(This was written five years ago. The words still stand. A lesson sadly not yet learned.)

By Bob Gaydos   

The insurrection.

  I took a walk around the pond  Wednesday afternoon, January 6, a little before 4:30. It was cold, but still light out. The sun had just begun to set. As I walked I thought about how lucky — privileged — I was to be able to enjoy such a quiet moment in such a beautiful place in such a shithole country.

    No, friends and family, I haven’t moved. I still live in America, in a particularly scenic part of it, I think. For new readers, that place is upstate New York. It’s a place where a man can be alone to enjoy nature, if the man turns off his electronic devices.

     Two hours of watching live news reports out of Washington, D.C., had made me feel something I had never felt before — a combination of fear, anger, sadness, shame and profound outrage. The calming words and presence of President-elect Joe Biden had finally broken the spell the scenes of chaos had cast on me. It will end, I told myself. It will not succeed. There aren’t enough of them. They are all fury and delusion, taking selfies as they lay waste to the seat of government of the country they profess to love. Ignorance and arrogance, the Trump formula. In the end, it fails, but oh the harm it does. He doesn’t care. They, the rioters, are too dumb to know. That’s the nicest way I can put it. Or they are racists. Or both.

       Those are the facts. And for several hours on a Wednesday afternoon, as our Congress was attempting to perform its constitutional duty of confirming a new president,  these “Make America Great Again” terrorists made it look like one of those “shithole countries“ their leader once referred to with intent to insult. Yep, that’s what it looked like to me. …

                                                              ***.                                     

        … As I resume writing, it is now a week later. Trump has been impeached, again. Incitement to insurrection. Five people died in the attempted coup on The Capitol, including a police officer who was beaten to death by the rioters. White rterrorists carrying a Blue Lives Matter flag killed a Capitol police officer. They spread feces and urine throughout the building. They ransacked offices and went looking for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence. The whole time, the rioters took selfies of themselves. Eventually, they went home or some D.C. bar, apparently thinking that would be the end of it. Just a friendly little failed insurrection in the nation’s capital, broadcast live around the world.

           If you stop to think about it – and apparently the rioters did not — the ignorance is astounding. It is surpassed only by the hypocrisy of the Republican members of Congress who encouraged and invited the assault and who voted against seating Biden as the duly elected president, even after the insurrection had been quelled. They stuck to the lies of the election being stolen from Trump, even though every one of them – except for perhaps a couple of conspiracy lunatics — knows that that is a lie. It was Trump’s biggest and most dangerous lie. In truth, a treasonous lie.

         Since that now infamous Wednesday, much more has been revealed about the attack on the Capitol. It wasn’t as innocent as it first appeared. There was a plan. There may have been inside help from some Republican members of Congress. Maybe even from the Capitol police, who were woefully unprepared for a massive event that was announced well in advance. There was a delay in getting National Guard troops to the scene, perhaps caused by someone in the Defense Department.

          There will be investigations. May they go on for as long as necessary and bring to justice all those who we’re involved in this assault on America. Every last one of them. Homegrown terrorists. White supremacists. Members of Congress. Conspiracy nuts. Nazis. Klansmen. Racists. Pick a name. The list includes police and ex-military members as well. The attackers were virtually all white, which is why they are still alive. Lock them all up. People who bring swastikas and Confederate flags to attack the seat of the government of the United States of America deserve no mercy.

           Trump now stands accused by Congress and convicted by the majority of the American people and the rest of the world of inciting an attempted overthrow of a duly elected government. But his accomplices in the Republican Party are also guilty. They have ignored his assault on democratic principles for four years, out of fear or for their own gain or because they agreed with him. They deserve what they’re reaping. The party deserves to die. May it be reborn in some semblance of a responsible political party, perhaps including those Republicans who had the courage to speak out publicly and fight against Trumpism.

            America has been put on notice. There are those among us, appearing publicly as patriotic citizens, but operating out of hate and fear that their dream of a white, Christian nation with everyone else second-class citizens, is about to die. And in their foolhardy effort to avoid that fate, they may have actually hastened it. Republicans who remained silent, evangelicals who remained silent as Trump ravaged democracy, all stand indicted. Those who supported him financially along the way and now seek to distance themselves, all stand indicted. Rupert Murdoch and Fox News stand indicted. 

