Welcome to Lost in the Sauce, keeping you caught up on political and legal news that often gets buried in distractions and theater… or a global health crisis.
Title refers to: The Trump admin is blocking IGs from getting info on over $1 trillion in relief spending, including corporation bailouts. The admin is also withholding PPP info from Congress, meaning we don't know if Trump or his family took taxpayer money. Additionally, we learned that at least 4 members of Congress have benefited from PPP money, but aren't required to disclose it.
Housekeeping:

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Coronavirus

Inspectors general warned Congress last week that the Trump administration is blocking scrutiny of more than $1 trillion in spending related to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the previously undisclosed letter, Department of Treasury attorneys concluded that the administration is not required to provide the watchdogs with information about the beneficiaries of programs like the $500 billion in loans for corporations.
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin refused to provide Congress with the names of recipients of the taxpayer-funded coronavirus business loans. After criticism, Mnuchin began to walk back his denial, saying he will talk to lawmakers on a bipartisan basis “to strike the appropriate balance for proper oversight” of PPP loans “and appropriate protection of small business information.”
At least 4 lawmakers have benefited in some way from the Paycheck Protection program they helped create. Politico has been told there are almost certainly more -- but there are zero disclosure rules, even for members of Congress.

• Republicans on the list include Rep. Roger Williams of Texas, a wealthy businessman who owns auto dealerships, body shops and car washes, and Rep. Vicky Hartzler of Missouri, whose family owns multiple farms and equipment suppliers across the Midwest. The Democrats count Rep. Susie Lee of Nevada, whose husband is CEO of a regional casino developer, and Rep. Debbie Mucarsel Powell of Florida, whose husband is a senior executive at a restaurant chain that has since returned the loan.

Mick Mulvaney dumped as much as $550,000 in stocks the same day Trump assured the public the US economy was 'doing fantastically' amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Mulvaney unloaded his holdings in three different mutual funds, each of which is primarily made up of US stocks. The next day, the value of the mutual funds tanked.

Cases rising in many states

Good summary: There was supposed to be a peak. But the stark turning point, when the number of daily COVID-19 cases in the U.S. finally crested and began descending sharply, never happened. Instead, America spent much of April on a disquieting plateau, with every day bringing about 30,000 new cases and about 2,000 new deaths. This pattern exists because different states have experienced the coronavirus pandemic in very different ways…The U.S. is dealing with a patchwork pandemic.
As of Friday, coronavirus cases were significantly climbing in 16 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Washington.
Oklahoma is experiencing a massive increase in coronavirus cases just days before Trump’s planned rally in Tulsa. In Tulsa county itself, 1 in roughly 390 people have tested positive. Yet Trump plans on cramming 20,000 people in an event with voluntary face mask policy and no social distancing. Attendees must sign a waiver that absolves the president’s campaign of any liability from virus-related illnesses.

• On Monday, Pence lied saying that Oklahoma has “flattened the curve.” As you can see at any of the resources immediately below, this is not even close to true. Over the past 14 days, the state has seen a 124% increase in cases and reports 65% of ICU beds are in use.
  
• Tulsa World Editorial Board: This is the wrong time and Tulsa is the wrong place for the Trump rally. "We don't know why he chose Tulsa, but we can’t see any way that his visit will be good for the city...Again, Tulsa will be largely alone in dealing with what happens at a time when the city’s budget resources have already been stretched thin."
  
• Earlier in the day, Trump tweeted that he is a victim of double standards when it comes to perception of his decision to resume campaign rallies in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, declaring that attempts to “covid shame” his campaign “won’t work!”
  

Resources to track increases: There are many different sites with various methods of visualizing the spread of coronavirus. Here are some that may be particularly useful this summer… Topos COVID-19 compiler homepage and graphs of each state since re-opening. How we reopen Safely has stats on each state’s progress towards meeting benchmarks to reopen safely (hint: almost none have reached all the checkpoints). WaPo has a weekly national map of cases/deaths; the largest regional clusters are in the southeast.
On Monday, Trump twice said that “if we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any,” (video). Aside from the fact that cases exist even if we don’t test for them, we cannot explain the rising number of cases by increased testing capacity: In at least 14 states, the positive case rate is increasing faster than the increase in the average number of tests.

• Reminder: In March Trump told Fox News that he didn't want infected patients from a cruise ship to disembark because it would increase the number of reported cases in the US. "I like the numbers being where they are," Trump said at the time. "I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault."

Fired scientist Rebekah Jones builds coronavirus dashboard to rival Florida’s… Her site shows thousands more people with the coronavirus, and hundreds of thousands fewer who have been tested, than the site run by the Florida Health Department.

Equipment and supplies

More studies prove wearing masks limits transmission and spread of coronavirus… One study from Britain found that routine face mask use by 50% or more of the population reduced COVID-19 spread to an R of less than 1.0. The R value measures the average number of people that one infected person will pass the disease on to. An R value above 1 can lead to exponential growth. The study found that if people wear masks whenever they are in public it is twice as effective at reducing the R value than if masks are only worn after symptoms appear.
Meanwhile, Trump officials refuse to wear masks and Trump supporters copy his behavior… VP Mike Pence, leader of the coronavirus task force, published a tweet showing himself in a room full of Trump staffers, none wearing masks or practicing social distancing. Pence deleted the tweet shortly after criticism. A poll last week showed that 66% of likely-Biden-voters “always wear a mask,” while 83% of likely-Trump-voters “neverarely wear a mask.”

• Trump’s opposition to face masks hasn’t stopped him from selling them to his supporters, though. The online Trump Store is selling $20 cotton American flag-themed face masks.
  
• Yesterday, we learned that South Carolina Republican Rep. Tom Rice and family have tested positive for the coronavirus. Just two weeks ago, Rice was on the House floor and halls of the Capitol without wearing a mask.
  

Internal FEMA data show that the government’s supply of surgical gowns has not meaningfully increased since March… The slides show FEMA’s plan to ramp up supply into June and July hinges on the reusing of N95 masks and surgical gowns, increasing the risk of contamination. Those are supposed to be disposed of after one use.
Nursing homes with urgent needs for personal protective equipment say they’re receiving defective equipment as part of Trump administration supply initiative. Officials say FEMA is sending them gowns that look more like large tarps -- with no holes for hands -- and surgical masks that are paper-thin.
More than 1,300 Chinese medical-device companies that registered to sell PPE in the U.S. during the coronavirus pandemic used bogus registration data… These companies listed as their American representative a purported Delaware entity that uses a false address and nonworking phone number.
Florida is sitting on more than 980,000 unused doses of hydroxychloroquine, but hospitals don’t want it… Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered a million doses of the drug to show support for Trump, but very few hospitals have requested it.

