Carnivale

Mardi Gras in the United States originated in Mobile, Alabama, in 1703, over a decade before New Orleans was founded. French settlers established the Boeuf Gras (Fatted Ox) society in 1704, initiating the oldest family-friendly Carnival celebration in the Americas. 

Unlike the adults-only debauchery featured in New Orleans, Mobile hosts masked balls, parades, and mystic societies, with modern celebrations such as the Murphy High School marching band. 

That is Grandson, the Tuba Dude, on the far side of the street. 

Raising a toast to family values and Lenten tradition…..

 

 

 

Crime Plunges

Marking the largest single-year drop on record and possibly the lowest murder rate since 1900, murders in major US urban centers  plummeted by over 20% last year.

Crimes in nearly all categories fell with 36% fewer robberies, 29% fewer carjackings and 25% fewer homicides compared to 2019.  

27 out of 35 cities surveyed saw declines in homicides chalking-up a year over year 20% decline nationwide compared to 2024.   At -60% Baltimore was witness to the largest drop while Los Angeles saw a 39% drop. 

According to the Council on Criminal Justice, burglaries fell by 45% and larceny by 20% compared to 2019. Despite remaining higher than 2019 levels, motor vehicle thefts fell by 27% last year compared to 2024.

The extent to which President Trump's policies are responsible is the subject of considerable debate between the administration and independent researchers.

The White House and Department of Justice (DOJ) cite several factors including the deployment of federal resources and army national guard personnel to major cities - specifically targeting Democrat-led Blue Cities characterized as war zones.  Surging ICE operations which targeted and removed thousands of criminal aliens from US streets.  And lastly encouraging stricter federal prosecutions and promoting a positive image of law enforcement to boost morale among rank and file police and recruitment.

In contrast, criminologists and organizations such as the Council on Criminal Justice and the Vera Institute argue that the 2025 drop is a continuation of a "virtuous cycle" that began in 2023.   Significant is as the social, economic, and psychological stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic receded, crime rates naturally began to revert to pre-2020 levels.  Experts credit the 2021 American Rescue Plan and the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which funded community violence intervention programs that reached peak effectiveness in 2024–2025.  Finally, policy changes typically take more than a few months to manifest in national statistics. Critics argue that Trump's 2025 cuts to DOJ grants for community safety may actually risk reversing these gains in 2026.  

On one hand factors contributing to this statistical avalanche include technology advances leading to precision policing and a reduction in court backlogs.  On the other hand, community-based programs implementing violence interrupters and even a generational shift in the data suggesting Gen Z committing fewer violent crimes are responsible.  

While the Trump administration's aggressive enforcement coincided with the record-breaking drop, the decline was already well underway by 2024. Most analysts believe the 2025 figures are too complex to parse and I'm disinterested in burning valuable bandwidth on someone's confirmation bias, selective cherry-picking or group-think.

Either way you slice it, crime in many cities has been falling since former President Biden's final two years in office.  The decline witnessed last year is a sharp reversal of the outlier pandemic-era surge that commenced during Trump's first term.   

For most of the last year I've been witness to more than enough reality television drama recently punctuated by the slaying of a couple of my countrymen; a singularly Trumpian Kent State moment. These deaths have had a profound impact upon my psyche; mostly a consequence of a small handful of acquaintances reveling and basking in the reflected glory of the slaying of Americans - for all the world to see on social media.  Absorb that readers; and allow it to register.  I don't care if it is Renee Good , Alex Pretti or Charlie Kirk; don't behave like a bloodthirsty damn ghoul.  Rejoicing in the gunning-down of other Americans reflects poorly.  

Drama-aside, there hasn't been much if any permanent progress on anything that will improve your and my prosperity and general lot in life. The budget and deficit have exploded to record levels and tariffs have increased the cost of living on all Americans. Nevertheless, this news from the crime blotter might just be evidence of our immediate world becoming a safer place.  Considering most everyone around here leave their keys in their vehicles I'm gonna embrace the drop.  Time will tell if it is lasting.  I'm a patient sort.....

On This Day In History

On Valentine's Day 1990, thirteen years after leaving earth, Voyager 1 directed its cameras back towards the sun and took a series of images of the planets, creating the first ever 'family portrait' of our solar system.

Image credit: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Cal tech

Famed astronomer Carl Sagan spent years trying to convince NASA to have Voyager 1 turn around and take this picture on the way out. The picture is actually a mosaic that combines sixty frames.