            In a country Trump would call a “shithole,” those seeking to overthrow the government usually try to get the military on their side if they hope to succeed. When they don’t, they don’t. As I watched with Lester Holt on NBC News as the idiots stormed the Capitol, I kept thinking, well, sooner or later troops with weapons and bullets will arrive. Hopefully, with orders to shoot. I also was dumbfounded that people were posting images of themselves on the Internet as they perpetrated this terrorist attack against this nation and gave no thought to the fact that this would make it easy to track them down and arrest them. Ignorance and arrogance.

              Yes, we have a lot of work to do, but the first thing is not to give into Republican pleas of coming together for the good of the country. They spent four years quietly watching Trump tearing the country apart. They must pay the price. I repeat, there are many more of us than them and what is necessary now is for all who know and love and respect what this nation is about to speak out forcefully in defense of it. Bring to justice those responsible. Convict Trump. Convict him again and again on whatever charges may be filed when he leaves office. Teach young people that actions have accountability. When we get around to it, teach young people about civics and government and history in school again. Clearly a lot of Americans slept through those classes. Evangelical Christians are on their own in this one.

           Joe Biden faces a monumental task when he becomes president on January 20, but he will have full control of the Congress to back him up and, I believe, fervent support of a vast majority of Americans as well. That white mob that assaulted the Capitol was an embarrassment to this nation, but maybe a lesson as well. American exceptionalism was put to the lie.

            No, this is not a “shithole” country, yet. I can still take a quiet walk around the pond every day. But those who would take the right to feel that safe and at home in this country away from anyone whose skin color or nationality or religion or politics they find fault with must know there can be no healing until the wounds are closed, Not until the guilty are prosecuted and those who aided and abetted admit their guilt. Not until journalists are not casually referred to as “enemies of the people.” Not until children are not put in cages. Not until all lives truly matter.                      

            Enough.

rjgaydos@gmail.com

Bob Gaydos is writer-in-residence at zestoforange.com.

By Bob Gaydos

Donald Trump and Nicolas Maduro (kidnapped)

   Be careful what you wish for.

   After a few days of reminiscing about Christmases past and pondering the year to come, of musing about the choices and chances of survival of once seemingly stalwart Trumpers Elise Stefanik and Susie Wiles, I woke up on your regular Saturday, January 3, 2026, wondering what the man himself, the beneficiary of the first ever FIFA Peace Prize, would give me to write about.

     War.

      I should have known.

      This won’t take long. What you’re going to read here is likely to be pretty much what you read elsewhere because there’s only one way for rational, law-abiding citizens of our system of government with its separation of powers spelled out in a Constitution to look at it: Invading Venezuela and kidnapping its president and his wife/adviser with no legitimate provocation and without consulting Congress is an illegitimate act of war.

     The nonsense about Venezuela being a primary source of Fentanyl coming into this country is just that, nonsense. This is all about oil. Always has been. Gaining control of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. Wait to see which of Trump’s wealthy backers benefit.

      That Nicolas Maduro was a much-hated dictator does not justify attacking Venezuela and looking to change the government with no request for intervention and the claim that he was in fact a major drug dealer himself for allowing the drug trade to continue is sheer nonsense when one considers the actual major drug dealers Trump has pardoned.

     Trump says we’re going to “run” Venezuela for a while. Why? They have a new president — the former Vice President. Trump says Maduro is going to be charged with drug charges in New York. There are international courts.

      Then there’s the fact that China and Russia both get a lot of oil from Venezuela and our seizing the country to make up for losing control of its oil fields when they were nationalized seems to give China an argument for taking back Taiwan and its wealth and Russia invading Ukraine for its. Same authoritarian playbook.

    Illegal. Dangerous. Foolhardy. Unwanted and unwarranted. If you believe what we tell the world, unAmerican.

   Americans don’t want this. Congress must step in. Republicans must finally find the courage to do their job. He is out of control.