Native American communities struggle

The CARES Act money for Native American tribes, meant to assist people during the pandemic, came with restrictions that are impeding efforts to limit the transmission of the virus. For instance, the funds can only be used to cover expenses that are "incurred due to the public health emergency." On the Navajo Nation, the public health emergency is inherently related to some basic infrastructure problems. 30% of Navajo don’t have running water to wash their hands, but the money can’t be used to build water lines.
Federal and state health agencies are refusing to give Native American tribes and organizations representing them access to data showing how the coronavirus is spreading around their lands, potentially widening health disparities and frustrating tribal leaders already ill-equipped to contain the pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has turned down tribal epidemiologists’ requests for data that it’s making freely available to states.
A Hospital’s Secret Coronavirus Policy Separated Native American Mothers From Their Newborns… Pregnant Native American women were singled out for COVID-19 testing based on their race and ZIP code, clinicians say. While awaiting results, some mothers were separated from their newborns, depriving them of the immediate contact doctors recommend. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that state officials would investigate the allegations.

Personnel & appointees

Former IG Steve Linick told Congress he was conducting five investigations into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the State Department before he was fired. In addition to investigating Pompeo's potential misuse of taxpayer funds and reviewing his decision to expedite an $8 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia, Linick’s office was conducting an audit of Special Immigrant Visas, a review of the International Women of Courage Award, and another review "involving individuals in the Office of the Protocol."

• Pompeo confidant emerges as enforcer in fight over watchdog’s firing: Linick testified that Undersecretary of State for Management Brian Bulatao, a decades-old friend of Pompeo’s, “tried to bully [him]” out of investigating Pompeo.

Trump has empowered John McEntee, director of the Presidential Personnel Office, to make significant staffing changes inside top federal agencies without the consent — and, in at least one case, without even the knowledge — of the agency head. Many senior officials in Trump's government are sounding alarms about the loss of expertise and institutional knowledge.
Trump’s nominee for under secretary of defense for policy, retired Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata, has a history of making Islamophobic and inflammatory remarks against prominent Democratic politicians, including falsely calling former President Barack Obama a Muslim.
Amid racial justice marches, GOP advances Trump court pick hostile to civil rights. Cory Wilson, up for a lifetime seat on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, has denied that restrictive voting laws lead to voter suppression and called same-sex marriage “a pander to liberal interest groups.”
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt has indefinitely extended the terms of the acting directors of the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service, sidestepping the typical Senate confirmation process for those posts and violating the Federal Vacancies Reform Act,

Courts and DOJ

The Supreme Court declined on Monday to take a closer look at qualified immunity, the legal doctrine that shields law enforcement and government officials from lawsuits over their conduct. Developed in recent decades by the high court, the qualified immunity doctrine, as applied to police, initially asks two questions: Did police use excessive force, and if they did, should they have known that their conduct was illegal because it violated a "clearly established" prior court ruling that barred such conduct? In practice, however, lower courts have most often dismissed police misconduct lawsuits on grounds that there is no prior court decision with nearly identical facts.
The Supreme Court ruled that federal anti-discrimination laws protect gay and transgender employees. Justice Neil M. Gorsuch and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joined the court’s liberals in the 6 to 3 ruling. They said Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination “because of sex,” includes LGBTQ employees.

• Alito, writing more than 100 pages in dissent for himself and Thomas, accused the court's majority of writing legislation, not law. Kavanaugh wrote separately: "We are judges, not members of Congress...Under the Constitution and laws of the United States, this court is the wrong body to change American law in that way."
  
• Just days before the SCOTUS opinion was released, the Trump administration finalized a rule that would remove nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people when it comes to health care and health insurance. The SCOTUS ruling may make it easier to challenge the changes made by Trump.
  

The Supreme Court also declined to take up California’s “sanctuary” law, denying the Trump administration’s appeal. This means that the lower court opinion upholding one of California's sanctuary laws is valid, limiting cooperation between law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, two of the Court's conservative members, supported taking up the case.
A federal appeals court appeared unlikely Friday to stop a judge from examining why the Justice Department sought to walk away from its prosecution of Michael Flynn. "I don't see why we don't observe regular order," said Judge Karen Henderson. "Why not hold this in abeyance and see what happens?" Judge Robert Wilkins told Flynn's lawyer that if Sullivan doesn't let the government drop the case, "then you can come back here on appeal."

Other

Good read: Fiona Hill on being mistaken as a secretary by Trump, her efforts to make sure he was not left alone with Putin, and what the US, UK and Russia have in common. “It’s spitting in Merkel’s face,” said Vladimir Frolov, a former Russian diplomat who’s now a foreign-policy analyst. “But it’s in our interests.”

• Russia’s Foreign Ministry welcomed Trump’s plan to withdraw more than a quarter of U.S. troops from Germany.
  
• Op-Ed: Why cutting American forces in Germany will harm this alliance
  

According to a new book, the Secret Service had to seek more funding to cover the cost of protecting Melania Trump while she stayed in NYC to renegotiate her prenup - taxpayers paid tens of millions of dollars to allow her to get better terms. Additionally, NYPD estimated its own costs conservatively at $125,000 a day.
Georgia election 'catastrophe' in largely minority areas sparks investigation. Long lines, lack of voting machines, and shortages of primary ballots plagued voters. As of Monday night, there were still over 200,000 uncounted votes.
Fox News runs digitally altered images in coverage of Seattle’s protests, Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone
Fox News Mocked After Mistaking Monty Python Joke for Seattle Protest Infighting
In addition to holding a rally on the day after Juneteenth (originally scheduled the day of), Trump will be accepting the GOP nomination in Jacksonville on the 60th anniversary of “Ax Handle Saturday,” a KKK attack on African Americans.
Environmental news:

• Ruling against environmentalists, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the federal government has the authority to allow a proposed $7.5 billion natural gas pipeline to cross under the popular Appalachian Trail in rural Virginia.
  
• Trump administration has issued a new rule blocking tribes from protecting their waters from projects like pipelines, dams, and coal terminals.
  
• The EPA published a proposal in the Federal Register that critics described as an assault on minority communities coping with the public health legacy of structural racism. The rule would bar EPA from giving special consideration to individual communities that bear the brunt of environmental risks — frequently populations of color.
  
