Open Thread - 10-10-2025 - another mystery solved
Story starts in a familiar pattern - hunter, hiker, fisherman found xxx. Fill in the blank bones, remains or body. The who it is needs to be solved before the who did it and why can be investigated. Maybe a clue in an old missing person or runaway reports quickly filed away. Or talk to the older cop still obsessing with an cold case.
This one triggered all the memories of rules from parents, plus lectures from various adults as my independence grew from childhood teens to finally an adult. Always have change for a payphone, maybe a dime in your shoe. If you can't drive - call home, no questions will be asked. Limit risky behavior - such as not being aware who entered and exited a public space.
It was that mistake in a laundromat one of my Grandmothers made when she was in her late 50's. Fortunately she did not injure herself leaping on to the dirt road from the moving car, was able to hide in the tall sage brush, in dawns light she walked back towards town. First homestead at the edge of the desert a compassionate women who provided her a feeling of safety, clothing and contacted the police. The system worked a man was incarcerated during the years of the story below.
Highway 20 cold case solved: DNA identifies ‘Swamp Mountain Doe’ as missing woman from mid-70s The Oregonian Sept 16, 2025
In the summer of 1976, a man collecting moss found partial human remains in the woods about a mile south of U.S. 20 in rural Linn County. ... Oregon State Police on Tuesday said it had confirmed McWhorter’s identity through genetic genealogy.
McWhorter’s disappearance was among several unsolved cases that detectives looked into as they investigated state highway mechanic John Ackroyd for attacks on women along U.S. 20 in the late 1970s through the early 1990s.
...
The Oregonian/OregonLive exposed Ackroyd as a suspected serial killer in its 2018 series “The Ghosts of Highway 20” that later became an HBO Max series, “Lost Women of Highway 20.”
...
It’s still not clear if Ackroyd had any connection to McWhorter’s disappearance.
Sometimes a pattern noticed from a distance. Lidia Misnik per the tagline is a Moscow-based reporter focused on politics, sociology and international relations
Hunting the right: How political violence became the West’s new reality Russia Times Sept 20, 2025
Kirk’s assassination did not come in isolation. In the past year, right-wing politicians and activists across the West have been repeatedly targeted – from two attempts on Donald Trump’s life in Pennsylvania and Florida, to the near-fatal shooting of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, to attacks on lesser-known but symbolically important figures in Brussels and Illinois. Even Minnesota’s Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman was killed in June, underscoring that the spiral of violence is consuming the political system itself. But the pattern is unmistakable: the most frequent targets are those on the right.
The trend is alarming not only for its brutality, but for what it reveals about the depth of polarization in Western societies. Violence has become a political language – and, increasingly, the language is being spoken against conservatives. RT examines how and why the far left, historically prone to radical action, has once again turned to violence as a tool of political struggle.
...
Together, these incidents suggest a disturbing pattern: right-wing leaders and activists, whether presidents, prime ministers, or grassroots influencers, have become the most frequent targets of political violence across the Western world.Konstantin Blokhin, senior researcher at the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told RT. “The shot fired at Trump became one of the factors contributing to his victory. Now, Kirk’s murder has consolidated his core voters. Political violence in the West does not weaken conservatives – it mobilizes them.”
Do we always notice the potential for violence around us? Not really, most of us prefer to feel safe. It is easy to stay within our own bubble and ignore what is happening around us.
Yes, another personal story. Early in my career I worked at a company with several pharmacies around Portland metro area. My shift at the community pharmacy in northeast Portland, with a lunch counter and sub postal station, was one day a week and often did the compounded prescriptions. The day started normal, grabbed the prescriptions, went to the backroom, gathered my ingredients, moved to the compounding workspace and concentrating mixed the first complicated ointment. It sounded like a TV show police radio chatter. Looked up less than 6 ft in front of me at the postal window was a police officer and the radio on her belt was making the sounds. I totally missed the armed robbery as it progressed within a few feet right in front of me. Fortunately no one was hurt only some money was stolen. I received some well deserved ribbing from the staff at the postal station about their growing awareness of my self absorption and not noticing surrounding events.
So what is happening? The two main narratives keep widening. We seem to be at the court stage on multiple fast moving events. I will expand some more in a comment, already late and this needs published.
Comments
Will confess as to the bubble awareness
.
in certain scenarios.
Self protection.
In other situations have a
hyper-sensitivity. Never dull.
Happy Birthday Cyril Neville.
Thanks for the OT!
Zionism is a social disease
Life has its interesting twists and turns n/t
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Good morning...
Always best to be aware of your surroundings. Like your story, I tend to become absorbed in projects, and lose my global view. Around our area, most violence is family, community, drug related and locally generated. Living in a small town feels safe, but there's always a risk...none the less random violence/crime is rare. People often leave the car running when making a grocery stop (especially if it is cold or hot)...never heard of a car theft resulting.
