WPLongform

Sociopaths can come from anywhere

A Good Reed Review Book Review , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

Linda Castillo’s fifth Kate Burkholder novel is Her Last Breath. Once again, Castillo dives deeply into the Amish way of life as tragedy strikes a young family. Paul Borntrager is coming home late one evening from a doctor’s appointment with his three young children when their buggy is hit by a speeding vehicle. The collision is catastrophic, and Paul and two of the children are killed at the scene. The only survivor is his eldest son, although it’s touch and go for a while as he too suffers life-threatening injuries in the crash. The buggy is completely destroyed, and so begins a grisly case that uncovers a truly disturbing plot that takes some time to unravel. Continue reading →

Religion can be dangerous

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs ,

By Ande Jacobson

I don’t have any faith in any supernatural being(s) based on everything I’ve learned throughout my life, although based on observation, I came to that conclusion in childhood. I have studied science and rely on the scientific method in my exploration of the world around me. I have also studied religion growing up, not just the faith in which I was raised, but others as well. I have copies of numerous religious texts including an Old Testament (from which the Torah is drawn), a New Testament, a Qur’ân, a Book of Mormon, a Haggadah, and a Union Prayer book. I view them as literature written by men reflective of the times in which they were written. I do not view them as supernatural or divinely inspired. They are books, and as such, they are food for thought as are all books. Continue reading →

Fond memories of Washington, D.C.

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs ,

By Ande Jacobson

Although I am a Californian through and through, over the course of about 10 years, I spent a lot of time in the Washington, D.C. area, first for two vacation trips, then later for work. All of these trips, save the last one, took place before massive changes were enacted, and I got to do and see some things that are no longer easily accessible to the public. Continue reading →

It is tough to be an American these days

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , ,

By Ande Jacobson

I am not a journalist. I am not a celebrity. I am just an American. I spent my career working as a software/systems engineer for a couple of major government contractors. I also grew up during a time when history and civics were required courses in primary and secondary school. In fact, as I’ve mentioned in some previous essays, I went through school during a time when we studied Watergate as it was happening. That made civics come to life in a spectacular fashion. While I am no expert, from my studies and my work experience, I have some knowledge of our nation’s history and how our government is supposed to work, and right now, it is not working as it should. Continue reading →

Monsters in the dark

A Good Reed Review Book Review , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

Breaking Silence is the third book in Linda Castillo’s Kate Burkholder series, and it’s another fast-paced thriller with plenty of twists and turns. This one again exposes some of the ills plaguing the local Amish community. To start, both parents and a visiting uncle are found in a manure pit by their four children. There’s a frantic attempt by Kate and company to rescue the victims, but by the time they eventually get the people out of the pit, none survive. Two were already dead, and the third was too far gone to save. Kate and team initially think an accident caused them to fall into the pit. Noxious gases that emanate from the pit can collect in an enclosed space that isn’t properly ventilated and that can cause someone to lose consciousness or worse. Their initial theory is that one of the men was overcome by the gases and fell into the pit. They think the other two suffered the same fate as they tried to rescue the first man. Further investigation shows that wasn’t the case, and that at least one of the men was struck in the head before he either fell or was pushed into the pit. So begins a grueling investigation to determine who would commit such a heinous crime leaving four Amish children orphaned. Continue reading →

How to catch a sociopath

A Good Reed Review Book Review , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

Pray for Silence is the second book in Linda Castillo’s Kate Burkholder series. This one picks up where the first one left off, and Kate and her team are again faced with a horrible crime against an Amish family in the fictional Ohio town of Painters Mill. This time, an entire family is brutally murdered, and it’s up to the Painters Mill PD, led by Chief Kate Burkholder, to stop the assailants from continuing their spree. For a quiet little town, the murder rate appears to be rivaling that of that quaint fictional Maine village of Cabot Cove, but instead of an amateur sleuth like Jessica Fletcher, Kate is a professional crime fighter. She and her team are faced with seven victims from the Plank family, hardworking Amish farmers with a passel of kids ranging from a toddler to older teens. Continue reading →

I don’t like politics, but …

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , ,

By Ande Jacobson

I don’t like politics, but I have voted in every election since I turned 18 because I see it as my civic duty as an American to not only vote, but do so responsibly.

I don’t like politics, but I study the issues to understand how they affect us all and where our representation stands.

I don’t like politics, but I studied US history and civics in high school when they were still required courses, so I understand how our government is supposed to work. I even went through the citizenship study questions for fun to test my knowledge. Sadly, the vast majority of native-born adults couldn’t pass the citizenship test today which randomly draws 20 US history and civics questions from the 128 study questions. A score of 60% (12/20) or better is required to pass. Our government’s political structure is there to truly make a positive difference for the country and the world if we work together to make it happen. Continue reading →

Taxes are not a bad thing

A Good Reed Review Uncategorized , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

There’s a serious misconception driven by decades of GOP propaganda regarding taxes. While there is a group of pro-business/anti-regulation Republicans who see tax cuts as the cure all solution to what ails us, the vast majority of Americans don’t see tax cuts and elimination of all regulations (or protections) as a positive thing. People understand that the government services they need have costs that we all must share. What upsets the vast majority of people is that the morbidly wealthy and corporations keep finding ways to avoid paying their fair share. Additionally, the Reagan, George W. Bush, and Trump administrations have seriously hurt the vast majority of Americans with their blatant market manipulation and tax cuts while at the same time creating the most extreme wealth gap in American history. It’s not that the country lacks wealth. It’s that under modern Republican administrations wealth has been systematically been moved from the lower 90% of the population and concentrated at the top 1% at the expense of the services that we all need since around 1981. The result has been the destruction of the middle class and the creation of a small group of billionaires who have benefited. Continue reading →

Quiet can be deceptive

A Good Reed Review Book Review , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

Sworn to Silence is the first book in Linda Castillo’s Kate Burkholder series and was first released in 2009. Kate is the chief of police in the quaint, fictional Ohio town of Painters Mill, a small, rural community. About a third of the town’s residents are Amish, and the rest are what the Amish refer to as English, or non-Amish. They had coexisted for centuries until a series of brutal murders occurred. Since that time, the Amish and the police suffer from mutual suspicion. The killer wasn’t caught, but eventually life went on, until, sixteen years later at the time of the current story the killings begin anew with the same signature. A lot changed in that time. For one thing, Kate lived through the first killing spree and has since harbored a secret. Although most Amish children commit to their church and community when they reach 18, Kate took a different path. Continue reading →

Nobody should have to settle for being less than

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

I had a disturbing discussion with a good friend the other day. We got into a discussion about gay and trans rights. While neither of us are gay or trans, we know and love people who are and support a person’s right to be who they are. That said, my friend talked about the past when people who were gay or trans lived their lives as they could and kept their views and actions that went counter to what was considered mainstream private. My friend asserted that before things became so contentious, people who were apart from the mainstream didn’t and shouldn’t make their differences public and lamented that it wasn’t still the case. My friend claimed to understand how some people might see somebody living a lifestyle counter to the mainstream as a threat, particularly in religious communities, and their concerns needed to be taken into account in the law and in allowed public behavior. Continue reading →