Richard Case Dies at 84 -- Covered 1965 N.E. Power Blackout UFO Reports

As a teenager in the summer of 1965, carefully gathering regional reports for the private national UFO research/investigative organizations APRO and NICAP (both long gone now, their history kept alive via Internet sources), seeing my first newspaper letter-to-the-editor about the UFO subject seemed an almost magical experience.  I also discovered considerable interest among the public in general, because just days later I was invited to appear as a guest on a radio talk show -- and then invited back soon thereafter.  So what could go wrong?  How could anybody know that just months later, as the phrase goes, all hell would break loose?

November ushered a chill into the air over Northeastern U.S. states, and I had barely turned 17 when, on the now infamous date of November 9, 1965 a cascading and ultimately total electrical blackout quickly took out the power grid covering a good portion of the Northeastern United States.  The event was brief, consuming only a few hours, but accompanied far and wide by the last phenomenon anyone might expect:  UFO reports, by the hundreds, maybe numbering in the thousands when one contemplates reports not reported publicly.

National news sources and wire services buzzed and hummed with personal accounts of lives disrupted by power failures as hours dragged on afterwards, and among the chatter came people's revelations of encounters with strange lights and perhaps objects in the sky observed just prior to, during and right after the blackout.

Almost nowhere was this multiple witness effect more prominent than in Central New York, where all variety of sighting reports accumulated.  Were UFOs involved -- or was there a simple explanation for UFO-like reports encompassing all affected Northeastern states?

Quickly aware that something newsworthy beyond the blackout itself may be afoot, reporters for the Syracuse Herald-Journal and Syracuse Herald-American (now defunct, their resources incorporated into the remaining Syracuse Post-Standard) including Joseph Ganley, Robert Haggart and Richard G. Case went to work straight away interviewing witnesses and piecing Central NY's slice of the story together.

After initial stories received top billing in the Central NY dailies, successive reports were accomplished by Richard Case himself, and at some point I was in contact with him about the potential UFO aspect of what soon became known as "The Great Northeastern U.S. Power Failure."  I had already been in telephone discussions with Richard Hall, then assistant director of the Washington, D.C. UFO organization NICAP (see link in link list for history), as NICAP was obviously interested in the event, and in between fielding numerous phone calls from anxious witnesses to weird things seemingly occurring in conjunction with the blackout I met with Dick Case, some 13 years my senior, at the newspaper offices on a weekend afternoon to go over reports, maps and whatever other bits and pieces had accumulated regarding strange observations.

(Amidst all of this, I had been in contact with a power company official who promised that he might be able to offer some very important information regarding the blackout and UFO observations, but the deal was that he "might."  Subsequently, for reasons never disclosed to me, I was left clueless.)

Nevertheless, when you're 17 and your notes and interest in the UFO topic are suddenly being regarded seriously and not ridiculed by a member of the working press, that's something to behold.  Case, a military veteran who would go on in later years to pen a regular newspaper column, write several books, explore historical events and win awards for his work turned out several articles in the Syracuse newspapers about the blackout's witnesses to the strange, the unusual, the unidentified and, in some cases, mistaken sightings perhaps innocently solved.

As decades elapsed since The Great Northeastern Power Failure, calming explanations for what happened and how it all went down -- sans UFOs -- have almost been set in stone by "the authorities" and we can read all about the UFO aspect via Internet sources, but of course some of us will continue to wonder.

And Dick Case?  It was almost comedic how months or a year would pass and suddenly I would be contacted by a formerly unknown witness to a strange sighting during the blackout, somebody who had contacted Dick Case initially.   Then there would be weeks and months of silence until another Case-induced phone call would dribble in.

Blackouts aside, Case continued to write articles, when warranted, about other peculiar events involving Central NY and his remarkable sense of history served us all well.

Over the years, I've occasionally run across articles or books that reference the Central NY blackout/UFO newspaper stories, and one can thank Haggart, Ganley and particularly Dick Case for chronicling the story behind the story in these instances.
 
In 1968, long after the blackout, the late atmospheric physicist and UFO proponent Dr. James E. McDonald spoke before Congress and briefly expressed concern about the blackout's implications as they may relate to UFO activity (his congressional testimony may be found online).  I've little doubt that valuable documentation such as that gleaned by Dick Case had been soberly regarded by McDonald as he warned Congress (for better or worse) of things we should not dismiss so casually.

My last contact with Dick Case occurred several years ago, while he was still writing a regular newspaper column about Central NY events.  The subject matter isn't important now, just suffice it to say that I had sent him a brief note augmenting a radio broadcast issue he had raised.  He kindly inserted my comment with a name credit, and that was that.

Dick Case was another of the "old school" newspaper journalists who vanish before our eyes much too soon and far too abundantly.  Will Case be missed?  I expect he was missed long before he was even gone, and that's high tribute.

Nancy Pelosi, Vampire Hunter

The woman in black.  Was this Nancy Pelosi at Folsom Prison?  No, she wielded no guitar as she steadied her position on a perch before the House of Representatives.