I remember one time at trade day, someone noticed a buddy's car key in their vehicle. So they moved it to another area of the parking lot. Later, the owner called the police thinking it was stolen. It was soon discovered nearby. A laugh was had by most and the police warned not to leave your keys in your car.
Now when in the big city, I behave differently, and even lock the car...something I never do around here.
Well thanks for the stories and the OT!
Be safe and sound...
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
The state highway running through town is a major
north/south arterial linking California and Washington. For a number of years it carried almost as much truck traffic as Interstate 5 in the wet western part of the state. The road has always been a major illicit drug trafficking route. In high school we were number one in the state for students using drugs.
Tourism is a major industry. A very small percentage of those folks want to party hard and then go back home to quieter and less destructive lives. Add to the normal family, community and locally generated violence one learns the skill of thriving in a pretty rough neighborhood.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Good morning soe, thanks for the OT. BTW, I Object!
What we have here is abuse of language, petitio principii and more. The RT piece's author should be ashamed of themselves. It's hard to decide where to start. First, "left" and "right" are meaningless and to a very large extent always have been. Even if the terms were actually meaningful, it wouold be flat out wrong to insist on viewing everything from a left-right perspective, just as it would be for any other narrow viewpoint.
Facts don't support the rhetoric. There is no evidence that Kirk's assassin was anything other than a fellow right winger, though, in fact, the designated patsy had no coherent ideology and was pretty much apolitical. Those who hunted Hitler, the Nazis, and Mussolini, wwere not automatically far left by that fact. Right wingers can kill or try to kill other right wingers, happens all of the time. There is also no evidence thatTrump's would be assassins were lefties.
Violence is not, per se, a left wing thing. If anything it is the exact opposite. The Klan is an example. How about all of the non-violent civil rights and peace activists versus the feebs and the cops, who was using violence in the majority of their confrontations. Anteresting digression, are true anarchists on the left or the right? Maybe neither, maybe both? How about religious fanatics, those who bomb abortion clinics and the like.
I for wxample am of the left. I have been so identified by many of the so-called "center" and the right. In particular I was part of the so-called "new left", though I disagree with some of the particulars of the definition. I hob nobbed and associated with many others of that ilk. While it is true that the movement spawned The Weathermen and other violent sorts, by and large the great bulk of us were opposed to violence, including violence to property, except as a last resort in self-defense.
There is, by and large, no substance to the position taken other than that western society, as a whole, has become more violent, more prone to violence and more accepting of violence.
/rant
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
The people who hunted Hitler
The attempted assassination of Hitler was staged by right-wing Catholics. I am, or so my parents told me long ago, distantly related to one of them: Erwin Rommel, the German field marshal. (I might add that German Catholics could be, and no doubt still are, very Catholic.) An engine search reveals a fair number of conspiracy theories about how maybe the Pope was behind the assassination attempt.
"The Trump Administration is a white-collar crime cartel" -- Max Blumenthal
color me confused
.
some association of Nazi - Catholic
doesn't seem to resonate
although it makes some sense
in a controlling the masses type of way.
Zionism is a social disease
some factors off of the top of my head
both wre big on anti-communism
"go along to get along", be an ally and not an enemy, protects the church from the Nazis
The Church still blamed "The Jews" for killing christ and did not like or approve of them
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
hmm
.
catlicks and nazis
could almost develop a
con-theory on that one
Zionism is a social disease
I was taught in my history courses
that The Vatican was considered to be a Nazi collaborator.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Yep, it very much was, and for a while after the war too,
hiding them and getting them to places like Argentina, etc.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Well, if you were a German in 1944
and you weren't a Jew or an identified homosexual or a Gypsy or a Communist, you were probably a N_zi, if only for the purpose of your own survival. Here's a link to the rest of it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_July_plot
(an interesting footnote: Jurgen Habermas, the prominent German philosopher, born in 1929, was a prominent member of the Hitler Youth at the time of the war's conclusion in 1945. Guilt over this role doubtless shaped the contours of his philosophy.)
"The Trump Administration is a white-collar crime cartel" -- Max Blumenthal
Makes sense
thank goodness I am not of a population
that willfully harms others without qualms
oh, wait, I resemble that statement
Zionism is a social disease
Following a branch of family tree
is a fascinating method to learn about history and movement of people. Interesting life story.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Objection Noted - the response
I think it is sad a score is even kept mentally which side is being more violent than the other. I have never classified myself as right or left simply have opinions. I have no need to recognize a left/right political designations assigned by others. When affiliated with a political party it was for the ability to vote for individuals for specific offices. It was only after arriving a C99 I started looking at issues on a so called left/right spectrum. Labels are part of the fabric of this site, I have learned alot on how to categorize people and groups.
