AMERICANA / WHERE IS THE NEXT JOE WELCH WHEN WE NEED ONE MOST

FIGHTING JOE'S. U.S. Army chief counsel Joseph Welch (left) and Sen. Joe McCarthy (right) say it with gestures during the celebrated Army-McCarthy hearings in Washington, D.C., in June 1954. During the hearings, Welch famously asked McCarthy, “Have you no sense of decency, sir?”
Photo courtesy of the Associated Press

OPINION BY PILLARTOPOST.ORG 

The line still echoes across seven decades of American political life: “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?” With those words in 1954, Joseph N. Welch punctured the fever of McCarthyism and reminded a shaken nation that truth has guardians, and democracy has its immune system.   

Welch was not an elected official. He was not an activist. He was a lawyer with a steady voice and a moral spine. What made his rebuke historic was not its volume but its clarity. He spoke plainly, without hedging, at a moment when silence would have been easier and far safer. 

In doing so, he did what institutions could not manage and what too many public figures refused to attempt—he drew a line.   

The question for our age is simple and uncomfortable: Where is the next Joe Welch when we need one? Not a partisan warrior, not a social-media hero, but a figure willing to halt the descent into noise, cruelty, and disinformation with one unambiguous demand for decency.   

Every era produces its demagogues. 

They arrive with familiar tools—fear, exaggeration, scapegoating, and the steady erosion of shared facts. What is less guaranteed is the arrival of someone willing to confront them in real time, with both precision and moral authority. Someone who sees that corrosive behavior does not correct itself; it accelerates until checked.   

Welch did not topple McCarthy alone. But he triggered the moment when the country regained its balance, when the gallery fell silent, and when Americans realized the spell had broken. It was a reminder that character can alter the national temperature, and that a single honest sentence, delivered without theatrics, can pierce an entire movement built on intimidation.   

Today we wait for a voice like that—calm, relentless, unimpressed by bluster, anchored in civic duty. Not someone seeking fame but someone protecting the atmosphere in which a democracy can breathe.   

The next Joe Welch may be sitting in a courtroom, a classroom, a newsroom, a barracks, or a city hall. The role is not tied to title or rank. It is tied to conscience.   

The nation will know that person the moment they speak. 

NOVEL CANTINA PSALMS FROM PILLARTOPOST.ORG

 

SUNDAY REVIEW / HONEYMOON AT SEA, PART 2

SAILING THE CALI COAST BETWEEN GIANTS GAMES

By Jennifer Silva Redmond, pictured above.

When Russel and I got married, there weren’t many big things we didn’t know about each other. We’d known each other for 14 years before we got hitched, after all, and though we’d only dated for a year during that time, we had all the basics down—we shared a philosophy of life that pretty much boiled down to “seize the day,” we were liberal democrats, we grew up in California (though Russel was born in Iowa, his family moved to Oceanside when he was 5) and we both loved the ocean. 

We also shared a fondness for live theater, movie musicals, big dogs, and seventies rock music. What we did not have in common was sports. Russel liked baseball and I loved baseball. And I especially loved the San Francisco Giants, even though I never lived in San Francisco, and my hometown was San Diego. That’s a long story which I won’t go into, but suffice to say that I was a pretty rabid Giants fan. 

Russel was happy to indulge my passion but he was a bit worried when I came running out to the dock shouting when I couldn’t get game 2 of the 1989 World Series to come in on his little tv on the boat. 

I was pissed off, to hear him tell it, and it took finding out there’d been a devastating earthquake to shut me up. 

In 2002, Russel started to get pretty excited when the Giants won the Pennant and went to lose the World Series. By the time 2010 rolled around, he was almost as big a fan as I was and we got even more crazy when the Giants did it again in 2012. 

That fall was a magical one, with the Giants winning the World Series and Barack Obama winning a second term. 

Then, in 2014, my beloved husband came up with an idea to celebrate our 25th anniversary—why not take the boat up to San Francisco, stay a few weeks, and see the Giants in person at their ballpark? I was over the moon, of course, and we proceeded to put his plan into action. 

We sailed north up the coast, stopping at Santa Cruz Island and Santa Barbara and then jumped up to Morro Bay for our actual anniversary in late May. We planned to cruise on up to SF and catch some games in June or July, before heading south in early August. But Monterey was as far as we got by sailboat. 

Stillwater Cove daytime

It happened like this: we left the gorgeous, protected anchorage at San Simeon in the late afternoon, as we often do when making a long passage. There’s nowhere for a sailboat to safely stop in the miles north of San Simeon, until you reach Stillwater Cove, the lovely bay that the Pebble Beach golf course and resort wraps around so scenically. 

The 92 miles would take us about 18 hours, but we’d take turns being on watch, so the other could sleep. We waved goodbye to Hearst Castle as the afternoon sun warmed the rolling golden hills of San Simeon, a place we’d come to love on previous visits. 

The Pacific swell was only moderate, coming as always from the northwest along the coast, meaning right on our nose, and we settled in for a long spell of motoring. 

At seven o’clock, our dinner eaten, I volunteered for the first watch, knowing there was a Giants game coming on that I could tune in to on Sirius Radio—listening to that would keep me awake while looking around and staying alert to any potential problems. 

 Russel went below and tried to rest, but two hours later, off Big Sur, he popped up saying he was “too interested to sleep.” We both watched awhile as the boat crept along the towering rock cliffs, then we took turns going below and lying in the v-berth, but sleep eluded us both. I took my turns in the warm bed but couldn’t shut down my mind, and Russel had the same problem; we each slept an hour or two out of the 14 we’d allowed for sleep and watches. 

