Month: August 2023

Did Jesus of Nazareth Rise from the Dead?

Here’s the link to this article.

Robert Shaw | July 30, 2022 | Kiosk Article

[ Bible: New Testament | Christianity | History of Religion | Jesus | Resurrection ]

The majority of biblical scholars, and those with an interest in the origins of Christianity, see the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth as a historical reality. While it is important to recognize a vociferous and often well-informed ‘Jesus mythicism’ movement whose members hold that none of the events in Jesus’ life actually happened, the Crucifixion passes a number of tests used by historians. First, references to it appear in independent sources, and while one must be very cautious indeed when considering the hugely hagiographic Gospels, renowned chroniclers such as Tacitus[1] and Josephus[2] refer to it. The Crucifixion is also historically consistent with practices within the Roman Empire; those who were deemed to be a threat to Roman order were summarily nailed to a cross and left to die. Most convincingly, Jesus’ execution passes the so-called ‘criterion of embarrassment.’ This suggests that statements are more likely to be true if they are embarrassing to those making them and are unlike what they would be expected to invent. For the early Christians to have invented the detail of the Crucifixion seems implausible. Jesus was meant to have led Israel into a new golden age, not to be ignominiously killed by its enemy, the Romans. The Crucifixion also requires no supernatural beliefs and so does not demand that we suspend our belief that the laws of biology apply at all times.

The Resurrection is a different matter. Ultimately, organisms cannot come back to life if all biological functions have ceased for a few days. For this reason, the necessary position for humanists to take is that the events following the Crucifixion did not happen as the Bible portrays: that a human verified to be dead by a Roman centurion (Mark 15:44), wrapped in cloth, and placed in a tomb with a rock rolled in front of its entrance (Mark 15:46) was able, two days later, to revive, roll the stone away, and leave (Mark 16:4-6). It helps us, however, to have a hypothesis for the events following the Crucifixion, particularly as many of the early followers of Jesus seem to have genuinely believed and testified to the fact that he had risen from the dead.

In fact, they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them as if they did. (Qur’an 4:157)

Interestingly, one of the first attempts at supplying a naturalistic explanation for the Resurrection comes from the early days of Islam. Muslims to this day have believed that Jesus was a mere prophet, unblessed with divine powers. The most common interpretation of the above verse from the Qur’an is that someone resembling Jesus was crucified, thus providing us with an explanation as to why he was seen following the Crucifixion; it was not him on the cross, but either a willing volunteer, a stooge, or a victim of Roman mistaken identity. Another hypothesis based around the idea that Jesus did not die on the cross—the ‘swoon hypothesis’—had its first famous exponent in the form of maverick German biblical scholar Karl Friedrich Bahrdt. In the 1700s he proposed that it was actually Jesus who was crucified, but that a combination of drugs and resuscitation by Joseph of Arimathea (a follower to whom the body was subsequently entrusted) enabled him to cheat death.[3]

There is evidently a state of being when someone can appear to be dead, when the heartbeat is undetectable, though he/she is still technically alive. In the modern era, methods of determining death are of course more exact, but even as late as 1895, the physician J. C. Ouseley claimed that as many as 2,700 people were buried prematurely each year in England and Wales for this reason alone.[4] Many give the fact that the Gospels say that Jesus was only on the cross for six hours as evidence for this hypothesis—it would generally take people a couple of days before they finally expired. However, there are alternative explanations as to why Jesus was reported to have been on the cross for a short space of time. One is that the flogging that he had received prior to being crucified hastened his death (John 19:1, Mark 15:15, & Matthew 27:26). It could also be suggested that he was merely reported to have been on the cross for a short time to make events compliant with Jewish law. Not only would leaving him overnight have meant that anointing would have to take place on the Sabbath—which would have involved work in contravention of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8)—but there was also a law in the Torah that a body should not be “left on a tree overnight” (Deuteronomy 21:22).

However, the swoon hypothesis fails, as it takes as given the historically inconsistent assertion that Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who presided over the province of Judaea from 27 to 37 CE (and over the Crucifixion), would allow a body to be taken down from a cross and given a burial. First, one of the purposes of crucifixion was to act as a deterrent to anybody who even harbored thoughts that they might challenge the power of Rome. To this end, crucified corpses would be left on crosses for days for all to see, with birds of prey feasting on the remains. Victims were then typically ‘buried’ in a crude common grave. Second, for Pilate to allow someone to be taken down prematurely is at odds with what we can learn about his character from the sources available to us. The Gospels paint the picture of Pilate as an amenable and weak figure. However, their writers wanted to make Jesus’ Jewish opponents guilty for the sentencing of Jesus, so it was necessary to depict Pilate as being so easily swayed by them.

Two other sources may give us a more accurate description of Pilate. Philo of Alexandria, a Jew who chronicled 1st-century Jewish life in the Levant, describes Pilate as “a man of inflexible, stubborn and cruel disposition” and recalls an incident that may have occurred in the very same year as the Crucifixion itself. Pilate had commissioned some golden shields to be made honoring the then-emperor Tiberius, which he displayed at his palace in Jerusalem. Local Jews protested at the tribute to a figure regarded as a deity, or at least a ‘son of god,’ by Romans, and requested their removal. Pilate flatly refused. He refused again when members of King Herod’s family intervened, only eventually agreeing to move them out of Jerusalem when the Emperor himself intervened after being petitioned by the Herodians.[5] The Jewish historian Josephus tells of Pilate using treasure looted from the Jewish temple in Jerusalem to pay for an aqueduct. Pilate had those taking part in the subsequent protest beaten with clubs, with many dying from the brutality of the punishment or through being trampled by horses.[6] Both events suggest that Pilate was a much more intransigent figure, unsympathetic or even ignorant of Jewish sensitivities. The suggestion that he would show compassion towards a Jewish sect’s wishes towards a leader that he had put to death for sedition seems implausible.

That said, the Resurrection was not completely an invention of the Gospel writers, writing as they did at least thirty years after the events that they claim to recount. The Resurrection was not a late addition to the legends about Jesus. Instead, it was a tradition that can be traced back to the very roots of Christianity. Our very first Christians scriptures were written in the 50s CE by Paul, who, although he had never met Jesus in his lifetime, became a key player in the early development of Christianity. Paul mentioned the Resurrection of Jesus throughout his writings, and it is clear that in his letters to churches based around the Mediterranean that it was a firmly established belief. However, there are a number of other aspects of later Christian beliefs that he did not seem to know about, such as the Virgin Birth and the Ascension (Jesus’ bodily return to Heaven after the Resurrection). Paul also made no mention of any of Jesus’ miracles, and the only quote in any of his writings is where Jesus asked his followers to partake in the breaking of bread and drinking of wine in remembrance of him (1 Corinthians 11:24-25).

Similarly, there was no mention of what many of us recognize as the key elements of the Christian account of the resurrection of Jesus in Paul’s writings. There was no mention of the taking down of the body from the cross, the tomb, the stone, the visit two days later by followers, the stone being rolled away, or the earthquakes and the presence of angelic beings (Matthew 28:2). There was no talk of the discourse and meetings that Jesus is said to have subsequently had with his disciples (Matthew 28, Luke 24, John 20 & John 21), or any reference to the Ascension.

[H]e appeared to Cephas [St. Peter], then to the twelve [disciples]. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. (1 Corinthians 15:5-8)

Paul does not mention these traditions because ultimately they did not yet exist. The renowned New Testament professor and theologian Rudolf Bultmann remarked: “the accounts of an empty tomb are legends, of which Paul as yet knew nothing.”[7] Another important point to consider is that Paul’s quote above does not reveal any distinction between the Resurrection experiences of the disciples—men who spent their time with Jesus during his earthly life—and those of his own; his encounter with the risen Jesus is not distinct from that of the disciples. And to Paul, the body that Jesus was resurrected in was “not natural,” but “spiritual” (see 1 Corinthians 15:44), and one with which he did not record any interactions, by either himself or anybody else. One can almost envisage the viewings of Jesus as akin to a ghostly apparition; this was perhaps the only way that he could be seen by followers who were cognizant of the fact that Jesus could not be resurrected in his earthly body—it would have simply been too badly damaged after days (not hours) on the cross.

In the Gospels, written at least thirty years after the event, Jesus becomes essentially a reanimated human body after the Resurrection, able to talk with disciples and eat fish—so possessive of a material digestive system and vocal tract—and with a body whose crucifixion wounds could be touched by Thomas (John 20:27). The writers of the later book of Acts, said to have been written by the same author who wrote Luke’s gospel, had to deal with the fact that Paul could not have experienced this type of risen Jesus; Paul was not part of the inner circle of the Jesus movement until some years after the Crucifixion, and was certainly not around within the forty-day window that the Book of Acts says was afforded to other followers before the Ascension (Acts 1:3). Paul is therefore depicted as seeing Jesus as a light in the sky while he is traveling on the road to Damascus some years later (Acts 9:3-9).

