virginia

Chris Knight's avatar

I wasn’t surprised at all by the results of yesterday’s elections.  Decades of watching this sort of thing have deeply impressed this upon me: that people in densely populated areas almost always vote for the candidates who will cause the most harm.  I’ve heard various reasons why this is so.  It all pretty much comes down to stupidity in numbers.  People in big cities like New York and Chicago have itching ears for the candidates who can smooth-talk them with promises of good times and never-ending benefits.

Zohran Mamdani is going to be mayor of New York City for the next four years.  I have never seen an American candidate so ill-fitted to be put in charge of a major metropolitan area.  It seems that New York has already forgotten the lessons of 9/11.  Mamdani is a Muslim extremist who cavorts around those who cheered on Osama Bin Laden.  Mamdani ...

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Maybe I’m about to say too much, with this post.  But a few of you have asked me about recent events and my take on them.  And this does pertain to some people who I had blogged about much (though it’s been awhile, like fifteen years or so).

I feel obligated, for sake of completion, to weigh in on the matter.  So here it goes…

As reported a few days ago, Johnny Robertson of the Martinsville Church of Christ died a week ago.  The funeral service was held this past weekend.  Robertson was cremated, which may or may not be germane to the conversation.

The manner of Robertson’s death has become a topic of considerable discussion in the Martinsville, Virginia and Reidsville, North Carolina area.  I am aware of what the medical examination determined.  By now many people have correctly surmised how Johnny Robertson came to pass away.  Regardless ...

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Did you see what I did there?  Huh, did you?  That’s all I got…

Well anyway, a recidivist robber is cooling his heels in a jail in Fairfax, Virginia after stealing 300 cards from the insanely popular game Magic: The Gathering in the possession of a self-described “nerd”.  Said nerd, one Kemper Pogue, proceeded to formulate and execute an elaborate trap toward recovering his cards.  Which, incidentally, were worth $8000.

(Are these Magic fans dedicated to their hobby, or what?)

From the story at The Washington Post:

After filing a police report, Pogue decided to do what a
Magic character like Garruk Relentless might do, and hunted down his
enemies with dogged ferocity — sans the battle axe.

He
started by posting a detailed message on Facebook to alert friends in
the Magic community about the theft. Then, he began calling stores in
Northern Virginia and Maryland that specialize

...
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This is a photo of William Overstreet Jr. of Roanoke, Virginia, taken in recent years:

william overstreet jr., world war ii, roanoke, virginia
Photo Credit: The Roanoke Times

Mr. Overstreet passed away this past Sunday afternoon.  He was 92, and one of the most decorated airmen of World War II.

This is a photo of Bill Overstreet when he served in the Army Air Force during the war:

william overstreet jr, world war ii

And this is the maneuver that forever put Overstreet in the history books:

william overstreet jr, bill overstreet, eiffel tower, paris, france, world war ii, messerschmitt

This dude engaged in a dogfight with a German Messerschmitt Bf 109G over Nazi-occupied Paris.  And Overstreet, flying his P-51C, chased the Messerschmitt by flying through the arches of the Eiffel Tower!!  Overstreet soon after blasted the Nazi plane out of the sky.  It was a move that sent the morale of the French freedom fighters soaring.

Now… that is seriously hardcore.

Overstreet, a pilot in the357th squadron, was the recipient of hundreds of medals during ...

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I’ll be damned if (Lord willing) I get blessed with children and I put them in a government-run school.

They’re not here yet.  But I already love them too much than to subject them to the insanity of a modern public school.  And few things exemplify that madness more than do zero-tolerance policies.

(Hey, I ran for school board once.  It can’t be said that I never tried to make the public schools better.  But things won’t going to get better until more people get up the gumption to tell the bureaucrats “ENOUGH!“)

Two stories demonstrating my point.  The first is about seven-year old Christopher Marshall of Suffolk, Virginia.  He was suspended from his elementary school last week per a policy of “zero tolerance”.

What was his crime?  Pointing a pencil as if were a gun at another student and making “bang! bang!” noises with it.

Yeah, ...

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Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, Roanoke, Virginia
Icon of Jesus Christ on the ceiling of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church,
Roanoke, Virginia

What is “church”?  Jesus told Peter that he was “the Rock” and upon it “I will build My church”.

My Catholic brethren hold that Jesus was entrusting Peter and his predecessors as the exemplars and leaders of the church.  There are others who contend that Jesus was speaking of Peter’s faith, and how such faith would be the foundation of His body upon this earth.

My personal understanding of “the church” has grown and developed in recent years, especially as I have visited the congregations of brothers and sisters in Christ with whom I share the faith, but also have differing perspectives about that faith.  There are some who will claim that such divisions do not represent true Christianity, but I disagree.  In fact, I don’t believe that “denominations” are a bad thing at all.  ...

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Last week was the semi-annual Arthur Murray Showcase ballroom dance spectacular at the Hotel Roanoke, put on by the Arthur Murray Studio in Roanoke, Virginia. This was the fourth one I’ve been at to cheer on my girlfriend Kristen Bradford. And once again she was a thrill and a beauty to behold! Her routines garnered a wazoo of applause from the audience and some of them she kept as quite a surprise… even from me 🙂

As usual I shot footage of her dancing, and just finished uploading it to YouTube for your viewing pleasure. So here is Kristen accompanied by her dance partner Jay Henderson pulling off some amazing performances…








Awright, I better share this as well: at Showcase Kristen asked me to wear the official Doctor Who/Eleventh Doctor bow tie that she gave me for Christmas a few months ago.  Kristen thought it was a great new ...

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Looks like I picked the wrong day to start blogging again…

The 5.9 magnitude earthquake epicentered near Richmond, Virginia shook my house west of Reidsville, North Carolina for… darn nearly 30 seconds! Okay, probably not that long but it sure as hell felt long enough. I was working on some stuff on my iPad while sitting up on my bed when I felt the bed shake and heard the windows creaking. First thing I thought was “wow, that wind sure is strong…” Then I looked outside and saw that there was no wind.

Getting reports from friends all over: my girlfriend’s apartment shook a few hours north of here. Good friend Chad in Cary felt it there. Folks as far away as Cleveland, Ohio and southwest North Carolina are saying it shook them too.

Wow.

Okay, I know there are lots of you who are like “Chris, this is no ...

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