Businessman, millionaire, upstart pol….talk-show host?
Yes, Tom Golisano hit the airwaves this week, keeping the mike warm for vacationing WHAM yakker Alan Harris in the 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. slot. The Paychex president stayed away from Lonsberry-esque topics like the Wunderbra, preferring instead to "expound a little bit" on pet peeves–teen pregnancy, public employee unions, political patronage.
Golisano ("Please, call me Tom") also got talk-show mileage from his gubernatorial bid last year as an Independence candidate. But most of the predominantly male callers were more interested in things like why Golisano didn't return their call three years ago. That kind of caller.
Don't give up your day job, Tom.


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Are you looking for Teacher Job Vacancies in Hyderabad? Sister Nivedita School, Hyderabad has advertised for the recruitment of Teachers. Go through this job post for further details.
Address: 7-1-47, Dharam Karam Road, Ameerpet, Hyderabad.
Experience: Should have relevant experience in teaching field.
Education: Should have suitable qualification.
Teachers (M/F) for Social, English for V - X classes.
Teachers (F) for English, Computer Science and PET for 1 to V classes.
Should have sitable qualification and experience in teaching.
Interested candidates have to call Ph. No. 8096738855 for appointment with Principal. And have to send resume to email id: career@snschool.com.
Sister Nivedita School is affiliated to CBSE.
Are you looking for Teacher Job Vacancies in Hyderabad? Gautami Vidya Dhamam, Hyderabad has advertised for the recruitment of Teachers. Go through this job post for further details.
Are you looking for Teacher Job Vacancies in Hyderabad? TRR High School, Hyderabad has advertised for the recruitment of Teachers. Go through this job post for further details.
Are you looking for Teacher Job Vacancies in Hyderabad? Nirmala High School, Hyderabad has advertised for the recruitment of Pre-Primary, Primary, High School Teachers. Go through this job post for further details.
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Are you looking for Teacher Job Vacancies in Hyderabad? St. Paul's Hitech High School, Hyderabad has advertised for the recruitment of Teachers. Go through this job post for further details.


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Great TV you're missing: Archer.
Posted by Jason O on Jun 30, 2019 in Cult TV, Movies/TV/DVDs
If you like spy shows, politically incorrect humour and sexual vulgarity, Fox's cartoon show "Archer" is for you.
It's based around brilliant but incredibly self-centred and over-sexed agent Sterling Archer, operative of ISIS (Yeah, they've since changed that. Ahem.), and his battles against the KGB, terrorists, his domineering nymphomaniac mother/boss (played by the brilliant Jessica Walter of "Arrested Development" fame), his fellow agent/ex-lover Lana Kane, his dysfunctional/sociopathic/perverted co-workers and people who stole his Black Turtleneck Is Cool look.
Try it. But be warned. This is not one for the kiddies or the faint hearted. Think "The Man from UNCLE" but with a lot of dick jokes.
Cult TV: Bergerac.
From 1981 to 1991 mention the island of Jersey to anyone watching British television and they'll almost certainly mention "Bergerac". The detective show, set on the island, starred John Nettles as recovering alcoholic detective sergeant Jim Bergerac of the Bureau des Etrangers of the Jersey police, a special unit that dealt with tourists but more often with the many very wealthy foreigners who lived on the island.
By today's standards, the Jersey of the 1980s all looks a bit naff, but at the time the wealth of the island, its sunny location and the French connection made it all seem very exotic and even glamorous indeed, and for ten years it was a Saturday teatime favourite.
As with many successful shows, Bergerac had a breakout character, Charlie Hungerford, played by veteran character actor Terence Alexander, who was a north of England bovver boy made good, a sort of Arthur Daley who had done very well for himself, thank you very much. One of the running jokes of the show was that Hungerford seemed to know absolutely everybody on the island, or at least was connected, often without his own knowledge, to every criminal enterprise on Jersey.
The show was a huge hit, and was responsible for boosting tourism to Jersey, with Nettles himself heading up the campaign.
Nettles went on to achieve a rare success for an actor in having played a household name for a decade as Jim Bergerac then went on to do it again for over a decade as Chief Inspector Barnaby in "Midsomer Murders".
Coming soon to HBO*: "Threadneedle Street"
Posted by Jason O on Jun 28, 2019 in British Politics, Cult TV, European Union, Fiction, Movies/TV/DVDs, Not quite serious.
When the governor of the Bank of England dies suddenly, and his obvious successor Sir Guy Acheson (Rowan Atkinson, in a surprising straight role) is ruled out because of a shares scandal, brilliant but maverick economist Steve Darblay (Episodes' Stephen Mangan) finds himself appointed Governor of the Bank of England, in the middle of a currency crisis, by the ruthlessly ambitious Chancellor of the Exchequer Tom Parrish (Hugh Laurie.)
For Darblay, his appointment not only places him in the driving seat in dealing with everything from interest rates to the future of the euro to who goes on the new £5 note, but also a target for Acheson who feels bitterly wronged but also that the new governor is not exactly from the right side of the tracks.
With his former Cambridge tutor Bill Burke (Roger Allam-The Thick of It) and even more brilliant economist (and former girlfriend) Yves Cassidy (Lenora Crichlow-Sugar Rush) at his side, Darblay gets ready to take his seat at the most elite of the world's councils.
Guest starring Delaney Williams (The Wire) as US Fed Chairman Matt O'Malley and Sidse Babette Knudsen (Borgen) as ECB President Martina Delacroix.
Special appearance by Stephen Fry as the Prime Minister.
*I wrote this as a joke, but as I wrote it I thought "Jesus, I'd watch this!"
Why Peggy Carter is the greatest Marvel TV/Movie universe hero.
Posted by Jason O on Jun 27, 2019 in Cult TV, Movies/TV/DVDs, Not quite serious.
Spoiler alert: if you haven't seen "Captain America: Civil war" then read no further. You have been warned.
There's a scene in the movie where Steve Rogers is informed that the love of his life, SHIELD agent Peggy Carter, has died, probably aged around 100 years old. She gets a military funeral, and watching the scene I found it surprisingly touching, especially as the image of her used on the coffin is a current image of Hayley Atwell in character from the TV series "Agent Carter" set in 1946.
What struck me was that, watching her funeral, we realise that she is one of the few characters we have seen in her entirety, starting out as a much disparaged (by men) WWII intelligence officer who grows to become, as one of the key leaders of SHIELD, one of the most powerful people in the world.
But what really warrants her status as their greatest hero is the fact that she isn't a superhero. She doesn't have a super-serum coursing through her veins, or incredible intelligence matched to huge inherited wealth.
She's just an ordinary woman, and a woman growing up in an age where for most of her life her looks count against her and discrimination based on her sex is the norm and in many cases the law. Then, as if that isn't enough, she loses the love of her life, believing him to be dead well into her 90s.
And yet, despite all that, through a mixture of intelligence, hard work and competence, by the 1980s she is one of the leaders of the most powerful organisations in the world, and one of the most effective intelligence operatives ever.
Peggy Carter is the character every little girl can aspire to be, and that's why she's the greatest.
Why I love Moonraker.
Posted by Jason O on Jun 26, 2019 in Movies/TV/DVDs
"Moonraker", Roger Moore's fourth 007 movie, has a bit of a reputation. Rushed into production after "Star Wars" became a massive hit (For Your Eyes Only had been announced at the end of the previous movie), it's mocked as the movie that finally took Bond over the edge into full self parody.
As it happens, I hate all that self-parody crap that became a feature of the Roger Moore films. There's one scene in Moonraker, where Bond escapes by driving a hovercraft gondola through the streets of Venice, which is possibly my most loathed scene of all Bond movies. It's not funny, it's just moronic. Slapstick, even.
Yet as a movie I love Moonraker. Why?
Because it has all the features that I love of the Bond movies.
It has Hugo Drax, arguably the best Bond villain of all time, with his dry delivery and his "Look after Mr Bond: see that some harm comes to him."
His own fortune, based on a private space exploration programme, is a concept decades ahead of its time.
His plan is the ultimate in dastardly evil, plotting to murder billions of people.
