Bulls

The Republican National Convention is underway. I've seen posts on Facebook saying that billionaire George Soros is paying minions to protest and disrupt, and others saying bikers will be there to confront the leftists. I hope none of it's true, but, given the national mood, no one should be surprised if things get very ugly. The shooting deaths of three more cops, this time in Louisiana, has increased the tension. Has rhetoric fanned the flames? The temptation for conservatives to say so is overwhelming. The hard left has the atmosphere it wants, which brings to mind the old adage: "Be careful what you wish for -- you just might get it." Let the conflicts be verbal, peaceful. I suppose that's wishful thinking.

Here's the final box score from this year's running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain: 12 people, including four Americans, were gored in the eight runs. Six were later released from the city hospital and the rest were said to be progressing well.The nine-day fiesta known for its 24-hour street partying became world famous when featured in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises. It attracts thousands of foreign tourists. In the runs, hundreds of daredevils dash with six fighting bulls and their accompanying steer along a 930-yard street course to the city's bull ring. In all, 15 people have died from gorings at the festival since record-keeping began in 1924. In other words, plenty of hits, runs and errors.

There may be a winner in the quest for the next great high. A Pennsylvania man sprayed fluid used to embalm a human brain on marijuana he then smoked. State police charged the 26-year-old with abuse of a corpse and conspiracy. Court records indicate an aunt contacted detectives after finding a human brain in a department store bag under a porch. "The defendant related that he knew it was illegal to have the brain and that he and (another man) would spray the embalming fluid on 'weed' to get high," claimed an the investigator. Court records indicate the brain was real and that the guy named it Freddy. It is believed to be a stolen teaching specimen. Cue the Curtis Mayfield song: "Freddie's dead/That's what I said."

My thanks to the three kind folks who bought books on this blistering day, and to the woman who donated about 15 in the young adult category, and to Jack of Chase, who donated as many thrillers, several of which he'd purchased from me. I've been taking BP medication for a month. This morning I visited the doctor. My top number is still 140, but the bottom number fell from 95 to 84. Funny thing is, I don't feel at all different.

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