One of the methods used by historians to determine historical truth is to show a preference to those sources that originate closest to the time of the events that they report. As Torsten Thurén states in his highly regarded 1997 book Source Criticism, “the closer a source is to the event that it purports to describe, the more one can trust it to give an accurate historical description of what actually happened.”[8] Therefore, if we are to find any kernel of truth in the Resurrection narratives in the Bible, it must be in Paul’s initial nebulous, vision-type experiences that he suggests are experienced both by Jesus’ closest contemporary followers and by himself, a later convert. The later Gospel accounts (that disagree with each other in a number of ways) can be dismissed as fanciful invention.

In his book How Jesus Became God[9], Bart Ehrman gives three criteria that make such visions of the deceased much more common. All of them are met in the case of the death of Jesus of Nazareth. They happen when “the deceased was especially beloved; when his or her death was sudden, unexpected, or violent; and when the visionary feels guilt.” With regards to the latter, the criterion of embarrassment might suggest that there might be some truth in the Bible accounts of disciples deserting Jesus in the hours approaching the Crucifixion (see Mark 14:50 & Matthew 26:56)—an act about which Jesus’ followers may have experienced considerable guilt, thus exacerbating their visionary experiences further. Such postdeath encounters with the dead are very, very real to those undergoing them. They explain why Jesus’ early followers insisted so fervently on the resurrection of Jesus as an event grounded in reality, helping to make it such a widely held belief almost two thousand years later.

Notes

[1] Tacitus, The Annals, trans. F. Goodyear, T. Woodman, and R. Martin (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1972). (Originally written 2nd century CE.)

[2] Josephus, Jewish Antiquities (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998). (Originally written 93-94 CE.)

[3] More details about the swoon hypothesis can be found on Wikipedia.

[4] Jan Bondeson, Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of our Most Primal Fear (New York, NY: Norton, 2001).

[5] Philo, The Complete Works of Philo, trans C. D. Yonge (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1991). (Originally written 1st century CE.)

[6] Josephus, Jewish Antiquities.

[7] Rudolf Bultmann, Theologie des Neuen Testaments (Tübingen, Germany: Mohr/Siebeck, 1984).

[8] Torsten Thurén, Källkritik (Stockholm, Sweden: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1997).

[9] Bart Ehrman, How Jesus Became God (New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2014).

The Boaz Stranger–Chapter 30

Goats drink a lot of water, even in colder weather, I thought as I waited for their trough to fill. Hopefully, this will be my third and last day to care for the five Nubians.

Kyla had left Friday afternoon and traveled to Atlanta to pick up a former co-worker before they headed to the Smoky Mountains. She promised to return by late afternoon.

The goats hadn’t been the only ones I’d babysat. Lillian had dropped by at sunset Saturday and insisted she stay. I could hardly decline after hearing her latest recording. She was correct in concluding our lives were in danger, but I disagreed that she was the only one responsible for getting us into this mess. In fact, the initial idea of staking out Ted King’s cabin had been my own. I felt both guilt and an impending sense of foreboding.

I turned off the faucet and heard my new roommate yell something from the front porch. I looked her way. She was standing with a cup of coffee and her back to the open storm door. She wore a thin pink housecoat and the same toboggan from Friday night. Our short co-habitation felt odd, maybe even wrong, for several reasons. I almost regretted the respect she’d shown for my Friday night hesitancy. But respect and thoughtful restraint are two different things. Although there had been no actual kissing, holding, or lovemaking, an intersecting theme flooded my mind that pointed in the same direction.

“What?” She’d said something about a phone call. I was halfway to the front porch when she repeated her earlier statement. “The DA lady wants to talk to you.” Dang, she’s early. It was barely daylight.

I walked to the carport, kicked off Dad’s muddy work boots, slipped on my house shoes, and headed inside.

Governor Williams had recently appointed Marshall County District Attorney Pam Garrison to fill the spot vacated by the death of former DA Charles Abbott. A good thing, according to Micaden, was Pam had only recently returned to her hometown of Albertville after a forty-year career in Atlanta, the last half spent as a Fulton County prosecutor. It was unlikely local politics had entangled her. I grabbed my iPhone from the kitchen table and realized if it weren’t for Micaden, I wouldn’t be receiving this call.

“Good morning, sorry to keep you waiting.” Pam and Micaden had worked for the same Atlanta law firm after they graduated from Emory University’s School of Law in 1977. Of course, this didn’t mean she would convey favors, but hopefully it meant she’d follow the law.

“No problem.” It sounded like classical music playing in the background. “Lee, if you will, get me all of Rachel’s diaries.” DA Pam’s request didn’t surprise me. I’d contemplated the same yesterday afternoon when I handed her the diary I’d discovered inside a Hunt House wall.

The last thirty-six hours had been a whirlwind. After the shock of listening to Lillian’s last Lodge recording, I’d called Micaden. It hadn’t taken ten minutes, including my recap of everything relevant to Ray and Buddy as arsonists, for my lawyer to slip into his grand master mode. He’d contacted Connor in Gatlinburg, who contacted Mark Hale in the Sheriff’s Department. Then Mark contacted Avery Proctor, the District Attorney’s chief investigator, who’d obviously communicated with DA Pam. Finally, she closed the loop back to her old friend Micaden.

At noon yesterday, all of us had met in the DA’s conference room (Connor via video) for Pam and Avery to listen to all recordings, review the Hunt House lawsuit documents, and inspect the seventy-five still shots from Ted’s cabin Lillian had traveled to the Gadsden Walmart for development and printing. Pam’s assistant district attorney, Greg Vincent, had also joined the meeting.

Three and a half hours later, the DA concluded the evidence justified the issuance of arrest warrants. After a brief break and before our meeting disbanded, Micaden had requested permission to address one of Marshall County’s oldest cold cases: the disappearance and presumed death of Kyle Bennett. Maybe Micaden had read my mind during the three plus hour meeting. I had kept thinking we needed to use full disclosure with the woman who had been so open-minded and gracious.

I’d often heard shocks or surprises come in triplet. DA Pam’s response to Micaden’s request had baffled him and me. It seems ever since she’d arrived, cold cases had become a popular topic, including one that occurred only a few weeks before Kyle disappeared. Eerily, the two had similar characteristics. Sharon Teague, an Albertville High School rising senior and cheerleader, had gone missing during late summer or early fall of 1969, around the time Pam Garrison herself began her freshman year at the same school.

After Micaden provided a summary (including Rachel’s diaries) of why he, Connor, and I believed Ray Archer had committed the crime of kidnapping and murdering Kyle, DA Pam had responded rather cold and disinterested. But she had asked me to read the diary I’d found behind the wall inside the Hunt House.

As Lillian attempted breakfast in a foreign kitchen, I finally responded to Pam’s question. “It’s not that I don’t want you to read them (in part, it was), but I’ve been reluctant to have them shipped, afraid they’d get lost in the mail.”

“I understand your hesitation and cannot grasp what’s it’s like to lose your spouse in such a tragic way. However, from strictly a legal viewpoint, I cannot properly consider the diaries value until I read every page.” What DA Pam was saying without putting it into words was Rachel’s diaries (assuming the court ruled them admissible) could do more harm than good. It wouldn’t be the first time a sharp defense attorney turned a prosecutor’s star witness or smoking gun document into a pile of smoldering ashes.

DA Pam and I ended our conversation with me reluctantly promising to deliver Rachel’s remaining journals. Right now, the prospects of Ray being brought to justice for Kyle’s death seemed remote. Especially since we didn’t have a murder weapon, and it appeared Rachel’s writings might be the key to Ray’s exoneration.

I would call Sophia and ask her to package and mail my late wife’s long hidden scribblings.

***

I poured two glasses of grape juice while Lillian redialed Kyla’s new toaster. The first attempt had produced four slices of charcoal. “I like mine burnt,” I joked. At least the bacon smelled good.

Lillian offered a slight smile and her customary eyeroll as she removed two plates from the oven. “I hope you like southwestern omelets.” I kept quiet and figured the pink-clad cook had her own unique cooking style.

“I do.” I carried the juice to the table and sat. Lillian followed with egg and pepper aromas wafting from the still-opened oven.

We ate in silence, interrupted only by the ding of the toaster. Lillian’s meal impressed me, including the sauteed onions and peppers inside the omelet, and the brown sugar sprinkled on the bacon. But I avoided the bread, not burnt this time but overly brown.

“How well do you know Jane?” I asked as the two of us washed the dirty dishes.

“I’ve known her all my life, but you knew that.”

“Describe her, not her physically, but her character, her personality.” Before I asked my questions, I wanted to learn Lillian’s thoughts.

“To be blunt, I’ve never really liked her, even though she probably doesn’t know that. Truth be known, I’d bet Rachel felt the same.” I was listening carefully, but my mind was also straying. It felt weird being here with Lillian. It was almost like we were playing house. I wondered what life would have been like if we’d married or at least gotten engaged before Ray had swooped in, or Rachel and I connected at the University of Virginia. “Plus, she’s a manipulator of sorts. You know she loves chess.”

“The game of chess?”