The motoring went better than the sleeping and we got to Stillwater Cove before it was light, not a good time to come into a shallow, rocky, kelp-filled cove that we’d never entered before. We decided to press on to Monterey, knowing we could anchor off the marina and not have to deal with docking in our sleep-deprived state. 

 I have always been able to “maintain” pretty well on little or no sleep, thanks to many years of working long shifts in restaurants and bars, followed by doing acting rehearsals, classes, or performances. But I was pretty tired by the time we rounded the big peninsula that wraps around the big bay of Monterey to the west and south. 

Russel was lying quietly below and, hoping he was sleeping, I kept steering through the quirky but beautiful approach to the harbor. The houses along those few miles are some of the most beautiful in the world, and their waterfront settings are world-class too. 

Monterey Bay

When Russel came up, he was happy to see we’d arrived, but we were both unhappy to see that the swell was also wrapping around and heading into the bay, making the anchorage as full of swells as the open ocean. Admitting defeat, beaten by the elements, we called the marina office and they said they had a slip for us, so we powered to the dock, exhausted and with the stress working on our final nerves. 

Once we’d pulled into the slip and safely tied up, I walked up to the office to check us in and pay for the slip, and Russel got the boat straightened up—passages always cause things you thought were fastened to come loose and by the end of 18 hours, there were plenty of things strewn about or hastily stuck in odd places. 

The rest of the day was spent in the v-berth where, even though I still couldn’t fall asleep, I was more than content to read and relax in the still and quiet boat while Russel napped. 

The next day we looked at the charts for the next leg of our passage up to San Francisco and decided that we’d “prefer not to.” Better to stay put in Monterey and go up by car. We rented a slip in Monterey’s marina for a month, enjoying daily walks filled with sightseeing around the historic city. In late June, almost a month after my birthday, we rented a car in Monterey and drove up to SF for a couple of days, planning to eat some great seafood, see some baseball, and do a little city-by-the-bay tourism. 

The cioppino at the renowned Tadich Grill was delicious—it always is—and we enjoyed walking around the city as we always do, but a few little things got in the way of us having our dream vacation. I’d chosen our hotel based purely on the fact that it wasn’t too expensive and was right on the train line to AT&T Park (we’d decided that public transport was the smart way to get to the ballpark, which is still true). 

That night we took the train over to the ballpark, taking in the sights at the glittering Embarcadero. Unfortunately, the Giants got soundly beat by our hometown Padres and we got back to the hotel late and bummed out. We were asleep at midnight when the loud partying started next door, and the noise kept us tossing and turning for hours. 

At dawn I got up to take a morning walk and found a nearby cafe that served excellent coffee and buttermilk donuts. Russel was able to sleep in once the party animals retired at four, so he wasn’t feeling too bad. The fresh donuts and strong coffee (and a full refund from Hotels.com) made us both feel much better. 

That day we drove over to Sausalito, the charming village just over the Golden Gate from SF. We’d been advised to try The Spinnaker for lunch, which lived up to its billing on waterfront views as well as great food, plus the Bloody Marys were spicy and strong. 

Full as a tick, I wandered back from the ladies room past a bar where the Wednesday afternoon Giants game was on. I stopped to watch a moment, only to discover that Tim Lincecum was pitching a no-hitter against the Padres. I called Russel over and we spent the after-lunch hour watching baseball history be made, just a few miles away. I tried to take it well, but of course I was kicking myself. Why hadn’t I chosen the day game? 

Luckily, it was a gorgeous afternoon to enjoy Sausalito, so we wandered the streets and happily window shopped before heading home, worn out from the ups and downs of our long-awaited Giants visit to the big city. 

Notes: 

An earlier version of this essay was originally published in Womancake Magazine in 2024; it is reprinted here with the permission of that publication. 

Enjoy Womancake Magazine at: https://www.womancake.com/ 

Follow Jennifer’s Substack at https://honeymoonatsea.substack.com/ 

"Honeymoon at Sea: How I Found Myself Living on a Small Boat" can be purchased online or please feel free to order it at your favorite bookstore.

                                                                ***

Author just missed this game. Candlestick Park, San Francisco after Earthquake World Series Game 3 October 17, 1989 vs. Oakland Athletics.

COFFEE BEANS & BEINGS / WALKING CAFFE TOUR OF TREVISO, ITALY

 

Where Water, Light, and Espresso Flow Together  Few Italian towns blend café culture and canal charm as gracefully as Treviso—a walled city of about 94,000 residents, just half an hour north of Venice. Locals call it Piccola Venezia, “Little Venice,” not out of rivalry, but affection. The River Sile and the Canale dei Buranelli wind through its heart, their slow waters mirroring ochre facades, flowered balconies, and bicycles leaning against stone parapets. 

Treviso rewards the walker. 

The best way to experience it is cup in hand, pausing at the city’s classic coffeehouses—each within a pleasant few minutes’ stroll of the next. Here’s a self-guided circuit that invites lingering, reflection, and a deep sip of northern Italian life. 

Casa del Caffè — Piazza dei Signori’s Beating Heart 

Start your walk at Casa del Caffè, just off Piazza dei Signori, Treviso’s grand square where morning light pools between the Torre Civica and the Palazzo dei Trecento. Sit outdoors and order a cappuccino with a view of the clock tower. Early hours bring a hum of conversation and the scent of pastry cream drifting from nearby bakeries. The gentle gurgle of a canal just a block away provides a constant undertone—a reminder that the city moves on water as much as stone. 