• The Trump administration is preparing to drill off Florida’s coast, but says it will wait until after the November election to avoid any backlash from Florida state leaders.
  

Immigration news

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection used emergency funding meant for migrant families and children to pay for dirt bikes, canine supplies, computer equipment and other enforcement related-expenditures… The money was meant to be spent on “consumables and medical care” for migrants at the border.
  
• ACLU files lawsuit against stringent border restrictions related to coronavirus that largely bar migrants from entering the United States.
  
• Under Trump’s leadership, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has mismanaged its finances so badly that it has sought an emergency $1.2 billion infusion from taxpayers. When Trump took office, USCIS inherited a budget surplus. A large amount of funding is drained by its deliberate creation of more busy work for immigrants and their lawyers — as well as thousands of USCIS employees. These changes are designed to make it harder for people to apply for, receive or retain lawful immigration status.
  
• Asylum-seeking migrants locked up inside an Arizona ICE detention center with one of the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases say they were forced to clean the facility and are 'begging' for protection from the virus
  
• ICE plans to spend $18 million on thousands of new tasers and the training to use them
  

Tulsa's event list.

Wednesday, Jul 27th

• 🍴 Art Recess: Killing Custer w/ Pulitzer Winner T.J. Stiles (Philbrook Downtown) Start Time: 11:00am 2016 marks the 140th anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. See the special exhibition, "First Person: Remembering Little Bighorn" Join us for a Skype chat with T.J. Stiles, author of "Custer's Trials," winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for History. Take a mid-week break, pick up lunch during Food Truck Wednesday on the Guthrie…
• Carnival Of Madness (BOK Center) Start Time: 6:30pm Kickoff to Summer Sale: Select seats for participating Live Nation shows are only $20 May 13 - May 20, 2016. $20 price includes all service charges, facility fees, and taxes. Delivery fees are not included.
• 🍴 Day Camp (Camp Loughridge) Thru Fri, Jul 29th Start Time: 9:00am Camp Loughridge is a Christian non-profit 501(c)(3) organization accredited by the American Camp Association. Our staff is selectively hired and specially trained to facilitate a safe and fun day camp experience for everyone with a 1:5 counselor to camper ratio. Keep up with your kids' adventures through daily parent emails and other media!…
• ⚾ Drillers vs Cardinals (ONEOK Field) Start Time: 7:05pm Come experience the thrill of the game as the Tulsa Drillers go head to head with the Springfield Cardinals. The…
• Fair Meadows Live Racing (Expo Square: Fair Meadows Race Track) Thru Sat, Jul 30th
• 🍴 Food Truck Wednesday (Guthrie Green) Start Time: 11:30am
• 😂 John Evans (Loony Bin) Thru Sat, Jul 30th
• Little Green Thumbs - "Art in the Garden" (Tulsa Garden Center) Start Time: 10:00am Little Green Thumbs is a program for children ages 6 - 12. Pre-registration is required. $10.00 per prticipant, per class.
  For more information, visit our web site at: http://tulsagardencenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/2016-July-26-Little-Green-Thumbs-2016-third-revision.pdf
  
• ♪ Night Drive and Bryce Gilbertson (The Vanguard) Start Time: 8:00pm Night DriveBryce GilbertsonWed 7/27Doors: 7:00 pm / Show: 8:00 pm This event is all ages
  
• OIGA Conference & Tradeshow (Cox Business Center) Start Time: 12:00pm Jul 25 – 27 | Tuesday: 2:00pm - 6:00pm
  Wednesday: 12:00pm - 3:00pm OIGA Conference & Tradeshow
  Cox Business Center
  100 Civic Center Tulsa, OK 74103
  [email protected]
  Give Us a Ring: 918-894-4350
  
• ♪ Shinedown in Concert (BOK Center) Visit Tulsa’s BOK Center for the highly anticipated Carnival of Madness Tour headlined by Shinedown. Produced by…
  
• 🎡 Story Time (Guthrie Green) Start Time: 10:30am
  
• World Wide Paint Horse Congress (Expo Square: Built Ford Tough Livestock Complex) Thru Sun, Jul 31st At the World Wide Paint Horse Congress, horses and riders compete in a wide variety of events at Tulsa Expo Square.…
  

Thursday, Jul 28th

• ♪ Culture Club (The Joint - Catoosa) Start Time: 8:00pm Culture Club
  Share this on
  Thursday, July 28 • 8PMDoors open at 7PM
  Tickets on sale, April 28
  Price: $75, $85
  
• 🍴 Day Camp (Camp Loughridge) 1 day left Start Time: 9:00am Camp Loughridge is a Christian non-profit 501(c)(3) organization accredited by the American Camp Association. Our staff is selectively hired and specially trained to facilitate a safe and fun day camp experience for everyone with a 1:5 counselor to camper ratio. Keep up with your kids' adventures through daily parent emails and other media!…
  
• 🍴 Tulsa Drillers Paint & Sip Event by Pinot's Palette (ONEOK Field) Start Time: 4:00pm Summertime, baseball and the American Flag. We're All American! You're an All Star and will knock this one out of the park. We will be painting "All American" inside overlooking Oneok Field before the Drillers Game from 4-6pm. The price includes a 2 hour painting class, a ballpark meal (All You Can Eat Buffet, see below) and a ticket in…
  
• ⚾ Drillers vs Travelers (ONEOK Field) Start Time: 7:05pm vs Arkansas Travelers Thirsty Thursday / Nolan Arenado Jersey Shirt Giveaway
  
• Fair Meadows Live Racing (Expo Square: Fair Meadows Race Track) Thru Sat, Jul 30th
  
• Happy Hour Show!! Night Demon- 7PM (Soundpony Lounge) Start Time: 9:00pm
  
• 😂 John Evans (Loony Bin) Thru Sat, Jul 30th
  
• ♪ Morris Day and the Time (Osage Million Dollar Elm Casino) Start Time: 7:00pm
  
• Movie in the Park: Home Alone (PG) 1990 (Guthrie Green) Start Time: 8:30pm
  
• ♪ One-Eyed Doll (The Vanguard) One Eyed DollVoodoo dolls, MorganThu 7/28Doors: 7:00 pm / Show: 8:00 pm This event is all ages
  
• Pokehunt on the Hill (Rogers State University - Claremore) Start Time: 3:00pm Pokehunt on the Hill will start at 3 p.m. on Thursday, July 28, in the Centennial Center. During the event, you can expect cool refreshments, giveaways every 30 minutes, free exclusive stickers and 10% discount on Hillcat gear at the RSU Bookstore. If you gotta catch 'em all, you gotta come to Pokehunt on the Hill!
  