“Yes.”

“That’s surprising, the manipulator thing.” I found an empty coffee can under the sink and drained the skillet grease, while Lillian wiped the table. “Question, and it may sound silly, but do you think Jane has a thing for Ray?”

Without hesitation, “oh gosh yeah. Now you’ve got me curious. Why do you ask that?”

“Kent seemed to think Jane might protect Ray. Plus, the last recording. I’ve been contemplating the differences between what Jane told me and what Ray said Jane told him.”

“I think I understand. But explain yourself.” I couldn’t help but notice Lillian’s cleavage as she leaned down to return the coffee can under the sink. Again, the never-to-fade, long-ago image of the naked goddess in Kyla’s bedroom flooded my mind. In a weird way, it was refreshing to know I hadn’t lost my libido, but I had to maintain focus. For Kyle and Rachel’s sake.

“You heard Ray’s recap of his and Jane’s conversation on Saturday afternoon’s recording: that Ray had dropped Kyle off first, and that Rachel’s abortion was before she returned to China. Notice, these two things all favor Ray. I mean, if he was being accused of doing something bad, like murder. What Ray’s recap didn’t include were two other things.” I rinsed the skillet and reached for the drying towel. Lillian and I bumped shoulders.

“What two things?”

“Jane made a couple of remarks during our phone conversation. The first one seemed out of place.”

“What was that?” Lillian closed the oven and drained the dishwater.

“She said that when they dropped Kyle off at the end of his driveway, she and Rachel made fun of Jackie Fraiser’s car. They called it the ‘blue moon.’”

“That seems odd, given your question. Why would that be relevant?”

“Here’s my theory. Jane and Ray talked after he had breakfast with Kent. Remember, I told you what Kent said.”

“I do. He thinks he caught Ray in a lie.”

“It’s like Jane wanted to emphasize that Jackie was home much earlier than normal. Therefore, Ray was telling the truth in his conversation with Kent.”

“Let me see if I understand. Ray’s witness statement says he and Rachel dropped Kyle off around 9:00 p.m., but Kent thinks it was much later because he, Ray, admitted Jackie’s car was already home. So, if Jackie had come home from the Spinning Mill much earlier than usual, there wouldn’t be a conflict in Ray’s statements.”

“Right. Again, Jane protected Ray, but she didn’t tell Ray that she mentioned Jackie’s car to me.”

“It’s a little confusing but I see your point.” Lillian edged toward me as I wiped down the sink. The woman always smelled of Lavender and she hadn’t yet taken her morning shower. “So, what was the second thing?”

“To me it’s wholly irrelevant.”

“No way. You remember the rule: you bring up a subject you don’t get to avoid explanation.”

She was correct. This practice among Kyla, Lillian, and me was a tradition even in high school. “When I told Jane about finding the diaries, she blamed Rachel for her own journaling addiction.”

“That sounds like Jane. In Bible study, she often mentions her diaries. She’s a firm believer in confessing her sins in writing.”

I laughed out loud, but then remembered during the last year or so of Rachel’s life, it obsessed her. What she believed wrong, what she called disobedience, was amazing. It could be as innocuous as eating a 150-calorie glazed cookie. Amazing, and sad.

08/16/23 Biking & Listening

Biking is something else I both love and hate. It takes a lot of effort but does provide good exercise and most days over an hour to listen to a good book or podcast. I especially like having ridden.

Here’s my bike, a Rockhopper by Specialized. I purchased it November 2021 from Venture Out in Guntersville; Mike is top notch! So is the bike, and the ‘old’ man seat I salvaged from an old Walmart bike.

Here’s a link to today’s bike ride.

Something to consider if you’re not already cycling.

I encourage you to start riding a bike, no matter your age. Check out these groups:

Cycling for those aged 70+(opens in a new tab)

Solitary Cycling(opens in a new tab)

Remember,

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

Listened to

Here’s a few photos from along my pistol route:

Little Donny Four-Indictments fucked around in Georgia and now he’s finding out

Here’s the link to this article.

mob boss Donald Trump and 18 of his criminal co-conspirators have been indicted on a total of 41 counts

JEFF TIEDRICH

AUG 15, 2023

holy shit, life just got a whole lot worse for the quadrice-indicted twice-impeached popular-vote-losing insurrection-leading judge-threatening witness-tampering serial-sexual-predating draft-dodging casino-bankrupting daughter-perving hush-money-paying real-estate-scamming ketchup-hurling justice-obstructing classified-war-plan-thieving weather-map-defacing paper-towel-flinging tax-cheating evidence-destroying charity-defrauding money-laundering fluorescent tangerine jackass currently hiding under the bed in his shitty New Jersey golf-motel-and-ex-wife-cemetery.

mob boss Little Donny Fuckface and 18 of his criminal co-conspirators have been indicted on a total of 41 counts for engaging in racketeering in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

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the list of Trump’s Georgia co-conspirators reads like a who’s-who of America’s most-unctuous shitheels. Rudy Giuliani. John Eastman. Sidney Powell. Mark Meadows. Jeffrey Clark. Kenneth Chesebro. Jenna Ellis.

all of them had their fingers in the election fuckery pie and now all of them are sinking in a legal sargasso of shit.

the 13 charges that apply specifically to Trump include racketeering, forgery, election fraud, false statements, perjury, and soliciting public officers to violate their oaths.

the most serious charge is the first one: racketeering, or, more specifically, violation of the Georgia RICO Act.

a good explainer of Georgia’s RICO laws can be found here. but let’s skip ahead to the part you all want to know about.

In Georgia, it’s a felony conviction that carries a prison term of five to 20 years; a fine of $25,000 or three times the amount of money gained from the criminal activity, whichever is greater; or both a prison sentence and a fine.

here’s the beauty part: there is no get-out-of-deep-shit-free card in Georgia. Republican Governor Brian Kemp has no power to summarily pardon Trump and send him on his merry way.

and it gets better: Trump can’t even apply for a pardon until 5 years after he completes his sentence.

don’t you hate it when being a no-mercy tough-on-crime Republican comes back to bite you on the ass?

hey, let’s check in with the email lady and see how she’s doing.

yeah, us too, Hillary. us too.

here’s a thought: Lindsey Graham skated. the indictment does not mention him at all. did he flip on Donald?

I can’t repeat this enough: none of this had to happen. none of it. Donny could have taken his loss like a mature adult and fucked off and gone home. he could have quietly returned the documents he stole, and right now he could be golfing and laundering Saudi money and fleecing his gullible worshipers and getting his stupid face on Fox News — and not worrying about spending the rest of his miserable life sinking deeper into a big fucking legal hell of his own making.

Donald, if you’re out there reading this, can I ask a personal favor? can you please fucking learn how to spell indicted?

an arrest warrant has been issued for Donald Trump. he has been given until August 25th to turn himself in.

there will be a mug shot and fingerprints.

and — unlike Manhattan and Florida and DC — the whole arraignment will be televised.

Georgia law requires that cameras be allowed during judicial proceedings with a judge’s approval. Cameras are seen as an important aspect of transparency.

settle in and pass the popcorn. this is going to get good.

everyone is entitled to my own opinion is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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The Boaz Stranger–Chapter 29

It was 3:00 PM Saturday afternoon before Spectrum’s serviceman arrived. He was thirty minutes late but had called Ted to let him know. “Sorry, last night’s storm has us scrambling.” The fireplug shaped woman surprised Ted as she exited her pickup. Terrie had sounded like a man over the phone.

The temperature was hovering at freezing, so Ted went inside the cabin. Terrie wanted to check the panel first. She walked to the side of the house and quickly noticed the incoming cable had been severed.

“That was easy to diagnose.” Terrie said, joining Ted in the great room.

“How so?”

“Someone clipped your line; cut it in half.” Terrie pulled her right hand across her throat to dramatize her words.

“Damn. Probably the same person who took my whiskey. And left the front door unlocked.” The service lady gave both affirmative and negative nods, one after the other.

“Well, I can’t help you there, but I can splice your incoming and have you going in fifteen minutes.” Terrie exited the cabin while Ted watched, confused. He wondered if the Spectrum rep was a trans: a male trying to become a female, or the opposite.

Ted shook his head and walked to the rear of the cabin. He opened the blinds and looked through the sliding glass door across the porch and to the over-sized and barren fire pit. He closed his eyes and recalled the many times he and his buddies had drank beer and delivered bullshit stories of their female conquests. But, what he’d truly love is to return to younger days, a simple life with Julie, even if they didn’t have an extra dime.

The suction from the front storm door and a triple ding from his iPhone startled Ted. He turned. “Done already?”

“Yep. You should be good to go, but let’s check.” Terrie walked in front of the giant screen TV and picked up the remote sitting atop the entertainment center. After a few seconds, Ted watched Alabama’s quarterback Mac Jones complete a thirty-yard pass against Auburn. “Just in time to watch the massacre.” Terrie flipped a few channels before activating Netflix. It wouldn’t connect. “Where’s your router?” Ted pointed to the master bedroom and waited for a quick minute. “That should do it.”