Il Caffè Letterario — Espresso among Books and Bridges  

From Piazza dei Signori, stroll along Via Calmaggiore, where boutique windows reflect the waterways below. Within minutes you’ll reach Il Caffè Letterario, tucked near the Canale dei Buranelli. The name is literal: part café, part salon. Order an espresso or macchiato, thumb through an Italian paperback, and watch the reflections ripple beneath the bridges. Locals favor this stop for afternoon quiet, when the city’s rhythms slow and the light turns amber. 

Caffè Diemme Italian Attitude

Continue south toward the River Sile, whose clear current once powered the city’s medieval mills—many of which still stand, now repurposed as galleries or energy hubs. A short walk leads you to Caffè Diemme Italian Attitude, a modern espresso bar celebrating Treviso’s sustainability renaissance. Try the house blend alongside a slice of fregolotta or the local invention, tiramisù, which legend credits to a 19th-century madam seeking a “pick-me-up” for her clientele. From the terrace, the Sile flows beneath weeping willows—perhaps the most serene coffee view in northern Italy. 

***

On the willow-lined Sile River, Café Rosa offers a calm, romantic pause in Treviso. Beside an old water mill whose wheel still turns with the current, its shaded terrace opens to drifting light and the murmur of water. Espresso and handmade pastries mark slow mornings; at sunset, locals gather for spritzes as the river glows gold beneath the fading day.

Riverside Reflections (see above)  

Treviso’s caffés are linked not just by stone streets but by living water. The Sile River, Italy’s longest spring-fed river, curls through the city walls, while side canals like the Cagnan Grande and Buranelli thread beneath bridges and houses on stilts. These waterways have defined Treviso for two millennia, nourishing its trade, its mills, and now its eco-friendly rebirth. Many ancient mills (now modernized) power public lights with micro-hydro turbines—a literal marriage of history and sustainability. 

Bonus Tips for Caffé Hopping in Treviso 

--Go early or late. Mornings and late afternoons cast the softest light and invite leisurely pauses before or after the lunch rush. 

--Sit outside when you can. The best tables overlook canals or riverbanks—perfect for sketching, journaling, or people-watching. 

--Savor time. Order slowly, linger longer. Caffé hours in Treviso are a ritual of unhurried grace. 

--Mix and match. Try an espresso at one stop, a pastry at another, an aperitivo at dusk. Treviso is compact enough to reward caffé-hopping on foot. Final Sip   

By the time you circle back to Piazza dei Signori, daylight will gild the canals, and the city’s hum will mellow into evening. Treviso proves that you don’t need Venice’s grandeur to find poetry—just a walk, a river, and the perfect cup. 

FRIDAY FOILBLES / ARRESTING DEVELOPMENT

THE FOODIST / HOME BAKERS RALLY TO AID FOOD BANKS

Community Loaves has donated more than 200,000 loaves of fresh bread and some 220,000 energy cookies to food pantries. Amid cuts in federal funding for food aid to the poor and rising grocery prices, demand for the group’s nutritious baked goods is greater than ever. (AP photos by Annika Hammerschlag/AP

When food banks need bread, more than 900 home bakers answer the call. 

GUEST BLOG / By Jonel Aleccia, The Associated Press--On a recent Saturday near Seattle, Cheryl Ewaldsen pulled three golden loaves of wheat bread out of her kitchen oven. The fragrant, oat-topped bread was destined not for her table, but for a local food bank, to be distributed to families increasingly struggling with hunger and the high cost of groceries. 

“I just get really excited about it knowing that it’s going to someone and they’re in turn going to make, like, 10 sandwiches,” said Ewaldsen, 75, a retired university human resources director. Ewaldsen is a volunteer with Community Loaves, a Seattle-area nonprofit that started pairing home bakers with food pantries during the COVID-19 pandemic — and hasn’t stopped. 

Since 2020, the organization headed by Katherine Kehrli, the former dean of a culinary school, has donated more than 200,000 loaves of fresh bread and some 220,000 energy cookies to food banks. They come from a network of nearly 900 bakers in four states — Washington, Oregon, California and Idaho — and represent one of the largest such efforts in the country. 

Now, amid rising grocery prices and federal cuts to food aid for low-income people, demand for the group’s donations of nutritious baked goods is greater than ever, Kehrli said. “Most of our food banks do not get any kind of whole-grain sandwich bread donation,” she said. “When we ask what we could do better, they just say, ‘Bring us more.’” 

Anti-hunger experts expect to see more need Ewaldsen’s bread goes to the nearby Edmonds Food Bank, where the client list has swelled from 350 households to nearly 1,000 in the past three years, according to program manager Lester Almanza. 

Nationwide, more than 50 million people a year receive charitable food assistance, according to Feeding America, a hunger relief organization. Anti-hunger experts say they expect the need to rise as recent federal legislation sharply cutting food aid to poor people takes effect. 

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the tax and spending cuts bill Republicans muscled through Congress in July means 3 million people would not qualify for food stamps, also known as SNAP benefits. 

Gauging the impact, however, could soon be more difficult after the U.S. Agriculture Department recently said it would halt an annual report on hunger in America, saying it was redundant, costly and politicized “subjective liberal fodder.” After 30 years, the 2024 report, to be released on Oct. 22, will be the last, the agency said. “Ending data collection will not end hunger, it will only make it a hidden crisis that is easier to ignore and more difficult to address,” Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research & Action Center, an advocacy group, said in a statement. 

Almanza said federal funding for his food bank has dropped at least 10% this year, meaning that every donation helps. “It’s something that a lot of people rely on,” he said. That includes people like Chris Redfearn, 42, and his wife, Melanie Rodriguez-Redfearn, 43, who turned to a food bank in Everett, Washington, last spring after moving to the area to find work. They had to stretch their savings until she began a new position this month teaching history at a local college. 