At the very least, I expected a giant cross, wooden stake and hammer accompanying the woman in black, for if one attires oneself for a possible somber vampire-tracking occasion, proper tools are essential.  Yet, I wondered, do vampires populate any corner of the House?  Probably not -- though monsters aplenty of every pedigree likely hang out there.

Whatever possessed (maybe for real) Pelosi, her Catholic/black/sober judge and executioner/maudlin outfit of the day simply added to the other-worldliness of the whole House affair, and if her intent was to stake somebody through the heart, she certainly assumed the appearance.

Alas, no vampires would be staked as votes to impeach President Trump were called, but still the woman in black maintained a posture and mood suitable for hanging witches acquired during a witch hunt -- wavering only when she needed to tell voting members to can their cheers and laughter after achieving passage of each article of impeachment.

And there they were, a House full of Democrats beaming with pride over this latest attempt -- one of several -- to both blame and cancel out the votes of those who voted for Trump.  By hook or by crook, by George, they would have their way and nobody will stop them.

From the start, the Democrats' long-desired impeachment process was flawed, lorded over by Schiff, Nadler and other legal incompetents best suited to chase ambulances stalled in traffic.  The cherry on the cake is Speaker Pelosi's obvious yet mistaken belief that she has some power over what the Senate will do once the House's bungling articles of impeachment likely receive higher scrutiny and eventual dismissal in any number of ways.

I'm an Independent voter.  I voted for one Democrat last month because the Republican challenger acted the fool.  I also voted for Donald Trump, and I sure don't appreciate a political party attempting to nullify my vote simply because they despise candidate Trump.  The Democrats, born among the Ku Klux Klan and other ills and long dedicated to no civil rights for black people (among other faults), have suffered for decades from a we're-smarter-than-you attitude, disturbingly confident that big government knows better than easily dismissible people foolishly endowed with a belief that individual rights come first.  The Democrats praise their democracy, but we'll pretty much never find them using the term, democratic republic.

Both major bloated political sides have their faults, and I often long for a day when candidates, devoid of political party baggage, can clearly set out their agendas in depth. Unfortunately, too many voters are too lazy to find out for what and for whom they are voting.  Regrettably, an uncomfortable number seem perfectly willing to allow scam impeachments, rather than the voting process, super powers.

A day after the vampire-hunting woman in black stood before the House, she returned chameleon-like, disguised as the lady in red.  Did red mean a war-like readiness to battle onward as she and windmills tilted toward one another?  Embarrassment? Had the woman in black become a lady in crimson to denote blood, as in the blood consumed by the carnivorous actions of a leech?  Or did the lady in red fancy herself a red pen empowered to give the U.S. Senate a premature failing grade?

A-OK: Usurped by the Left

Well, isn't that just the greatest?  Even as minority students at Syracuse University protested and marched across campus before the holidays, making the national TV news in the process as several raised the familiar "black power salute," students at military academies and other universities apparently ran afoul of campus "hate speech" police simply by placing index finger to thumb, producing what has long been acknowledged as the "A-OK" sign -- an all-encompassing signal indicating that everything is okay, fine, accomplished proficiently, not jeopardized, etc., etc.

However, to borrow the words of brilliant Swedish teenage sky-is-falling proponent Greta Thunberg, How Dare They!?

Somewhere along the way on the political left's increasingly rocky road has quickly evolved a typically insane pronouncement, this time warning that the A-OK sign actually represents W H I T E   S U P R E M A C Y.

We assume this further attack on dictionary words (American and English dictionaries now being equivalent to forbidden pornography among those who despise established culture in this country) is intended to put white folk on notice.  A-OK finger signs must not be tolerated, lest perpetrators be called out by those who spend their lives watching for somebody to violate social norms -- especially the new, contrived social norms.



Authorities of various roots are making a big deal about the A-OK hand gesture appearing among uniformed personnel at West Point and at the U.S. Naval Academy -- all because the sign is used among white supremacist groups.  I say, so what?  Which came first, the hand gesture or the loons?

Keep this nonsense up and soon we'll all need mouth gags and tied hands to conform.

Back in the 1960s and seventies, another popular depiction dominated the finger sign market:  The "peace" sign.  Fingers depicting a "V" dominated the hippie and college communities, but this was not the "V for victory" symbol espoused during Winston Churchill's era.  No, this "V" represented a wish to stop the (Vietnam) war and "give peace a chance."  Strange as it may sound now, flashing the peace sign in public was expressly counter-culture.

The photo shown here, taken in 1970 when I* and fellow physical therapy personnel joined together in our clinic at the Air Force's fifth largest hospital (Texas), exhibits an anomaly no more dangerous than the A-OK sign so demonized by race-baiting leftists of the current day -- and yes, as the circled area shows, it's a peace sign flashed by a member of our Air Force clinic staff.  Had USAF authorities of the day wished, I suppose they could have made an issue of it, being that a man in uniform "dared" express a symbol.  But that was then, and "now" involved the equally innocent A-OK sign. 