Ted walked Terrie outside and watched him, her, drive away, waving an Alabama hat outside the driver’s side window. Back inside, Ted removed his iPhone and sat on the couch, intent on watching at least the first half. What he heard changed everything.

 The break in Wi-Fi service had delayed his cell notifications. When Julie had left him and before she moved into the cabin, Ted had hired a friend from Atlanta to install two devices. One was a video camera hidden inside a smoke alarm. The second was an audio recorder secluded inside a largemouth bass mounted next to an eight-point buck above the front door.

Ted would have to remove the memory card from the video device and insert it into a PC before reviewing its contents. However, the audio was already on his phone, sent via email after Terri restored his Internet service. Ted opened the clip and pressed PLAY. The voices were clear but unfamiliar. One was a female; one was a male. Ted replayed the recording three times:

Female: “I see you like playing in the mud.” Long pause.

Male: “Don’t we need to remove the recorders?” Minimal pause.

Female: “Done. Now, come on. I can’t wait to weigh our catch.”

“Oh shit,” was all Ted could say. He stood and pulled a dining room chair to the doorway leading to the master bedroom. He climbed up, reached for the smoke detector, and opened its outer door. Inside was another door. Ted removed the memory card and stepped off the chair, nearly falling as he questioned and doubted whether the female voice was Julie’s, and whether she had found a new playmate.

During the return drive to his house, he concluded it was unlikely his former lover knew about the recorders. So, what was the man’s voice referring to?

All Ted could say as he parked in front of his sprawling mansion was, “shit, shit, shit, if it’s not Julie, who the hell could it be?”

***

Ted was more confused after watching the video. The woman inside his cabin could be Julie. The two were the same or similar height. But something was off. The woman on the screen was too thick. Ted admitted the camouflaged outfit could be the difference, especially if it was double or triple layered. Of course, identification would have been easier if the woman hadn’t blackened her face. Woman? Ted questioned his gender analysis; maybe the figure was a man.

After an unsuccessful attempt to call Ray, Ted had driven to Julie’s house. Her car was missing. He thought about calling but decided against it. Instead, he checked Julie’s Facebook Page. Last night, contemporaneous with the date/time stamp on both the audio and video recordings, Julie was enjoying a meal at Cotton Row in Huntsville. Somewhat tentatively, Ted concluded his estranged wife wasn’t the intruder. Maybe Ray would know.

It was 5:30 PM when Ted parked outside the Lodge’s triple-car garage. Ray was unloading groceries. “We need to talk. Now.”

“Why didn’t you call?” Ray said, motioning for Ted to grab some Walmart bags from the back of the Suburban.

“I did. Both your cell and your land line.”

“I don’t enjoy talking when I’m in such a public place. Too many eavesdroppers around.”

After two more trips each, Ted sat at the breakfast bar while Ray put away the groceries. “You hit the nail on the head.”

“Uh?” Ray glanced at Ted before shoving a box of dishwasher detergent underneath the sink.

“Someone was inside the cabin last night, both before and after we arrived.”

“Holy shit. How do you know?”

Over the next hour, Ted and Ray reviewed and discussed the two recordings. According to Ray, there was little doubt the woman on the video was Lillian. The main giveaway was the knitted Deerhunter toboggan he had given her for Christmas two years ago. The second giveaway was the female voice from the audio recording. “I’d know that voice anywhere.”

“Then, who’s the man?” Ted asked, accepting a Budweiser from Ray.

“Now that I’ve spoken to Jane, I think I know. It’s Lee Harding.” Ray removed his iPhone from his shirt pocket, clicked a couple of buttons, and laid it on the counter next to the sink. “Listen to what she said.”

Jane had reported that Lee had called her this morning. He relayed that he had found several of Rachel’s diaries. Lee had asked two questions. One concerned Jane’s knowledge of what happened the night Kyle had gone missing, particularly whether Ray and Rachel had dropped Jane off at her house while Kyle was still in Ray’s truck. The second concerned Rachel’s pregnancy and abortion. Jane had been certain of both her responses. She had sworn that Ray had first dropped Kyle at the end of his driveway before driving to her house further down King Street. She had also sworn that Rachel had her abortion before she and her family returned to China in the middle of tenth grade.

“It’s good to hear Jane is still on your side but what I don’t understand is why Lee and Lillian would come to my cabin.” Ted said, shaking his head.

“We have to assume they heard every word uttered after we arrived, including my argument with Buddy.” Ray paused and took two long draws of his beer. “Thank God there was no mention of the Hunt House.”

Ted stood and pushed the bar stool back under the counter. “Ray, promise you’ll protect me. From the recordings, I’m just along for the ride. I had nothing to do with you and Buddy.”

“You dumb fuck. It was your place. You were there. You’re guilty by association.” Ray’s declaration spurred Ted to stand, walk toward the giant fireplace in the den, and return to the kitchen. Ted was clearly worried.

“I think we better protect each other. We both are at risk of going to prison. You for the fiasco with your Albertville cheerleader and the Hunt House fire, among a long list of other things, and me for financial corruption.”

“And you for arson.” Ray added.

“The hell you say. All I did was manipulate the police.” Ted had placed an anonymous call to the Boaz dispatcher who’d sent three patrol cars to a domestic violence inspired shooting outside Barry’s Barbecue south of town. This had provided safe passage for Buddy and Eric’s visit to Thomas Avenue and the Hunt House.

 “That’s conspiracy to commit a crime you dumb ass.” Ray hated lawyers but had always been fascinated by the law.

“Come on, let’s go to The Shack and eat a steak. While we can.” Ray nodded, flipped off the kitchen lights, and followed Ted outside.

***

Lillian’s iPhone vibrated. For the past two hours, she had napped on her couch under a throw. She reached for the coffee table and read the text notification. Device A triggered an hour ago. She tossed her heavy Afghan aside and sat up.

She pressed PLAY. Lillian didn’t recognize the voice who said, “You hit the nail on the head.” The second voice was clearly Ray.

Lillian stood after the third statement. “Damn, that has to be Ted King.”

She rewound and replayed the words that scared her to death: “Someone was inside the cabin last night, both before and after we arrived.” Lillian listened and re-listened for thirty minutes, alternately rewinding and fast-forwarding at critical spots. Finally, she stood and walked through the kitchen, across the back porch, and toward the pond, dreading and postponing her call to Lee. “What a fucking mess I’ve made. I’ve just given Ray the motivation to kill Lee and me.

08/15/23 Biking & Listening

Biking is something else I both love and hate. It takes a lot of effort but does provide good exercise and most days over an hour to listen to a good book or podcast. I especially like having ridden.

Here’s my bike, a Rockhopper by Specialized. I purchased it November 2021 from Venture Out in Guntersville; Mike is top notch! So is the bike, and the ‘old’ man seat I salvaged from an old Walmart bike.

Here’s a link to today’s bike ride.

Something to consider if you’re not already cycling.

I encourage you to start riding a bike, no matter your age. Check out these groups:

Cycling for those aged 70+(opens in a new tab)

Solitary Cycling(opens in a new tab)

Remember,

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

Listened to

Here’s a few photos from along my pistol route:

No, it’s not ‘workism’ that’s killing the church

Here’s the link to this article.

Avatar photoby ADAM LEE

AUG 14, 2023

Times Square, cluttered with crowds and ads | Workism isn't the church's real problem
Credit: Pixabay

Overview:

Americans are overworked and overly devoted to the hustle, but that’s not why organized religion is declining. Church apologists trying to explain their decline always look outward, never inward at themselves.

Reading Time: 6 MINUTES

[Previous: Church isn’t the answer to hustle culture]

Christianity in America is suffering an unprecedented decline.

Once-thriving congregations are shrinking and graying. Parishes are being consolidated. Closed-down churches are being reborn as bookstores and breweries, concert halls and apartments.

Surveys find that nonreligious Americans—or “nones”—now constitute about 30% of the population, outnumbering every single Christian denomination. If current trends continue, nones could be a majority by 2070.

The decline has become so obvious that even Christian propagandists can’t sweep it under the carpet. So they’re in search of explanations, preferably explanations that absolve them of blame. In the Atlantic, orthodox apologist Jake Meador proposes one:

Contemporary America simply isn’t set up to promote mutuality, care, or common life. Rather, it is designed to maximize individual accomplishment as defined by professional and financial success. Such a system leaves precious little time or energy for forms of community that don’t contribute to one’s own professional life or, as one ages, the professional prospects of one’s children. Workism reigns in America, and because of it, community in America, religious community included, is a math problem that doesn’t add up.“The Misunderstood Reason Millions of Americans Stopped Going to Church.” Jake Meador, The Atlantic, 29 July 2023.

Meador paints a picture of a society that worships work above all else. He argues that high-stress jobs, inflexible schedules, and the capitalist drive to use every moment “productively” have severed the bonds of community. People are isolated, stressed, and exhausted. They’re so immersed in the hustle mindset that they drift away from religion because they can’t conceive of spending time on something that doesn’t make money.

