Boston We were in Boston, Massachusetts, on Saturday, August 20, 2017, during what was supposed to be the biggest white supremacy rally following Heather Heyer being run down by a car in Charlottesville, Virginia. Nicolette, Kaycee, Brenda and I walked through the park early in the day as the city prepared for a pending tragedy. There were many interracial couples walking about and lots of “Peace” signs. Boston brought in 500 police officers to help out. By the time the white supremacist group arrived there were 40,000 people rallying for peace in the park. The white supremacist group was so outnumbered they left the park making no speeches. Following their departure, former Pierz resident, Carli Wulff (parents are Leeann and Mark Gray), married Jeff Maher in the very same park, which was the event that brought us to Boston. Carli and Jeff are impressive. Carli works for the Department of Human Services in Washington DC, and Jeff works for the Environmental Protection Agency. Both are committed to making the world better. At the end of the day, the Boston police couldn’t have handled it better. Even so, there was still a group of a couple dozen people arguing and throwing items at police officers simply because the fascists left and they didn’t have anybody to fight, confirming my assertion that 5% of every population is nuts, even on the side of proposed peace. But consider you’re talking about 2 dozen people, out of a population of 40,000 that were obnoxious. Part of the problem was that 6 news stations stayed at the site, cameras rolling on the most boisterous citizens waiting for them to do something stupid. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Nicolette and I drove from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean this spring, and we spoke to people of all races in various cities and everyone was polite. That’s the America I’m proud of! I stepped into the Granary Burial Ground where colonists who came to America on the Mayflower (1620) are buried. (Half of the 102 that arrived on the Mayflower died during the first winter.) Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Paul Revere are also buried at Granary. Paul Revere is a good example of an ordinary man who risked everything for his beliefs in freedom. Paul Revere was born in Boston in 1734 of French ancestry. Revere, a silversmith, had previously done an engraving of the Boston Massacre and was one of the leaders in the Boston Tea Party. On April 18, 1775 (on a windy 47 degree night), Paul Revere left shortly after 10:00 pm and arrived after midnight in Lexington to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock of the arrival of the British. William Dawes, a cobbler, and Dr. Samuel Prescott rode with him, although they all split up after Lexington so they could ultimately get the message all the way to Concord. They were all captured, but Dr. Samuel Prescott escaped and ultimately made it to Concord. Revere may have given the greatest attention as he made a similar ride 2 days earlier also to warn colonists that the British were on their way. Paul Revere’s ride was not commonly known during Revere’s lifetime. It wasn’t until Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem about it, 95 years later, that Revere was credited for his bravery. Paul Revere was the first person to make paper money for the new U.S. government. I stopped and had a mug of Samuel Adams Lager on tap at the Cheers Bar (formerly known as the Bull and Finch Pub). I also went to Luke’s Lobster, a small café which has a reputation for great fresh seafood, and had a lobster roll. Imagine a fresh boiled lobster tail wrapped in homemade buttered bread. Nice and simple, as many of the best tastes are, but wonderful! At the airport in Boston, Brenda was showing our 3-year-old granddaughter, Kaycee, that our airplane still hadn’t arrived at our terminal. Kaycee approached a woman also sitting in the area, turned her palms up and very seriously told her, “We’ve got a big problem. The thing that you walk down is there, but we don’t have an airplane.” Maryland (St. Mary’s Land) Back in 1634, 140 adventurers came to America and started the 4th European settlement they called “Terra Maria,” which was later named St. Mary’s. We now call this area Maryland. Branden Deal, Nicolette’s husband, has been promoted to Chief Select, so he was in the midst of 6 weeks of extensive training while we were in Maryland. If he completes all of his tasks, he will be promoted to Chief. Branden is an impressive young man who works hard and knows how to get things working. Great guy! Flag trivia from Branden and Nicolette Deal: There are 6 American flags on the moon. Apollo 11 through 17 (with the exception of 13) put flags on the moon. 5 are still standing. The one that’s down, from Apollo 11, Buzz Aldrin saw knocked over by the rocket blast when they left the moon. Apollo 13’s lunar landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded 2 days into the trip, creating massive internal damage. They barely got the crew back (great movie about it). Apollo 13 has the record for the longest humans have traveled in space since they had to circle the