• ♪ Saliva Returns (The Shrine) Start Time: 7:30pm
  
• Siamese + Noun Verb Adjective (Soundpony Lounge) Start Time: 9:00pm
  
• 🎭 Tulsa's Story Telling Competition - Open Mic (IDL Ballroom) Start Time: 7:30pm Tulsa's Monthly StorySlam is looking for people to come share their stories onstage in front of a live audience (21+, $5 cover). No experience necessary and we need contestant/storytellers just like you! Join us at IDL Ballroom downtown and hear people (anyone and this means you!) tell TRUE (funny, serious, sad, harrowing, interesting) stories…
  
• Story Time in the Garden - "Trees and Leaves" (Tulsa Garden Center) Start Time: 10:00am Story Time in the Garden is a program for children held in the Linnaeus Teaching Garden in Woodward Park. Admission is FREE! For more information, visit our web site at: http://tulsagardencenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/2016-July-Story-Time-2nd-revision.pdf
  
• World Wide Paint Horse Congress (Expo Square: Built Ford Tough Livestock Complex) Thru Sun, Jul 31st At the World Wide Paint Horse Congress, horses and riders compete in a wide variety of events at Tulsa Expo Square.…
  

Friday, Jul 29th

• 🍴 Day Camp (Camp Loughridge) Last Day Start Time: 9:00am Camp Loughridge is a Christian non-profit 501(c)(3) organization accredited by the American Camp Association. Our staff is selectively hired and specially trained to facilitate a safe and fun day camp experience for everyone with a 1:5 counselor to camper ratio. Keep up with your kids' adventures through daily parent emails and other media!…
• DJ Trigger Warning and Dj Swang EM's Blender Drag Party (Soundpony Lounge) Start Time: 9:00pm
• ⚾ Drillers vs Travelers (ONEOK Field) Start Time: 7:05pm vs Arkansas Travelers News on 6 Friday Night Fireworks
• Fair Meadows Live Racing (Expo Square: Fair Meadows Race Track) 1 day left
• 🍴 Film on the Lawn: How to Steal a Million (1966) (Philbrook Downtown) Start Time: 7:30pm Join the summer tradition of Philbrook Films on the Lawn! This year we debut a bigger screen, better sound, and more. Bring your picnic basket, blanket, and friends and experience these great films in our beautiful gardens. Food trucks and concessions will be available on site for those must-have movie snacks. In the event of rain, the films…
• First Friday Art Crawl w/musical guest Native Strange !!! (Gypsy Coffee House & Cyber Cafe) Start Time: 9:00pm
• 🎨 FIRST FRIDAY ART WALK @ MAINLINE! Beth Knight, 'Tulsa Titans' (Mainline) Start Time: 6:00pm Join us for a festive First Friday at Mainline as we welcome Tulsa artist Beth Knight and her exhibit 'Tulsa Titans'! Beth Knight is an artist whose works directly respond to the surrounding environment and uses everyday experiences from the artist as a starting point. Often these are framed instances that would go unnoticed in their original…
• Home & Garden Expo of Oklahoma (Expo Square: River Spirit Expo) Thru Sun, Jul 31st The Home & Garden Expo of Oklahoma in Tulsa is the largest summertime home and garden show of its kind in northeast…
• Infamous / MME (The Shrine) Start Time: 9:00pm
• 😂 John Evans (Loony Bin) 1 day left
• Kihekah Steh Powwow (Skiatook) Thru Sun, Jul 31st Head to Skiatook this July for the annual Kihekah Steh Powwow. This important Native American event will occur northwest…
• ♪ Kingdom of Giants (The Vanguard) Start Time: 8:00pm Darkness Divided, Divisions
• 🎭 My Big Gay Italian Funeral (American Theatre Company) Thru Sat, Aug 6th Roar with laughter as the outrageously entertaining Staten Island family from "My Big Gay Italian Funeral"…
• 🎡 Rock the Border Summer Music Series! (On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina) Start Time: 7:30pm There is no better way to kick off summer than with live entertainment, thirst quenching beer, and our flavorful guacamole! On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina is inviting you to join the fiesta with your amigos at our patio throughout the month of July! Every Friday in July, On The Border is giving everyone a reason to celebrate summer…
• ♪ Sam and the Stylees and In the Whale (Mercury Lounge) Start Time: 10:00pm Fri Jul 29 10:00 PM
  

  Sam and the Stylees and In The Whale 

• World Wide Paint Horse Congress (Expo Square: Built Ford Tough Livestock Complex) Thru Sun, Jul 31st At the World Wide Paint Horse Congress, horses and riders compete in a wide variety of events at Tulsa Expo Square.…
  