Chris Redfearn, who has worked for decades in business, is still looking. “The food pantry assists with anywhere from $40 to $80 worth of savings weekly,” he said. “We’ve been able to keep ourselves afloat.” 

Finding homemade bread from Community Loaves at a food pantry was a surprise, the couple said. Often, surplus bread sent by grocery stores includes highly processed white breads or sweets donated near their expiration or sell-by dates. The breads come in three varieties — honey oat, whole wheat and sunflower rye — all made with whole grains and minimally processed ingredients. “They make it really wholesome and fibrous,” Chris Redfearn said. “It mimics most of the health-conscious breads that are out there.” 

The notion of donating home-baked bread came to Kehrli, 61, during the pandemic, when she was displaced from her job at the busy Seattle Culinary Academy. “I love to bake and just an idea sparked: Would it be possible for us to help from our home and get important valuable nutrition to our food banks?” she recalled. 

Many food pantries don’t accept or distribute donations of homemade baked goods. Feeding America warns individual bakers against the practice, saying “since food banks can’t confirm how your baked goods were made or their ingredients, they can’t be donated.” 

But health department rules vary by state, Kehrli learned. In Washington and the other three states where Community Loaves now operates, bread is one of the few foods allowed to be donated from a home kitchen through a program like theirs. 

“We wouldn’t be able to donate custard pies. We wouldn’t be able to donate lasagna,” Kehrli said. “But bread is deemed safe. Anything that is fully baked and does not require refrigeration.” 

Still, Community Loaves bakers must follow approved recipes for the bread and two types of energy cookies. They obtain flour from common sources, and bake and deliver on a shared schedule twice a month. The bakers buy their own supplies, donating the cost of the ingredients as well as their time. Most make a few loaves per baking session before delivering them to local “hubs,” where other volunteers collect the bread and transport it to the food banks. 

 Bakers range from former professionals to beginners. A robust website with recipes and how-to videos backstops every step, Kehrli said. 

Baking the bread is satisfying on several levels, said Ewaldsen, who has donated nearly 800 loaves in less than two years. Part of it is addressing the physical need for food, but part is also addressing the spiritual hunger for connection with neighbors. “It’s the opportunity for me to bake something and to share something with others in the community, where they don’t necessarily need to know who I am, but they know that there’s a community that loves and cares for them,” she said. 

While such sentiments are sincere and admirable, anti-hunger experts stress that individual donations can’t take the place of adequately funded government services for struggling Americans. “It’s beautiful that our communities act this way,” said Gina Plata-Nino of the Food Research & Action Center. “But it is a loaf of bread. That is going to feed one person — and there are millions in line.” 

 SUPPORT COMMUNITY LOAVES: https://support.communityloaves.org/hc/en-us/sections/38883073114643-Getting-Started?utm_source=chatgpt.com 

 START A BAKING HUB IN YOU 'HOOD: https://communityloaves.org/support-our-work/ 

Volunteers fill grocery orders at the Edmonds Food Bank in Edmonds, Wash.

Cheryl Ewaldsen, left, bakes bread for Community Loaves at her home in Edmonds, Wash.

 Katherine Kehrli, founder of Community Loaves, slices bread donated by her organization at the Edmonds Food Bank in Edmonds, Wash.

Volunteers slice bread from Community Loaves 

Peggy Koivu, a retired teacher, above, in Washington state loves to bake. And she loves to share. She has used her hobby to help reduce food insecurity in Kitsap, Wash. for more than three years now, baking 573 honey oat sandwich loaves since December 2020 to be donated to two food banks in the county. Koivu didn't accomplish this goal alone. She committed her time and space to baking loaves in her kitchen every week. A team of volunteers in the region helped with the logistics from purchasing and delivering the flour to sending home-baked loaves to the food banks. In Kitsap County there are about 24 more bakers like Koivu, who receive training from a Kirkland-based nonprofit, Community Loaves. The organization teaches volunteers to make nutritious bread and energy cookies and coordinates with volunteers to deliver the food to its partnered food banks.

DESIGN. NORMAN ROCKWELL PAINTING ON SALE, NOV. 14

“So You Want to See the President!” will be offered for sale by Heritage Auctions during its Nov. 14 sale of American art in Dallas. 

 Norman Rockwell (1894–1978) pictured in the first panel in saddle shoes.

His beloved So You Want to See the President!, 1943 is mixed media on paper.  Bidding is expected to range between $4,000,000-$6,000,000.  The auction is being conducted by  Heritage Auctions'  November 14, 2025, in Dallas and online at HA.com/8231, where the auction is now open for bidding. 

 A Vision of Democracy in Four Scenes 

Each of the suite's four panels unfolds within the same antechamber of the White House, forming a continuous narrative of anticipation. 

--In the first, Press Secretary Early greets members of the press; 

--In the second, officers and Miss America fill the room's red sofas as Secret Service men lean on a table beneath a rack hung with the President's gas masks--reminders of wartime vigilance;

--In the third, senators from opposing parties chat amiably and generals shake hands, their presence among servicemen, Miss America and reporters signaling Roosevelt's vision of democracy as inclusive and cooperative; and

--In the final panel, the door to the Oval Office opens just enough to reveal Roosevelt at his desk, the leader of a free world glimpsed not from afar but within reach. 

NOVEL EXCERPT / CALIFORNIA NOIR FROM PILLARTOPOST.ORG

ONE OFF TOURIST (originally titled "Slab City."

Excerpt from Cantina Psalms, a noir novel by Thomas Shess (available on major online bookstores).