    The Epstein files are still out there. Trump’s name is all over them. War is a powerful distraction. Frightened and unchecked, he will only get worse. It’s only January 3rd.

Footnote: The plane carrying Maduro and his wife apparently landed at Stewart Airport in Orange County, my neighborhood and a short ride to New York City. When the hostages from Iran landed there, it was a much more joyous event,

By Bob Gaydos

Elise Stefanik … leaving politics

(more…)

James Garfield, lower left. Chester A. Arthur, upper right.
From a print by the Temple Publishing Company hanging on my wall.

By Bob Gaydos

“I’m not fit to be president!”

The declaration thundered off the TV screen.

“The beauty of America,” came the reply. Quietly, presciently, yet setting off all sorts of alarm bells in my head.

In that one brief exchange, the creators of the Netflix series “Death by Lightning” rocketed across a century and a half. Of course. The beauty of America. Anyone can be president. Well, unless of course, she is a woman.

In fact, the four-part series offers an enlightening and entertaining account of two men, each of whom had no plan, intention or desire to be president yet both wound up in the office within months of each other.

It took one man’s death for the other to get there, that man being James A. Garfield, one of America’s least-known presidents and, from what the creators of the series tell us, one who could have been one of the best. If not for Charles J. Guiteau, the disgruntled, office-seeking lunatic running around with a gun, and an incompetent White House physician who, in removing the bullet, created the infection which actually killed Garfield.

The other man is the one who cried out about being unfit to be president, Chester A. Arthur. He was right, but it didn’t matter that he was a drunk and a laughable symbol of the spoils system of politics in America. He was the vice president, the next in line.

“The beauty of America,” was summed up succinctly by Senator Roscoe Conkling, of New York, in the Netflix series. I don’t know if Conkling, kingmaker, powerbroker and bitter rival of Garfield, ever uttered those words, but the writer sure grasped the moment.

Arthur was on the ticket in 1880 because New York, Arthur’s home state, had all the people, power and money, while Garfield, a farmer, had the message people wanted to hear. He went to the nominating convention to put someone else’s name up for president and gave such a stirring speech — he was an abolitionist when Republicans were proud to be abolitionists — that he was nominated because nobody else could get enough votes. The political art of the deal in practice.

Arthur, who oversaw the port of New York, including how the money flowed through it, wound up on the ticket as vice president in exchange for New York support of Garfield. Politics impure and simple.

But Arthur’s saving grace, to my mind, was that, when the reality of the moment hit him, he was well aware he had no business being anywhere close to the Oval Office, much less being president. While politics might be fine in that he could get rich, have fun and have power over people through control of who got the jobs and money, when it came to the presidency, he was, he declared, “unfit,” a word that carries a ton of weight considering the prestige and power of the office.

Would that were the case today. Money still controls politics, even more so since the Supreme Court decided to allow corporations to donate as much as they want to candidates who will do their bidding. Citizens United. A terrible ruling

The “beauty” of America today is that anyone can still become president, provided he has enough money behind him. Fitness, as Donald Trump and the hollow shell of what is now the Republican Party have shown, is irrelevant.

Arthur overcame his debauchery enough so that he signed into law the Civil Service system to protect government employees from the spoils system of politics which brought him to the presidency. While not regarded as a great president, neither was he a disaster. In fact, he confounded his critics in his brief term with a remarkably adequate job. A man aware, at least, to be humbled by what fate had bestowed upon him.

And no, while glaringly unfit, Trump, supported by the super rich, is also not humbled by his position, but rather clearly, even proudly, unaware of how unfit he is, not merely for the presidency, but for any office of public trust. He has, accordingly, assembled a cabinet of unfit misfits, liars and cheats incapable of doing even a merely acceptable job: Hegseth, Bondi, Patel, Kennedy, Noem, Zeldin (New York’s sorry contribution to the group), Lutnick, Gabbard, McMahon, Bessent, et al. Even Marco Rubio, who once wanted to be president, has shown himself to be unfit in so many ways.