backside of the moon to pick up the momentum to make it back. Along with the United States, Russia, China and ESA (the European Space Agency) have flags on the moon. You can sort of count India also, as they had an unmanned (unpersoned) craft crash on the moon that had the Indian flag on the side. Ironically, or perhaps heavenly, all of the flags are now white, as a result of the sun’s radiation. “One nation under God.” The only time a flag can be flown above the American flag is on a naval ship at sea when the Navy Chaplain is conducting a service at sea. During that time a pennant representing the religion can fly above the American flag. Is Texas is the only state allowed to fly the flag at the same height of the American flag? No. That’s an urban legend that was falsely stated as fact on PBS. All states can, as long as the American flag is in a position of prominence. The American flag is in a position of prominence, even in Austin, at the Texas capital. There are also no penalties for violating the flag guidelines. (Enough flag stuff—starting to sound like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory.) Dead reckoning is a naval term for estimating the direction and distance traveled rather than using landmarks, astronomical observations or electronic navigation. Dead reckoning could involve heading in a straight line toward a site. We visited Point Lookout, Maryland. In July of 1863, after the Battle of Gettysburg, the Union army captured thousands of confederate soldiers and established a prisoner of war camp at Point Lookout that housed more than 50,000 confederate prisoners. (46,286 people died at Gettysburg. Robert Lee at one point ordered an advance that resulted in more than 7,000 confederate soldiers shot dead or wounded in less than an hour.) There were no buildings for prisoners at Point Lookout, instead they were housed in tents (16 to a tent) during the sweltering summers and cold winters. If the rain flooded your tent you stood all night. 4,000 prisoners died, although the death rate was slightly lower than that of soldiers during the civil war who weren’t imprisoned. Most of the Union guards at Point Lookout were African American, who were now in charge of, in many cases, their former masters. As one African American guard stated to a confederate prisoner, “The bottom rail is now on top.” The prison closed after Robert Lee surrendered his 28,000 remaining troops at Appomattox on April 9, 1865 to Ulysses S. Grant. A white marble obelisk stands in the middle of the mass confederate cemetery at Point Lookout with the names of the known 3,382 confederate soldiers buried there. Robert Lee’s army was surrounded by Union forces at Appomattox, Virginia, on April 8, with no hope of escape. Phillip Sheridan’s Union cavalry had outrun the confederate forces eliminating their possibility of retreat. Ulysses Grant allowed the following concessions to the confederate soldiers in exchange for ending the war:
Ulysses Grant silenced the music being played in celebration at the time of the surrender and declared “the Rebels are our countryman again.” People today rioting over statues need to appreciate the efforts by these men to accept the results of the Civil War and move forward. After the war, Robert Lee was never imprisoned and accepted a job as President of Washington College, implementing a gentleman’s code for students. After the war, Robert Lee repeatedly expelled white students for attacks on blacks. However, I don’t idolize Robert Lee. During the war, Lee allowed confederate soldiers he supervised to raid northern villages and take free African Americans as slaves. 620,000 people died in the Civil War. A number that exceeds lives lost in any other American war. Quotes for the Week: In Boston I read a number of sarcastic comments from Massachusetts colleges criticizing each other so I thought I’d share some: Q: What do Harvard grads use for Birth Control? A: Their personalities. Q: What does the average Boston College applicant get on their ACT? A: Drool Q: If a Bunker Hill College wide receiver, running back and quarterback are all sitting in the back seat of a car, who’s driving? A: A police officer Q: What separates good teams from great teams? A: The Massachusetts border from the rest of the country Thanks for listening, Frank The Maryland Dove, a 17th century English Trading ship, which was one of the first 2 ships that made the trip from England to Maryland in St. Mary's, Maryland. St. Mary's is advertised as the original home of religious freedom and started as a village Catholics could come to avoid religious persecution An instrumental by Rod Stewart before he went pop.
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AuthorFrank F. Weber is a forensic psychologist specializing in homicide and sexual and physical assault cases. He uses his unique understanding of how predator’s think, knowledge of victim trauma, actual court cases, and passion for writing true crime thrillers. His Award Winning books include "Murder Book" (2017) "The I-94 Murders" (2018) "Last Call" (2019) and "Lying Close" (September 2020). Archives
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