Carla Boris, the assistant medical examiner in her forties, handed Mayor Joe Martin an unstapled inch-thick stack of printed data. Tom liked her New England accept and her preppy wardrobe. She was on record being the oldest woman in San Francisco to wear parochial girl plaid skirts with penny loafers.   His Honor and his bodyguard Tom Gresham arrived at the Medical Examiner's office to learn more about a rash of drug ODs in the past two weeks.

 “What do you have?” the politico asked. 

 “We tested the blood on the new arrivals. We haven’t seen coke this pure in a long, long time. I’ve sent samples to the Feds to let them determine what part of the planet the powder came from. They can do that quicker than my team.” 

“Anything else you can tell me about the victims?” 

 “Undernourished. They’re veteran drug users. That’s why I’m curious why they were caught off guard with more potent cocaine?” 

 “A new source?” Joe asked. 

 “Want me to guess?” 

“Sure.” 

She picked up some notes and read: “One of the citizens had recently come back from a business trip to South America, according to his family. They swore he had never done drugs.” 

“One-off tourist,” Tom said from the back of the lab. 

"No, a business man.  Computer sales.  Dual citizenship."

“Where in South America?” His Honor asked. 

 “Peru,” she said. 

 “And that Peru citizen,” Joe asked carefully, “had similar cocaine in his system.”

 “Yes sir.” 

 “What about the others?” 

 “Card-carrying druggies, all of them.” 

 “Where were they picked up from?” 

 “I can have staff give you geographic data. Give me a week.” 

 “I need a favor,” Joe asked. “Stall any press calls on this if you can.” 

 “I’m a bureaucrat. I’m one of you. I can stall with the best of them.” 

 Tom followed Joe out of the lab. He handed her his business card. 

 “What’s this for?” 

 “Dinner. I’d like to take you out to dinner—sometime. It’s Friday. You work hard and as a citizen I’d like to thank you in a small way.” He laughed and realized how attracted to her he was. The plaid skirt worked. “And I know I’ve seen you before. I just can’t place it.” 

 “I’m married, slick.” 

 Tom snapped the card away. “Since when did a nice offer for dinner turn out to mean I want to screw you on the metal slab over there.” 

 “I wasn’t born yesterday. I know what you want?” 

 “OK, tell me what I want?” “I know your type. Fuck, fuck, fuck that's all that's on your mind." 

 "I’m offended."

"No, you're not," she mocked, “Go ahead call HR and stand in line to complain." 

 "Not that offended to stand in line.”

"Look, I’m maybe ten years older than you. I still got the stuff men like you have been drooling over since I was 14. You’ll be nice to me just to get me in bed. That's dishonest. It’s lying. Guys like you think I’ll be grateful to get laid because I’m older than you. And I know all you want is to screw me. You aren’t interested in a relationship or even a friendship. Tell me I’m wrong?” 

 “What’s evil about a one off?” Tom's eyebrows raised. "Besides, I don't care about your age."

"Am I suppose to thank you?" she wasn't impressed.

"You’re terrific looking woman.  I'm attracted to you--but now that you’ve made a deal about it how old are you?” 

 “Good side of dead. Don’t mess with me on dead jokes,” Carla said. 

 “Dinner is dinner. I’m a single guy. No relationships. We don’t have to have sex.” 

 She snapped the card back out of his hand. “I didn’t say I didn’t want sex. I just said I know what you’re up to so don’t sweet talk me.” 

"As long as you're the boss," he grabbed the card. "Dinner, what do we have to lose?"

 “I may take you up on that,” she took his business card back. 

 “Where?” he asked, wondering what restaurant she’d pick. 

 “How about the metal slab right behind you.” Tom snapped the card back. 

 “You started it,” she laughed, as the closing swinging doors made Tom Gresham disappear. 

 Tom’s thoughts were scrambled, So far it has been quite a morning. Earlier, the woman in his bed wanted to dump him; his boss’s seventeen-year-old daugher called him a virgin; now a woman ten years older messed with him over what he thought was an innocent enough dinner invitation. "Man, asking a woman out to dinner didn't used to be so God damned complicated. “When did that change,” he mumbled. "And, I'm not a virgin," he said loud enough for the Mayor to turn back to look at him.

MONDAY MEDIA / WHEN LINCOLN WEAPONIZED THE MEDIA

Illustration F.Stop Fitzgerald, pillartopost.org

FDR had the Radio 

JFK had television

Obama and Trump had social media

Lincoln had the Telegraph...

When Americans think of Abraham Lincoln’s words, they think of the soaring cadences of the Gettysburg Address or the moral clarity of the Second Inaugural. But Lincoln was more than a writer of great speeches—he was the first president to harness a brand-new technology as a political and military weapon. The telegraph, barely two decades old when the Civil War erupted, became Lincoln’s tool for real-time leadership. His team of aides and allies transformed the White House into the first media-savvy command center in American history. 

The key to this transformation was Edwin M. Stanton, Lincoln’s iron-willed Secretary of War. From the War Department’s telegraph office, Stanton controlled the wires that carried orders to generals, battlefield news to Washington, and dispatches to the press. He acted as gatekeeper, timing announcements to steady morale and censoring reports that might give comfort to the enemy. In Stanton’s hands, the telegraph became more than a machine—it was the Union’s messaging weapon, ensuring that Lincoln’s words traveled fast, forceful, and authoritative. 