The left will stop at nothing to destroy American culture, and if the race-baiting aspect can be utilized, that's what we'll receive, loud and clear.

Me?  I've found myself using the A-OK sign frequently of late.  I wonder why that is.  Could be white supremacy, or maybe it's just a plain old infestation of white privilege guiding my hand.

* (If you really care, I'm the one at the bottom on the far left. Um, I don't look like that anymore.)

Bits and Pieces for December 2019

Islam again:  While we're out of patience waiting for the well-deserved military execution of former U.S. Army Major Hasan for his mass-murders of base personnel and others several years ago, here we go again with the Saudi connection to terror (remember 9/11?) on the Pensacola Navy base.  I frankly don't give a fig about the Royal Saudi Air Force, but do wonder how these radical throwbacks get to carry weaponry into U.S. classrooms with nobody the wiser these days.  Of course, authorities are "investigating" after homicides are history and bodies have gone cold.  With terrorist events having just occurred in London and in the Netherlands, was it not time to double down on trust at U.S. government and military facilities?  We never learn.

Meanwhile, people in Iran and Hong Kong continue to raise hell in the name of desired freedoms, outrageous prices and political executions.  We focus particularly upon Iran today because deteriorating conditions and mass killings by government authority may actually lead to the overthrow of Iran's renegade regime.  Every cursed mullah in Iran should suffer a fate similar to those pronounced upon Iranian citizens whose lives were destroyed by way of Islamic fantasies orchestrated by these filthy old bastards.  The great and magnificent Obama had the perfect opportunity during his presidency to support Iran's people as they battled in the streets, and instead he chose to do nothing.  Must be he was preoccupied with getting all of those pallets stacked with cash into the hands of the mullahs.

All They Want for Christmas Dept:  Impeachment talk aside, I was thinking the delightfully impossible -- if the trash can-bound Democrat Party could magically make a deal with President Trump to make them go away and leave him to lead, I'll bet they would opt for being allowed to nominate and confirm their own choices for Supreme Court and federal judicial appointments across the land.  I'm only a little ol' blogger, but even I sense that this is the prize -- the long-lasting prize -- the Dems value most, though they would likely never power-point the wish.  However, whether musing about this or confronting possibilities during the 2020 elections, the reins of power in this regard are unlikely to become property of the political left in any way next year.  Federal judiciary appointments of conservative-minded personnel may well screw politically progressive and just plain crazy plans for decades to come.  Democrats are surely shaking out of their footwear over this very real possibility.

Nancy Pelosi's brief encounter with reporter James Rosen after announcing progress on articles of (the phony) impeachment shows her to possess more of a prison matron approach than that of a revered speaker.  There's more to fake than fake news, and Pelosi's phony embrace of the U.S. Constitution as Lady Liberty herself during her gloat-hidden TV appearance would be a knee-slapper if it wasn't so absurd.

We should note with kindness that Democrat college professor Jonathan Turley is one of the few credits to his party -- probably the reason why he started receiving death threats after his appearance before Nadler and the other goons.  Turley makes sense, and these proceedings can't thrive on good sense or wise advice.

Return to Syracuse University:  We wrote about this because it made the national news, and were not surprised in the least when students returned after Thanksgiving break and some attempted to re-initiate campus protests -- even though they were given everything they "demanded."  Well, almost everything.  What they wanted were mass resignations among chancellor and staff, but finally -- much too late, in our opinion -- somebody grew a pair or more likely one and shut them out of a campus facility where protesting students intended to meet.  I think I'll take a moment to become Syracuse U's poet laureate as I offer this dramatic reading for all student protestors who don't know how good they have it:

"You must get off your leftist asses
And scurry back to indoctrination classes."

(applause)

Everything is our fault:  A 16-year-old U.S. border-jumping boy from Guatemala died of the flu while in U.S. custody and the usual suspects are outraged.  Hey kids -- don't come here and you won't have to live (or die) in the presence of American authorities who, to be blunt, shouldn't have to do anything for you, including save your lives.  Four more years of Trump in 2020 may finally put a "cure" on the border outrage, as the only solution postured by bat-poop crazy Democrat presidential candidates is open borders, more walk-in international diseases (including child paralytic illness), "free" health care and welfare for a never-ending parade of bloated family units intent only upon making you pay for their every want and need.

UFOs/Not UFOs:  For something proclaimed as nothing more than a flock of birds, the temporary shut-down of Washington D.C. and the White House in November certainly seemed strange.  Then again, if the flock was incredibly huge, we can understand fears of voluminous bird droppings striking the ground among all the establishment droppings already in charge.  Anyway, good to know that where censorship or obfuscation of information is involved, it's like going home again.  Deja vu to you, too.

Greta Thunberg.  Oona Goosepimple.  Enough said.

The Inspector General's report:  Finally here, downplays everything.  Have no fear, there's another report coming and THAT one may not be as pretty.