Chester A. Arthur, for all his faults, knew instinctively what many Americans have forgotten or chosen to ignore. It is an honor and a privilege to be the president of the United States of America. But, so long as money is the route to all power, the beauty of America will also be the curse of America. Yes, absolutely anybody can become president.     Unless she’s a woman.

***

Editors note: For the history buffs out there, to the left of Arthur in the print is Andrew Johnson, who also came to the presidency via assassination. That of Abraham Lincoln. To the right of Garfield in the print are Benjamin Harrison and Grover Cleveland. This picture was published in the Baltimore News-American a long time ago.

By Bob Gaydos

     With all the celebrating and hope that welcomed Tuesday’s blue wave election results of Democratic victories, I was rewarded with the best kind of all — a race that was a microcosm of today’s Republican Party approach to governing: Unqualified candidate, lying, deceit. Best of all, it was local. And the Democrat won.

      The Town of Wallkill in Orange County, about an hour’s drive from New York City, has been pretty much a Republican stronghold forever. It’s a bustling town that profits from a highway system and a string of malls that grew up around it. It has one of the state’s busier court systems, providing enough work for three town justices.

       When one of the senior justices retired, Republicans offered as candidate a former councilman who is not a lawyer and has no court experience. For some reason with which I am not familiar, New York State allows this. Democrats offered as a candidate a lawyer with 34 years of experience handling hundreds of cases in Family Court and other courts and who also is a key staff member of the Legal Aid Society. A woman, by the way.

      Hands-down, no contest on qualifications and experience. So Republicans, who control the town board, decided the town didn’t need a third judge after all. Couldn’t afford it, they said. They voted to eliminate the position. This, even though the retiring judge said the town really did need three judges and not filling the position would put an unfair burden on the court staff, never mind the two judges left.

      Republicans didn’t budge. However, the Democratic candidate circulated petitions asking for a special referendum reestablishing the third judge position. It passed. But not before more Republican chicanery. 

      They told the Democratic candidate that the wording of the question on the special election would ask voters whether the town should eliminate the third town justice position. So she paid for lawn signs and printed cards to pass around town urging residents to vote no. Then Republicans decided to change the wording to instead ask whether the town should retain its third judge position, making the Democrat’s election handouts extremely counterproductive.

      She went to State Supreme Court to get it changed back. A sympathetic judge said there was nothing she could do, but hoped that the Republicans would do the “decent” thing. 

     They didn’t. 

      Came Tuesday and, following a few months of intensive campaigning, of all things, the Democrat won. Big.

      That’s not all. Wallkill voters kicked out the Republican town supervisor and a councilman, giving Democrats control of the town board. A veritable local earthquake.

       This story is especially rewarding for me because I lived in the town of Wallkill for about two decades and for nearly three decades worked at the local newspaper that would have reported on this incredible local story, if there was a viable local newspaper left in town.

     But that’s another story for another day. This day belongs to Maria Patrizio, Democrat, newly elected Town Justice, Town of Wallkill, Orange County, New York.

By Bob Gaydos

Just when I thought I had heard every story about what a racist, bigoted, ugly, ignorant, deplorable collection of cowards the Republican Party has become, a new day brings a new low.

The Young Republicans.

A recently leaked trove of hundreds of chat messages on Telegram from January to August of this year among leaders of the group from around the country included those referring to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people.”

Politico, which broke the story, reported that “Chat members joked about putting their political enemies in gas chambers. They joked about rape — one member referred to it as epic.”

And some praised Hitler.

Politico found more than 250 racial, anti-Semitic and other ethnic slurs. All the usual suspects. The chats included messages from leaders of several Young Republican groups, including those in New York, Kansas, Arizona, and Vermont.

Peter Giunta, who was chair of the New York State Young Republicans, was also chief of staff for New York state Assemblymember Mike Reilly. Climbing the ladder. Giunta lost that job and apparently had to return to his parents’ basement to look for some new friends online.

Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, from upstate New York, a strong Trump loyalist until he reneged on her appointment as U.N. ambassador and past recipient of an award from the New York Young Republicans, was critical of the ugly conversations, perhaps aware that they wouldn’t help her upcoming campaign for governor of New York. Just saying.