There's not one but two huge baddie bases. There are spaceships, and there's the bit I think is missing from the Craig movies: the goodies arriving in force to blow the crap out of everything, in this case the US Marines with jetpacks and laser rifles.
Then there's Roger Moore.
As a cynical teenager I came to despise Roger Moore's Bond as a pisstake. But as I got older I got to see his performance for what it was. He wasn't playing James Bond. He was playing Roger Moore, and Roger Moore is very watchable.
I've always thought there were two things you could do to Moonraker that would radically change the perception of it.
The first was to remove all references to James Bond and replace them with the actor Roger Moore doing a favour for MI6. It would suddenly be a great one-off action adventure.
The second was to edit out the silly stuff like the gondola and (yes) Jaws. The humour in Bond doesn't come from the gimmicky jokes. It comes from Moore himself, right down to his "A woman?" on meeting a female astronaut. It doesn't need flying gondolas.
There's another reason why Moonraker has intrigued me as a movie…
How the hell did Drax convince anybody to go along with the plan?
"Right…I want all you nubile girls to put on these skimpy costumes and come into space with me as we murder all your families using nerve gas….don't cry dear….oh, by the way, if any of you have ugly children we'll be throwing them out the window….right…who's on?"
Finally: bear in mind that Moonraker has probably the best and smuttiest line of the whole series.
Cue: disco version of Shirley Bassey's theme song.
Great TV you probably missed: Californication.
Posted by Jason O on Jun 24, 2019 in Great TV you have probably missed
As you can imagine from the title, David Duchovny's show "Californication" (Showtime 2007-2014) deals with some very adult themes, and so is chockablock full of strong language and occasional nudity. But it is also funny, telling the story of Hank Moody, a hip indie writer whose cult, edgy bestseller is turned into a romantic comedy starring Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, and how he's trying to deal (with a mix of casual sex, drink and drugs) with being a sellout in LA. Natascha McElhone stars as his ex-girlfriend and mother of his daughter, but the real break out is Evan Handler, whom you'll recognise from Sex and the City and The West Wing, as Hank's agent Charlie and who provides some of the best laughs in the show.
As I said, it's a bit bawdy, but fun. Sorry, did I say bawdy? OK, it's actually filthy. But still very funny. Keep an eye out for a very funny cameo by Rob Lowe as nutcase actor Eddie Nero.
The full series is currently available on Netflix UK & Ireland.
An Occasional Guide to Irish Politics: The Unlistenable Politician.
Posted by Jason O on Jun 23, 2019 in Election 2016, Irish Politics, Not quite serious., Occasional Guide to Irish Politics
Repost: Every time you see or hear him about to speak, you give him a chance. He's an important senior politician, a leader in our country. His opinion matters.
Forty five seconds in, you're flicking over to something else. Anything else. It's not that you disagree with him or what he's saying, after all, there's some pleasure to be had screaming "You're a f**king eejit!" at the telly or the radio. That would mean he's actually said something.
No, it's worse than that.
Every single time he says nothing. Every single time. He talks and talks and you can hear the cogs in the brain lining up the next trite offend-nobody vague platitude into the breech to be fired at us.
He's like a football pundit who doesn't really have any interest in football.
It's not lies. It's not offensive. It's just nothing. It's all a bit of a chore, one of those offshore gas drilling platforms that has to burn off the excess gas every while, only with him it's words, all safe and harmless and meaningless.
We'd actually be better served if he just read out funny words he came across in the dictionary, or told us about an episode of "Elementary" he watched recently, or rolled up a shirt sleeve and showed us a rash and asked us what caused that, do we think?
An Occasional Guide to Irish Politics: The Fairweather Revolutionary
Repost: "We're not taking it any more! It's time the country be taken back by the ordinary people! Feck the bankers and the political parties! It's time for a country based on social justice and equality and housing and health and education as rights! Yes to free healthcare! Yes to free education! Yes to…sorry, say that again…you want to pay for free healthcare by doing what?…means testing children's allowance….now, hold on a minute there…putting Capital Gains Tax on private residences…wait there one minute now…the rich should pay higher taxes, but not ordinary people like me, yes, I know I bought my house for €300k and it's now worth €500k, but that's MY MONEY….tax MY profit???….to fund free healthcare and social justice?…….get away from MY money, d'ya hear, that €200k profit is MY money, not yours! Get your stinking thieving hands off my filthy lucre!"
Boris 2.0?
Posted by Jason O on Jun 20, 2019 in British Politics
Boris: shit is getting real.
Assuming that he becomes Prime Minister, there'll come a moment before he jets off to Brussels where presumably officials will try to brief him about the reality of No Deal and the strength of the EU position.
This is going to be a totally new situation for Boris, and here's why:
Everything he has done to this moment was merely a stepping stone to this moment. He is now PM. Any casual disregarding of facts no longer benefits him in his pursuit of the main chance. He's won that. Now every Boris Bumble will actually hurt voters and through them him politically.
He's not a fool. He just plays one. Macron/Merkel won't buy the whole Bertie Wooster thing and he knows it. He also knows that Nigel Farage is just itching to out-Boris him and Farage is someone who can reach parts of the Tory party Boris will lose if he doesn't deliver on Brexit.
So here's a prediction: he goes with the symbolic Brexit in October and immediately dispatches a non-political heavy-hitter team to Brussels on the sly to negotiate a "temporary" technical agreement to keep regulatory alignment and minimise disruption, whilst just plain denying it matters.
He'll take the hit on the govt falling if it does on the basis that's the price for delivering Brexit.
Farage and elements of the ERG will call bullshit, of course, but Boris will make sure that the symbols are right. EU flags and plaques coming down, maybe even the UK flag formally surrendered in Brussels. Perhaps even a Freedom Day bank holiday.
Loads of guff whilst the UK remains bound by EU rules as negotiations go on without a deadline, and he calls an election as the man who delivered Brexit. "Operation Brexit Accomplished As Promised!" will be the repeated theme despite the protests of the ERG. Remainers will start to take pleasure in how much he'll annoy the purists.
A few predictions:
-Remainers will find that he's not that bad. He'll probably negotiate some form of Erasmus Plus or EU Rights Card for EU/UK students with the Treasury stumping up a contribution to the EU for it.
-He will be very casual about spending public money, especially on housing and baling out businesses hurt by Brexit. Labour will struggle to respond to this.
-He will negotiate a new cooperative treaty with Ireland. Ministerial exchanges, a UK secretariat for EU affairs in Dublin, etc.
-He'll end up being hated on the hard-right for being a traitor and delivering the wrong Brexit.
-He'll be obsessed with gimmicks like bringing back Concorde or naming ships after Churchill, Attlee and Thatcher.
An Occasional Guide to Irish Politics: The Naysayers.
Repost: It's a hard wired genetic response, whether it is to exploiting natural resources offshore or fracking or even postcodes. A section of the country just can't help itself, and comes out in opposition to everything. There is even a standard pattern:
1. A proposal is made by a company or body. The benefits in terms of revenue or employment tend to be so over-hyped as to trigger scepticism everywhere, even amongst people in favour of the project. Why do we have to oversell everything?
2. In the area concerned, muttering starts, normally led by a local nut who votes No in every referendum and disconcertingly mentions the Bilderberg Group and fluoride in every conversation. But he's retired with time on his hands and is a wiz with mail merge, having the database from previous local campaigns such as "Stop Dublin stealing our clouds!" and "No to WiFi near St. Enda's. There are children there for God's sake!"
3. The usual malcontents, Sebastian from South Dublin, furious with Daddy for running away with Olga from Olgastan and making Mummy cry and tell them that "they have to be the man of the house now" after a bottle of Tia Maria during Murder She Wrote, arrive to "smash capitalism" (Daddy was a capitalist) and stand up for the "ordinary people" in the area.
4. The local opposition TDs and councillors start calling for an independent public inquiry because that's what they always call for, and it's not like they have to fund it out of their expenses, is it?
5. The planning process gets bogged down in court injunctions and walkouts and demands for a tribunal into the planning process. Vague allegations of corruption are applauded by the usual paranoid mob. The integrity of the process hinges entirely on whether it agrees with the No side.