To the churches and their defenders, this is a comforting story. It allows them to tell themselves that they haven’t been rejected. They’ve merely been pushed aside by the hustle and bustle of modern life. It holds out the promise that, if they can cut through the noise and make themselves heard, they can persuade young people to come back.

However, this face-saving explanation has a flaw.

The evidence, drawn from polls and interviews, paints a different picture. It’s not the case that young people have drifted away from church because they’re too busy with their side hustles and their TikToks. Rather, millions have chosen to cut ties with organized religion because they have stark disagreements with its moral teachings—and because the churches allow no room for dissent or difference of opinion.

The churches’ problem isn’t that they’re drowned out in the din and can’t make themselves heard. On the contrary, we hear them loud and clear.

A case in point is Charles Chaput, the archbishop of Philadelphia. In 2016, he urged liberal Catholics to quit the church. According to Chaput, people who call themselves Catholic but support abortion, contraception or LGBTQ rights are faithless liars. He declared that the church would be better off without them. Like other conservatives, he prefers a smaller, more ideologically pure church to a larger one with more diversity of opinion.

And young people are taking him at his word. According to a Pew survey, two-thirds of former Catholics left the church, not because they’re too busy, but because they stopped believing in its teachings.

Sixty years behind the times and going backward

On issue after issue, the pattern is the same. The churches’ problem isn’t that they’re drowned out in the din and can’t make themselves heard. On the contrary, we hear them loud and clear. The problem is that they’ve doubled down on moral stances that are the polar opposite of what young people believe and care about.

The second wave of feminism was more than sixty years ago, yet many churches still reject the most basic notions of gender equality. America’s two largest Christian denominations, Roman Catholic and Southern Baptist, refuse to allow women to take any leadership role. Just this year, the Southern Baptist Convention expelled two churches—including Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church—for the sin of hiring women as pastors. Women who speak out against this gross inequality have been flooded with harassment and hate mail.

To appease the religious minority that believes this, Christian churches have set themselves against the vast majority.

Above all else is the question of abortion. The repeal of Roe was a painful wake-up call, jolting women with the realization that their right to control their own bodies is slipping away. Young people recognize that opposition to abortion is motivated by religion. The churches have been loud and proud in their support of abortion bans, whereas nonbelievers are almost unanimously pro-choice.

And the religious right isn’t planning to stop there. They’re pushing for even more radical restrictions of women’s rights. Their next frontier is trying to scrap no-fault divorce, which would keep people trapped in abusive or unhappy marriages. Almost 70% of divorces are initiated by women, so this is another anti-feminist idea in thin disguise.

Putting people back in boxes

You can tell a similar story about LGBTQ rights. Millennials like me, who came of age in the early 2000s, remember the Christian crusade against gay and lesbian rights, especially same-sex marriage. The Nashville Statement, signed by more than 150 evangelical leaders, declared their eternal opposition to LGBTQ rights in every form.

Of course, they didn’t win that battle. Marriage equality is a reality, delivered by the Supreme Court and reinforced by Congressional legislation. Americans support LGBTQ rights by enormous majorities. More than two-thirds of Americans support marriage equality, including majorities in 47 of 50 states. Three-quarters say LGBTQ people should be protected from discrimination.

However, anti-gay Christians haven’t given up. They’re still fighting a rearguard action, claiming a religious right to discriminate against LGBTQ people. In red states, Christian legislators are banning books with gay characters and passing Don’t Say Gay laws.

READ: The Atlantic accidentally reveals Christianity’s growing irrelevance

In fact, the Christian opposition to gay rights has only grown more vicious. A tragic example was Urban Christian Academy, a private Christian school in Kansas City that provided underprivileged children with a tuition-free education. When the school updated its mission statement to affirm LGBTQ rights, angry religious donors pulled their support. The school lost nearly all its funding and was forced to close its doors.

Transgender people face even more brutal persecution. Wherever they have power, religious conservatives want to police their bathroom use; deny them access to gender-affirming medical care; even take away children from transgender families. So virulent is their opposition to anything and everything that smacks of weakening the gender binary, a Christian university fired two (cisgender) employees merely for putting their pronouns in their e-mail signatures.

As with women’s rights and gay rights, attacks on transgender people are rooted in a religious belief that sex and gender are strictly binary and fixed at birth, and for people to want to break out of these boxes goes against the will of God. However, to appease the religious minority that believes this, Christian churches have set themselves against the vast majority. An April 2023 poll—by Fox News, no less!—finds that 86% of Americans say political attacks on transgender kids are a serious problem.

Insular and hostile

The root cause of these culture-war clashes is that most churches, especially evangelical churches, have turned insular and hostile. They’re dens of conservatism—and not traditional small-government conservatism, but radical, norm-breaking Trumpian conservatism.

Russell Moore, a former top official of the Southern Baptist Congregation, made waves recently when he spoke about pastors whose congregants scorn the literal teachings of Jesus as “liberal talking points” and “weak”.

As churches grow more fanatical, they’re also receding further from objective reality. Many pastors complain that QAnon and other noxious conspiracy theories are swallowing up their congregations. Surveys find that as many as 50% of white evangelicals are QAnon believers.

Most churches, especially evangelical churches, have turned insular and hostile.

The few prominent Christians who aren’t caught up in the tide of conspiracies have lamented how gullible their fellow believers are. Evangelical author Ed Stetzer said in 2017 that “the spreading of these conspiracies are hurting our witness and making Christians look, yet again, foolish.”

However, no one heeded him. The plague of conspiracy beliefs only got worse—so much so that by 2020, he was pleading, “If you still insist on spreading such misinformation, would you please consider taking Christian off your bio so the rest of us don’t have to share in the embarrassment?”

Looking in the mirror

Is hustle culture a real problem? Yes. Have some people stopped attending church because they’re too busy? Almost certainly.

However, Christian apologists use this as a way to avoid looking in the mirror. They want to believe that Christianity’s decline isn’t their fault. That way, they don’t have to do anything differently. Or, at worst, the problem is that they haven’t been faithful enough—so they need to do what they’ve always been doing, just more and harder. (In his column, Meador follows suit: “[A] vibrant, life-giving church requires more, not less, time and energy from its members.”)

This inability to introspect is a widespread problem in institutional Christianity. The arrow of causality is fixed pointing outward; they never turn it back upon themselves. For all they talk about repentance, they’re consistently unwilling to consider that they might have made any mistakes of their own that they need to atone for.

None of this means that there aren’t any other problems in American society. As a culture, we do work too much—some of us by choice, others very much not by choice—and overvalue wealth and success at the expense of everything that makes life meaningful.

If Christians are serious about resisting hustle culture, their help would be welcome. They could join atheists in calling for a stronger safety net, an expanded sense of mutuality, and more guarantees for workers’ rights and leisure time. It would go a long way to repair their reputation; it might even reverse their decline.

But for the churches to truly commit to this goal, rather than merely using it to shift the blame, would require real change on their part. It would require more compassion, more tolerance, and a greater willingness to reconsider long-held dogmas than they’ve displayed until now.

The Boaz Stranger–Chapter 28

Lillian located the cabin’s key without trouble or fanfare. It hung on a nail six feet above the creek on a tree whose roots splayed into the rushing water like a web of miniature piers. Thankfully, someone had strategically placed flat rocks to use as steppingstones to cross the creek. Lillian executed the ten-foot walk flawlessly. My right foot slipped into the cold water halfway across. I somehow avoided a complete dunk in the fast moving but shallow water. Without ridicule or sympathy, Lillian led us to the front side of a log cabin, sitting dark, silent, and lifeless. “Walk three hundred feet and hide.” She pointed away from the cabin along a tree-lined narrow gravel road. “Use this to warn me if you need to.” She unzipped her fanny pack and removed a set of walkie-talkies, something I hadn’t seen in half a century. If I didn’t know better, I’d think Wonder Woman had spent a career in the military.

I paused at the road’s edge and wanted to ask a dozen questions. Like, where are you going to put the recorders? What if they bugged the house with motion detectors, cameras, alarms? “Message me when you’re done.” Lillian nodded and shushed me away.

A football field’s walk brought alarm. I had just rounded a curve and saw lights in the distance. It took me a minute, but I finally figured it out. The three corners of Ted King’s house had floodlights, and they were on. I eased into a ditch and struggled to climb what, in my youth, would be a shallow embankment. I used a smaller tree to pull myself up. The pain from my hurt shoulder was the second thing that reminded me of my age. I found a large tree to hide behind and messaged Lillian. “Base to Alpha. Are you okay?”

“Damn, you scared me. Is something wrong?” I hoped she had already completed the mission and was making her way to her post across the road from the cabin’s front porch.

“Just checking to make sure we’re connected.” I rolled my eyes as I repeated my statement to myself.

“We are. Believe me.” I think I heard her sigh. “Okay, I’m finished. You can come back. We need to take our position and get ready to snap some photos.”

