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Since 1994, this is the 1611th issue of Randy Cassingham’s...
| 27 April 2025: The Handmaid's Tale | Copyright ©2025 https://thisistrue.com |
Other Good Reading: Via one of my EMS friends (and Premium subscriber) Jacob: Americans like to say that they would “Buy American” if only companies would onshore their manufacturing. Well, a company did just that, though they wisely kept their overseas supplier too. Here’s what happened, in the company’s blog: Everyone Says They’ll Pay More for “Made in the USA.” SoWe Ran an A/B Test by Afina, which is a products company that thinks we should have more pure shower water.
(As always you’re welcome to copy out that paragraph and forward/post it as desired; credit True if you care to — not required.)
That’s Some Marketing: In 2023, the state overhauled the Board of Trustees of the New College of Florida to turn it away from “free thinkers” to a clone of the conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan. A new, hand-picked president was installed, paid $699,000 per year to head the 700-student school to keep his pay below the $700,000 paid to the president of Florida State, which has 40,000 students. And Gov. Ron Desantis’s former chief spokesman, Frederick Joseph Piccolo Jr., 47, wasput in as the school’s Director for Media and Marketing. Piccolo has, in fact, gotten a ton of news coverage — by being arrested for indecent exposure and “stroking himself” in public. The arrest revealed there were three other similar charges pending, and Piccolo was released only after obtaining a $100,000 bond, and must pay the expense of an ankle monitor he’s required to wear. The New College released a terse statement: “Fred Piccolo is no longer employed by the college.” (RC/WWSB Sarasota,New York Times) ...And now he will face the music.
An Alternative to Mail-Order: Kyle Langford, 24, is running for Governor of California as a Republican, and he has an idea for handling undocumented immigrants. “It is an initiative that will encourage family formation inthe State of California,” he said, “fostering healthy, stable young families is my #1 priority.” The initiative: deport all males without legal status, but give women a year to do something specific. “We know where you are. If you marry one of our Californian incels, then you can stay. But if you don’t, then, well, they’re getting sent back across,” Langford said. (MS/Newsweek) ...Family first, compassion last.
Ed in Canada, a reader since 1995, bought the ad space in all free edition newsletters this month so that there are no ads for you. It’s a going-away gift of sorts: “I have cancer and will be dead before Labour Day,” he wrote. “Goodbye, my friend.” Until recently he only wrote once, to kindly let me know a site was down on Christmas Day, 2021. I was already on it, and replied that it was back. That’s it! Yet he felt like I was a friend because I talked to him every week, and that’sawfully nice. I never say anyone “owes” me for getting the free edition, even if it’s for 30 years. But he wanted to make a gesture before he goes, and that’s awfully cool. Thanks, Ed, from everyone.
A Gesture in Reply: A Florida Highway Patrolman on Interstate 95 in Brevard County was passed by a Mercedes going an estimated 100 mph. When the driver went by, he made “gestures” to the trooper, who activated his lights and siren, and gave chase. The fleeing car took an off-ramp, where he slammed into a disabled truck. A tow truck driver was underneath the truck, working to hook it up; he miraculously survived, but three other people, aged 24 to 41, were killed. The fleeing driver,Vernon J. Hodges, 41, was found to have a blood alcohol content of .147 percent; the incident occurred at 8:30 a.m. He has a long record of traffic offenses, including DUI. Enough offenses that he had been ruled a “habitual” traffic offender — and was driving under a suspended or revoked license. Hodges is being held without bail on 17 charges, including 3 counts of first degree murder, making him eligible for the death penalty. (RC/WOFL Orlando) ...Death penalty for multiple DUIs: innovativeand preventative.