6. Planning permission is granted. It is appealed to An Bord Plenala. They approve it. It is appealed to the High Court, then the Supreme Court, then the European Court. Judicial corruption is alleged every step of the way. Huge legal bills are run up by the protesters who then complain of being economically ruined by huge legal bills they ran up travelling through a legal system they "knew" to be corrupt in the first place.
7. The opposition wins the general election, and sets up a public inquiry because it has nothing better to do. The opponents of the project do not contest the election declaring the political process corrupt and "exclusionary to ordinary people". You know, like voters. On polling day a group of young protesters meet to beam positive energy at the ballot boxes as they are carried out by the Guards.
8. The public inquiry approves the project. The protesters accuse it of being corrupt, and announce a campaign of civil disobedience, which seems to involve a lot of interpretive dance and giant Macnas style heads. One protester sprains his wrist when a giant Che Guevara head falls on him. He sues the state for not banning giant heads of South American communists.
9. The project starts with much civil disobedience, delaying the project's completion by years. When it is completed, and starts providing tax revenue to the state much later than planned because of the delays, the people who delayed it are first in the queue with demands as to how the money should be spent.
10. 20 years later, when the project is no longer viable, the people who originally opposed it demand it be subsidised by the state as a vital contribution to the local economy.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Christ the King: Our Parish Feast Day
John Dennis Crede Webster, R.I.P.
Remembering Sacrifice
Making Disciples: The Rules Changed (31B)
Early on a Saturday morning, a middle-aged pastor was on the golf course preparing to tee off. (Since I don't golf, you know the story's not about me!) He was playing alone so he was glad when a stranger asked if he could join him for the round.
After they'd finished 18 holes, the stranger said, "I really enjoyed playing with you. Would you like to join me again tomorrow morning?"
The pastor replied, "I'm sorry, I can't. I work on Sunday mornings." Puzzled, the stranger asked, "What on earth do you do on Sunday mornings?" To which the pastor replied, "You know, I've been asking myself that question for years."
I can tell you one thing about that pastor's parish: the parishioners don't know what they're doing on Sunday mornings, either. Because we all need to know what we are doing at Mass if this community is truly to be what God wants it to be.
There's no secret what that is. The Book of Revelation tells us today in language that's both glorious and perfectly clear: Jesus "made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father."
There in a dozen words is my identity, your identity, and the identity of this Eucharistic assembly. We are called to be a kingdom of priests. It's not even something new, because even in the Book of Exodus the Lord tells Moses, "the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation".
So we're not only a people ruled by a king, the Lord, but also a royal people called to reign with him (cf. Peter S. Williamson, Revelation, p. 47).
We celebrate Christ's unique kingship on the Solemnity of Christ the King—both the Responsorial Psalm and the Gospel invite us to be his loyal subjects. But on our parish Feast Day, the readings also point us to the wonderful truth that "we will also reign with him" (cf. 2 Timothy 2:12).
Thus, the kingship of Christ has enormous consequences for each and every Christian, because we have a share in it. Here's what the Catechism says: "Jesus Christ is the one whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and established as priest, prophet, and king. The whole People of God participates in these three offices of Christ and bears the responsibilities for mission and service that flow from them." (CCC, 783)
We cannot speak of the kingship of Jesus without speaking of the kingdom. Even to scholars, it's a mysterious concept and yet Jesus gave the kingdom of God the first place in his preaching. If you open your Bible to the first pages of St. Matthew, you will find that he begins his ministry with the words, "repent, for the kingdom of Heaven has come near." In Mark, the Lord's first words are "the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near."
Isn't it obvious that the Kingdom of God demands our attention? Not just this Sunday but every day. We can't celebrate Christ the King without celebrating the kingdom of Christ. And we need to celebrate the kingdom of Christ as our inheritance and our destiny. Speaking in some sense to all of us, Jesus promised the apostles at the Last Supper "I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom."
Many of us speak easily of 'going to Mass'. How wonderful it would be if we could find a nobler way to describe what we do on Sunday! Although the ministerial priesthood differs essentially from the common priesthood of all the faithful, we all exercise our royal priesthood at Mass. Jesus did not say, "do this in memory of me" only to the ordained priest, but to all of us. We obey his command together.
In the same way, since Jesus also gave us a share in his kingship, we exercise that together. How do we do that? The same way he does: by serving others. As Fr. John Jay Hughes writes, "A religion that is limited to obtaining blessings for ourselves with few consequences in daily life, is not the religion of Jesus Christ."
Our parish community embraces Christ's mission with energy and generosity. We serve the poor, prisoners, the young and the old. Our strong commitment to evangelization is nothing less than a commitment to building God's kingdom on earth. Dedicated to Christ the Redeemer, our parish offers Christ's sacrifice for the redemption of all God's children.
We celebrate all of this today as we gather to worship and honour Our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe. It's no accident that this solemn feast ends our liturgical year and points us to the day when he will return at the end of time. As members of a 'royal nation of priests' we are called to live amid the darkness of our world in the light of what we heard in the second reading: "Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him."
Today let's look at the big picture of Christ the Redeemer Parish. Last night's Feast Day Fiesta had to be one of the most delightful parish events in our history—and not just because we got to see Father Giovanni dressed like the lead guitarist in a mariachi band. Last evening gathered us together as a family, as friends, and as a community. It surely strengthened the bonds that unite us.
But as we gather for Mass, we go deeper still and ask "what on earth are we doing on Sunday mornings?" We are a family of faith, to be sure. But we're much more; we're a kingdom of priests, serving our God and Father as we give him glory in this Eucharist, building his kingdom together as we serve our brothers and sisters in love.
I had the painful privilege this morning of celebrating the funeral Mass for my brother-in-law Dennis, the husband of my middle sister, Nancy, and father of my niece Kimberly.
The liturgy was attended not only by his sister Jean, her husband David Topham and their three children, but by his three step-siblings who converged from various points on the globe to be with us.
My homily attempted to connect the events of Dennis's life, as narrated in Jean's printed eulogy, to the scripture readings chosen for the funeral.
Here, first, are Jean's words...
As I sit here at three in the morning in the quiet of my home in Victoria, I would like to tell you a little bit about my dear brother, a wonderfully kind and gentle man.
Dennis was born in Nairobi, Kenya on March 27th, 1950 to Dennis and Renee Webster. When Dennis was two years old our father died of cerebral malaria.
Because our mother was not well and unable to look after us we were sent to Wales to live with my grandmother. After our grandmother died in 1956, Dennis and I were brought to Canada by an Aunt and Uncle (Joya and Ouvry Roberts).
Dennis attended three schools, Athlone and St. Georges in Vancouver, and Vernon Prep in Vernon. Dennis found school challenging but as he said to me recently "I just drew on some inner strength and got through it." During his teenage years Dennis loved swimming and reading, and was endlessly taking things apart and putting them back together again – a skill that served him well once he became a home owner and had to fix appliances, cars and stereo systems.
After leaving school Dennis worked on a number of ranches in the B.C. Interior. However, ranching was not for him so he decided to join the Canadian Army. Again calling on his 'inner strength' he got though Basic Training and spent five years in the army, during which time he spent six months in Jamaica.
In 1974 Dennis left the army and did a number of jobs in Edmonton before returning to Vancouver where he got a job at Commercial Electronics installing stereo equipment – a job he loved because he could indulge two of his passions: stereos and music.
Dennis had always harbored a desire to drive big rig trucks and so during his time at Commercial, having inherited some money, he gave himself driving lessons and succeeded in obtaining a Class 1 License – no mean feat.
While working at Commercial he joined a cycling club where he met his future beloved wife Nancy. They were married on August 27th, 1988. Not only did Dennis gain a wife he also gained a wonderful family who loved and supported him. On January 21st, 1991 Kimberly was born and so now their little family was complete. Dennis told me on numerous occasions that Kimberly was 'the light of his life'.
It was Nancy who encouraged Dennis to apply to be a bus driver with B.C. Transit. His application being successful, Dennis was to spend the next 27 years as a bus driver for B.C. Transit, a job he loved.
