Peg and I traveled to Scotland in 2017. We did not rent a car then because the British Isles have age restrictions on driving. After having to drive on the wrong side of the road in Ireland in 2013, we accepted the wisdom of those regulations. Then after surviving the Oklahoma thunderstorm on the highway last night in the dark, I suggest all driving everywhere should be reserved for no one under 30 or over 40. Only quick and 20-20 drivers should be on the roads. Author’s note: we weren’t the only ones who should not have been blindly swaying from lane-to-lane last night. There must have been thousands of too young and reckless and too old and feckless operators of potential death machines … [Read More...] about Hail From Hell
Gavel Gamut
Recent Articles
President Trump’s Avatar
President Trump had to find a way out of the descent into Hades he had recklessly threatened for Iran. Not even his most fervent acolytes could justify his destruction of an entire civilization because some of its leaders refused to prostate their country to President Trump’s demands. One of the President’s most irrational statements was to announce to the world a 48-hour time limit. This removed all wiggle room and meant either the United States had to retreat from its unconditional conditions or Iran had to. The President’s dilemma remains he has exterminated not just Iran’s hierarchy but, over several years, he has eliminated many of his own advisors he could have relied upon for trusted … [Read More...] about President Trump’s Avatar
Epic Fury Revisited
“Peg, Peg, are you awake?” “I am now that you have poked your elbow through my ribs. What are you laughing about?” “I just solved President Trump’s kerfuffle in the Middle East. It came to me in a dream; I knew you’d want to hear it. It has everything. No blood, no money and no more angst. Do you want to get up and have a hot chocolate or just lie here and be amazed?” “What I want is to go back to sleep, but apparently that’s not an option. So, go ahead; let’s hear what, if anything, is going on in your head.” "Oh, good. The country needs my help. Listen up, I think this borders on brilliant; it’s kinda like something Trump, Hegseth, J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio might have thought of on … [Read More...] about Epic Fury Revisited
American Essence
Freedom of choice defines America. We revolted against our then country, King George III’s Great Britain, in 1776 for the same reasons the English nobility had demanded that King John put his seal on the Magna Carta in 1215 at the plain of Runnymede. Life under a governmental system of rule by fiat was anathema to freedom of choice. America is recognized throughout the world as the best example of a people who live free. Our Bill of Rights is a Bill of Choices: choice to speak, Due Process of Law, the right to practice any or no religion or to complain about the government (even if it is a government we have chosen). And, while we have often fallen short of our ideals and denied such … [Read More...] about American Essence
Monkey Traps
When a country embarks on a military peccadillo it is prudent to have planned for an offramp, as what appeared to be a walk in the park may turn out to be a Monkey Trap. Monkeys sometimes are captured by placing food in a jar that has an opening large enough to allow a monkey’s open paw to go in, but small enough that the inserted paw, when clinching food in a fist, cannot be withdrawn. Then the monkey sometimes stubbornly refuses to let go of the food and can be easily captured. The United States has often suffered from this sin of hubris when dealing with less powerful nations. For example, Custer’s 1868 easy slaughter of Chief Black Kettle and his peaceful Cheyenne tribe at the Washita … [Read More...] about Monkey Traps
Regime Regrets
In 1953 Iran had a democratically elected president, Mohammad Mosaddegh. Mosaddegh was deposed by the United States CIA and Britain’s MI6 because he wanted to change Iran’s position on how Iran’s oil revenues were being unfairly taken, mainly by Britain but also the U.S.A. The CIA and MI6 instigated riots and protests among the Iranian people, then without allowing the Iranian citizens to choose, installed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as their absolute dictator whose repressive and corrupt regime led to a popular revolt in 1979. The citizens who took American hostages did so because they blamed America for deposing their president and imposing the Shah. Then, ironically, the foreign … [Read More...] about Regime Regrets
It Is On U.S.
