Ted Joy

Trad Catholic. Army vet. Ex-geographer. Ex-journalist: murder, organized crime, jazz, c&w, the press. Love: PA hills, Irish whiskey, good stories.

[Ted Joy @TedJoy71]

The second chapter from The Rivers of Amerikay.

Book 1 of The Book of Crusoe Walker: The Ghaney

I Ain't, He Says, I Ain't, Old Kid, And I Would Pinch ' Em If I Did

It was nearly a year since we had destroyed the second Cibola, less than that since Bear-Named-Bear had ripped the throat out of the last of the Harpey brothers and my uncle, Toby Walker, was nervous - something I'd never seen in him before. We were waiting to meet old Addis Walker, the man who was called Songo by all of the Prithees and most of the family.

There were three of us - Toby and his wife, Maddie, and me - and we were expected for dinner with Songo and his almost-new wife, Rebecca, on board the Melancholie Jakewees, the very big and very elegant riverboat that had been my grandfather's home (and mine) since Butterfield the Assassin had burned down the Panopticon the year before.

At first, it had not been planned to be a dinner but, instead, a meeting between Songo and Toby. Then, because it was to be the last day of the old year, Rebecca who was as kind and good as she was beautiful and tough insisted that Maddie who was very pregnant at seven months be included because she wanted to - well, because she wanted to share as much as she could in the coming into the world of her first grandchild.

At the last minute, I'd been added to the list of those who would dine.

My father, Darby, had returned to the Tionesta along the Ghaney to spend Christmas with old friends and I'd gone back with him. Unlike the rest of the Walkers, I'd never been an outdoorsman through and through and though I could take down a deer with my rifle at least as well as all of them, I'd never learned to like field dressing one. So, I'd decided to leave Tionesta early in order to spend First Night with my friends in Nimishillen.

It was late afternoon when I'd gotten back to the Jakewees, and the sky was glooming gray and snow was spitting. I was tired, cold, wet and hungry and I'd been on the Ghaney, alone in my kayak, for a day-and-a-half.

Except for the guards, I saw and spoke to no-one as I hauled myself and my pack filled with Christmas presents - maple candies for the grown-ups and a painter-skin covering for the coming baby - up to my cabin on the Texas.

[Ted Joy @TedJoy71]

In Northeast Ohio, 25C is bare chest, shorts and flip flops.

Of course, 40 F in northeast ohio is a light tee shirt, shorts and flip flops for college boys.

[GruntDoc @gruntdoc]

@TedJoy71 25C is a light jacket.

[Ted Joy @TedJoy71]

A good woman.

[Wolf of X @WolfofX]

In 1986, critical care nurse Sandra Clarke experienced a moment she would never forget. One of her patients, nearing the end of life, repeatedly asked her to stay.

Like many nurses, Clarke was responsible for several patients and could not remain at the bedside. When she returned, the patient had passed away alone.

The heartbreaking experience stayed with her for years and eventually inspired a remarkable act of compassion.

In 2001, Sandra Clarke helped establish the No One Dies Alone (NODA) program at Sacred Heart Hospital in Tennessee.

The program was created with a simple but powerful mission: to ensure that no patient spends their final moments without human companionship.

Through NODA, trained volunteers sit with terminally ill patients who have no family members or loved ones available to be with them.

Volunteers may hold a patient's hand, read to them, play music, talk quietly, or simply provide a comforting presence.

What began as one nurse's response to a painful memory has grown into a movement adopted by hospitals, hospices, and healthcare organizations across the United States and beyond.

The program has inspired similar initiatives around the world, bringing dignity, comfort, and compassion to countless people in their final hours.

[Ted Joy @TedJoy71]

No, it wouldn't.

Many of the parents would justify their child's behavior and then attack the teachers and school officials.

[The Principal’s Office @educator4ever36]

If public schools were able to require a parent to come to the school every time their child misbehaved, the issue would be solved in a week. I’d love a policy where if the child is disrupting, the parent comes and must spend minimum 30 minutes with their child (somewhere private) and regulates their child or takes them home for the day. No punishment, just parental restoration instead of making the school do it.

[End3of6Days9 (Helen) 🇺🇸 @end3of6days9]

This HVAC technician went to the wrong house to fix a furnace… and ended up being an answer to someone’s prayer.

He showed up thinking he was sent there, fixed the broken relay, and got the heat working. When he realized he had gone to the wrong address, the woman started crying and told him she had prayed that morning asking God to send someone to fix her heat because she couldn’t afford it.

He told her it was on the house and left her with a warm home. Sometimes God really does work in mysterious ways.

Have you ever experienced something that felt like it was meant to be?

[J. @izthisJudah]

A violent black woman beats an Asian lady for not accepting her EBT card to pay for her nails.

[FRONTLINES TPUSA @FrontlinesTPUSA]

COLLIN COUNTY- “He was NOT an aggressor, Karmelo was not an aggressor, he was minding his damn business when them boys came up to him”

A Karmelo Anthony supporter passionately defends him stating that he is innocent and was simply acting in self-defense.

She got extremely aggressive and angry as media began to swarm one of the Austin Metcalf supporters that walked over with his American flag.

@Savsays | @TPUSA

[Carlo Martin @Liberfach0]

💥🇬🇧 BRUTAL ATAQUE
Según informes, el asesino de Henry Nowak, Vickrum Digwa, fue atacado en la prisión de HMP Armley, donde se encuentra recluido. Los informes indican que le arrojaron una mezcla de azúcar y agua hirviendo a la cara, causándole quemaduras graves. Por lo visto, su estadía en prisión será una pesadilla para el criminal.