In 2016 Dennis retired from bus driving and he and Nancy moved to their lovely new home in New Westminster. They purchased wonderful new electric bikes and Dennis spent many happy hours exploring new places and visiting many treasured friends.
The last few months for Dennis were difficult and challenging on so many levels but as he said to me the day before he died "I just have to call on that inner strength." And he did - the courage and strength that he showed to all of us was an inspiration to us all.
He was so greatly loved by so many of us, family and friends and this wonderful, kind, and gentle man will be sorely missed by all of us who knew and loved him.
Go in peace and with my blessing, dear brother.
Before beginning, I'd like to acknowledge Msgr. Rossi's gracious welcome. He has long been a true pastor to Dennis, Nancy, and Kimberly. It's most fitting that we celebrate my brother-in-law's funeral in his parish church. Dennis was certainly attached to St. Michael's—he insisted on coming here to Mass even after he and Nancy moved just two blocks away from another parish.
Dennis had a real bond to this community and was proud of his connection to the Knights of Columbus here.
The readings we've just heard come from three very different books of the Bible, but together, they tell the spiritual side of the story that Dennis' sister Jean has beautifully recorded on the final pages of this funeral booklet.
Jean wrote, "The last few months for Dennis were difficult and challenging on so many levels." Although he did not suffer long in the final stretch of his illness, he suffered much, which is why the first reading, from the Old Testament Book of Lamentations, gives voice to his experience.
There were certainly days when Dennis had no peace and may have felt bowed down with pain. But we can only really understand this in the way the author of Lamentations understood his own struggles.
Kimberly just read us ten verses from this unfamiliar Book of the Bible, traditionally seen as the Prophet Jeremiah's meditation on the problem of affliction. But there's something remarkable about those ten verses: the lament is four verses long, while the Prophet's statement of hope – a dramatic turnaround – is six.
In the midst of pain, Jeremiah takes hold of himself and recognizes that the love of the Lord does not come to an end, and that God remains faithful in even the darkest times.
Nancy and Kimberly and others who spent time with Dennis during his illness know very well that he struggled to remain afloat emotionally and spiritually. I think that's normal. But ultimately, he confronted the negative reality of his suffering with a positive outlook that inspired me very much.
By the time of our family Thanksgiving dinner, it was becoming obvious that Dennis was losing the battle against leukemia. He asked if he and I could talk so we sat together downstairs while dinner was being prepared. In that conversation, I learned what Dennis was really made of. He did not deny the gravity of his situation, nor give up hope; realistically, he reflected on the blessings of his life, speaking with gratitude for his wife and daughter, and all the good things he had enjoyed.
More recently, when his pain increased, Dennis was less mellow about this situation. But, when he was anointed with the oil of the Sacrament of the Sick, he continued to believe that affliction did not nullify the Good Shepherd's care for him and God's desire to lead him to green pastures and living water.
Jean tells how she and her brother were uprooted as youngsters, travelling through three countries before finding a permanent home in Canada. That was not easy for Dennis. The Letter to the Hebrews helps us make sense of his dislocation with the memorable words "here we have no lasting city".
Here we have no lasting city, precisely because, as St. Paul says in another important text, our homeland is in Heaven (cf. Philippians 3:20). Dennis has not been uprooted this time, but repatriated.
Twice in his life, Dennis spoke to his sister about how he called on inner strength to face his difficulties. It was inner strength that helped him cope with boarding school, and the day before he died he told her he drew on that same strength.
What was the source of that strength? It's not likely that a lonely boy turned to St. Matthew's Gospel to find it. And yet God freely provides comfort and rest, whether we ask or not. In the Gospel we've read, Jesus thanks the Father for revealing hidden truths even to children. As we read elsewhere in Matthew's Gospel, our Heavenly Father knows what we need before we ask him. (cf. 6:8)
God is the God of peace, the great shepherd of the sheep who helped Dennis to bear his yoke. The inner strength Dennis spoke about reflected his character, refined by hardship, but it came ultimately from a loving Father who watched over him throughout his life's journey, giving him the grace of a loving wife and a lovely daughter. It came from a Christian life in which he worshiped faithfully and was strengthened by the Sacraments.
That loving Father speaks today to each of us, but particularly to Nancy and Kimberly, among the many others who mourn Dennis' passing. We are entitled, like Jeremiah, to four verses of pain and sorrow. But let's be sure to pray six verses of hope and gratitude for all Dennis was and all the blessings he received.
The armistice signed on this day one hundred years ago ended a conflict that killed more than sixteen million people.
"Seventy million men took up arms, nine million of them never returned home. More than four times that number had been wounded.
"It was supposed to be 'the war to end all war.' Instead, the 'Great War' began a cycle of violence that would shape the twentieth century, spawn a cold war that would divide the continent of Europe for half a century, and leave echoes that still reverberate in the twenty-first century," as historian Joseph V. Micallef writes in Understanding World I: A Concise History.
Christians never welcome or glorify war. The Second Vatican Council states eloquently "Peace on earth, born of love for one's neighbour, is the sign and the effect of the peace of Christ that flows from God the Father." (Gaudium et Spes, 78)
However, there is an aspect of the tragedy of war that is closely connected to Christian faith: sacrifice. More specifically, self-sacrifice, which the exotic American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson called the real miracle out of which all others grew.
Let's look at three aspects of sacrifice this morning. First, the sacrifice of Christ himself, second the Sacrifice of the Mass, and third the daily sacrifice we make of ourselves. And in our reflections we will keep in mind what's often called "the supreme sacrifice" made in time of war.
Sacrifice jumps off the page of the Lectionary this Remembrance Day Sunday. Our second reading today, from the Letter to the Hebrews, places sacrifice at the heart of Christ's mission: "he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself."
The letter is contrasting the annual sacrificial offering made by the Jewish High Priest on the Day of Atonement. Obviously the sacrifice is not perfect, for it is repeated year after year. Christ's sacrifice, by contrast, is perfect and complete.
For the Jewish readers of the Letter to the Hebrews, the importance of this was obvious. They understand the whole notion of sacrifice in a way that we probably do not. The history of the Chosen People is marked by one sacrifice after another—some that pleased God and some that didn't. In fact, a sacrifice gone wrong was the cause of Cain murdering his brother Abel.
So the notion of a perfect sacrifice was a precious and wonderful thing, as it should be for us. Since the perfect Priest offers the perfect Victim offered specifically for the sins of all, we can have complete confidence that the sacrifice is effective. A few weeks ago our reading from Hebrews underlined this by saying "Let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, that we may receive mercy and find grace in time of need."
The second aspect of sacrifice we want to look at this morning is its connection to the Eucharist. In the words of the Catechism, we call it "the Holy Sacrifice, because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the Savior and includes the Church's offering. The terms holy sacrifice of the Mass, "sacrifice of praise," spiritual sacrifice, pure and holy sacrifice are also used, since it completes and surpasses all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant." (CCC 1330)
The Mass is "at the same time, and inseparably, the sacrificial memorial in which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated and the sacred banquet of communion with the Lord's body and blood. But the celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice is wholly directed toward the intimate union of the faithful with Christ through communion. To receive communion is to receive Christ himself who has offered himself for us." (CCC 1382)
To attend Mass without an awareness of its sacrificial dimension is simply inadequate.
On the other hand, we can't think of the Mass as if Christ is sacrificing himself over and over again. "The Paschal mystery of Christ is celebrated, not repeated. It is the celebrations that are repeated, and in each celebration there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that makes the unique mystery present. Our liturgy not only recalls the events that saved us but makes them present. (CCC 1104)
Finally, we need to think about the sacrifice we are called to make of ourselves. The first reading this morning is the story of a woman whose humble sacrifice of the little she has is accepted by God. But there's more than charity in the story: the woman of Zarephath is prepared for the supreme sacrifice when she agrees to share the little food on which her life depended.
Today we learn a dual lesson: the need for daily sacrifice, for love of neighbour, and the willingness to sacrifice all, should the need arise.
Christian living is sacrificial living, because we are called to imitate Christ who gave himself up for us, as St. Paul tells the Ephesians (5:2).