Patron Saint

In the Roman Catholic tradition of the Christian Faith St. Valentine is the Patron Saint of betrothed couples, happy marriages, love, lovers, bee keepers, fainting, epilepsy, plague, travelers, and young people.  His feast day is today.   

As a consequence of so little being known about the man the Church removed St. Valentine from the General Roman Calendar in 1969.  Nevertheless, he remains recognized as a saint.  

One of many stories is that Valentine was imprisoned for committing the most heinous of crimes - marrying Christian couples and aiding Christians being persecuted by Emperor Claudius of Rome.  Angered to the point of rage Claudius commanded Valentine to renounce his faith or be beaten with clubs and beheaded.  Refusing the emperor - Valentine was martyred outside the Flaminian Gate on February 14, 269.  

In case you’re wondering if Valentine was a real person - archaeological excavations have unearthed a Roman catacomb and an ancient church dedicated to him.  In 496 Pope Gelasius marked February 14th as a celebration honoring his martyrdom.   

Today his relics can be found throughout the world – including his skull at the Basilica of Santa Maria in Rome.  

 

click on the relics for a closer look

Happy Valentines Day.

 

Friday Music

Composed by Sly Stone in 1968 this was the first single by his band to shoot to the number one slot on the Soul Singles Chart and the US Hot 100 Chart. The single occupied the hot 100 spot for an entire month making it one of the most popular songs of the 1960s.  Billboard ranked it as the Number 5 song of 1969.

As one of the first racially integrated bands in the history of rock and roll the message of the band Sly and the Family Stone was reflected in the song lyrics.

Turn-up the volume for Everyday People....   

February Night Sky

One of the benefits of viewing the night sky during the winter months is the lack of humidity - a contributor to light pollution clutter and general impediment to star-gazing.

In any event this time of the month there is a waning crescent moon and if you are fortunate-enough to live with generally dark skies there is limited competition from the moon this evening.  Which is an opportunity to become familiar with a popular and easy to locate constellation.  Cassiopeia - The Queen.

You will locate Cassiopeia in the northwest in the evening during the month of February.  In the shape of an M or W it is one of the easiest constellations to spot.

Radioactive

Speaking of radioactive stuff there is this.

A couple of decades ago a free radon detection kit came into my possession.  Some of my readers may know that radon is an odorless, colorless, naturally-occurring radioactive gas that is produced as a consequence of the decay of uranium and radium in soil, bedrock and groundwater.  It enters buildings primarily through foundations, footings, construction supports and plumbing.  

And like all things radioactive, radon is hazardous.  Prolonged exposure to the stuff is a major contributor to lung cancer.

Pondering the detection kit I figured I would use it on our newly-constructed house as opposed to our almost one hundred year old house.  The foundation of the new house was close to bedrock along with a high water table and the logic was that it was tightly-constructed and therefore more likely to trap or retain dangerous gases. I didn't give much thought to the fact that a certified Energy Star dwelling was also equipped with a whole-house fresh air exchange system.  I wasn't thinking.  I digress.   

As for the old house, it was constructed upon a shallow hand-dug basement, poorly insulated, generally leaky and drafty and to my mind if it was capable of allowing mice to come and go freely it was unlikely to retain any gas for very long; radioactive or not.  I wasn't going to test it for radon even if it was free.  

So I tested the new house.

Wouldn't you know it, the dwelling tested positive for radon.  A more sophisticated follow-up test conducted by a HVAC contractor revealed sufficient radon contamination to warrant remediation. 

So we had the contractor install a sub-slab depressurization system which uses a pipe and fan to draw radon from beneath the basement, via the sump-pump crock, and vent it safely outside.  

After installation a follow-up test resulted in no detectable radon.  And the basement smelled remarkably fresh from there-on.

Anyway, while outside and playing with the dog recently I happened to look up for some reason and absolutely had to take a picture of the stack from which our radioactive radon is vented.

To be clear this has happened before, yet is exceedingly rare and unusual; likely the result of a week of negative Fahrenheit temperatures.

Nevertheless, a passing thought occurred to me that if a person mixed a cocktail and used the ice from the stack would the libation have radioactive properties?  Glow in the dark perhaps?  In my lifetime all things nuclear enjoyed some popular culture notoriety after all....