The ironic part of this whole sleazy mess is that those participating in it were aware that, if their conversations became public, they would be in deep trouble. They even said so. Yet they persisted, perhaps feeling inoculated by the current hateful political climate created by the elders in their party.

While some Republicans have criticized the chats and called for resignation of these Young Republican leaders, a White House spokesperson said it was not fair to try to connect the ugly language to Donald Trump, who, of course, is head of the party and as bigot in charge spews hate and ridicule at those he doesn’t like on a daily basis and has launched a violent campaign against ethnic minorities in America

Number Two, J.D. Vance, described the almost universally horrified reaction to the chats as “pearl clutching.” But that’s J.D. being J.D.

Well, clutch these pearls, Republican officials. These are your party’s future leaders. It’s like a family, folks. The 20 to 40 group. They are simply mimicking the bigotry, ignorance, and hatred they have seen and heard coming from the top because they feel it has been successful. That’s what daddy always says and look at him. He’s a big shot.

No one is telling them otherwise. No one talks about the fear behind the bigotry. Also, apparently no one told them that what’s said in the house, stays in the house. The Young Republican leaders never figured out that if you’re supposed to keep something secret, there might be something wrong with it.

That ignorance, or arrogance, worked until now. Now, the whole world has learned what has been going on behind closed doors and is horrified to learn that it was, in fact, so predictable.

By Bob Gaydos

Donald Trump and wife, Melania, stuck on the escalator at the UN.

  By now, you’ve seen, read or heard about Trump’s humiliating address at the United Nations. Humiliating, that is, if you are an American who is not a member of the MAGA cult. It was an utter embarrassment, of course, except for Trump, who is beyond such feelings.

      If you’ve somehow been spared the details, let me sum it up by saying Trump bragged about stopping seven or eight or nine wars, many of which he made up, some of which are still raging and the rest in which participants said he had nothing to do with. He basically told members of the United Nations, an organization formed to promote peace and liberty throughout the world, that they have failed miserably at their mission. On the other hand, he said he has been right about everything. Everything. Some might consider it to be in especially bad taste for the U.N.’s host nation and, indeed, the host city, to be the scene for such an unhinged performance.

    Perfectly encapsulating the absurdity of the moment, the escalator stopped as Trump was ascending into the U.N. building and his teleprompter stopped as he was about to give his “address.” He blamed Democrats. But his personal mental escalator stopped working years ago and he’s never been able to give any kind of speech without rambling off into fantasy, ignoring the teleprompter. Which is exactly what he did.

    Now, Trump being Trump and embarrassing millions of Americans by saying utterly inane things is not new. But consider having to stand behind and support the things Trump says. It might be challenging, especially if it’s your first day on the job, even if you’re a Green Beret. Which is what it was for Mike Waltz, who, by the way, is the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. 

   Waltz’s nomination was approved by the Senate just five days before the U.N. General Assembly meeting. Until that time, the U.S. had no ambassador to the U.N., just someone acting in that capacity, like the rest of Trump’s cabinet. Waltz, the former national security advisor to Trump, is indeed a Green Beret. Also, an author and former contributor to, yes, Fox News. No background in diplomacy. Nothing surprising here. Except that he probably preferred being the national security advisor, where all the action is, rather than trying to learn diplomacy on the job with the nations of the world after they’ve all been insulted to their faces by his boss. On the other hand, he did volunteer for the mission.

   On the other other hand, consider the plight of Elise Stefanik, congresswoman from upstate New York, who was supposed to be Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations. He nominated her soon after he took office. A reward for loyalty. Then, waiting for her confirmation by the Senate, Republicans put their heads together and figured out that, with the slim margin they held in the House of Representatives, putting Stefanik to work at the U.N. would mean a special election in New York for an open congressional seat and apparently they weren’t so sure a Republican would win. At least they weren’t willing to risk making their margin slimmer.

    So Trump said, sorry Elise, thank you for your loyalty and I’m going to ask you to stay where you are. Where she was was having conducted a farewell tour of her district and having lost her leadership position among House Republicans while awaiting confirmation to be U.N. ambassador. So, no ambassadorship and no leadership position. But at least Stefanik was spared having to deal with Trump’s rambling incoherently the other day, you say.