“Roger over and out.” I did not know why I was acting so silly. It made me wonder whether the Vicodin had a long-term effect.

I used the same sapling to return to the ditch and road. Ten steps toward Lillian I heard a sound, like distant thunder, but that seemed unlikely given the weather. Instead, a slow-moving vehicle came to mind. After making a 180-degree turn, I saw a dim, expansive light filtering through an ocean of trees. I removed my walkie-talkie and announced. “I think we’ve got company.”

“Hide. Now. Don’t come any further.” Lillian’s order matched my intent.

I jammed the walkie-talkie into my pocket and hustled back to my first hideout. By now, I could see a pair of headlights coming my way. I grabbed the sapling and pulled. A thin layer of ice had formed where I’d last gripped my hands. This time, I slipped and fell to my knees. When I regained my footing. I removed a bandanna from my back pocket and wrapped it tightly around the small tree. This time I made it up the embankment, but my walkie-talkie didn’t. It fell out of my pants pocket and tumbled into the ditch when I stood. I was out of time. I reached my hiding spot as a red Corvette rounded a curve a hundred feet from where I squatted. Damn, Lillian is on her own.

It felt like an hour before the second vehicle arrived. Although I couldn’t see the rear bumper and tag, I knew it was the same jacked-up blue Chevrolet that had tried to kill me. For the first time since the red car passed, I stood. I was the coldest I had ever been. Thankfully, the rain, now sleet, hadn’t penetrated my clothes. But only because of my windbreaker jacket and the pair of rain-pants Lillian had insisted I slip on before backing out of her garage.

I worried about Lillian but didn’t know what to do. So, I did nothing but follow orders, the last one being, ‘Hide. Now. Don’t come any further.’

Fortunately, Ray and Buddy opposed chattering. In less than ten minutes, I heard the blue truck rumble and figured the money exchange was over. I painfully eased to the other side of the tree and waited. The sound grew louder, and the truck picked up speed. I stayed put another ten minutes until the red Corvette crawled by. Hopefully, it was my imagination, but it seemed to slow down when passing my spot.

I waited another two minutes before repelling the embankment and mentally punishing myself for leaving my red bandanna wrapped around the sapling. I grabbed the walkie-talkie from the ditch and jogged the best I could toward Lillian.

Wonder Woman was sitting on the cabin’s front porch steps when I ended my sprint. “I thought you’d left me,” she said, standing and throwing her backpack across her shoulder.

“No, just a little clumsy these days.”

Lillian gave me a quick head-to-toe inspection. “I see you like playing in the mud.” At least she smiled.

I wanted to explain, but she waved me off and onward. I read her action as ‘shut up and follow me.’ “Don’t we need to remove the recorders?”

“Done. Now, come on. I can’t wait to weigh our catch.” Her last phrase gained clarity during our twenty-minute return trek to the Clausen’s. The sleet was now mixed with snow, and I was still freezing.

Ray had arrived first. In a red Corvette. He had brought a friend. None other than Mayor King himself. Lillian had taken a dozen photos before the two had gone inside the cabin. Buddy had arrived in the blue truck ten minutes later. More photos. The money exchange had taken longer than expected. The second surprise arrived when Buddy exited the cabin and walked to the passenger side of his truck. Through a lowered window, a hand and half an arm emerged to secure a thick envelope and pull it inside the cab. More photos. Ray and the Mayor had ridden away a few minutes later. More photos.

It was nine-thirty before we arrived at Lillian’s. She’d insisted we buy coffee. I hadn’t resisted but was glad she removed her black face before entering McDonald’s drive-through. I’d kept a low profile in the passenger seat, semi-concealed under an overly stretched hoodie.

After the two of us changed out of our combat uniforms, we again settled around the kitchen table. Lillian removed the two recording devices from her backpack and shared how the two she’d concealed at the Lodge sent her updates because of Wi-Fi, something Ted’s cabin didn’t have.

It pleased Lillian that both recorders matched conversations. The extra cost had proved valuable. With one secured on a front porch beam and the other hidden inside on a bookshelf, the captured words were identical.

Ray: “Damn, it’s freezing out here. Let’s get inside.”

Ted: “No shit.” Pause. “That’s weird.”

Ray: “What?”

Ted: “The door’s unlocked.”

Ray: “You probably forgot.”

Ted: “I doubt it, but it has been weeks since I’ve been here. I’m calling Julie.”

Ray: “Forget it, just open the damn door.”

Rustling noises, including cabinet doors slamming.

Ted: “Shit. No Jack. Somebody’s been here.”

Ray: “Probably teenagers. Stole your booze. Forgot to lock up.” Thunderous laughter.

Ted: “I’m headed to the bedroom. Buddy can’t see me.”

Long pause. Minutes pass.

Ray (louder this time): “He’s here.”

Ted (faintly): “Roger.”

Lillian and I listened to the money-exchange scene three times. The conversation was as expected. Except for one part. There, through an angry back and forth, we learned the name of the tall man whose charred body was now lying on a cold stainless-steel table in Birmingham at the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences. Eric Snyder was from Guntersville, and, like Buddy, an ex-con experienced in sophisticated detonation methodologies. Ray accused Buddy of being stupid and incompetent.

Buddy shared his theory, a hypothesis. A few minutes before eleven, Eric, as instructed, had reentered the Hunt House for one last inspection. Although the gas explosion was scheduled for midnight, something went wrong. Buddy blamed Eric and his steel-toed boots. Ray had repeated his demeaning accusation. A money argument ensued, with Ray threatening to pay only half. Buddy countered with his own threat, “You and me both will rot in jail if you don’t pay every fucking cent you promised.”

For the next two hours, Lillian and I bantered back and forth about the best course of action to pursue. We settled on a presentation of our evidence to Micaden and Connor with hopes one or both would connect the last and most vital link in the chain, from Ray and Buddy’s arson and murder to the halls of justice.

***

At midnight, I remained chilled from the night’s activities. Lillian’s central heat sucked. “I’ve got to go. Kyla’s propane heater is beckoning me home.” I stood, walked to the back door and reached for my duffel. When I turned back toward the table, Lillian was standing less than a foot away.

“Before you go, I have to say thanks. Unless something drastic happens, I’m on the quick road to my ultimate freedom. And I owe it all to you.” She stepped closer and placed her hands, palms out, on my chest. Our eyes met.

“Truth is, you didn’t need me. You’re a one-woman platoon. I just got in the way.” She laughed and shook her head, shifting strands of still-tousled hair away from her eyes. She laid the left side of her face against my cheek and slid her hands around my waist. Her lavender scent was mesmerizing. I almost put my hands in my pants pocket but connected them around her back slightly above her hips.

“Lee, I’m so sorry. Can you forgive me?” I knew what she was thinking and subconsciously I’d waited for some arrangement of these words for over half a century. She pressed her body against mine.

“I can. And I do, but next time, I get to use the Nikon.” She raised and cocked her head sideways. Smiled. Her forehead creased.

“You dufus.” She released her grip slightly. “You don’t know what I’m talking about.”

My body wanted to disconnect my hands, slide one up her back to the base of her neck, and pull her lips toward mine. But my mind questioned whether I was ready. “You retard, I know, and yes, I forgive you.”

Unlike me, Lillian responded to her body’s desire. She laid her palms across my cheeks, pulled me forward, and planted a soft kiss on my lips. When I didn’t immediately respond, she said, “Lee, I love you. I always have.”

My mind flashed forward to Lillian’s bed and her naked body. I was losing my struggle with temptation. But I knew I’d hate myself in the morning. I admitted to Lillian my lustful thoughts and ended our night with, “I’m just not ready.”

With that, I retreated through the back door, and across the porch and yard to the Hyundai. I drove home aching for Wonder Woman’s soft kisses, sexy words, and sensuous touches.

08/14/23 Biking & Listening

Biking is something else I both love and hate. It takes a lot of effort but does provide good exercise and most days over an hour to listen to a good book or podcast. I especially like having ridden.

Here’s my bike, a Rockhopper by Specialized. I purchased it November 2021 from Venture Out in Guntersville; Mike is top notch! So is the bike, and the ‘old’ man seat I salvaged from an old Walmart bike.

Here’s a link to today’s bike ride.

Something to consider if you’re not already cycling.

I encourage you to start riding a bike, no matter your age. Check out these groups:

Cycling for those aged 70+(opens in a new tab)

Solitary Cycling(opens in a new tab)

Remember,

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

Finished listening to

Listened to several episodes from one or more of the following fiction writing podcasts

Here’s a few photos from along my pistol route:

Two Months in Georgia: How Trump Tried to Overturn the Vote

Here’s the link to this article.

The Georgia case offers a vivid reminder of the extraordinary lengths Mr. Trump and his allies went to in the Southern state to reverse the election.

A man in a blue suit stands offstage and looks toward the right. A reflection of him looks toward the left.
Former President Trump in the White House briefing room after making a statement on Nov. 5, 2020.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times
Danny Hakim
Richard Fausset

By Danny Hakim and Richard Fausset

Reporting from Atlanta

Aug. 14, 2023, 3:00 a.m. ET

When President Donald J. Trump’s eldest son took the stage outside the Georgia Republican Party headquarters two days after the 2020 election, he likened what lay ahead to mortal combat.