From its earliest days, the Church has honoured and remembered martyrs, men and women who laid down their lives, sacrificially, for the faith. Not all those who die in war are martyrs, but there are many who willingly put themselves in harm's way for others, in imitation of Christ who said "No-one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." (Jn 15:13)
On Remembrance Day, together with all Canadians, we honour and remember the fallen. But as Catholics we go a step further. We remember and pray for them at Mass today, applying the merits of Christ's supreme sacrifice to their souls.
I'll close with a story I have told before. I was walking through the small Commonwealth War Cemetery in Rome, where families were allowed to choose an inscription on the headstone for their loved one who had been killed. Many were touching, like the one that read "Fondly remembered by Mum, Dad, and his little dog Peg."
But most moving of all was the grave over which was carved the dying words of St. Monica to her son Augustine: "One thing I ask, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord."
I no longer remember the name of that soldier. But I have prayed for him in the Holy Sacrifice many times since, and will do so again today.
"What did I do wrong?" sad parents ask me and every pastor. "I sent my kids to Catholic schools, brought them to church every Sunday, and now none of them comes to Mass."
Every priest has talked to these faithful people. Their pain is very deep, matched only by their confusion. What happened?
In his book Divine Renovation, Father James Mallon explains this painful aspect of modern parish life using a simple example.
Imagine that you were playing a game of rugby. (Personally, I can't imagine that, but stay with me!) At half-time, without warning, the rugby match becomes a game of soccer. The rules have all changed, but no-one told you. You get penalized, without knowing why.
That's what happened in our Church and in our families. The rules changed, but nobody told us. Parents raised their children exactly as their own parents had raised them—but with tragically different results.
As you know, I'm less into sports than cooking, so I can offer my own analogy. You can follow your grandmother's famous cake recipe perfectly, but it will flop completely if you've moved to La Paz, or Quito or Bogota. Recipes designed for sea-level baking require significant adjustments to be successful at high altitudes.
We've been following our grandmothers' recipes for raising Catholic kids without noticing that the environment has changed dramatically, and in numerous ways. Father Mallon says that priests share responsibility for this and need to acknowledge our failure to recognize the signs of the times and to sound the alarm.
I don't need to tell parents how serious this; for years now I have shared their pain. But our first reading today reminds us that forming our young people as disciples of Jesus is the concern of the whole parish and the whole Church.
Moses is preaching to the people of Israel at a time just as crucial as our own—at long last, they are about to be settled in the new land God has given them.
Even the place of his speech is significant. Moses is speaking near Beth-peor, where the Israelites had earlier turned away from the Lord. It was a place that reminded them of their infidelity. On the other hand, Beth-peor is within the borders of the Promised Land, so the setting is also a reminder of God's fidelity.
Suffice to say this is a very, very important address. And it is, at least in part, about the religious upbringing of children—and its consequences.
Moses teaches the people that God is not only concerned with them, but with their children and grandchildren as well. Following His commandments and laws has tremendous consequences---bringing long life and prosperity. And one law is more important than any other: "love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might."
It's not just Moses who tells us that this is the first of all commandments: In today's Gospel Jesus himself cites this verse when he is asked about the greatest commandment of the law.
And if we read just a little farther in this sixth chapter of Deuteronomy we discover that this is not only God's most central commandment but also the core of religious instruction. A few verses later, Moses says "Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away…"
Parent to child, heart to heart.
The Catholic Church has devoted enormous resources to forming children as disciples. But Father Mallon's remarkable book points out that we've done much, much less to form their parents. Yet it is from the parents' hearts that God's words must flow to their children.
Father Mallon says that the Church—and the parish—must change how we minister to adults—and what we expect of them—if we're to succeed once again in handing on the faith to the young.
We must, in the words of Divine Renovation, "rediscover our [missionary] identity and place the heart of the Lord's mandate for his Church at the heart of everything we do, so that at the heart of every parish there will be a community of growing, maturing believers who are committed to a lifelong process of disciplined learning, who are discovering their God-given talents, who are prepared to serve and eventually to become apostles."
What does that mean? More than I can say in one homily. More than I can say in ten. But as the Parish Pastoral Council and eventually all parish leaders work their way through this amazing book, we will discover how to play by the new rules that confront the Church, seeking the blessings that God promises to each of us, our children, and our children's children.
Stay tuned—there's much more to come.
Posted by Msgr. Gregory Smith at 8:12 AM 2 comments:


text:
The Life and Death of a Modern-Day Bonnie and Clyde
How a young couple's two-week crime spree took a violent turn, gained a cult following and ended in a hail of bullets
William Browning
William Browning's Most Recent Stories
Blake Fitzgerald and Brittany Harper stole cars, kidnapped at gunpoint, robbed hotels and stores and homes – all on the way to their wedding in Florida.
On January 31st, Kyle Dease, a 26-year-old front desk clerk at the Microtel Inn & Suites in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was working the night shift when a young couple walked into the lobby claiming to have run out of gas. By the look of their bloodshot eyes and rumpled clothes, it appeared the pair had traveled all night. They used the restrooms, got cups of coffee and the man pulled a "burner" cell phone from his pocket to dial a taxi service. Dease asked where they were from – Joplin, Missouri, they said. Knowing a deadly tornado had struck there in 2011, Dease mentioned a tornado had come through the Tuscaloosa area that same year. "They talked about how it had affected their families," Dease says. "We sort of connected on that level."
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Then the man approached the counter and told Dease he needed his keys and money from the register. Dease laughed, thinking it was a joke. "I'm not even fucking with you," the man said, flashing a gun — a .45-caliber pistol. "Do you know what this could do to you?"
After handing over $396, Dease was led outside at gunpoint, and into the backseat of his own Jetta. The woman drove, while her boyfriend, sitting in the front passenger seat, tuned the radio to 95.7 Jamz, a hip-hop station. As they traveled north toward Birmingham, the couple told Dease about their troubles: Three days earlier, Blake Fitzgerald and Brittany Harper had left their homes in southwest Missouri and began what would be a 1,500-mile journey through the South, committing a series of increasingly violent crimes. In 10 days they stole cars, kidnapped people at gunpoint, robbed hotels and stores and ran into two different homes pointing pistols at mothers and fathers with children. But it was with Dease at the Microtel Inn in Tuscaloosa – the halfway point of their run – that they crossed the line that separates foolish crimes from armed violence.
The U.S. Marshals service, in announcing a $10,000 reward for information on Fitzgerald and Harper, referred to them as a "modern-day Bonnie and Clyde," the notorious Depression-era couple that spent two years killing and robbing in Middle America. Fitzgerald and Harper never killed anyone, but the reference wiped a romantic gleam across their story. The fact that the culprits were lovers hurdling toward certain downfall pushed the story into the realm of theater. "Ride or Die" tributes appeared on social media. For a time, tracking their movements and weighing in on their crimes, while sharing details of new transgressions, became a Twitter pastime.
"I wouldn't call them #BonnieAndClyde I'd call them #Dumb & #Dumber," a man in Colorado tweeted.
"Kill them like #BonnieAndClyde," a Missouri resident offered.
Dease told me that he sensed love between them. Although it was a brief affair – Harper had only made the relationship "official" on Facebook 10 days earlier – they said they were trying to get to Florida to marry. "But they also said they were just telling people that," Dease says. Fitzgerald also swore to Dease that he would never return to prison. "He told me he would go out shooting," the clerk says. "I knew he would get killed."
Near Birmingham, Fitzgerald and Harper began looking for another vehicle to steal, one that could outrun the cops. Dease asked if they could hot-wire a car. "No," Fitzgerald said, holding up the .45, "but I've got this." He added that he did not like using it. "Every time I do," he said, "I feel like I'm losing a piece of my soul."
Joplin, Missouri is a windswept city of 50,000 in the southwestern corner of the state. For many years, Fitzgerald's mother, Renee Beale, operated Connie's Antiques, where Fitzgerald was general manager. During the summer of 2011, he made a commercial with his brother, Chris, in which he wears suspenders, a tie and fedora, and rides like a child inside a shopping cart that Chris pushes. Blake appears to have a charm that is both easy and intense, but the sensitivity about his eyes seems incongruent with the crimes he'd later commit. His brother Chris is now a surgeon in Southern California. After his brother's crime spree came to a tragic end in Florida, he posted photographs of Blake on Facebook. In one, Blake is on a beach, looking into a sky full of flying birds. Beside the photograph, Chris wrote, "I love you for the man you were and I forgive you for the man you became."
