Category Archives: VA

The Monday Book: Killers of the Flower Moon

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Jack is doing the review today

Killers of the Flower Moon – David Grann

This is a wonderfully researched book about a very dark piece of US history. A branch of the Osage nation found themselves accidentally sitting on top of a massive oil deposit on their reservation in Oklahoma. If what followed had been in the 18th or 19th centuries it might not have been too surprising, but it actually took place in the 1920s.

Over a period of years numerous members of an extended Osage family died – either mysteriously or simply murdered and they all had enormous income from the oil. To begin with no one was charged with any of the killings and there were various reasons for that.

Grann was determined to get to the bottom of the story and the book does just that!

I don’t want to give too much away, because I really want as many people as possible to read this, but here are a few pointers. Many of the Osage, despite their wealth, were put under the oversight of a white ‘guardian’; the State political situation was rampantly rigged, and one man was at the head of the whole shenanigans.

Behind all this, what would later become the FBI was just being set up and J. Edgar Hoover appointed an investigator called Tom White to look into the whole affair.

The two heroes of this book are Tom White and David Grann.

I thoroughly recommend it.

Choices – – –

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Jack got his booster shot yesterday and was under the weather – – –

Wendy and I live in rural South West Virginia, in Appalachia. This part of the US has a solid Republican and Trump voting majority. That is absolutely fine with me as we live in a democracy and we can all vote for whomever we want.

However there’s another side to this. Many folk here buy into the ‘American dream’ and ‘the land of the free’. That’s also fine but it ties into a suspicion of any government interference including health regulations and advice.

As the Covid 19 Delta variant began to infect people around here earlier this year, it coincided with all the shops and stores moving from insisting on mask wearing to simply advising it. This seemed pretty silly to me, and it’s made me even more determined to wear a mask in public settings. However when I do go to these places I see hardly anyone else wearing one. My biggest concern, obviously, is that if any of them are infected they will spread it.

That said – yesterday I got my booster shot of Moderna at our local Walmart after failing to get it at CVS despite making a confirmed appointment. When I arrived at Wally World as a ‘walk in’ I had a very easy time – a very professional associate getting my details and an equally professional pharmacist administering the shot. It was all over from entry to exit in thirty minutes and I didn’t feel a thing!

I will continue to wear my mask, despite the fact that I’m triple vaccinated, because I can still easily be infected and infect others.

I can’t tell other people how to live their lives; all I can do is say how I live mine – – –

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59077036