Rodeos and Mozart

Have I told you how much I love rodeos?  May 16, 2026

Years ago, we took the kids to a rodeo in Durango, Colorado and we watched a little Navajo girl absolutely kill the mutton-busting contest. (If you don’t know what that is, look it up. It’s a hoot.) A big cowboy opened the festivities with a prayer to Jesus. They sang the national anthem. I felt not quite worthy of the people who filled the stadium.
Just because we own a farm doesn’t mean I really understand big animals on the scale that these people do. While all my children grew up milking Jersey cows, there’s something pretty fierce about the kind of woman who can drop into a pen with an ornery Brahman and coax him into the next pen, and while we were waiting for our colonial color guard duties, we saw two big horned beasts going after each other. It’s a pretty awesome display of strength.
A few years ago, at the Banning Rodeo, the announcer began with a speech of this nature: “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 66th annual Banning Rodeo. Tonight we’re going to pray in the name of Jesus. We’re going to sing patriotic songs. We’re going to watch some toxic males ride some wild broncs and some big bulls, and we’re going to celebrate their skill and strength. We’re going to celebrate female beauty. We’ll have a rodeo queen, and she’s going to be a real girl — a pretty one. And if any of that offends you, get your ass out of the stadium.”
Love it. I’m so proud of Yucaipa for continuing the tradition.
Good work, Yucaipa Rodeo.

Rodeo Memories.. May 16, 2026

The rodeo reminds me of some Oak Glen memories..

Some of you may remember a long time Oak Glen resident, Jack Mracek, who, in addition to having a very stressful job during the day, (I’m not sure if I’m at liberty to reveal its nature), he fixed all the cars of Oak Glen at what I can only consider to be “ministry” pricing. He was a saint. If a brake job cost $120 downtown, Jack would bill you $45.
Jack told me he once transported a bull to a farm here in Oak Glen. He was driving down the I-10 freeway near Redlands. Traffic ground to a halt and, out of nowhere, the two front hooves of a big bull landed on the hood of his truck. (The bull had jumped its captivity and was straddling the cab.) In the middle of congested traffic on the I-10, I imagine it required quick thinking. I can’t remember how Jack solved the problem, but I’m guessing hazard lights were involved. I don’t *think* Jack finished the trip with the bull half in and half out of the truck bed. THAT would have been something to see, but I admire rodeo people because they can handle this sort of thing.
Another story: Clarence “Blacky” Wilshire, the son of an Oak Glen homesteader, was prevailed upon, by his wife, to attend church, after a long absence. Blackie agreed, but spent some time in the morning loading horses on a trailer. Later in the morning, they went to church in Redlands, and Blacky’s wife looked over at him, during the service–absolutely mortified to see that a horse had deposited a half-size road apple in his shirt pocket. There are limits, I guess, to “come as you are.”

Inequality and Hierarchies.. May 18, 2026
(Or Cheering for Mozart, Not Mao..)

While exempting himself from the consequences of his objectives, Mao Zedong, the Communist dictator now writhing in hell for eternity, was apparently absolutely OBSESSED with equality of condition. The very Mao jacket itself was an expression of this uniformity. No one could step outside this gray, sterile expression of “equality.” No sun dresses, no tuxedos, no cowboy jeans, no modest color or texture variation, nothing but the same uniform for EVERYONE. And, of course, this applied to food rations as well. When a teenage boy, during the famine created by the “Great Leap Forward” (1958-1962), took an extra spoonful of rice, the boy’s father was forced, by the party boss, to bury the child alive.

Mao’s mental disease is a very old human condition. Eve was tempted, by the Serpent, to be equal to God, and Adam went along with her.

But think about your childhood. There is NOTHING more apparent to your childhood eyes than the presence of human hierarchies. I had the sense, as an elementary school student, that I was smarter than many, but nowhere near as smart as others. (Louis Collins, Mr. Cal Tech, are you out there?) In junior high, I knew I would NEVER be as cool as Pete Symes and Liz Pendo. (They were the magic couple who seemed to deserve, and embody, all the pop love songs.) When we were picking sides in softball, someone picked me in the #2 spot, and Johnny Ballard, on the same team, yelled out at the captain, “Riley?? Are you KIDDING? Callen is, like, TEN TIMES better.” Even though it hurt, Ballard was telling the truth. The hierarchy of talent was brutally clear to everyone watching. In today’s world, the unsparing world of professional sports is one of the few places where there is no maternal sentimentality. The BEST go on the field first. No excuses. (This was once the case for airline pilots and astronauts and surgeons.)