Fitzgerald's parents were divorced. He had dropped out of high school, but someone who knew him as a child told me that he had "a good command of the King's English" and "was a joy." He had red roses, a yellow star and Mae West's young face tattooed on his body. He had been to Paris and had three children with three different women, the most recent born last fall; he was a sporadic presence in their lives. His oldest child's stepfather, John Chevere, who lives in Kansas and owns a cell phone company, tells me the last time he spoke with Fitzgerald was about three years ago at a funeral in Joplin for Fitzgerald's aunt. As they stood around, Fitzgerald told Chevere he wanted to be a positive and frequent figure in his oldest child's life. Chevere believed him. "He was 100 percent sincere," he says. "He loved his children."
Blake Fitzgerald's criminal record included four driving under the influence arrests and one for assault, which stemmed from a 2013 bar fight – a man Fitzgerald punched collapsed unconscious so quickly his ankle broke. Three years ago, when Fitzgerald was 27, he broke into a home with his friend Branden Willis. A person familiar with the case said Fitzgerald kicked in the front door. It was about 2 a.m. Either Willis or Fitzgerald (both were wearing masks) used a knife to threaten the 63-year-old woman who lived there. They stole her purse, some jewelry, a TV and computers – and left in her Mercedes, which was found abandoned across town. No one was injured. "But the potential was certainly there," Cpl. Chuck Niess of the Joplin Police Department says.
Fitzgerald was eventually convicted but his sentence – seven years in prison – was suspended, and he was put in a 120-day substance abuse treatment program. Willis is still serving out his five-year prison sentence. After I contacted him in February, he sent me a letter saying, "I could tell you a lot about Blake that people don't know." Willis, now 29, also claimed to know Harper. "She is no angel and is devious as they come, a devil in a angel's disguise," he wrote. He also asked to be paid $250 to tell what he knew. I responded that I could not pay for information, and never heard back.
Brittany Harper's criminal record was comparatively unremarkable. In 2005, when she was 20, she married a man named Justin Hal Harper. They had no children and together owned and operated an equine hoof care business. The marriage was troubled. In 2010, she was arrested after being accused of slashing at her husband with a knife and hitting him in the head with a metal toy. They separated and her husband got a restraining order against her. (He died at his home near Joplin in 2012.) Last fall, Harper was in the backseat of a car that got pulled over. She had a backpack that authorities said contained hypodermic needles and a bag of methamphetamine. After Harper's February arrest in Florida, a bail bondsman who knew her posted on Facebook: "I know we can't blame one's actions on drugs because they are ultimately responsible but the addiction to meth is real and it changes a person."
Another bail bondsman in Joplin, who over the years had both Fitzgerald and Harper as clients (and did not want to be named in this story), told me that while he never saw direct evidence of Fitzgerald using methamphetamine, he knew it was part of his life. "He was a good kid and he got interested in the drug thing," he says. "It took him down. It takes everybody down. It's the devil." Later, I found out the bondsman's son briefly shared a jail cell with Fitzgerald in Joplin, and once spent time in a Missouri prison on drug-related charges.
When I visited Joplin in February, the bars were full of tattooed men with wide shoulders and thick forearms, and I thought of a friend who once lived in Missouri who told me the city had a "Wild West vibe." The exact reason why Fitzgerald and Harper first set off on their desperate run never became clear, but there are several theories. Fitzgerald was still on probation for the burglary charge and someone said he flunked a urine analysis. (The Missouri Department of Corrections declined to comment.) Several people said Fitzgerald had fallen out with his family after taking a large stash of cash that belonged to his stepfather, and was told not to come back. I was also told that Harper may have been involved in the drug trade, specifically cooking methamphetamine, and may have recently run into trouble.
Fitzgerald had been living with his mother and stepfather. I talked with his mother, Renee Beale, several times. She believed he was doing well since leaving the state's substance abuse treatment program, and did not know what sent him on the run. Not long before the couple left town, Beale called Fitzgerald. He was in Branson, Missouri, about 100 miles from Joplin, and said he was there with Harper. Beale asked who Harper was, and Fitzgerald sent her a picture. That was the first time Beale laid eyes on the woman.
I was told that Fitzgerald was kicked out of his house, and soon after someone broke into the Joplin home of Dr. Douglas Richards. Five televisions, a checkbook and eight firearms were taken, including a .45-caliber, the same gun Fitzgerald repeatedly wielded on the run. The crime is officially unsolved, but Richards feels certain it was Fitzgerald. He once worked on Richards' wheat and cattle ranches about 50 miles northeast of town. Richards says Fitzgerald was capable of being a good worker – he once did a fine job leveling off five acres of land — but he was also prone to mishaps, like accidentally mowing down a wheat field. Last summer, Richards fired him. Also stolen were the keys to five vehicles left untouched in the driveway. I asked Richards why Fitzgerald would have done that. "To get even," he says.
Richards also believes Fitzgerald was hungry for fame. "I think he was doing exactly what he meant to – building up a name," he says. One of their kidnap victims said they seemed to like the media attention, and Carlen Baird-Baptista, a Missouri bail bondsman who knew Fitzgerald and Harper, posted on Facebook that once they were referred to as a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde "it was on. They probably loved being called that."
On Jan. 26, four days after the break-in at Richards' home, Fitzgerald and Harper showed up at X-Treme Powersports, a used car lot in a Joplin suburb. It was about midday, and employees said later the couple appeared "antsy." Harper filled out a credit application before they took a black 2009 Cadillac with a $14,000 price tag for a test drive with a salesman. After returning, the couple asked if they could drive it alone. It was technically against the rules, but the salesman decided they were trustworthy. Harper drove it off the lot. They never returned.
Two days later, Fitzgerald and Harper resurfaced about 300 miles away, walking into an Econo Lodge in Ozora, Missouri, a little before 6 a.m. Fitzgerald asked the female clerk about renting a room, but asked if his girlfriend could view it first. The clerk said that was fine, and took Harper to a vacant room. Fitzgerald waited. The couple claimed to be unsatisfied with the accommodations, declined the room and left. The clerk went back to her desk and noticed her purse and cellphone were gone.
While authorities in Ste. Genevieve County were taking the clerk's report, deputies in Perry County, just to the south, were attempting to stop a black Cadillac speeding on I-55. "We suspected that was our culprits," Maj. Jason Schott of the Ste. Genevieve County Sheriff's Office tells me. After a brief pursuit, the Cadillac sped into the distance, and Fitzgerald and Harper managed to get away. The couple pulled into the driveway of a home in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, busted a window and unlocked a door. No one was home — they took two sets of keys to a white Chevrolet Trailblazer and left Missouri for good.
At some point, they were in middle Tennessee — Richards says two of his checks were cashed at a Walmart in Nashville. Two days later, on Saturday, Jan. 30, Fitzgerald and Harper walked into a Walmart near Birmingham, Alabama, and allegedly stole an air pump. It is unclear why they might have wanted it, and even more unclear why they would have stolen it. They had cash, as well as Richards' checkbook. Next they checked into a nearby Economy Inn, where Harper provided a driver's license and paid cash. Federal prosecutors say the couple did not stay long before heading south toward Tuscaloosa.
At this point, Fitzgerald and Harper had traveled roughly 785 miles in five days. They had committed a series of misdemeanors and felonies and Fitzgerald knew his probation was likely to be revoked. But aside from shattering a window at that Cape Girardeau home, nothing violent had occurred. These were foolish crimes behind them. They could still be viewed as a youngish couple with a history of substance abuse making a run of bad decisions. By the time Fitzgerald and Harper traveled the 40 miles of I-20 between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, however, something shifted. They stopped being petty criminals, and began doing the things that by the end of the week would have people comparing them to Bonnie and Clyde.