Lincoln himself grasped the significance of this new medium. He spent long hours in the telegraph office, pacing between desks, dictating instructions, or waiting for frontline reports. For the first time in history, a president could speak across hundreds of miles not by messenger or mail coach, but in near-real time. His generals felt his presence in ways no predecessor could have imagined. Yet Lincoln’s mastery of media was not only about speed—it was also about clarity. His secretaries John Nicolay and John Hay helped refine his proclamations and speeches into crisp, quotable lines that fit easily into newspaper columns. Their penmanship ensured the president’s words retained their force when carried by telegraph and reprinted nationwide. William H. Seward, his seasoned Secretary of State, lent polish to documents with international stakes, guiding Lincoln’s voice to resonate beyond America’s shores. 

At the same time, Lincoln cultivated powerful journalistic allies. Editors like Henry Raymond of The New York Times and Joseph Medill of the Chicago Tribune amplified his messages, framing the president’s dispatches as both news and moral argument. Lincoln’s gift for memorable phrasing—“a house divided,” “with malice toward none”—was perfectly suited to this new ecosystem of wires and presses. 

What makes Lincoln’s media operation revolutionary is its resemblance to later eras of communication. Franklin Roosevelt had radio. John F. Kennedy had television. Obama and Trump had Social Media. 

And as we mentioned, Lincoln had the telegraph. He and Stanton used it as a military tool and in a way to command public opinion and to shape the story of the war as it unfolded. By the end of the Civil War, the United States had witnessed not only the preservation of the Union but also the birth of real-time presidential communication. 

The telegraph gave Lincoln a new kind of reach, and his team—the pen of Hay, the polish of Seward, the discipline of Stanton—ensured his words struck their targets with unprecedented power. Lincoln’s genius was not only in the writing. It was in recognizing that words, to matter, must travel—and that a president must master the newest medium to lead effectively. 

SUNDAY REVIEW / LOST & FOUND NOIR: RAYMOND CHANDLER SHORT STORY

Full-page oil paintings by Jeffrey B. McKeever (above) 
accompany “Nightmare”, adding mood
and menace in brushstrokes that echo Chandler’s noir voice

It’s not every season that the literary world unearths a true treasure, but this month The Strand Magazine delivers just that: a lost short story by Raymond Chandler. Titled “Nightmare,” the piece was discovered among the papers of Chandler’s longtime secretary and has been carefully authenticated by scholars. 

The story is vintage Chandler—taut, ironic, and chilling—placing the author himself on death row, awaiting execution. 

It’s Chandler stripped bare, offering a glimpse into his imagination at its darkest edge chandler raw . What elevates this issue beyond mere rediscovery is how The Strand curates the experience. Full-page oil paintings by Jeffrey B. McKeever (above)  accompany “Nightmare”, adding mood and menace in brushstrokes that echo Chandler’s noir voice. 

Alongside this rare find, the magazine delivers a slate of compelling new fiction: Matthew Sullivan’s surreal “Howard’s Okay,” Susan Knight’s Sherlock Holmes mystery “The Case of the Fatal Flowers,” John M. Floyd’s tense “Reptiles,” and Joseph Koenig’s unnerving “No Doctor in the House.” The editorial team also secures exclusive interviews with Anthony Horowitz and Peter James—two crime-writing heavyweights whose insights into craft and genre anchor the issue. 

Together with the review section’s sharp curation of new crime and suspense releases, this edition brims with both nostalgia and novelty chandler raw . The Strand has long held a reputation for digging into archives to uncover hidden literary gems, and this Chandler revelation only strengthens its standing as a custodian of mystery fiction’s golden past. This Fall’s issue is already shaping up to be a collector’s item—part literary archaeology, part celebration of crime fiction’s evolving future. 

 👉 You can purchase the Chandler issue directly from the publisher here: https://strandmag.com/product/the-strand-special-issue-raymond-chandler-rediscovered/ 

SPACE CADETS / HOW MUCH OF THE 3I/ATLAS SPACE OBJECT NEWS IS REAL?

(Image credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Shadow the ScientistImage Processing: J. Miller & M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)

A PillarToPost.org White Paper

 In early July 2025, a headline-making discovery was announced: an object designated 3I/ATLAS (also known as C/2025 N1 (ATLAS)) had been detected moving through our Solar System. What followed were equal parts rigorous science, cautious interpretation, and speculative leaps. Here is what we know — what we don’t yet know — and what the record shows so far. 

What PillartoPost.org has learned by consulting the following sources.

Discovery and designation.

On July 1 2025, the Asteroid Terrestrial impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Río Hurtado, Chile, reported the detection of what would become 3I/ATLAS. NASA Science+2 The object was soon given the designation “3I” (meaning the third confirmed interstellar object) and the temporary comet designation C/2025 N1 (ATLAS). Wikipedia+1 

Interstellar origin 

Analyses of its trajectory show that 3I/ATLAS follows a hyperbolic path — in short, it is not gravitationally bound to the Sun and is passing through our system rather than being a native Solar System body. California Institute of Technology+2NASA Science+2 

That fact alone makes it a rare object: only two prior confirmed interstellar visitors are known (1I/ʻOumuamua and 2I/Borisov). The Guardian+1 

Trajectory and motion 

Some key numbers: 3I/ATLAS is moving at roughly 60 km/s relative to the Sun. The Guardian+1 Its perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) is predicted around late October 2025, at ~1.4 AU from the Sun (about 210 million km) — which is just inside Mars’s orbit. NASA Science+1 

The minimum distance to Earth is safely large: about ~1.6–1.8 AU (≈ 240 – 270 million km), meaning no threat to Earth. NASA Science+1 

Physical characteristics 

High-resolution imaging via the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has placed upper limits on the solid nucleus of the comet at around 3.5 miles (~5.6 km) diameter, though it could be far smaller. NASA Science+1 Our understanding of its size is complicated by the surrounding coma and dust cloud — the “icy snow-ball” of a comet is hard to isolate from a distance. Space.