It’s the same with economics, and achievement. There are people who work 20 hours a day coming up with the products that make our lives easier. A LOT of them don’t succeed, but when they do, they succeed BIG time, and if we didn’t allow that to happen, we would all be living in North Korean style poverty. About ten years after graduating from Stanford, there was a little joker in our dorm who fell into investment banking and wound up giving $20 million back to the university. (I didn’t recognize the hierarchy on that point, but it obviously existed.)

If you find yourself wondering why that child can play the piano far better than you ever will, or that real estate broker lives in a twelve bedroom mansion, or that CEO is making $40 million a year, don’t pout. Find your place in the vineyard and just bless God for the blessings this marvelous, beautiful hierarchy brings into your life.

Don’t cheer for Mao. Cheer for Mozart.

Spencer Vs. Karen May 18, 20226

Over the years, watching literally THOUSANDS of parents here (mostly moms), I’ve noticed a parenting truth that likely predicts the peace and prosperity of the ENTIRE NATION.
It goes like this..
Kids are so cute, so vulnerable, we’re tempted to let things slide. They lunge for someone’s ice cream, they slap another child on the wrist, they fail to say “thank you,” and the little offenses seems so harmless that *some* moms let the error slide. There’s another sort of mom who knows if she doesn’t “nip it in the bud,” she could be raising an entitled, and potentially violent, brat. They crouch down, look the child right in the eye, and they say something like, “that was wrong, Brandon! You hear me?” She waits for the child to look at her. “You HEAR me?” she repeats. The child finally nods. And then the mom says, “now you go over there and say you’re sorry.”
(There’s usually a tearful, slow walk over to the offended, a “sorry,” and then a bunch of adults applauding, or nodding at each other. It’s a small little victory for civilization.)
A truly compassionate magistrate, in the style of the New Testament, has a tough job. He’s got to praise those who do good things, (that’s the easy part), but he’s also got to be a holy terror against all the adults who didn’t have a mom like the one I just described. That magistrate “bears not the sword in vain.” This means he has to protect the rest of his citizens, his “children,” against the wicked and the violent.
In a democracy full of really indulgent moms and dads, that’s not easy. It means some folks are going to go to prison for a long time. They won’t be given free dental work and continued rights to shoot up and sh*t down on the sidewalk. They will be put behind barbed wire somewhere, until they dry out or give up the ghost. That is VERY difficult work. There are some gentle Christian men I wouldn’t trust to do that job, because they are just too “affable.”
Parenting a civilization is very difficult if the job hasn’t been done when the kids were small.
Between Spencer and Karen, who — be truthful now — is more likely to do that job?

The Organization Doesn’t Agree  May 19, 2026

Have you ever considered this terribly obvious but still very dangerous reality: in most organizations, you are not likely to advance very far if you disagree with your superiors.
If you are a young assistant professor, and you want tenure, and you also happen to think the head of your department is over-committing to some silly, and unproductive theory, is “truth” really your guiding principle — or self-preservation?
If you are a surgical resident and you witness the attending surgeon about to make a gross, but not necessarily life-threatening mistake. Keep quiet or speak up?
You are a junior pastor and you just listened to the senior pastor make an obvious translation error that everyone else on the staff either didn’t see or refused to notice. (By the way, you have three children and a mortgage that is eating you alive.)
You are examining the genomics of the Covid 19 virus. All of your senior colleagues who are enjoying some very fat research grants seem to believe there was no gain of function engineering involved, but — according to everything you’ve studied — it looks obviously engineered and not zoonotic. So.. be truthful and impoverished or casual and prosperous?
I’m told that in the airline industry, they specifically train for this danger by encouraging First Officers NEVER to simply agree when the captain appears to be making a mistake.
Creative, winsome disagreement is a social virtue. I also think it’s a very American virtue. At Concord, the militia stood and argued with their officers. They didn’t simply take orders.

The Godliness of Hating Fidel May 19, 2026

“If you don’t hate Castro with every fiber of your being, you are just as bad as any Nazi.

“Years ago, at a huge indoor Southern California bizarre, a vendor was selling Soviet swag, (furry Ushanka hats with hammer and sickle emblems, military clothing with hammer and sickle, flags with hammer and sickle, cuff links and jewelry with — yes — “hammer and sickle.”)
I thought to myself, “have these folks ever read Solzhenitsyn? Do they have ANY IDEA how many innocents Lenin and Stalin killed and tortured? Do they even know that some of the demons who wore this stuff killed 10 to 20 MILLION people? Would they feature polished SWASTIKA jewelry? Would they proudly call out, across the din of the market, “oh, yes, the SS flag is on sale for $40.”