The real Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow enjoyed their fame. They were poor kids from Texas who met in 1930 at a mutual friend's apartment. Both of them harbored dreams outweighed by realities. Clyde, who had been to prison, could blow a saxophone and wanted to be a musician. Bonnie, who had been through a failed marriage, could envision herself as a famous singer or actress. From 1932 until 1934, they robbed and killed together from Texas to Minnesota. "They wanted to be important, or at least famous, and were willing to die in return," says Jeff Guinn, the author of "Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde." "They loved the publicity and read every newspaper and magazine article about themselves that they could get their hands on."
They also spent time in Joplin. It was in the spring of 1933 when Bonnie and Clyde and three other gang members came into town for something of a vacation. The crew rented an apartment above an Oak Ridge Drive garage for about two weeks. On April 13, authorities, having heard the duo were in town, staged an attack at the apartment. Bonnie and Clyde managed to escape, killing two police officers in the process, but left behind some luggage. Inside was a camera and undeveloped film, which eventually revealed photographs of Bonnie and Clyde playfully pointing guns at each other. The photographs made it to press wires, new at the time, and within days Bonnie and Clyde were national celebrities. "They were obviously doomed," Guinn says. "And tragic death always sells."
Bonnie and Clyde's apartment in Joplin is now on the National Register of Historic Places. The owner told me that he and his wife once had a booth at Fitzgerald's mother's store, Connie's Antiques. He remembers Fitzgerald as a "polite, nice kid" who was always helpful. Occasionally, Bonnie and Clyde memorabilia circulated around the shop, and Fitzgerald expressed interest in visiting the outlaw couple's former residence. "He must have had an interest there that we didn't know about," he says.
Dease, the motel clerk, was still in the backseat of the Jetta when Fitzgerald and Harper spotted a white 2011 Camaro with a drop-top in the parking lot of a McDonald's in a Birmingham suburb. Behind the wheel was Zora Harris, a McDonald's manager, who had parked where she always parked: Straddling a yellow line in front of a row of crepe myrtles. That Camaro was Harris' pride — bought new and nearly paid off – and she always backed in. As she stepped out of her car, Fitzgerald approached and said, "Ma'am, I'm fixing to rob you."
Harris raised her hands and said, "I ain't got nothing."
"I want your fucking car," Fitzgerald said, pulling a pistol from his waist. "I ain't fucking playing with you."
Harris tossed the keys across the parking lot and ran. Fitzgerald got back into the Jetta and Harris yelled something to her coworker about seeing the Jetta's tag — the plates were from New Jersey, where Dease's girlfriend is from. The Jetta sped north on Highway 31. Dease said that Fitzgerald and Harper were upset about Harris having seen the license plate. Dease told me that until then he had never feared for his life. But as he lay in the backseat, with the Jetta speeding through traffic, a dread spread in him. He felt they may get in a chase with police and he would be killed in a crash, or in a shootout. He began to pray. Relaying the story to me, though, he could not remember specifics, like his mind stopped registering moments. He might have passed out.
The Jetta came into a town called Vestavia Hills and turned off the main highway into the Montreat Condominiums, where it stopped in the parking lot. Fitzgerald asked Dease to give his word that he would not contact authorities until he was back in Tuscaloosa. Dease agreed, and was released. Fitzgerald and Harper then drove around a corner onto Monte Vista Drive, which is lined by two-story homes with brick mailboxes in a thicket of woods. They parked in front of a residence.
It was Sunday at about 8 a.m. and the family inside – husband and wife, two young children – was eating breakfast and getting ready for church. Fitzgerald walked in through the garage and announced that he was having car trouble. Then he pulled a gun and demanded a phone and car keys. There was hesitation. Fitzgerald placed the gun to the man's neck and forced him toward the garage. According to a federal indictment, the man somehow managed to get away from Fitzgerald, and fled the residence. Fitzgerald then forced the woman into the garage and put her into the family's 2010 Ford Edge. Harper got into the backseat beside the woman, and Fitzgerald drove.
Authorities say that at one point Harper saw the woman attempting to waive at another motorist, and told her, "You don't want to do that." Fitzgerald and Harper told the woman they were going to South Carolina and dropped her off at a medical center in Birmingham. I contacted the woman recently. "We haven't spoken to any media through this nightmare and are choosing to keep it that way for our safety and our family's safety," she said.
By this point, authorities from Missouri and Alabama had identified Fitzgerald and Harper, and released a statement to the public to "be on the lookout" for a young couple considered armed and dangerous.
It was here, after the home invasion in Vestavia Hills and the couple's escape yet again, that the swirl of media kicked up. Not only were the Joplin Globe and AL.com following the crime spree, now FOX News picked the story up. And the Huffington Post. And The Daily Mail. Photos began to circulate online. Among them were book-in portraits of both Fitzgerald and Harper from prior arrests, along with selfies of them together – their heads tilted in affection, the vacancy of their mugshot eyes replaced by a look of grinning confidence.
At about 11 p.m., on Feb. 1, Fitzgerald and Harper pulled up to a Murphy Express in Perry, a town of about 15,000 in the middle of Georgia. The gas station is right off the interstate, across from a Waffle House. Fitzgerald walked inside and saw that the clerk, a small, 19-year-old woman who lives with her parents, was alone. He placed a Mountain Dew on the counter and pulled out a pistol. He took $160 and five cartons of cigarettes, and told the clerk to go outside with him and get in the Ford Edge. He would not hurt her, he said. Fitzgerald opened the door for her, and the clerk sat in the front passenger seat. Harper sat behind her. Federal prosecutors say Fitzgerald handed the pistol to Harper at some point during the ride. Fitzgerald and Harper both used the clerk's iPhone to call family members.
Renee Beale told me that Fitzgerald called her often throughout the run. Each time, she pleaded with him to stop, to let her come get them. His tone was often frantic, she says, like there was not enough time. Fitzgerald would say he did not call to explain anything, only to say he loved her. Then he always had to go.
After traveling about 15 miles, Fitzgerald exited the interstate and told the clerk to get out. She ran toward an adult store that was open — it was about 11:30 p.m. — and called 911. The clerk's mother later sent Renee Beale a Facebook message, expressing sorrow for what had happened to Fitzgerald and letting Beale know that she harbored no ill will toward his family.
When I think of Harper and Fitzgerald barreling toward Florida, in a Ford Edge stolen from a good Christian family's breakfast table, I imagine they leave the interstate in favor of two-lane South Georgia roads. The air likely smelled smoky, as it was the season when hunters clear land with fire. I see them driving into the Sunshine State somewhere between Quincy and Marianna, a place with moss-covered live oaks and wet earth and a stifling humidity impossible to escape from.
In February, the town of Destin, Florida, on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, is full of "hiring" signs and retirees walking sidewalks. At about noon on Feb. 3, Fitzgerald and Harper walked into Alvin's Island Department Store, which sells bright beach items for tourists. Some employees later told me they looked like a normal couple, and acted like one, too. They picked up a red basket and began shopping, sorting through shirt racks and inspecting watches. As they headed toward the register, Fitzgerald took a set of keys from his pocket and tossed them over an aisle of hats and T-shirts to Harper, who caught them and slipped out the front door. Fitzgerald told the cashier he wanted the money. The clerk, whose eyes were blocked by a monitor, could not tell that Fitzgerald had a gun, until he chambered a round. He jerked the money tray out of the register drawer and ran towards the door. Two customers happened to be coming in. He hesitated for a moment before bolting out.
Media reports from New York to Florida to Missouri were whirling. One headline read, "'Bonnie and Clyde' Stay One Step Ahead of Cops." Police departments in jurisdictions where Fitzgerald and Harper could not have been began fielding more and more tips. There were reports of Fitzgerald and Harper trying to pass a bad check in Orlando, more than 400 miles from Destin. Someone claimed to have spotted the couple at a Joplin casino. The owner of a car lot in east Tennessee reported that they came to his business carrying cash, looking to buy a vehicle quick, only to be turned down. "You could just tell that something wasn't right," the owner told a local TV station. "That's why I told them there's nothing I can do for you, you need to go somewhere else. Now come to find out that's the best decision I made all year."