“Americans need to know this is not a banana republic!” Donald Trump Jr. shouted, claiming that Georgia and other swing states had been overrun by wild electoral shenanigans. He described tens of thousands of ballots that had “magically” shown up around the country, all marked for Joseph R. Biden Jr., and others dumped by Democratic officials into “one big box” so their authenticity could not be verified.

Mr. Trump told his father’s supporters at the news conference — who broke into chants of “Stop the steal!” and “Fraud! Fraud!” — that “the number one thing that Donald Trump can do in this election is fight each and every one of these battles, to the death!”

Over the two months that followed, a vast effort unfolded on behalf of the lame-duck president to overturn the election results in swing states across the country. But perhaps nowhere were there as many attempts to intervene as in Georgia, where Fani T. Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, is now poised to bring an indictment for a series of brazen moves made on behalf of Mr. Trump in the state after his loss and for lies that the president and his allies circulated about the election there.

Mr. Trump has already been indicted three times this year, most recently in a federal case brought by the special prosecutor Jack Smith that is also related to election interference. But the Georgia case may prove the most expansive legal challenge to Mr. Trump’s attempts to cling to power, with nearly 20 people informed that they could face charges.

It could also prove the most enduring: While Mr. Trump could try to pardon himself from a federal conviction if he were re-elected, presidents cannot pardon state crimes.

Perhaps above all, the Georgia case assembled by Ms. Willis offers a vivid reminder of the extraordinary lengths taken by Mr. Trump and his allies to exert pressure on local officials to overturn the election — an up-close portrait of American democracy tested to its limits.

There was the infamous call that the former president made to Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, during which Mr. Trump said he wanted to “find” nearly 12,000 votes, or enough to overturn his narrow loss there. Mr. Trump and his allies harassed and defamed rank-and-file election workers with false accusations of ballot stuffing, leading to so many vicious threats against one of them that she was forced into hiding.

They deployed fake local electors to certify that Mr. Trump had won the election. Within even the Justice Department, an obscure government lawyer secretly plotted with the president to help him overturn the state’s results.

And on the same day that Mr. Biden’s victory was certified by Congress, Trump allies infiltrated a rural Georgia county’s election office, copying sensitive software used in voting machines throughout the state in their fruitless hunt for ballot fraud.

The Georgia investigation has encompassed an array of high-profile allies, from the lawyers Rudolph W. Giuliani, Kenneth Chesebro and John Eastman, to Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff at the time of the election. But it has also scrutinized lesser-known players like a Georgia bail bondsman and a publicist who once worked for Kanye West.

As soon as Monday, there could be charges from a Fulton County grand jury after Ms. Willis presents her case to them. The number of people indicted could be large: A separate special grand jury that investigated the matter in an advisory capacity last year recommended more than a dozen people for indictment, and the forewoman of the grand jury has strongly hinted that the former president was among them.

If an indictment lands and the case goes to trial, a regular jury and the American public will hear a story that centers on nine critical weeks from Election Day through early January in which a host of people all tried to push one lie: that Mr. Trump had secured victory in Georgia. The question before the jurors would be whether some of those accused went so far that they broke the law.

A large screen hangs behind a row of people in a stately chamber. On the screen. one man is shown on the left, and one man is shown on the right.
A recording of Mr. Trump talking to Brad Raffensperger, secretary of state of Georgia, was played during a hearing by the Jan. 6 Committee last October. Credit…Alex Wong/Getty Images

It did not take long for the gloves to come off.

During the Nov. 5 visit by Donald Trump Jr., the Georgia Republican Party was already fracturing. Some officials believed they should focus on defending the seats of the state’s two Republican senators, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, who were weeks away from runoff elections, rather than fighting a losing presidential candidate’s battles.

But according to testimony before the Jan. 6 committee by one of the Trump campaign’s local staffers, Mr. Trump’s son was threatening to “tank” those Senate races if there was not total support for his father’s effort. (A spokesman for Donald Trump Jr. disputed that characterization, noting that the former president’s son later appeared in ads for the Senate candidates.)

Four days later, the two senators called for Mr. Raffensperger’s resignation. The Raffensperger family was soon barraged with threats, leading his wife, Tricia, to confront Ms. Loeffler in a text message: “Never did I think you were the kind of person to unleash such hate and fury.”

Understand Georgia’s Investigation of Election Interference

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A legal threat to Trump. Fani Willis, the Atlanta area district attorney, has been investigating whether former President Donald Trump and his allies interfered with the 2020 election in Georgia. The case could be one of the most perilous legal problems for Trump. Here’s what to know:

Looking for votes. Prosecutors in Georgia opened their investigation in February 2021, just weeks after Trump made a phone call to Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, and urged him to “find” enough votes to overturn the results of the election there.

What are prosecutors looking at? In addition to Trump’s call to Raffensperger, Willis has homed in on a plot by Trump allies to send fake Georgia electors to Washington and misstatements about the election results made before the state legislature by Rudy Giuliani, who spearheaded efforts to keep Trump in power as his personal lawyer. An election data breach in Coffee County, Ga., is also part of the investigation.

Who is under scrutiny? Giuliani has been told that he is a target of the investigation. Willis’s office has also warned some state officials — including David Shafer, the head of the Georgia Republican Party — and pro-Trump “alternate electors” that they could be indicted.

The potential charges. Experts say that Willis appears to be building a case that could target multiple defendants with charges of conspiracy to commit election fraud or racketeering-related charges for engaging in a coordinated scheme to undermine the election. The grand jury, which recently concluded its work, recommended indictments for multiple people, the forewoman of the jury said.

Four other battleground states had also flipped to Mr. Biden, but losing Georgia, the only Deep South state among them, seemed particularly untenable for Mr. Trump. His margin of defeat there was one of the smallest in the nation. Republicans controlled the state, and as he would note repeatedly in the aftermath, his campaign rallies in Georgia had drawn big, boisterous crowds.

By the end of November, Mr. Trump’s Twitter feed had become a font of misinformation. “Everybody knows it was Rigged” he wrote in a tweet on Nov. 29. And on Dec. 1: “Do something @BrianKempGA,” he wrote, referring to Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, a Republican. “You allowed your state to be scammed.”

But these efforts were not gaining traction. Mr. Raffensperger and Mr. Kemp were not bending. And on Dec. 1, Mr. Trump’s attorney general, William P. Barr, announced that the Department of Justice had found no evidence of voting fraud “on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.”

It was time to turn up the volume.

Mr. Giuliani was on the road, traveling to Phoenix and Lansing, Mich., to meet with lawmakers to convince them of fraud in their states, both lost by Mr. Trump. Now, he was in Atlanta.

Even though Mr. Trump’s loss in Georgia had been upheld by a state audit, Mr. Giuliani made fantastical claims at a hearing in front of the State Senate, the first of three legislative hearings in December 2020.

A man in a dark blue suit and blue and red tie walks through a wooden doorway.
Rudolph Giuliani at a legislative hearing at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta in December 2020.Credit…Rebecca Wright/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, via Associated Press

He repeatedly asserted that machines made by Dominion Voting Systems had flipped votes from Mr. Trump to Mr. Biden and changed the election outcome — false claims that became part of Dominion defamation suits against Fox News, Mr. Giuliani and a number of others.

Mr. Giuliani, then Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, also played a video that he said showed election workers pulling suitcases of suspicious ballots from under a table to be secretly counted after Republican poll watchers had left for the night.

He accused two workers, a Black mother and daughter named Ruby Freeman and Wandrea Moss, of passing a suspicious USB drive between them “like vials of heroin or cocaine.” Investigators later determined that they were passing a mint; Mr. Giuliani recently admitted in a civil suit that he had made false statements about the two women.

Other Trump allies also made false claims at the hearing with no evidence to back them up, including that thousands of convicted felons, dead people and others unqualified to vote in Georgia had done so.

John Eastman, a lawyer advising the Trump campaign, claimed that “the number of underage individuals who were allowed to register” in the state “amounts allegedly up to approximately 66,000 people.”

That was not remotely true. During an interview last year, Mr. Eastman said that he had relied on a consultant who had made an error, and there were in fact about 2,000 voters who “were only 16 when they registered.”

But a review of the data he was using found that Mr. Eastman was referring to the total number of Georgians since the 1920s who were recorded as having registered before they were allowed. Even that number was heavily inflated due to data-entry errors common in large government databases.

The truth: Only about a dozen Georgia residents were recorded as being 16 when they registered to vote in 2020, and those appeared to be another data-entry glitch.

Several protesters waving American flags gather in front of a barricaded building.
Trump supporters protesting election results at State Farm Arena in Atlanta in the days following the 2020 election.Credit…Audra Melton for The New York Times

In the meantime, Mr. Trump was working the phones, trying to directly persuade Georgia Republican leaders to reject Mr. Biden’s win.