The title of a CNN article by Aaron Blake is, “Trump Launches the Regime-Change Effort in Iran that he Pledged to Avoid”. But President Trump did not start our wars with Iran, America did. We live in a republic where we choose our representatives. Their actions are our actions. The blame and shame for Israel sending three missiles into an elementary girls school in Minab in southern Iran to prevent the girls from developing nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles, is ours. We murdered more than 100 children in what Israel called its preemptive opening act of self-defense. We share Israel’s shame and blame for this crime; but we did not have the right to elect Benjamin Netanyahu. … [Read More...] about It Is On U.S.
The More Things Change
President Trump gave his 2026 State of the Union address last night, 24 February 2026. He spoke for almost two hours on several topics. One of the most important was the survival of humanity as highlighted by his insistence that he would not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons. After the world saw the destruction the United States rained down on Japan in 1945, rational people realized we humans had finally “progressed” to the ability to make ourselves extinct. Or as former mathematics professor turned folksong singer Tom Lehrer (1928-2025) wrote about WWIII during his stint on the television show That Was the Week That Was: ♫ So long Mom I’m off to drop the bomb So don’t wait up for … [Read More...] about The More Things Change
One Thousand Years
The first Olympic Games were held at Olympia, Greece in 776 BC. They were held at Olympia because they were a paean to Zeus who supposedly presided there. The games were designed to be held every 4 years until the Roman Emperor Theodosius the Great ordered them stopped because his Christian sensibilities were offended by the worship of Zeus. Theodosius was born in 347 AD and ruled from 379 AD until his death in 395. Rome had finally conquered the Achaean League (Greece) in 146 BC after about a century of strife. What became known as Greece was a conglomeration of city states, Corinth, Athens, Sparta and the Kingdom of Macedonia, that competed and cooperated for several hundred years until … [Read More...] about One Thousand Years
Bad Bunny vs. Bad Donnie
Metaphors are never perfect. If they were, they would be identical copies, not learning opportunities. A more perfect metaphor for Donald Trump’s vision of America versus Bad Bunny’s vision of how Donnie treats Puerto Rico would have had the New York Jets play the Seattle “Sharks” in the 2026 Super Bowl. This would have left no doubt of the half-time show message. My northeast coast bred wife, Peg, said about five minutes into the spectacular production of telephone poles, sugar cane bundles and salsa rhythms, “Hey, Jim, this is West Side Story!” With my small-town Southwest upbringing I got it a little more slowly, but I had to agree. Donald Trump’s MAGA view of America (the white Jets) … [Read More...] about Bad Bunny vs. Bad Donnie
Tick Tock
It is 3:00 am and the moonlit prairie outside the cabin window supplies the quiet solitude that is required for my contemplation. Most of my thoughts that become writings occur when my daytime procrastination eases into compelling concerns about the past or the future. Most of the past is a jumble of warm memories punctuated by occasional regrets; wasn’t that pleasant intertwined with why did I say or do that and why can’t I re-live the good and re-do the painful? And most of my forecast of the future is paved with unrealistic hopes and dread I will repeat missteps in spite of learned lessons I should be able to apply to similar new experiences. My circadian rhythm probably developed much as … [Read More...] about Tick Tock
Books
Unanimous for Murder
Live on Amazon.com and Kindle eBooks!
Unanimous for Murder picks up where JUDGE LYNCH! left off. A gripping story of small town murder and judicial shenanigans on the western frontier when the western frontier was east of the Mississippi.
Echoes of Our Ancestors: The Secret Game
Jim’s new novel tells the exciting story of a long hidden but important football game that occurred between representatives of Haskell Indian Institute (now the Haskell Indian Nations University) and professionals from the then Kansas City Cowboys in 1924 at a secret location on the Osage Indian Nation near Pawhuska, Oklahoma - where Jim was born.
JUDGE LYNCH!
“Judge Lynch Holds Court!” That was the banner headline in a Posey County, Indiana newspaper after seven African American men were murdered by a white mob during October, 1878.
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Gavel Gamut Greetings from JPeg Ranch
“Gavel Gamut Greetings" is an anthology of topical and historical selections mainly about regional events and personalities that have appeared in my weekly newspaper column, Gavel Gamut.
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