There were also reports that Fitzgerald and Harper had robbed a Piggly Wiggly in Walnut Hills, Florida, two hours from Destin on the Alabama border. When I visited the grocery store, a manager said Fitzgerald walked into the grocery store about 4 p.m., picked up a bag of Jack Links jerky and entered a checkout lane. He held up his shirt to show a pistol, and said he wanted the money.
"He was nonchalant about it," the manager said, "like he had done it before." When he got to the part where Fitzgerald exited the grocery store, he acted it out, moving across the floor of the fruits and vegetable department with an exaggerated limp, and said, "Walked out like a gangster, son."
The culprit hopped into an F-150 pickup, extended cab, with the back window busted out, and sped off north, toward Alabama. A woman, the manager said, was driving. Authorities, though, do not believe that was Fitzgerald and Harper. John Molchan, a prosecutor in Florida, told me, "At this point, based upon my discussions with law enforcement, we do not have sufficient evidence to link that duo to that robbery."
The real Fitzgerald and Harper showed up at a Famous Footwear in Pensacola, Florida, at about 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 4. They casually picked out two pairs of Nike Torch shoes, an Adidas backpack and five pairs of Nike socks. At the checkout counter, Fitzgerald pulled out a pistol. When the cashier could not get the register open, Harper helped. They got approximately $390 in cash – plus their shopping items – and ordered the cashier to lie down in the back of the store. Shortly after they fled, the general manager arrived with a wanted bulletin from the U.S. Marshal service. Police later found some of the stolen items in the parking lot of a seafood restaurant farther up the highway. They reviewed surveillance footage at the restaurant, and saw that the suspects were in a Ford Edge.
At about 9:45 p.m., an Escambia County deputy spotted the Ford Edge in Pensacola Beach and a pursuit began. The 30-minute chase that followed went through Gulf Breeze and over Pensacola Bay via Three-Mile Bridge. At about 10:15 p.m., police found the Edge abandoned near Miralla Park in a residential neighborhood of Pensacola. Fitzgerald and Harper were nowhere in sight. David Morgan, the sheriff of Escambia County, would later say it was like they "dropped off the grid."
The couple had run from the park and into the backyard of a residence on Whitney Drive. The homeowner, Ian Gunnell, a landscaper with a 2-year-old, was watching TV. His dogs began barking at the back door and through the window Gunnell saw Fitzgerald standing with a gun. According to a police incident report, Fitzgerald "hit the door, breaking into the house."
Fitzgerald ordered Gunnell and his wife, April, to go into their 2-year-old child's bedroom. At one point Harper told the 2-year- old things were going to be OK, and not to be frightened. April Gunnell told police she was scared of Fitzgerald, and avoided looking at him, worried that if their eyes met it might set him off. Ian Gunnell later told a local TV station that Fitzgerald and Harper "were under no illusion." "They were in a bad place and they knew things were going to go bad," he said, adding that Fitzgerald and Harper used his cell phone to call their parents.
Fitzgerald told his mother that he loved her. The tone again was frantic, and Fitzgerald said he had to go in order to call his brother, Chris. A short time later, he called his mother back and asked to speak to his 3-month-old child. Beale reminded him that it was the middle of the night, and the child could not talk. Before hanging up he added that if he did not call her back by 2 a.m., things went bad. "I told him not to talk like that," Beale says. After Fitzgerald hung up, Beale called the number he had dialed from several times. No one answered.
After an hour inside the home, Fitzgerald wanted to leave. Harper, though, was injured from scaling a fence. They waited another hour, until a little after midnight, then took the keys to the Gunnells' Chevrolet Colorado and drove away. Ian Gunnell ran down to an intersection and flagged down a police officer still patrolling the area. Deputies soon spotted the Colorado on I-10. The couple exited the interstate about 12:40 a.m. and drove south on Garcon Point Road with deputies in pursuit. It is a rural area and had the sun been in the sky, they could have seen horses in fields as they sped through. Fitzgerald turned down Saragon Lane, where a sign on the corner reads, "No Outlet," and then into the first yard on the right. It was there that the run ended.
The homeowner is a 64-year-old affable southerner named Kenneth Broxson. That night he watched the 10 p.m. news, as he always does, and the broadcast included a report about the Famous Footwear robbery. About 15 minutes past midnight, Broxson awoke to the sound of sirens. He thought his home was on fire but smelled no smoke. When he got to the kitchen, he saw law enforcement vehicles sprawled across his front yard, their blue lights swirling. Broxson told me it might as well have been the middle of the day because of how bright things were.
A Chevrolet Colorado was parked in the yard. A man was sitting in the driver's seat. Broxson never saw a woman, and figures Harper must have been laying low in the cab. Broxson woke his wife and reached into his closet for a Remington Model 870 shotgun. Together, they walked to the front door. The pickup began moving, though very slowly: the Onstar system in the vehicle had made it so the truck would not go more than 5 mph. Deputies fired shotguns at the tires and screamed for Fitzgerald and Harper to get out with their hands up. The truck eventually reached the Broxson's backyard. Authorities came in the front door and took Broxson and his wife outside. "All the things you hear them say in the movies," Broxson says. "They were trying to get them to surrender."
With blue lights illuminating the way, Fitzgerald stepped out of his stolen pickup and reached the back porch of the house. Authorities said Fitzgerald slammed a .45 pistol against the glass of locked French doors, but Broxson had installed impact glass to protect his property against hurricanes — the pistol's thump did nothing. Law enforcement agents were pointing guns and screaming. The gunfire injured Harper's leg and ankle and when the sun rose later that morning, she was in Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola.
Crime scene technicians worked the Saragon Lane scene until a little after midday on Friday, Feb. 5. Fitzgerald's body remained on the back porch the entire time. At one point, Broxson walked over and asked one of the technicians, "How many times was he shot?" The only response was, "A lot." Later, Broxson counted at least 13 bullets in his home. Six entered through wood panes, four lodged within the inside walls and one in the floor. Another came to rest beneath the kitchen table and was only discovered when Broxson's wife stepped on it. To this day, the concrete Fitzgerald died on remains stained with his blood.
"They gave him every chance in the world," Broxson says. "He chose to go out that way."
The sheriff of Escambia County, Florida, David Morgan, held a press conference, where he was asked about a rumor: Word from the scene was that Fitzgerald had used Harper as a human shield. "Can you confirm that?" a reporter asked. Morgan, a confident and fit man, with salt and pepper hair, pondered the question for a moment. After wrinkling his lips, he responded, "Yes. Yes."
In the weeks following Blake Fitzgerald's death and Brittany Harper's capture, strangers would drive by the home to see where the run ended. People stop by Bonnie and Clyde's old apartment at 3347½ Oak Ridge Drive in Joplin to take photographs everyday. After repeatedly calling the number her son last called her from and getting no response, Renee Beale looked online. That is how she found out, on a news site. She watched a video that included audio of the shooting. As the gunfire rang out she knew Fitzgerald was dead. As she relayed the story to me her voice cracked. That night, an anonymous person, in response to Fitzgerald being killed and Harper being captured, posted online somewhere: "Hallelujah." Beale saw that comment and felt her gut hollow out. She also received a Facebook message from a person who called her a "witch."
"I have lost my baby boy forever," Beale posted on Facebook the night after Fitzgerald was killed. "My heart is broken and will never heal from the loss of my precious son."
Blake's father, Terry Fitzgerald, tells me he viewed his son's body and counted five bullet holes in the back, suggesting he was shot from behind. "I have a problem with that," he says. One of the bullets, according to Renee Beale, struck Blake Fitzgerald in the back of the head. Fitzgerald's family questions the need for law enforcement to use lethal force, pointing out repeatedly that Fitzgerald released each of the victims unharmed. Final autopsy results are still pending, but a four-month investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, released last week, found that the use of deadly force was justified.
Harper is in the Escambia County jail on a $1.2 million bond. Local prosecutors have charged her with six felonies. Her trial is scheduled for July 18. She also has indictments and arrest warrants in jurisdictions stretching from Missouri to Georgia. After Florida is done with her, though, the U.S. Attorney's office in Birmingham is waiting: A federal grand jury issued a nine-count indictment against her in late March. She faces more than a century behind bars.
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