    Yes, but there’s more. The real story is that she has apparently moved on beyond waiting for her Republican masters in both houses to decide her fate. Stefanik recently put her townhouse in Washington, D.C., up for sale at a little over $2 million. You don’t do that if you’re planning on staying in town.

    Indeed, New York Republican State Chairman Ed Cox said recently that Stefanik will formally launch her campaign for governor soon after November’s elections.

   That would probably put her in a race next year against incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is expected to be a favorite to win in usually Democratic New York. But, it will also open Stefanik’s House seat for election of a new member since she can’t run for both offices at the same time. And yes, ironically, with Trump‘s approval rating dropping faster than Disney’s after it clumsily muzzled Jimmy Kimmel, retaining Stefanik‘s House seat, even in conservative upstate New York, will now be even more difficult for nervous Republicans. 

    One could say that’s what you deserve for even getting on the escalator with Donald Trump.

***

PS: The U.N. says  Trump’s White House photographer  stepped on a safety button causing the escalator to stop.  Also, White House staff members were in charge of operating the Teleprompter. But, you know, leftists.

By Bob Gaydos

A typical after-school scene in many cities in the United States.

I took a mental health break from writing about the news for a week because, well, just because. But it does go on, so …

The good news this week is that we’re not yet at war with Venezuela. The bad news is that a lot of Americans aren’t even aware that this could happen because they don’t read or don’t understand what they read and the whole thing is giving me and a lot of people a pain in the neck. Literally.

Let’s try to connect the dots.

As far as we know (because the Trump administration  routinely lies about everything), 19 or more people have been killed in the Caribbean Sea by missiles fired from American military vessels. The Trump “War” Department claims the victims of these attacks were Venezuelan drug smugglers, part of a gang Trump has declared “terrorists.”

Typically, no evidence of anything claimed has been produced, either in advance, to justify arrest and proper legal proceedings, or after the fact, to at least verify there were drugs and get an accurate body count. We do know that some of the victims were fishermen. Also, that such unprovoked, unverifiable attacks on the high seas are generally considered to be war crimes and that Trump likes to play make-believe warlord even though declaring war on a country is a power the Constitution gives to Congress. Republicans, who control Congress, don’t seem to care about this indiscriminate killing on the high seas because they are too scared of Trump to do their job.

Now, the only reason this is even a story is because Trump was elected president for a second term. He was chosen by an electorate that has been systematically dumbed-down by Trump/Republican assaults on the legitimate news media, schools, libraries, universities and any source of reliable written information. (I feel pretty confident saying Kamala Harris as president wouldn’t be attacking Venezuelan fishing boats in the Caribbean just to prove to supporters that she was being tough on drug smugglers.)

This assault on intelligence started in Trump’s first term. “Fake News!” he declared repeatedly about legitimate journalism. Combined with the growth of rightwing media outlets spreading actual fake news and the spread of social media on the Internet, Americans have been bombarded with “information” but no clues on how to sort it out, real from fake, important from trivial. Local newspapers have disappeared. Many people, especially younger people, now get their “news” exclusively from tidbits they see while scrolling on their phones. TikTok is not yet The New York Times.

According to recent studies from the National Literacy Institute and the National Center for Education Statistics, the average reading age of adults in the United States is at a 7th- to 8th-grade level. More than half of adults read below a sixth-grade level. As of 2024, 54 percent of American adults ages 16–74 have literacy skills below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level. This is about 130 million Americans. Of those with low literacy skills, an estimated 45 million adults are functionally illiterate, meaning they read below a fifth-grade level.

Data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies shows that the average U.S. adult literacy score declined between 2017, Trump’s first year in office, and 2023, the last year tested. The percentage of adults at the lowest literacy levels increased from 19 percent to 28 percent in that span of Republican assault on literacy and increasing reliance on social media for information.

The connection? Higher literacy levels go hand in hand with greater civic engagement, including voter turnout. Boosting literacy can strengthen democratic participation. And vice versa. Trump once famously boasted: “I love the poorly educated.” And, through lies and fear-mongering language, persuading just enough of them to vote in targeted states with just the right number of electoral votes can steal an election from the majority.