Saturday, Jul 30th

• An evening of all original music w/ POPA J live (Gypsy Coffee House & Cyber Cafe) Start Time: 9:00pm
• 🏃 Bedlam Run Presented by Williams (Blue Dome District) If you are in Oklahoma and hear the word bedlam, your thoughts immediately go to the rivalry between The University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University. This annual event celebrates over 100 years of spirited competition between orange and red. Proceeds will benefit the OSU Alumni Association, and OU Club Of Tulsa.
• Cherry Street Farmers Market Thru Wed, Jul 27th Start Time: 8:30am
• Compagnie Herv KOUBI (Tulsa Performing Art Center) Start Time: 8:00pm Compagnie Herv� KOUBI July 30 at 8 p.m. :: Chapman Music Hall Herv� Koubi is recognized as one of Europe's most distinctive choreographers. Drawing from his Algerian roots, Herv� Koubi's work "What the Day Owes to the Night," was more than three years in the making and combines capoeira, martial arts, urban str... AVAILABLE BY SUBSCRIPTION
• DJ Sweet Baby JAyzus (Soundpony Lounge) Start Time: 9:30pm
• ⚾ Drillers vs Travelers (ONEOK Field) Start Time: 7:05pm vs Arkansas Travelers Tulsa's Channel 8 Grand Slam Saturday / Back To School Drillers Hat Giveaway / Mascot Mania
• The Drunkard and Olio
• 🎭 The Drunkard and the Olio (Tulsa Spotlight Theatre) Start Time: 7:30pm
• Fair Meadows Live Racing (Expo Square: Fair Meadows Race Track) Last Day
• Tulsa Flea Market (Expo Square)
• Happy Hour Show!!7PM --Jam eCono + Hidden Ritual (Soundpony Lounge) Start Time: 6:30pm
• Henna Roso: Food Drive & Launch Party (Guthrie Green) Start Time: 2:00pm
• Home & Garden Expo of Oklahoma (Expo Square: River Spirit Expo) 1 day left The Home & Garden Expo of Oklahoma in Tulsa is the largest summertime home and garden show of its kind in northeast…
• Jim Gaffigan (BOK Center) Start Time: 8:00pm Don't miss out on acclaimed stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan as he brings his Fully Dressed Tour to Tulsa's BOK…
• 😂 John Evans (Loony Bin) Last Day
• ♪ Josh Abbott Band (Cain's Ballroom) On sale May 6th! This event is all ages Advance $20 | Day of Show $22 | Door $22 | Mezzanine (21+) $35 There is a $2 fee that applies to each ticket purchased at the Cain's Box Office. No re-entry! No smoking! No refunds! OK Joe's BBQ will be open and available to ticket holders from 7pm - 8:30pm!
• Kihekah Steh Powwow (Skiatook) 1 day left Head to Skiatook this July for the annual Kihekah Steh Powwow. This important Native American event will occur northwest…
• 🎭 My Big Gay Italian Funeral (American Theatre Company) Thru Sat, Aug 6th Roar with laughter as the outrageously entertaining Staten Island family from "My Big Gay Italian Funeral"…
• ♪ Oh, Sleeper (The Vanguard) The Ongoing Concept, Earth Falls Before Me
• Perceptual Art Going Large (Tulsa Performing Art Center) Start Time: 10:00am Perceptual Art � Going Large June 2-July 30, M-F 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. (excluding July 4) and during Chapman Music Hall events :: PAC Gallery Contemporary artist Jason Wilson's work was influenced by watching his Native American grandmother design, assemble and sew quilts when he was a child. He says his art is as much about building the painting…
• R.K. Gun & Knife Show (Expo Square: Exchange Center) Day 1 of 2 For a high quality gun show with great prices and selection, visit the R.K. Gun & Knife Show in Tulsa. RK Shows have…
• Jenks Saturday Market (2nd & Main - Jenks) Start Time: 9:00am A classic Saturday market experience with local farmers, produce, crafters, food trucks, live music, kid's activities and so much more... Come join the fun! Every Sat 9:00am - noon - weather permitting.
• 🎭 Summer Heat International Dance Festival (Choregus Productions) Thru Sat, Aug 6th Witness contemporary dance performances and experience the art of movement during Summer Heat International Dance…
• 🏃 Summer Sizzle Poker Run (Expo Square) RunnersWorld Tulsa presents: Summer Sizzle 5 mile Poker Run
  Saturday, July 30, 7:00 AM
  The Summer Sizzle Poker Run is a non-timed fun run/training run event in conjunction with the RunnersWorld Tulsa Marathon/Half training program but it is open to the general public and all runners/walkers are welcome. The run starts at 7AM. You can…
  
• Summer Vendor Show (Osage Event Center) All ages are invited to attend the Summer Vendor Show from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, July 30, at the Osage Event Center, Tulsa. Approximately 45 vendors will be on site including handmade art and crafts, home décor, jewelry, skincare, wellness, and much, much more. The Osage Event Center is an 8,000-square-foot facility located inside the…
  
• ♪ The Whiskey Misters (Mercury Lounge) Start Time: 10:00pm
  
• World Wide Paint Horse Congress (Expo Square: Built Ford Tough Livestock Complex) 1 day left At the World Wide Paint Horse Congress, horses and riders compete in a wide variety of events at Tulsa Expo Square.…
  