Cometary activity and composition 

Observations using space and ground telescopes have revealed a coma of dust and gas around 3I/ATLAS, and a growing tail as it approaches the Sun. AP News 

Spectroscopic studies — including data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) — indicate the coma is unusually rich in CO₂ compared with typical Solar‐System comets; one study reported a CO₂/H₂O mixing ratio of ~8.0 ± 1.0, significantly higher than trends seen among native comets. arXiv 

Another study reports detection of water (via OH emission) at ~1.35×10²⁷ molecules per second, implying an active surface area of at least ~19 km² and suggesting >20 % of the surface could be active, which is high compared to typical Solar System comets. arXiv 

Scientific significance 

Because 3I/ATLAS originates beyond our Solar System, it presents a rare chance to study pristine (or near-pristine) material from another star system: its composition, behavior, and trajectory may shed light on how small bodies form and evolve outside the Sun’s influence. SETI Institute+1 

What we don’t yet know (and what remains speculative) Exact origin While we know 3I/ATLAS came from outside the Solar System, the specific star system or region it originated from cannot be reliably determined at this time. Its inbound direction is roughly from near the constellation Sagittarius / toward the galactic centre, but identifying a precise source remains beyond current data. The Guardian 

True size, shape and mass 

Because of the coma and limits of observation, the true nucleus size, the exact mass and internal structure are uncertain. Whether it is a compact icy body, a loosely bound rubble pile, or something else remains unconfirmed. 

Composition beyond volatiles 

While early spectroscopic results are promising, questions remain: how representative is the sampled material of the object’s interior, how homogeneous is it, what heavy elements or organics might be present? For instance, the detection of CO₂ excess raises questions about how the body formed and its exposure to cosmic rays. arXiv 

Non-comet or artificial scenarios 

Some authors (notably Avi Loeb of Harvard) have suggested the hypothesis that 3I/ATLAS could be an artificial object (alien probe) or of non-natural origin. People.com+1 However, the broader scientific community regards this as speculative and unsupported by credible evidence so far. Most observations suggest typical comet‐like behaviour (coma, tail, dust production). earthsky.org+1 

So what is real — and what is hype? 

Real: 

• 3I/ATLAS is a confirmed interstellar object (third known) moving on a hyperbolic orbit. 

• It is recognized by major space agencies (e.g., NASA, European Space Agency) as a comet with observable coma/tail and active outgassing. 

• It poses no threat to Earth. 

• The object’s trajectory, speed, and origin outside the Solar System are well established and peer‐reviewed (or in the process of review). 

Less certain / speculation subject to caution: 

• Exact magnitude of its size and mass. Some figures (~20 km) are upper-limits or speculative based on brightness assumptions rather than direct imaging. Sci.News: Breaking Science News+1 

• Interpretation of composition anomalies (e.g., CO₂ enrichment) and what they imply for origin or formation environment. These are early results and subject to refinement. 

• Any claim of artificial origin, spacecraft, or alien technology — these remain speculative, not supported by the bulk of evidence, and carry considerable uncertainty. 

• Predicting its behaviour post-perihelion or how much of its interior will be exposed. 

 In conclusion: 

3I/ATLAS is real. It is interstellar. It is active. It is not a threat. The exciting part is what it can teach us about the universe beyond our Sun rather than sensational claims about what it could be. As readers insist on what you read is  grounded in the data — and yes, the awe of what is real. 

1 PIX = 1K WORDS / HALLOWEEN SEASON / PUMPKIN FIELDS CARLSBAD, CA

THE FOODIST / CHILL IN THE AIR OLD FASHIONED BEEF STEW.

GUEST BLOG / By Molly O'Neill, The New York Times.-This classic stick-to-your-ribs stew is the ideal project for a chilly weekend. Beef, onion, carrots, potatoes and red wine come together in cozy harmony. If you are feeding a crowd, good news: It doubles (or triples) beautifully. No recipe.  Easy to follow along on the video.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/4735-old-fashioned-beef-stew 

Total Time 2 hours 45 minutes 

Prep Time 15 minutes 

Cook Time 2 hours 30 minutes 

IT'S NATIONAL MEOW DAY. PURR-FECT

Fine, but where's the treats you promised?

Today’s the day the cats pretend not to notice they’re being celebrated. National Cat Day began in 2005 to promote adoption and honor the feline species—who, of course, already consider every day their own. Give your cat an extra treat, a soft nap spot, or simply the illusion of your undivided attention. After all, they’ve been running the show since ancient Egypt. 

AMERICANA / MORE POLITICAL CARTOONS

 

AMERICANA / ANONYMOUS RETURNS TO DEFEND FREE SPEECH

Who Is Anonymous? 

Before reading on, watch this short YouTube video for a glimpse into the mystery and message behind the collective known as Anonymous. 

You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_sEmScu3Lw

Anonymous isn’t a single person—it’s an idea. Born from the chaotic forums of the early internet, it became a faceless global movement against censorship, corruption, and abuse of power. 

The Guy Fawkes mask, borrowed from V for Vendetta, symbolizes defiance and unity without ego or hierarchy. 

Members—hackers, whistleblowers, digital activists—operate in loose networks, sometimes moral vigilantes, sometimes controversial saboteurs. 

Whether celebrated as freedom fighters or condemned as cybercriminals, Anonymous forces society to confront the uneasy truth: in the age of total surveillance, anonymity itself is an act of rebellion. 

You decide.  Fake News? or Thomas Paine?

Note: PillartoPost.org is not a member of Anonymous. PillartoPost.org is exercising its right of free speech as a media outlet to publish as news that Anonymous has returned to the Internet--most recently on YouTube.