All is not lost. New York State, behind Gov. Kathy Hochul and a Democrat-led state legislature, is trying to, among other things, reverse this illiteracy trend by banning the use of cell phones during school hours. It can only help. Kids might have to look at something other than games. Teens might have to tear themselves away from TikTok and Instagram and who knows what else and maybe even learn how to tell what’s true and what’s BS. And maybe they won’t feel the need to constantly stare at their phones as they walk home from school.

That’s where the pain in the neck comes in. I asked a chiropractor about the effect of constantly walking and viewing cell phones among young people. He said that the neck/shoulder stoop that typically occurs in adults past age 50 is probably going to arrive with this group of teens in their 30s. Well, you read it here first so pass it on to your kids. Maybe give them a book, too.

The other good news during my hiatus was that the chiro did a really good job on the right side of my neck. No more pain. The insanity will continue, but at least I’m trying to cut down on the games and look up more often from my writing tablet.

Oh, and I’m still waiting to see those Epstein files.

If you flatten it, you replace it. That oughta be the rule of the road.

By Bob Gaydos

I published this article a couple of years ago and quickly suspected that it’s probably a piece that will bear repeating because (1) there are (hopefully) new readers and new neighbors who will not have seen it and (2) I keep noticing things to add to it.

I was right. This is year three in a row. The need to repeat was prompted by what I see as a disturbingly increasing problem on narrow country roads: getting out of your own driveway. This should not be a hazardous duty mission. Unfortunately, it often is. It boils down to a lack of consideration or understanding. I’ll address the issue one more time in the column below.

***

By Bob Gaydos

For most of my life, I’ve lived in small cities (Bayonne, Binghamton, Annapolis, Middletown) and one large town (Wallkill), which is really a mall-dotted highway surrounded by housing complexes. Throw in a few years living on college campuses. Basically, it’s been city or community living.

When you live with a lot of other people close by and you want to be relatively content, you learn the rules of the road, the do’s and don’ts of getting along. Mostly, it’s mind your own business and don’t make a lot of noise.

A few years ago, I moved to the country, a bit of upstate New York between the Hudson River and the Catskills that is often protected from major weather issues by the imposing Shawangunk Ridge.

Country living means owls, woodpeckers, chickens, coyotes and starry skies, oh my.

It’s nice. Well, usually. It’s quiet. Usually. In any case, it most definitely has its own rules of the road. Things a transplanted city boy ought to know. Something I call country etiquette.

The notion (see how I used the word “notion“ instead of “idea“?) that there was such a thing as country etiquette grew out of a recent conversation about a not uncommon country experience.

A few years ago, our quiet summer evening at home was disrupted by a loud squealing of tires and a loud thud. Right in front of our house.

We rushed out to find a car sitting in a culvert in front of our house, a distraught young woman sitting behind the wheel and our mailbox on the ground, post and all. I don’t recall who called 911, but state police arrived quickly, talked with the driver (who was shaken but not hurt), someone called a tow truck, we went back in the house and eventually everything was back to normal, except for the mailbox. Its career was over.

In short order, we replaced the mailbox and occasionally wondered what happened to the young driver. I suspected alcohol may have been involved.

A couple of weeks later, the whole scene repeated itself. Nighttime. Squeal. Thud. Car. Culvert. Young woman driver. Unhurt. Mailbox kaput.

Deja vu all over again, as Yogi Berra once said. Same follow up. Police. Tow truck. Mailbox flattened.

Again, we replaced it and the new one has survived ever since, although it’s leaning. But here’s the thing. Neither driver offered to pay to replace the mailbox (they both got out of their cars and talked to us) or to have it repaired. Now, it seems to me that a basic rule of country etiquette ought to be that if you wipe out someone’s mailbox (and get caught at it), the decent thing to do is to make it right again. Pay for a new one.

And that’s what got me thinking about other rules of country etiquette. What are some things to help someone new get along with neighbors who may not live right next door? Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

— Having a handy supply of eggs is nice, but keep your chickens in your own yard as much as possible. Free range doesn’t mean the whole neighborhood, or, especially, the busy road. And chickens don’t move that fast.