Sunday, Jul 31st

• ♪ Abandoned By Bears (The Vanguard) Start Time: 8:00pm Save The Lost Boys, Southview, LOCAL TBA, LOCAL TBA
• the best karaoke in the UNIVERSE! w/ Ron Hammond! (Mainline) Start Time: 8:00pm
• ♪ Brandon Clark (Mercury Lounge) Start Time: 9:00pm
• ♪ Darell Christopher & the Ingredients (Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame) Start Time: 5:00pm
• ⚾ Tulsa Drillers (ONEOK Field) Start Time: 1:05pm vs Arkansas Travelers Kids Eat Free! / Princess/Super Hero Appearances / Super Hero Cape Giveaway
• Home & Garden Expo of Oklahoma (Expo Square: River Spirit Expo) Last Day The Home & Garden Expo of Oklahoma in Tulsa is the largest summertime home and garden show of its kind in northeast…
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Trump Can't Reverse the Decline of White Christian America
by Robert P. Jones via Master Feed : The Atlantic
URL: http://ift.tt/2tEy7Ev
Down the home stretch of the 2016 presidential campaign, one of Donald Trump’s most consistent talking points was a claim that America’s changing demographics and culture had brought the country to a precipice. He repeatedly cast himself as the last chance for Republicans and conservative white Christians to step back from the cliff, to preserve their power and way of life. In an interview on Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) in early September, Trump put the choice starkly for the channel’s conservative Christian viewers: “If we don’t win this election, you’ll never see another Republican and you’ll have a whole different church structure.” Asked to elaborate, Trump continued, “I think this will be the last election that the Republicans have a chance of winning because you’re going to have people flowing across the border, you’re going to have illegal immigrants coming in and they’re going to be legalized and they’re going to be able to vote, and once that all happens you can forget it.”
Michelle Bachman, a member of Trump’s evangelical executive advisory board, echoed these same sentiments in a speech at the Values Voters Summit, an annual meeting attended largely by conservative white Christians. That same week, she declared in an interview with CBN: “If you look at the numbers of people who vote and who lives [sic] in the country and who Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton want to bring in to the country, this is the last election when we even have a chance to vote for somebody who will stand up for godly moral principles. This is it.” Post-election polling from the Public Religion Research Institute, which I lead, and _The Atlantic_showed that this appeal found its mark among conservative voters. Nearly two-thirds (66 percent) of Trump voters, compared to only 22 percent of Clinton voters, agreed that “the 2016 election represented the last chance to stop America’s decline.”
Does Trump’s victory, then, represent the resurrection of White Christian America? The consequences of the 2016 elections are indeed sweeping. Republicans entered 2017 with control of both houses of Congress and the White House. And because the Republican-controlled Senate refused to consider an Obama appointee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in early 2016, Trump was able to nominate a conservative Supreme Court justice right out of the gate. Trump’s cabinet and advisors consist largely of defenders of either Wall Street or White Christian America.
The evidence, however, suggests that Trump’s unlikely victory is better understood as the death rattle of White Christian America—the cultural and political edifice built primarily by white Protestant Christians—rather than as its resuscitation. Despite the election’s immediate and dramatic consequences, it’s important not to over-interpret Trump’s win, which was extraordinarily close. Out of more than 136 million votes cast, Trump’s victory in the Electoral College came down to a razor-thin edge of only 77,744 votes across three states: Pennsylvania (44,292 votes), Wisconsin (22,748 votes), and Michigan (10,704 votes). These votes represent a Trump margin of 0.7 percentage points in Pennsylvania, 0.7 percentage points in Wisconsin, and 0.2 percentage points in Michigan. If Clinton had won these states, she would now be president. And of course Clinton actually won the popular vote by 2.9 million votes, receiving 48.2 percent of all votes compared to Trump’s 46.1 percent. The real story of 2016 is that there was just enough movement in just the right places, just enough increased turnout from just the right groups, to get Trump the electoral votes he needed to win.
Trump’s intense appeal to 2016 as the “last chance” election seems to have spurred conservative white Christian voters to turn out to vote at particularly high rates. Two election cycles ago in 2008, white evangelicals represented 21 percent of the general population but, thanks to their higher turnout relative to other voters, comprised 26 percent of actual voters. In 2016, even as their proportion of the population fell to 17 percent, white evangelicals continued to represent 26 percent of voters. In other words, white evangelicals went from being overrepresented by five percentage points at the ballot box in 2008 to being overrepresented by nine percentage points in 2016. This is an impressive feat to be sure, but one less and less likely to be replicated as their decline in the general population continues.
Updating two trends with 2015-2016 data also confirms that the overall patterns of demographic and cultural change are continuing. The chart below plots two trend lines that capture key measures of change: the percentage of white, non-Hispanic Christians in the country and the percentage of Americans who support same-sex marriage. The percentage of white Christians in the country fell from 54 percent in 2008 to 47 percent in 2014. That percentage has fallen again in each subsequent year, to 45 percent in 2015 and to 43 percent in 2016. Similarly, the percentage of Americans who supported same-sex marriage rose from 40 percent in 2008 to 54 percent in 2014. That number stayed relatively stable (53 percent) in 2015—the year the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states—but jumped to 58 percent in 2016.
Despite the outcome of the 2016 elections, the key long-term trends indicate White Christian America’s decline is continuing unabated. Over the last eight years, the percentage of Americans who identify as white and Christian fell 11 percentage points, and support for same-sex marriage jumped 18 percentage points. In a _New York Times_op-ed shortly after the election, I summarized the results of the election this way: “The waning numbers of white Christians in the country today may not have time on their side, but as the sun is slowly setting on the cultural world of White Christian America, they’ve managed, at least in this election, to rage against the dying of the light.”
One of the most perplexing features of the 2016 election was the high level of support Donald Trump received from white evangelical Protestants. How did a group that once proudly identified itself as “values voters” come to support a candidate who had been married three times, cursed from the campaign stump, owned casinos, appeared on the cover of Playboy Magazine, and most remarkably, was caught on tape bragging in the most graphic terms about habitually grabbing women’s genitals without their permission? White evangelical voters’ attraction to Trump was even more mysterious because the early GOP presidential field offered candidates with strong evangelical credentials, such as Ted Cruz, a longtime Southern Baptist whose father was a Baptist minister, and Marco Rubio, a conservative Catholic who could talk with ease and familiarity about his own personal relationship with Jesus.