I still can’t get over this. The people of Los Angeles elected a low-functioning MORON, Karen Bass, who visited Cuba several times and said that the death of Fidel Castro was a “great loss.”

Take a walk down a CASTRO memory lane with me. Ponder some of the butchery this man, and his movement, perpetrated on his own people..
“Thousands of Cubans were imprisoned for dissent, with the government admitting to around 4,500 political prisoners by the late 1970s. Many faced decades in harsh conditions, including solitary confinement, beatings, denial of medical care, malnutrition, and torture (e.g., immersion in human waste or overcrowded cells mixing political prisoners with violent criminals).” https://www.govinfo.gov/…/html/CHRG-112hhrg72877.htm
“In March 2003, Castro’s government arrested 75 independent journalists, librarians, human rights activists, and Varela Project supporters (a peaceful petition for reforms). They faced summary trials and sentences of up to 28 years for “subversion” or being “mercenaries” of the U.S. Many endured long prison terms with inhumane conditions before some releases.”
“Many executions occurred at La Cabaña Fortress prison in Havana, where Che Guevara (under Castro’s authority) oversaw operations in early 1959. Crowds reportedly chanted “¡Paredón!” (“To the wall!”) during public spectacles. Estimates of total political executions under the regime vary: historians like Hugh Thomas suggested up to 5,000 by 1970, while other tallies (e.g., Cuba Archive) put firing squad deaths around 5,600 overall.”
“The regime executed or caused deaths of minors in some cases (at least 22 by firing squad per some tallies) and harvested blood from prisoners before executions in the 1960s for sale abroad.” https://archive.hrf.org/cuba-60-years-of-revolution-60…/

I have a very difficult time with anyone who excuses Karen Bass, or ignores this part of her history. She is FULLY as evil as any grand dragon of the KKK, any Nazi, any Chinese Communist harvesting the organs of political prisoners. The citizens of Los Angeles would be better served voting for a dead rat over Karen Bass. She has no excuse, and neither do any of the people who put her in power.

Making a Marriage Work May 20, 2026

I’ve had many years (38!) to think about what makes a marriage work, and here are a few of my conclusions..|
–Don’t take advice from Barry Manilow, (not just for the obvious reasons). You DECIDE to love someone. You don’t WAIT for some powerful, romantic glow to fall all over you like a 14 year old. “Trying to get the feeling again” represents a kind of surrender to chance. You don’t “try.” You “make.” You ask your wife to dance. You tease your husband up to the bedroom.
–You two are more important than your children. If either of you emphasize your children over each other, your relationship is doomed. (And I’m not talking about people struggling with severe abusers.) I once knew a man who planned elaborate trips for his wife, and she put him off because she had to go to soccer games and recitals. VERY BAD MOVE.
–If you both love God more than you love each other, that’s a very profitable investment. He will be there to provide judgment when neither of you would rule very well.
–Most men can’t take controlling shrews. They simply can’t take being humiliated in public, and most women can’t either, but for men, it’s absolutely SCALDING. If you want to keep your man, ladies, respect his leadership. Don’t order him around, particularly in public.
–Men, you paint the “grand vision,” but my experience is that women are more detailed, day-to-day managers. You make the plan, but let her execute.
–Do not budget for children. If you budget for children, you will never have them. The children will help the two of you grow up.
–Be mellow with each other’s faults, remembering that YOU have a LOT of them yourself. I was tempted to lecture the other day, and then I remember that I needed the advice more myself.

There is a lot to do with our time, but I’m getting to that age where sitting on the couch with my best friend is my preferred option.

The Meth-Head Dental Crisis May 20, 2026

Believe me, I would prefer to ignore politics, but we have elected leaders who would tax me for meth-head dental work, when I can’t even afford that myself!

Can We Talk May 20, 2026

I’ve renewed correspondence, and conversation, with an old high school friend who is very bright, (Berkeley), culturally Jewish (he attends a high security synagogue), hugely accomplished (retired entertainment executive), very giving (he volunteers on skid row), and very progressive, (he and I will never agree on trans athletes).

We disagree on most subjects, but I value the fact that we can talk without consigning each other to untouchable status. I think, for example, he actually understands my lamentations about the unfairness of many J6 trials, and I think he applauds the wealth-producing accountability of capitalism. On my side, I think I earned some currency when I referenced a liberal author who had concluded: “The bad news for conservatives is that Danish socialism sorta works, but the bad news for liberals is that it requires Danes to do it.” There’s give and take. We’re sometimes able to get past all the labels.