— Don’t shovel your driveway snow into the road. It’s only extra work for the highway crews and it’s dangerous.

— When driving, wave at people walking along country roads. It’s downright neighborly.

— Walkers, please wear reflective clothing at night. It’s awfully dark out there sometimes and the roads are often winding and have no shoulder. We’d like to get to know you.

— Don’t let your dog walk on the road side. Preferably, don’t walk your dog on the road at all. Some drivers are less attentive than others. (See reference to mailboxes above.) And yes, clean up after Snoopy.

— Slow down and maybe swing wide for people at their mailbox. (A personal peeve of mine.) You can even wave.

— In fact, slow down in general. Posted speed limits are not merely suggestions and police will ticket.

— In special fact (and this is the issue that needs to be readdressed, which I mentioned at the top ), if you see someone backing out of their driveway or road to get on the typical narrow, no-shoulder, two-lane road in the country and you are a good quarter mile away, slow the heck down. Please. Let them get out in peace in one piece. It’s hard enough to back into a narrow country road with trees often blocking your vision without worrying whether that driver whizzing down the road is texting or talking on the phone or so totally engrossed in something on the radio that they don’t see you, even though you see them.

— In further fact, if you’re not going to back up a lot of traffic, just be nice and let people back out of their driveways even if they haven’t gotten their rear end out yet. It’s common courtesy. Yelling through your closed window at the person backing out is not. Being foreign to the area and in oh such a hurry to get to the state highway 5 miles away is not an excuse either. I suspect this may at least partially be the result of more city folk moving to the area, in which case this column should be all the more valuable to them. If you know someone who fits the bill, share it with them.

— Be patient with a farm tractor on the road. He’ll be out of your way shortly, or he’ll pull over as soon as he can. He’s working. Wave.

— Be honest at roadside food honor stands. Act like there are cameras in the trees.

— Free stuff at the foot of a driveway is really free. Don’t be embarrassed. If you want it, take it. Someone always does.

That’s what I came up with so far. If you have other suggestions, please leave them in the comment section.

While I’m at it, I figure I might as well add another feature of country living — a potpourri of handmade road signs. Here are a few I noticed:

— Corn maze, hay ride, pumpkins, pickles, sweet corn

— Beef sale

— Fresh garlic

— Sunflower patch, mums

— Hay

— Honey

— Farm fresh eggs

— U pick pumpkins

— Horse crossing

— Fresh key lime pie,

— We buy ATVs dead or alive

Like I said, nice.

‘Til next time at pet-friendly, open-carry Tractor Supply.

By Bob Gaydos

Rachel Robinson, throwing out a first pitch somewhere. She’s 103 years old today.

(An occasional public service for people who have jobs. Read to the end.)

7/19/2025 Today’s top newsmakers:

Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein.

Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein.

Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey, Epstein, Jeffrey, Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein,.

Rachel Robinson, widow of legendary Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, is celebrating her 103rd birthday.

I have never met Mrs. Robinson and never got to see her husband play in person since my father was a New York Giants fan who hated the Brooklyn Dodgers.

But I did get to meet her husband. As sports editor for The Sun-Bulletin in Binghamton, N.Y., I was covering some kind of weekend sports conference. Different sports, different athletes. Not especially interesting.

But in the middle of a talk on some subject I can’t recall, I noticed a handsome man leaning against a sidewall. It only took a second for me to recognize him — the man who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball.

After a quick, wow, is that really him? I put down my pad and pen and walked over. He smiled that famous smile. I said, “An honor to meet you, Mr. Robinson.” He said, “Thank you.” We shook hands. Biggest thrill of my brief career as a sports editor. It was 1972. He died not long after and I moved on to another job.

Rachel Robinson, a former professor and registered nurse, founded the Jackie Robinson Foundation in 1973, a year following her husband’s death. The foundation provides college scholarships to minority youth.

Happy 103rd Birthday, Mrs. Robinson.

OK, break’s over.

… Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein.

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