The shotgun wedding between Trump and white evangelicals was not without conflict and objections. It set off some high drama between Trump suitors, such as Jerry Falwell, Jr. of Liberty University and Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church in Dallas, and #neverTrump evangelical leaders such as Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention. Just days ahead of the Iowa caucuses, Falwell invited him to speak at Liberty University, where he serves as president. In his introduction, Falwell told the gathered students, “In my opinion, Donald Trump lives a life of loving and helping others as Jesus taught in the great commandment.” And a week later, he officially endorsed Trump for president. Robert Jeffress, the senior pastor of the influential First Baptist Church in Dallas and a frequent commentator on Fox News, also threw his support behind Trump early in the campaign but took a decidedly different approach. Jeffress explicitly argued that a president’s faith is “not the only consideration, and sometimes it’s not the most important consideration.” Citing grave threats to America, particularly from “radical Islamic terrorism,” Jeffress’ support of Trump for president was straightforward realpolitik: “I want the meanest, toughest, son-of-a-you-know-what I can find in that role, and I think that’s where many evangelicals are.” Moore, by contrast, remained a steadfast Trump opponent throughout the campaign. He was aghast at the high-level embrace of Trump by white evangelical leaders and strongly expressed his incredulity that they “have tossed aside everything that they previously said they believed in order to embrace and to support the Trump candidacy.”
In the end, however, Falwell and Jeffress had a better feel for the people in the pews. Trump received unwavering support from white evangelicals from the beginning of the primaries through Election Day. As I noted at the beginning of the primary season, the first evidence that Trump was rewriting the Republican playbook was his victory in the South Carolina GOP primary, the first southern primary and one in which more than two-thirds of the voters were white evangelicals. The Cruz campaign had considered Super Tuesday’s South-heavy lineup to be its firewall against early Trump momentum. But when the returns came in, Cruz had won only his home state of Texas and neighboring Oklahoma, while Trump had swept the southern states, taking Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, and Arkansas. Trump ultimately secured the GOP nomination, not over white evangelical voters’ objections, but because of their support. And on Election Day, white evangelicals set a new high water mark in their support for a Republican presidential candidate, backing Trump at a slightly higher level than even President George W. Bush in 2004 (81 percent vs. 78 percent).
Trump’s campaign—with its sweeping promise to “make American great again”—triumphed by converting self-described “values voters” into what I’ve called “nostalgia voters.” Trump’s promise to restore a mythical past golden age—where factory jobs paid the bills and white Protestant churches were the dominant cultural hubs—powerfully tapped evangelical anxieties about an uncertain future.
The 2016 election, in fact, was peculiar because of just how little concrete policy issues mattered. The election, more than in any in recent memory, came down to two vividly contrasting views of America. Donald Trump’s campaign painted a bleak portrait of America’s present, set against a bright, if monochromatic, vision of 1950s America restored. Hillary Clinton’ campaign, by contrast, sought to replace the first African American president with the first female president and embraced the multicultural future of 2050, the year the Census Bureau originally projected the United States would become a majority nonwhite nation. “Make American Great Again” and “Stronger Together,” the two campaigns’ competing slogans, became proxies for an epic battle over the changing face of America.
The gravitational pull of nostalgia among white evangelicals was evident across a wide range of public opinion polling questions. Just a few weeks before the 2016 election, 66 percent of white evangelical Protestants said the growing number of newcomers from other countries threatens traditional American customs and values. Nearly as many favored building a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico (64 percent) and temporarily banning Muslims from other countries from entering the U.S. (62 percent). And 63 percent believed that today discrimination against whites has become as big a problem as discrimination against blacks and other minorities. White evangelicals also stood out on broad questions about cultural change. While Americans overall were nearly evenly divided on whether American culture and way of life have changed for worse (51 percent) or better (48 percent) since the 1950s, white evangelical Protestants were likelier than any other demographic group to say things have changed for the worse since the 1950s (74 percent).
It is perhaps an open question whether Trump’s candidacy represents a true change in evangelicals’ DNA or whether it simply revealed previously hidden traits, but the shift from values to nostalgia voter has undoubtedly transformed their political ethics. The clearest example of evangelical ethics bending to fit the Trump presidency is white evangelicals’ abandonment of their conviction that personal character matters for elected officials. In 2011 and again just ahead of the 2016 election, PRRI asked Americans whether a political leader who committed an immoral act in his or her private life could nonetheless behave ethically and fulfill their duties in their public life. In 2011, consistent with the “values voter” brand and the traditional evangelical emphasis on the importance of personal character, only 30 percent of white evangelical Protestants agreed with this statement. But with Trump at the top of the Republican ticket in 2016, 72 percent of white evangelicals said they believed a candidate could build a kind of moral dyke between his private and public life. In a head-spinning reversal, white evangelicals went from being the least likely to the most likely group to agree that a candidate’s personal immorality has no bearing on his performance in public office.
Fears about the present and a desire for a lost past, bound together with partisan attachments, ultimately overwhelmed values voters’ convictions. Rather than standing on principle and letting the chips fall where they may, white evangelicals fully embraced a consequentialist ethics that works backward from predetermined political ends, bending or even discarding core principles as needed to achieve a predetermined outcome. When it came to the 2016 election, the ends were deemed so necessary they justified the means. As he saw the polls trending for Trump in the last days before the election, in no small part because of the support of white evangelicals, Russell Moore was blunt, lamenting that Trump-supporting evangelicals had simply adopted “a political agenda in search of a gospel useful enough to accommodate it."
White evangelicals have entered a grand bargain with the self-described master dealmaker, with high hopes that this alliance will turn back the clock. And Donald Trump’s installation as the 45th president of the United States may in fact temporarily prop up, by pure exertions of political and legal power, what white Christian Americans perceive they have lost. But these short-term victories will come at an exorbitant price. Like Esau, who exchanged his inheritance for a pot of stew, white evangelicals have traded their distinctive values for fleeting political power. Twenty years from now, there is little chance that 2016 will be celebrated as the revival of White Christian America, no matter how many Christian right leaders are installed in positions of power over the next four years. Rather, this election will mostly likely be remembered as the one in which white evangelicals traded away their integrity and influence in a gambit to resurrect their past.
Meanwhile, the major trends transforming the country continue. If anything, evangelicals’ deal with Trump may accelerate the very changes it was designed to arrest, as a growing number of non-white and non-Christian Americans are repulsed by the increasingly nativist, tribal tenor of both conservative white Christianity and conservative white politics. At the end of the day, white evangelicals’ grand bargain with Trump will be unable to hold back the sheer weight of cultural change, and their descendants will be left with the only real move possible: acceptance.