Definitions of Left and Right can be bit fuzzy and migrate over time. Maybe the clips selected confused the issue. The article was primarily about individuals of defined parties on left-right spectrum defined in Western politics. The activists mentioned identified themselves on the political spectrum by promoting specific political party factions.
We may not as a society be increasingly violent as a whole, but I do believe (without proof of an academically approved study) our tolerance of calls for violence towards others has decreased. I don't recall as much public cheering and celebration of violent actions taken towards others in the past 50 years.
Here is where labels become confusing.
The Klan originated with Democrats. Oregon Democrats provided full support, do not have the knowledge to speak for other states. Tried to find a home within the Republican party but never really fit in most of the party. It appears to me after the Nixon shift of the Southern Democrats the foot soldiers of the democrats supported liberal/left policies while highest levels of leadership remained with Klan type mindset and enacted policy to keep population groups in subservient positions.
Non-violent civil rights and peace activists of many citizens including Christians did achieve some major milestones in spite of government officials directing violent push back by feebs and the cops. Since the legislative changes the feebs and the cops have enforced those changes. We should acknowledge both realities.
Bombings - Anyone who actively participates in a bombing or hides the identity of a bomber should be criminally prosecuted. Do we even have to take the time to try and label a left/right political identity. Abortion clinics, churches or my local abattoir by Eco-terrorists are all in the same category.
The understanding of not all persons in a group you are identifying with are not violent should be extended to all groups left/right/whatever.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
True dat
.
there is no longer a left/right dichotomy
the attempts of media to label blue/red
as being some kind of distinction just does
not hold water anymore. Maybe novel forms
of categorization at one time, but it has all been
fuzzed about subsequently. Right and wrong is
pretty straight forward. As is moral and immoral.
People tend to not apply enough critical thinking
skills beyond labels these days IMO.
Zionism is a social disease
good afternoon, soe!
Your g'ma is just all that!
I check out who's in the room, parking lot, and buildings, all the time. I keep loaded guns near where I work and sleep. When in a new restaurant, I typically sit with my back to the wall.
For now, I will avoid the Buffalo Bayou area of Houston where the 24th body was recovered from the waters yesterday. No suspect has been found for any of the murders, and the police believe it is a serial killer.
Thanks for the OT, and btw, I have read the current trope that lefties are the new violent bunch from mostly conservative media. I call total bull shit.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I like the graph accompanying this MSN story
with respect to the rightwingers' newfound discovery that there is such a thing as politically inspired violence. Political violence is apparently fine with them, as long as it is their team visiting violence upon others. But when it is their ox being gored, they get all snowflakey...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/idiocracy-trump-aide-mocked-for-...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Thanks for the graph illustrating
the change in source of violence. Time will tell if the change is a new trend or short term aberration. It would be interesting to know the criteria used to define an attack.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
ahh, cereal killers are best with milk
.
in the mornings
like boo berries
and count choculata
Zionism is a social disease
Was fortunate surrounded by strong women role models
of multiple generations. Each very different life choices.
This Grandmother was a self-taught fine painting artist. Her formal training was lessons by mail during the 1940's. She was a founding member of the local art club to support arts in the community. Together the club could afford to bring a teacher in for 1 weekend a year. It was during those years she started placing her paintings in contests, galleries around the state, opened a single artist gallery in town and participated in art/craft fairs. It worked, she was able to lift herself above a life of poverty on minimum wage.
One time I was overwhelmed with tough spot growing my business and asked how she pushed through all the demands. She introduced me to the poem Invictus. Gave me a framed copy of the poem with illustrations she had made in high school. Told me to read it nightly for a month and then periodically. It did help, but also provided better perspective of the just push through, no complaining, attitude of her generation.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
History of "left" and "right"
There was this revolution going on in France that ended when the King was beheaded and the plebes demanded a voice. Frenchmen from 2 classes with some voice met on this tennis court right near the Eiffel Tower.
This self-appointed group decided to make things simple. Those that wanted immediate government and economic change sat on the left side of the tennis court. Those that wanted to take things slower sat to the right. Been to the Eiffel Tower, saw the tennis court where the world shucked royalty. Saw where they did the beheadings, and where they sat on the tennis court.Lefties were just plebes, righties were dukes and earls, etc...
Over time, left means help the poor, right means maintain the oligarchy.
But overlooked today is the speed of change in this original revolution. Incremental change is not left. Giving an inch to change is not right.
Nothing is revolutionary unless and until we go to bed under these law, and wake up with none or instant new laws.
I admit to favoring the left side of the tennis court and will place my chair accordingly.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981