable earthquakes ever since.
The Little Cedar Grove Baptist Church held its inaugural meeting August 1, 1812. The interior of the building contained a balcony accessible by two staircases. A raised pulpit stood near the rear wall with a pastor’s bench behind it. Wood pews faced the pulpit, and a charcoal pit in front of the pulpit was added in 1818 to heat the building. It is not known if the congregants denied themselves heat for the first six years of the church’s existence as punishment for their procrastination, or if the church’s treasury simply lacked the funds for costly capital improvements like charcoal pits. Additionally, at the northwest end of the property, a cemetery contained the graves of the original members of the congregation. There a tombstone marked the final resting place of Elizabeth Tyner, who as the wife of the church’s first pastor, William Tyner, departed this life in 1810.
On February 14, 1987, the Little Cedar Grove Baptist Church was the site of a wedding. Acquired by the Brookville Historical Society in 1910, and having undergone a number of repairs and renovations over the years, by 1987 the church had not been home to a permanent congregation for nearly a century, but instead had been used for special events. On this Valentine’s Day Saturday, while the wedding party gathered inside the church, the children, presumably bored with the formality, wandered off to explore the grounds of the church and wooded area nearby. Around 1:00 pm, while playing in the woods behind the church, the children made a gruesome discovery. Among the snowy leaves and debris lay a pair of severed human legs. Panicked, frightened and running to and fro, the frantic children hurried to alert the adults who followed them to the scene.
In 1987, a destructive earthquake, while potentially devastating, would be an event wholly comprehensible to Cedar Grove residents. Few would attribute such an event to their God expressing His anger over their lack of devotion. Most would be able to maintain their composure and ride out the event. However, very little offered by the modern era could prepare them for the evil that had been dropped into their midst. No amount of reason or scientific clarity derived in the intervening 150 years since pioneers first settled the area could explain the savagery that lay in the woods behind the Little Cedar Grove Baptist Church. The shocking sight of the severed legs overwhelmed the mind with dread and sorrow, as if Judgement Day was at hand.
Sources:
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Dayton Daily News
The Indianapolis Star
The Indianapolis News
The Star Press (Muncie, Indiana)
The Brookville Democrat
Franklin County Historical Society
Bobby Bare Jr. drops dynamite show on Indy
Duke’s Indy is located in an industrial area of Indianapolis teeming with transport companies and truck and trailer repair shops. On a Saturday night, this area of town is mostly deserted as drivers and dockworkers enjoy a much deserved evening of rest at home with their families.
In town to disturb the stillness on this night is Bobby Bare Jr. and his crew of Nashville musicians. As I stroll through Duke’s parking lot, a familiar and welcoming fragrance emanating from parked vehicles accompanies me to the entrance. Heads are getting correct and the table is being set for rock and roll time.
Soon The Heart Bionic is cranking like a diesel in downtown traffic. Bare Jr. sips Modelo between songs to cool his vocal cords and slows things down for I’ll Be Around. A lovely song of varying tempos, the music gains strength and asserts itself, then pulls back and slows, reflecting the moodiness of the lyrics. The song concludes with a rousing sing-along before Bare Jr. tells the audience, “That’s the best I got.” While that may or may not be true, it is certainly the case that Bobby Bare Jr. has several more shiny gems and trinkets of gold in his rock and roll treasure chest.
Don’t Wanna Know is a personal favorite of mine. The guitar part brings out the tension of things left unsaid, hurt lurking beneath the surface. Bare Jr. sings, “Please come back to Tennessee. Second best is good enough for me.” The band picks up the tempo and is really grooving through Bare Jr.’s guitar solo. Towards the end of the evening, they play The Big Time and North of Alabama By Mornin’.
I’m a little late to the music of Bobby Bare Jr. But I haven’t heard too many albums, if any, in the past ten years better than 2014’s The Undefeated. I’m glad he played a number of songs off that record. Overall, the set was pretty informal and there was quite a bit of banter and tomfoolery between songs. It kind of reminded me of the old days when bands didn’t take themselves too seriously and partied along with the crowd. Here’s hoping he continues to tour and puts out another album soon.
China spy balloon sought American tater tot technology
United States officials confirmed Monday that the Chinese spy balloon which terrorized much of the country over the weekend was after America’s closely guarded tater tot technology.
Experts say this is just the latest example of the Chinese attempting to expropriate American intellectual property.
Developed during the cold war, the process for manufacturing tater tots has been a closely guarded national secret ever since their invention in 1953. No other country in the world is capable of fabricating the unique extruded potato cylinders.
Countries like Israel, Russia and China have all claimed to be in possession of tater tot technology, but so far have been unable to produce a viable tater tot. Most of the “tots” produced by these nations appear to more closely resemble irregularly shaped “bites.”
U.S. officials have confirmed that the Chinese spy balloon crossed into American airspace from Canada over Idaho. Officials are claiming that the balloon was utilizing ground penetrating radar to learn more about our nation’s vast underground tater tot manufacturing capabilities.
The manufacture of tater tots is a highly specialized process. Located beneath vast potato fields, the Idaho facility sucks the potatoes from below into its underground operation, working around the need to transport potatoes into the factory and possibly reveal its whereabouts.
American officials are also exploring the possibility that the Chinese may have been aided by spies working in Canada. “The Canadians would love nothing more than tater tot technology to fall into the hands of the Chinese,” said an unnamed Pentagon source.
If there is something 