[Amiri King @AmiriKing]

Did you know that DeCarlos Brown has a brother and sister?

The brother ALSO killed someone.

The sister TRIED to.

ALL OF THEIR VICTIMS WERE WHITE.

The more you know 💫

[Ted Joy @TedJoy71]

Another highly-schooled, middle-class woman.

[Matt Van Swol @mattvanswol]

I have seen a lot of disgusting things in my time...

Nothing, and I mean nothing, prepared me for this.

The Charlotte NC DSS director claimed her department “did the job” on a case where a 6 year old girl was found TORTURED...

...LOCKED IN A DOG CRATE, COVERED IN FECES, WITH BROKEN BONES, BURNS, STARVED, AND BEATEN.

The police were SENT TO THE HOME 36 TIMES...

THIRTY-SIX.

Charlotte's DSS did absolutely nothing...

The girl passed away.

This is evil I cannot comprehend.

YOU DID THE JOB?!!!!!!!!!!

YOU ALLOWED A 6-YEAR OLD GIRL TO BE TORTURED FOR MONTHS AND THEN SHE PASSED AWAY WEIGHING 27 POUNDS BECAUSE HER CARETAKERS STARVED HER TO DE*TH!!!!!!

HOW CAN YOU EVEN DEFEND THIS??????

[I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 @ImMeme0]

Meet Kaylynn Dang, a DoorDash driver in Michigan. In a video she posted, Dang is seen laughing while announcing that the customers will not be receiving their delivery after spotting an Israeli flag in their front yard.

[Vince Langman @LangmanVince]

That poor child has a 0% chance of growing up to be a normal human being!

The fatigue is real!

[Isaac @isaacrrr7]

🚨🇬🇧 La policía ignoró a los inmigrantes que acosaban a una mujer en su casa y luego la amenazó con arrestarla por "odio racial" si denunciaba los hechos. Ahora, el hombre que lo expuso está esposado.

Una mujer fue acosada en su casa por inmigrantes. Acudió a la policía, pero no hicieron nada.

Cuando dijo que acudiría a la prensa, la amenazaron con arrestarla por "incitar al odio racial".

Un periodista ciudadano @ActivePatriotUK publicó información al respecto y fue arrestado por "comunicación maliciosa".

Lo retuvieron hasta las 11 de la noche, le confiscaron el teléfono y lo pusieron en libertad bajo fianza durante 3 meses con condiciones estrictas que no puede mencionar.

Esta es la realidad del Reino Unido hoy.

[Kevin W. @Brink_Thinker]

New Jersey school has required every freshman to hike 55 miles on the Appalachian Trail for 53 years straight.

At St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, this isn’t optional — it’s a mandatory 5-day rite of passage before becoming a sophomore.

Many students have never hiked or camped before. They train together in the spring, then get split into small teams where each kid gets a critical role: navigator, medic, cook, captain, etc. No one knows everything — they must rely on each other.

With minimal adult supervision, they hike rain or shine, facing blisters, sore muscles, and real challenges head-on. As one administrator put it: “The only way we can get through this is if we work together.”

The result? Teens who return more confident, resilient, and bonded — proving that real growth happens when you step away from screens and into the wilderness.

What an incredible tradition! Parents, educators, and anyone raising tough kids — this is gold.

Who else believes we need more experiences like this?

[U.S. Navy @USNavy]

The largest amphibious invasion in human history began in the dark.

At dawn on June 6, 1944, nearly 7,000 vessels carrying 160,000 Allied troops closed in on the beaches of Normandy.

Through courage and sacrifice, they secured a foothold in Nazi-occupied France and began the liberation of Western Europe.

Today, we honor the heroes of D-Day.

[Ruth Joy @RuthJoy96960173]

God works in mysterious ways.

[Dr Helen Fry | WWII Historian @DrHelenFry]

Did you know that the first women to land on the Normandy beachhead in June 1944 were nurses of Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing Service?

Their task was to establish a field hospital for 600 wounded soldiers.

They succeeded.

Please remember these heroines who saved lives:

[Ruth Joy @RuthJoy96960173]

In my day, we said *expecting*

[Michael Knowles @michaeljknowles]

So he threw him in a medical waste bin instead.

[Sowell Economics @sowelleconomics]

Thomas Sowell: “It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.”

[Echoes of War @EchoesofWarYT]

Private Carlton Barrett was possibly the smallest man in his regiment.

5 feet 4 inches tall. 125 pounds.

On the morning of June 6, 1944, he landed at Omaha Beach in neck-deep water, machine gun fire cutting the surface all around him. He made it to shore.

Then he turned around and went back in.

A soldier was drowning. Barrett pulled him out. Then another. Then another. For hours, under constant fire, this 125-pound man waded back into the surf again and again, pulling drowning men to safety and physically carrying the wounded to evacuation boats offshore.

But he didn't stop there.

He ran dispatches the full length of the fire-swept beach. He found soldiers paralyzed by shock and calmed them back into action. He appeared wherever the crisis was worst, doing whatever needed doing, treating rank and personal safety as irrelevant details.

He did this for hours without stopping.

His Medal of Honor citation says his courage had "an inestimable effect on his comrades." That is military understatement for: this small, anonymous man held that section of beach together through sheer force of will.

He survived the war.

His comrades later said his life darkened after he came home. He lived quietly and died in 1986 in California, largely unknown outside of military history circles.

5 feet 4 inches. 125 pounds. He went back in.

Remember him.