But I think there’s a kind of fog that keeps most Americans from truly accountable conversations. I’m fairly sure he believes Donald Trump doesn’t have an honest bone in his body, and I believe Los Angeles voters would be better served by a dead rat than Karen Bass. We tend to both forgive our own tribe and assume the worst about the other’s. That’s the “fog” I’m talking about. I know I have detractors here who will not listen to ONE SINGLE THING I WRITE because I voted for Trump. (Hello? Kamala? The drunk sorority girl who could never formulate a comprehensible position on anything?)

Back when I discussed politics with my father-in-law, who was a WWII Greek resistance fighter, and a communist sympathizer, we actually agreed on almost all tax, environmental, and social issues UNTIL we attached our agreed solutions to the “Republican” or “Democrat” brand.

Talking about the actual ISSUES is very difficult work.

J6 Pardons and Restitution May 20, 2026

If you knew some of the peaceful protesters who were dragged through the federal judiciary by partisan juries and bloodthirsty, anti-Trump prosecutors — some of them losing their homes, jobs, and friends — you wouldn’t quibble about their being compensated.

You just HATE your political enemies, so you want to see them suffer, but weaponizing the justice department was not the answer, and now we’re all going to pay.

You should do it happily.

Random Stuff May 21, 2026

Executions May 21, 2026

Earlier today I posted a little 1784 Philadelphia news. You can read the original by scrolling down a bit. (“John Brown was convicted and sentenced to be hanged, for burglary in the house of Jacob Mechlin.”)

In addition to homicide, people faced the gallows for robbery and burglary.

These days, in the true crime genre, there’s a particularly chilling sort of killer: the insurance or estate-seeking spouse. If you have a chance, take in the story of Brian Mann, an Alabama man who put lead shavings in his wife’s supplements, or Lynlee Renick, a Missouri woman who — set up in posh digs and the beneficiary of a spa business funded by her successful husband — decided that wasn’t enough and shot her husband dead with the help of a new boyfriend. “48 Hours” has literally DOZENS of these stories, and I’ve noticed a common denominator: NONE of the killers show any remorse. They lie through their teeth, and why not? If you’re willing to kill for money, lying doesn’t seem difficult at all. They have probably been lying their whole lives.

The Bible predicts two sorts of people in this world: the children of the woman and the children of the snake. I don’t know what the ratio is, but it’s a little startling to witness the children of the snake revealed in the flesh: cold, avaricious, utterly without any shame.

Our 18th century ancestors put them on trial and executed them. We would all be a lot better off if we followed their example.

Our selective political tribalism is killing us  May 22, 2026

An X correspondent is worried that Trump’s upcoming medical examination will be concealed. I responded, “because Biden was absolutely transparent about that, right?”

In a long, vulgar war on X about J6, I came to the conclusion that if the Biden justice department had limited their prosecution to JUST the truly violent, (just the window-breakers and the brawlers), we would not be having this argument about pardons and compensation. In some ways, if the justice department hadn’t gone after little old ladies walking through the building, Trump might not have returned to the White House, (although I think he would have, J6 or not.) I believe the “vast center” responds to reason and compromise. The Biden administration got blood-thirsty, without compass, and sloppy. (How can your justify a president who had to rely on the auto-pen? A president who loses $BILLIONS in a sloppy withdrawal from Afghanistan? These shouldn’t be partisan questions. They should be simple assessments of managerial competence.)

On J6, I was just standing outside the building, and I have detractors here who want me to “rot in jail for the rest of your life.”
In that kind of environment, people properly conclude that there is a war going on, and that there is no “talking down” your enemy. The Republicans are re-districting for survival because the Democrats have proudly disenfranchised Republicans for years. (New England is about 25% Republican and they have NO congressional representation.)

I really see no hope unless there is a collective repentance and a new commitment to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Having said that, I believe if Biden were to face a trial for a decades-old accusation, in Idaho, those good citizens would be more objective than a New York jury, giving credence to E. Jean Carrol (“rape is sexy”) when trying Trump.

We need a general revival, to be certain, but the honorable need to understand that, as it stands now, a LOT of blue state voters want you dead. Take it from someone who was recently warned by a retired law enforcement officer who knows how utterly irrational the godless can be.

Categorised in: Farm Journal

This post was written by Jim Riley