MEDIA MONDAY / WARNING: STOCK MARKET IS LOOKING LIKE A BUBBLE

Artificial Intelligence stock market bubble: Child's play...OR

GUEST BLOG / OPINION ESSAY AS PUBLISHED IN THE NEW YORK TIMES--By Jared Bernstein and Ryan Cummings. You may remember the recession that followed the collapse of dot-com stocks in 2001. Or, worse, the housing crisis of 2008. Both times, a new idea - the internet, mortgage-backed securities and the arcane derivatives they unleashed - convinced investors to plunge so much money into the stock market that it inflated two speculative bubbles whose inevitable bursting created much economic pain. 

 We believe it's time to call the third bubble of our century: the A.I. bubble. 

 While no one can be certain, we believe this is more likely the case than not. Investment in artificial intelligence has been so huge - with venture capitalists investing nearly $200 billion in the sector this year alone. Additionally, data-center investment has tripled since 2022. Together, these investments are driving growth across the entire economy, pumping up the stock market and generating increasingly eye-popping valuations of the technology firms driving the A.I. revolution. 

 In financial markets, a bubble occurs when the level of investment in an asset becomes persistently detached from the amount of profit that asset could plausibly generate. While investors are always making bets on an unknown future, bubbles form when large swaths of investors continuously pour ever more into an asset, with seemingly little regard for how much it could earn and when. 

 Artificial intelligence investment fits that pattern. 

 One huge AI entity namely OpenAI says it needs at least $1 trillion to invest in data centers that provide the electricity, computing power and storage to train and run A.I., yet the company's revenues are expected to amount to $13 billion this year. And since the debut of ChatGPT, an easily accessible A.I. chatbot, in late 2022, the S&P 500 has swelled by nearly two-thirds, with just seven firms - all of whom have invested heavily in A.I. - driving more than half of that growth. Or take a look at the price-to-earnings ratio - a common measure of how much the future profits of a company are valued over current ones - of the stocks of companies heavily invested in A.I. They are at levels not seen since the dot-com bubble of 2000. 

 HELLO. Shares of the A.I. chipmaker Nvidia are trading at roughly 55 times earnings, nearly double what they were a decade ago. And by our own estimates, the share of the economy devoted to A.I. investment is nearly a third greater than the share of the economy devoted to internet-related investments back then. 

 All this points to one conclusion: Should lackluster A.I. performance or sluggish adoption cause investors to doubt these lofty profit expectations, this probably-a-bubble will pop. And a lot of people, not just wealthy investors, will get hurt. 

 Adoption, both by firms and individuals, is clearly growing, but whether this adoption is generating big productivity benefits or profits remains to be seen. 

 Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that this time is different, and unlike the railroad [19th century] and internet bubbles [20th century], A.I. in 21st century is an epoch-shifting technology that generates its promised economic benefits relatively quickly. 

 If that occurs, say, over the next five to 10 years, the future profits generated by A.I. could justify the levels of investment we're observing today (it was in this spirit that Microsoft's chief executive, Satya Nadella, recently said, "I hope we don't take 50 years"). 

 It is also impossible to know when we're at the top of a bubble, which is a reason investors tend to keep piling in. 

 But we're skeptical. Look at what happened with the internet. In the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, hype around that revolution allowed companies like Pets.com to raise over $80 million in an initial public offering, even though its business model, which involved spending too much money to sell unprofitable pet supplies, was questionable at best. Less than nine months after its I.P.O., the company went bankrupt - and many other busts soon followed. 

 The belief that the internet would become a transformative technology was eventually correct, but investors during the dot-com bubble were wrong about the winners and their timing. 

 The economic impact generated by a bursting of the A.I. bubble would be greater than the loss of the trillions currently being invested to build the technology itself. The stock market, one of the brightest parts of the current economy and heavily dependent on A.I. ebullience, would also tumble. That, in turn, will diminish the "wealth effect," or the way that stock market gains support consumer spending. 

 Using data from the economist Mark Zandi, we found that over the past two years, real consumer spending is up 17 percent for the wealthiest households, who disproportionately hold stocks, but flat for the middle class. Mr. Zandi estimates that the A.I. wealth effect is speeding current real gross domestic product growth by about 0.4 percentage points (just under $100 billion), comparable to the peak of the dot-com bubble, when the wealth effect was 0.6 percentage points. 

 There is a bit of a silver lining. 

 As best we can tell, the damage of a potential A.I. bubble would not approach the carnage that resulted from the bursting of the housing bubble and the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008. While banks, private credit and private equity are all lending heavily to companies that are building and leasing A.I. data centers, this debt appears less distributed and embedded in global finance than it was back then. 

 What's more, the risks are not obviously or systemically underpriced, a factor that played a key role in spreading the contagion across the globe during the housing bubble. Prominent A.I. borrower, like CoreWeave, are paying 9 percent on their debt, well above the current risk-free rate on 10-year Treasuries of around 4 percent. 

 Our economy faces real risks. If A.I. is in a bubble, and its valuations relative to its expected payouts start to alarm investors, the bubble will burst. The ensuing wealth losses and impact on consumer spending could, once again, be recessionary, though there's a good chance the damage won't be nearly as bad as the last bubble. Granted, that's not good news. But it could be worse. 

Artificial Intelligence stock market bubble: Child's play...OR DOOMSDAY!

###

 ABOUT THE AUTHORS. Mr. Bernstein was the chair of President Joe Biden's Council of Economic Advisers from 2023 to 2025. Mr. Cummings served the council as an economist from 2021 to 2023.