Wave Action: Mitchell O’Brien, 37, and Breanne Sika, 36, were just friends who liked to spend time together, and went for a walk on a beach along LakeMichigan in Traverse City, Mich. As O’Brien approached the water, he suddenly started sinking: quicksand. Within 2 seconds he was up to his waist, but was able to get his phone out of his pocket and toss it to Sika. He got one leg pulled up slightly, and warned her from coming to help him, fearing she would get stuck too. “I was really quite terrified,” she said, thinking “I was going to sit and watch him die.” He calmly tried to dig himself out, but waves kept bringing in new sand. Cell servicewas poor, so she tossed him his phone and both tried calling 911. Both connected at about the same time. “I said, ‘I think my girlfriend is calling as well’,” and “she was saying ‘My boyfriend is here, stuck in the sand’.” O’Brien said, “It was the first time we had called each other that.” First Responders arrived in a few minutes, and were able to shovel sand away fast enough that O’Brien was able to crawl out, exhausted. The water temperature was below 40 degrees (4 C). O’Brien asked Sika totake pictures of the rescue because without them, “nobody is gonna believe us.” (RC/Detroit News) ...Mom, what was your and dad’s first date like?
The U.S. State Working to Become the Nation’s Dumbest
Book Bans Aren’t Stopping at Libraries — Now Texas Is Targeting Bookstores
Houston Chronicle headline
Did You Find an Error? Check the Errata Page for updates.
This Week’s Contributors: MS-Mike Straw, AC-Alexander Cohen, RC-Randy Cassingham.
Stories This Week were Written/Edited at sea between the Panama Canal (our second time through) and Costa Rica.
Monday ALL residents, and virtually all crew, from the ship we live on were required to be off the ship all day in Costa Rica for a “pre-inspection” by the U.S. Coast Guard in preparation for our entry into U.S. waters.
“It figures” that was scheduled on a Monday, my biggest deadline day, so Kit booked a hotel room within easy walking distance from the pier with an ocean view, which was only about US$150. “We can see our house from here!” I said when I looked out the window. The inspection went so well that we were called back early, but we stayed put until I was done and sent Premium out.
One very cool thing? The Coast Guard ship that was sent to do it is the USCGC Eagle, a three-masted sailing ship built in 1936 and used to train future USCG officers. (More, including photos, in Wikipedia.)
Stories You Missed this week include: Sharks in Israel. How one southern school taught the history of desegregation — stupidly, of course. Crack Customs agent busts a meth smuggler. Missing woman found dead, and (uh oh!) later — after cremation — was found alive. Man arrested after he “assumes” young girl was responsible for taunting him, so he does something really stupid. Woman must pay a whopping $200 fine after her pet kills an elderly neighbor woman. Florida man asks cops why theyarrested him ...and the answer is hilarious. Missouri man leads cops on chase, which ends in front of an ironic yard sign. To get all the stories merely requires an upgrade to Premium, and you get to decide how much to pay. Cool! See your options here and help the newsletter thrive. Thanks!
A Couple of Editors asked me about what “incel” means, from the story about the 24-year-old college dropout who wants to be the governor of California, and is proposing that undocumented females would not be deported under his government if they merely chose to be sex slaves for “our California incels.”
I put the story and more commentary in my blog: A Gift to Women. There are a lot of comments already.
That is also the Story of the Week, which makes for easy sharing, from Telegram, Mastodon, Instagram, Threads, and/or Facebook, or grab the graphic from that blog page to post elsewhere.
Ten Years Ago in True: Buffeted, chosen for its all-too-true tagline.
This Week’s Sunday Reading: It’s a classic urban legend: a guy’s convertible is loaded with concrete. Did it actually happen? Here’s the evidence, from 2002. True — You Doubters!
No Honorary Unsubscribe this week: despite spending a couple of hours looking, I didn’t find anyone who qualifies.
- But So Long to comic actress Ruth Buzzi. She was SO good, and this kid who was born in Beautiful Downtown Burbank grew up watching her, Joanne, Goldie, and others every week on Laugh In. She died May 1 from Alzheimer’s disease, at 88.
- Honorary Unsubscribe Archive.
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Copyright ©2025 by Randy Cassingham, All Rights Reserved. All broadcast, publication, retransmission to email lists, web site or social media posting, or any other copying or storage, in any medium, online or not, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission from the author. Manual forwarding by email to friends is allowed if 1) the text is forwarded in its entirety from the “Since 1994” line on top through the end of this paragraph and 2) No fee is charged. I request that you forward no more than three copies to any one person — after that, they should get their own free subscription. I appreciate people who report violations of my copyright.
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