He called Governor Kemp on Dec. 5, a day after the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit seeking to have the state’s election results overturned. Mr. Trump pressured Mr. Kemp to compel lawmakers to come back into session and brush aside the will of the state’s voters.

Mr. Kemp, who during his campaign for governor had toted a rifle and threatened to “round up illegals” in an ad that seemed an homage to Mr. Trump, rebuffed the idea.

Two days later, Mr. Trump called David Ralston, the speaker of the Georgia House, with a similar pitch. But Mr. Ralston, who died last year, “basically cut the president off,” a member of the special grand jury in Atlanta who heard his testimony later told The Atlanta Journal Constitution. “He just basically took the wind out of the sails.”

By Dec. 7, Georgia had completed its third vote count, yet again affirming Mr. Biden’s victory. But Trump allies in the legislature were hatching a new plan to defy the election laws that have long been pillars of American democracy: They wanted to call a special session and pick new electors who would cast votes for Mr. Trump.

Never mind that Georgia lawmakers had already approved representatives to the Electoral College reflecting Biden’s win in the state, part of the constitutionally prescribed process for formalizing the election of a new president. The Trump allies hoped that the fake electors and the votes they cast would be used to pressure Vice President Mike Pence not to certify the election results on Jan. 6.

Mr. Kemp issued a statement warning them off: “Doing this in order to select a separate slate of presidential electors is not an option that is allowed under state or federal law.”

Rather than back down, Mr. Trump was deeply involved in the emerging plan to enlist slates of bogus electors.

Mr. Trump called Ronna McDaniel, the head of the Republican National Committee, to enlist her help, according to Ms. McDaniel’s House testimony. By Dec. 13, as the Supreme Court of Georgia rejected an election challenge from the Trump campaign, Robert Sinners, the Trump campaign’s local director of Election Day operations, emailed the 16 fake electors, directing them to quietly meet in the capitol building in Atlanta the next day.

Mr. Trump’s top campaign lawyers were so troubled by the plan that they refused to take part. Still, the president tried to keep up the pressure using his Twitter account. “What a fool Governor @BrianKempGA of Georgia is,” he wrote in a post just after midnight on Dec. 14, adding, “Demand this clown call a Special Session.”

A woman wearing a red sweater stands in front of a podium that says “Trump Pence.”
Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, at a news conference following the election in 2020.Credit…Al Drago for The New York Times

Later that day, the bogus electors met at the Statehouse. They signed documents that claimed they were Georgia’s “duly elected and qualified electors,” even though they were not.

In the end, their effort was rebuffed by Mr. Pence.

In his testimony to House investigators, Mr. Sinners later reflected on what took place: “I felt ashamed,” he said.

Confused about the inquiries and legal cases involving former President Donald Trump? We’re here to help.

With other efforts failing, the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, got personally involved. Just before Christmas, he traveled to suburban Cobb County, Ga., during its audit of signatures on mail-in absentee ballots, which had been requested by Mr. Kemp.

Mr. Meadows tried to get into the room where state investigators were verifying the signatures. He was turned away. But he did meet with Jordan Fuchs, Georgia’s deputy secretary of state, to discuss the audit process.

During the visit, Mr. Meadows put Mr. Trump on the phone with the lead investigator for the secretary of state’s office, Frances Watson. “I won Georgia by a lot, and the people know it,” Mr. Trump told her. “Something bad happened.”

Byung J. Pak, the U.S. attorney in Atlanta at the time, believed that Mr. Meadows’s visit was “highly unusual,” adding in his House testimony, “I don’t recall that ever happening in the history of the U.S.”

In Washington, meanwhile, a strange plot was emerging within the Justice Department to help Mr. Trump.

Mr. Barr, one of the most senior administration officials to dismiss the claims of fraud, had stepped down as attorney general, and jockeying for power began. Jeffrey Clark, an unassuming lawyer who had been running the Justice Department’s environmental division, attempted to go around the department’s leadership by meeting with Mr. Trump and pitching a plan to help keep him in office.

A man in a dark coat and red tie walks in front of a woman and another man outside a white building.
Mr. Trump, his daughter Ivanka Trump and Mark Meadows, his chief of staff, leaving the White House en route to Georgia in January 2021.Credit…Pool photo by Erin Scott

Mr. Clark drafted a letter to lawmakers in Georgia, dated Dec. 28, falsely claiming that the Justice Department had “identified significant concerns” regarding the state’s election results. He urged the lawmakers to convene a special session — a dramatic intervention.

Richard Donoghue, who was serving as acting deputy attorney general, later testified that he was so alarmed when he saw the draft letter that he had to read it “twice to make sure I really understood what he was proposing, because it was so extreme.”

The letter was never sent.

Still, Mr. Trump refused to give up. It was time to reach the man who was in charge of election oversight: Mr. Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state.

On Jan. 2, he called Mr. Raffensperger and asked him to recalculate the vote. It was the call that he would later repeatedly defend as “perfect,” an hourlong mostly one-sided conversation during which Mr. Raffensperger politely but firmly rejected his entreaties.

“You know what they did and you’re not reporting it,” the president warned, adding, “you know, that’s a criminal — that’s a criminal offense. And you know, you can’t let that happen. That’s a big risk to you.”

Mr. Raffensperger was staggered. He later wrote that “for the office of the secretary of state to ‘recalculate’ would mean we would somehow have to fudge the numbers. The president was asking me to do something that I knew was wrong, and I was not going to do that.”

Mr. Trump seemed particularly intent on incriminating the Black women working for the county elections office, telling Mr. Raffensperger that Ruby Freeman — whom he mentioned 18 times during the call — was “a professional vote-scammer and hustler.”

“She’s one of the hot items on the internet, Brad,” Mr. Trump said of the viral misinformation circulating about Ms. Freeman, which had already been debunked by Mr. Raffensperger’s aides and federal investigators.

Trump-fueled conspiracy theories about Ms. Freeman and her daughter, Ms. Moss, were indeed proliferating. In testimony to the Jan. 6 committee last year, Ms. Moss recounted Trump supporters forcing their way into her grandmother’s home, claiming they were there to make a citizen’s arrest of her granddaughter; Ms. Freeman said that she no longer went to the grocery store.

Then, on Jan. 4, Ms. Freeman received an unusual overture.

Trevian Kutti, a Trump supporter from Chicago who had once worked as a publicist for Kanye West, persuaded Ms. Freeman to meet her at a police station outside Atlanta. Ms. Freeman later said that Ms. Kutti — who told her that “crisis is my thing,” according to a video of the encounter — had tried to pressure her into saying she had committed voter fraud.

“There is nowhere I feel safe. Nowhere,” Ms. Freeman said in her testimony, adding, “Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States target you?”

In an image taken from video, several people work in an office.
Cathy Latham, center, in a light blue shirt, in the elections office in Coffee County, Ga., while a team working on Mr. Trump’s behalf made copies of voting equipment data in January 2021.Credit…Coffee County, Georgia, via Associated Press

On Jan. 7, despite the fake electors and the rest of the pressure campaign, Mr. Pence certified the election results for Mr. Biden. The bloody, chaotic attack on the Capitol the day before did not stop the final certification of Biden’s victory, but in Georgia, the machinations continued.

In a quiet, rural county in the southeastern part of the state, Trump allies gave their mission one more extraordinary try.

A few hours after the certification, a small group working on Mr. Trump’s behalf traveled to Coffee County, about 200 miles from Atlanta. A lawyer advising Mr. Trump had hired a company called SullivanStrickler to scour voting systems in Georgia and other states for evidence of fraud or miscounts; some of its employees joined several Trump allies on the expedition.

“We scanned every freaking ballot,” Scott Hall, an Atlanta-area Trump supporter and bail bondsman who traveled to Coffee County with employees of the company on Jan. 7, recalled in a recorded phone conversation. Mr. Hall said that with the blessing of the Coffee County elections board, the team had “scanned all the equipment” and “imaged all the hard drives” that had been used on Election Day.

A law firm hired by SullivanStrickler would later release a statement saying of the company, “Knowing everything they know now, they would not take on any further work of this kind.”

Others would have their regrets, too. While Mr. Trump still pushes his conspiracy theories, some of those who worked for him now reject the claims of rigged voting machines and mysterious ballot-stuffed suitcases. As Mr. Sinners, the Trump campaign official, put it in his testimony to the Jan. 6 committee last summer, “It was just complete hot garbage.”

By then, Ms. Willis’s investigation was well underway.

“An investigation is like an onion,” she said in an interview soon after her inquiry began. “You never know. You pull something back, and then you find something else.”

Danny Hakim is an investigative reporter. He has been a European economics correspondent and bureau chief in Albany and Detroit. He was also a lead reporter on the team awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News. More about Danny Hakim

Richard Fausset is a correspondent based in Atlanta. He mainly writes about the American South, focusing on politics, culture, race, poverty and criminal justice. He previously worked at The Los Angeles Times, including as a foreign correspondent in Mexico City. More about Richard Fausset