Land acknowledgements are back in the news again, and just because they're such fun, let’s indulge

/

This is now:

Land Acknowledgement

We acknowledge that the land on which we reside, now known as the Town of Marblehead, is the ancestral homeland of the Naumkeag Band of the Massachusetts and Pawtucket tribes. They lived here under the leadership of the Great Sachem Nanepashemet. Since time immemorial, the Naumkeag people maintained this land and surrounding water with the utmost respect, preserving it for future generations and treating it as sacred ground for the burial of their dead. They had an organized and thriving community before the arrival of European settlers. The Naumkeag people suffered great loss of life during King Philip’s War and the small pox plagues, and the surviving members were dispossessed of the land. Although we are unaware of any Naumkeag descendants living in Marblehead today, we honor the Naumkeag people of the Massachusetts and Pawtucket tribes, past and present, as the original stewards of this land and pledge to include their history in the history of our Town.

And this also is now:

Native Land has an incredible map that you can use to find out on which land your wedding is taking place: https://native-land.ca/

In addition to learning on which nation’s territory your wedding is taking place, it’s also important to take the time to learn how the nation names are properly pronounced.

Here are some common areas in British Columbia, their corresponding First Nation(s), and pronunciation.

Pal Nancy and I had intended to include a land acknowledgement ceremony in our own wedding years ago, but, unfortunately, the blanket I’d given the shaman as a downpayment for his services turned out to be infected with smallpox, and the poor fellow expired just as he was raising his drumstick to begin. Don’t know how that terrible mistake occurred.

Murphy

/

“One of (Senator Murphy’s) hallmarks, and one of the marks of his future legacy, is that he is considered a bipartisan worker, who works across the aisle, It is a special, special quality that he has.”

Murphy's response treats that as radioactive. He acts like the only possible motive is partisan sabotage rather than the simple principle that only citizens should decide American elections.

…. When a senator can't defend open rolls without inventing motives, it reveals how little confidence they have in their own position. RNC Research highlighted the clip, and it lands because it exposes the emptiness. Americans want fair elections. They want systems that work. Dodging the question only deepens the distrust Democrats claim to fear. If the harm in a list of eligible voters is nonexistent, just say so. Murphy couldn't. 

That silence speaks louder than the conspiracy theories he reached for instead.

… worried about that) and much more about MATCHING BARCODES of the outer and inner envelopes in a mail ballot package.

Here is why that's the problem for them. If surplus mail ballots collected from people who aren't voting by mail are somehow voted on behalf of OTHER PEOPLE, it becomes readily detectable that a ballot was repurposed from its originally intended voter to someone else on the voter rolls. The "no-match" condition means that ballot was taken from the originally intended voter or it was given away.

Either way that's how fraud can be easily detected. Keep in mind, the barcode matching requirement does not require any personal information that isn't on the outside of an envelope, and it doesn't prevent states from using mail to conduct elections, so the hysterical reactions are confirmation they know the gig is up.

Well, dang. Dolly Parton is gone from this earth

/

Just learned (saw it here, thank, you EOS) that Dolly Parton has died at 80. Such a story that woman had, such a person she was. Here are my two favorite songs that she wrote:

First, a memory from her childhood:

Then the song she wrote to her mentor [but not lover] Porter Wagoner, when she left his band to go out on her own to stretch her wings and become the woman she knew she was:

UPDATE: Here’s another side of this admirable woman:

Shocker: Riverside listing sells at just list price

/

11 Hearthstone Drive, $5.995 million. Built on land/with teardown that was listed at $1.890 and sold for $2,210 million in August 2024. Not all that long ago, the thought that Hearthstone would become a six million dollar neighborhood would have … surprised me.

It’ll be interesting to see the changes, if any, in Riverside School as its student body transitions to one comprised solely of the children of multi-millionaires.

After all the fighting, a new school is finally up and running

/

“All aboard the short bus!”

Your own state's campers in danger up in Canada, Timmy? Blame Trump!

/

at this point, it’s purely pavlovian

Even assuming Minnesota’s National Guard couldn’t come to the aid of the state’s residents in peril (and why couldn’t it, Tim? If, in your world, Trump could have, but didn’t send troops 175 miles into Canada to rescue American citizens, why not your National Guard?). “On the border” is not “across the border” — even Tampon Tim’s deliberately deceitful choice of words can’t shift national boundaries.

Minnesota YMCA campers rescued from remote Ontario area amid wildfires

Canadian Air Force extracts first group; second group in safe location, awaiting rescue

Where was SEAL Team 6, huh, Trump? Where were they?!

If anyone can help preserve what made Rogues Hill infamous, it’ll be a Man from Miami

/

577 Round Hill Road, sold to a Floridian by Raj Rajaratnam for $7.5 million this past January, is slated for deconstruction. Fairly or unfairly, and there’s certainly room to argue unfairly, Raj was one of the home owners up there who, in the post-2008 unveiling of Wall Street shenanigans, helped put the “Rogue” into “Round Hill”. Can this new owner and his new house maintain, even grow that legend? Fingers crossed; we’re always in need of blog fodder.