My little corner of the world was never very exciting, I will admit. Being from this generation of computer savvy youths I was quick to realize there was a much bigger, more exciting world somewhere beyond the borders of my dusty county in Oklahoma. New York City, Bangkok, Hong Kong, London, Munich…all the places I’d read about and flood my mind with images of felt so far away and distant that when I turned eighteen I couldn’t help but wonder where it was I’d go to first.
Reality is never as kind as we’d like it to be. I wound up leaving college after my first year, mind I did not fail out, but I felt I had had enough academia for a while and decided to take a break and “find myself.” This ill advised journey involved a swift encounter with the harsh reality of coming from a lower middle class family with few resources, and eventually ended with me getting a job working for a casino, a pizza place, and the natural gas fields.
After saving up some money and making a few connections I managed to make the cross country move to Seattle, Washington to live with a girl I’d met on the internet. I’d like to say it was love and for a time I’m sure there was love between the two of us. Work was hard to find, and after being laid off from my contracting firm (I was working for a gigantic online retailer) the relationship slowly disintegrated and after four years away from home I was once again heading back home with my head out of sorts and not a clue as to where to go or what to do next at the ripe old age of 26.
I came back home that winter, having said all my goodbyes and pining for the city behind me, I was determined to forge my way in the world even if I would forever be stuck in the shithole that is Pittsburg County, so long as I lived and was not a burden I could be happy. I got a job for that same Casino I had worked for previously, a decent job that came with a phone and a company car. I lived with my brother who had bought a house in the old hometown and things were starting to look up for me. Several months passed as I re-established myself and that summer I turned 27. Four days after my birthday the earthquake hit at about three in the AM.
Oklahoma’s earthquake rate had been increasing rapidly since the advent of hydro-fracking, a process that too closely resembles actual rape of the planet. Every few months since 2010 a 2 or 3 pointer would make the news. That one though, that one was a solid six pointer if it was anything. I remember being on the john doing my nightly business when the toilet began to jerk up and down and the floor rippled beneath me. Just as quickly as it started it stopped. There were reporters from all over running around town that night and the next day, asking anyone and everyone for interviews and statements. Cynthia, a cook at the café my grandmother manages, made a very memorable scene for the Channel 2 news crew who ate up her shit like it was made of unicorn semen and Arby’s sauce. It wasn’t enough having to look at her gnarled, leathery face and hear her gravely smokers voice every time I wanted a cheeseburger but now I was seeing it all over the news.
For the little town I live in, the attention was a big enough deal to get the mayor’s panties all up in a bunch. Wherever the news vans were, she was right there waiting half smiling and visibly agitated, waiting for her turn to shine on the cameras. I could only guess as to her motivation other than pure vanity, any increase in tourism dollars was a good thing, and media coverage was about the only thing that could make that happen. A geological survey crew from the state college came down to take a look at the damage and check the old instrumentation left behind by previous survey crews. Eventually, like everything else concerning the town, the excitement died down and life got back to normal, for a while at least.
Winter came early, and one morning at the café before work I was reading in the newspaper (we don’t quite have a web presence just yet) that the earthquake had opened up several old mine shafts in the area. Southeastern Oklahoma was nothing but coal mining operations in the early 1900s. Immigrants came to work for the big companies digging coal up out of the ground, the ancestors of the locals plodding through oily mud in our present day. I guess it is the story of our lives down here, always having to eek our livings out of the dirt.
Once upon a time this had been a prosperous place. The largest town in the area is McAlester, a hub for the outlying coal mining settlements originally founded by J.J. McAlester as a trading post for westward bound travelers. The mines closed up after a large accident claimed the lives of around five hundred workers in 1909. When the mines went, the life and prosperity went with it, leaving entire towns and settlements completely empty for the wild to reclaim. “Excuse me, are you a local?” A woman’s voice inquired from the table behind me. I hadn’t even noticed them. She was attractive in a peculiar, offbeat way and about in her early thirties. Sitting at the table with her were three men, two were very thin and other stocky and thick in the middle and I was very confident that I had never seen any of them around town in my life.
“Yes. Can I help you?” I turned my chair slightly to get a face to face view.
She looked over to the heaviest man who had a dark red goatee who nodded in approval. “We’re an investigative group from Little Rock, Arkansas and we were hoping you could help us out.”
“Depends on what you’re investigating I guess.” They certainly were not police, but one of the thin men’s shirts gave them away. The black t-shirt read OPS, beneath which was the full title of their organization, the Ozark Paranormal Society. “Ghosts?”
“Well, yeah. See, we do investigations all over the south and southwest. We’ve come to take a look at uh…” She took a notebook from off of the table and flipped the pages. “Crybaby Bridge?” she shot a look to red-bearded man then went back to her notebook. “And the public school, and a few of the local grave yards, Lone Oak cemetery and High Hill.”
I had to stifle a grin. I’d grown up hearing all those ghost stories, my father, despite being a good and hardworking man, was very superstitious and claimed to have had many an experience. Whether or not these stories of his were “true” was beside the point, what mattered was that he believed them. And for a time, I did too. “Crybaby Bridge, and Baby Beach, huh?” These places were real enough outside of the stories. I’d been swimming at Baby Beach since I was five or six.
“Baby Beach?” She began writing in her book. “Is that close by?”
“You can see the bridge from the beach; it runs right over the creek that feeds the lake.”
“I take it you know the story behind the bridge?”
“About as well as anyone I guess…ah…some time in the 40’s a couple and their newborn drove off the bridge in their car into the creek. At a specific time of night you are supposed to be able to hear the infant crying or something like that.”
“Have you ever heard it?”
“No, but my dad claims he did one night. But then, he also claimed that a UFO flew over him and his friends one night while they were smoking ganja.”
The thin man in the OPS shirt laughed into his sweet-tea, the woman gave him one hell of a look and then turned back to me. I noted she had longish dark red hair she kept in a bun and a tattoo of a scarab beetle on the back of her neck.
“You don’t believe in the paranormal?”
“I believe my five senses, they’re pretty much all I have to work with.” I’d recited that line a hundred times before in my head while having those same discussions with my dad. While I thought it was clever enough, she seemed fairly unimpressed. “To be honest, you guys probably aren’t going to find much at Baby Beach or on the bridge. Why the school, by the way?”
“The mayor said that it was a hospital a long time ago, that a lot of people died in it.” And there the truth was laid bare. Having had a taste of the spotlight, the wonderful mayor had put in a call, likely several calls, to anyone who would listen.
“I never heard that one. But I guess it is as good a place to look as any.”
“Well…can you think of anywhere else?”
“I could take you guys to Lone Oak cemetery after work if you like. My name is John by the by.”
“I’m Fran, everyone calls me Frankie, though.” The name suited her perfectly. She motioned to the rest of the group and introduced them individually, firstly pointing to the red-bearded man. “That’s Tom, second lead investigator. This guy sitting here next to is Lewis our camera man, we call him Stretch, and the one on the end is Mikey our editor and AV guy.” None of the guys seemed excessively sociable; given the nature of their chosen professions it wasn’t very surprising.
I looked up at the clock hanging above the Waitress station and saw I had about twenty minutes left to make the drive to work. “What do you say?” They huddled up together and it only took a minute or two before she replied with a yes. We exchanged numbers and said our goodbyes.
I got off work at 4:30 and got home at about 5, halfway into changing into my jeans I got the phone call to meet up with the OPS at the café. When I got there they were at the same table, sitting in a slightly different order. They hadn’t ordered anything and were ready to leave straight away. Their vehicles consisted of a van I imagined to be full to the brim with their ghostbusting equipment, and a Honda SUV which all but Lewis packed into. We took the winding road to Dow, just outside of Haileyville and crossed the bridge and landed on baby beach right as the sun was beginning to set. The lake was calm, the beach pretty much deserted. The air coming off of the water was bone chilling.
“What was that we passed on the bridge?” Mikey asked as he helped Lewis unload the equipment. “Looked like another old bridge that fell apart.”
“It used to be the electric cart that went from here to McAlester.” My dad had photographs and news clippings saved from when it was still active.
“They had an electric trolley here? Where did the power come from?” Lewis said as he gingerly placed a camera case on the ground, straining against its weight.
“There was a water works plant at the dam that powered it.”
The rest of the evening was spent taking footage of the area, I walked them around and showed them what few key points and places there were, and where they could safely walk and trek with their gear up to the bridge. After shooting was done they settled in with a few audio recorders going, occasionally addressing them with time and temperature. When the sun set it began to get considerably colder, it must have been forty degrees by the time eleven o clock rolled around and we were waiting in anxious silence to hear the wail of the phantom infant. At around midnight I left, offering to take them to one of the cemeteries the following day.
That night came the first dream. I don’t know if you’d call them dreams or visions or nightmares. Maybe they were all of them at once, playing out in my subconscious. Leading me. Warning me. I dreamed that I was wandering and came upon a railroad which I followed through the woods to an old hospital. It seemed familiar but I knew I had never been there before. The forest cleared, the grass was very tall around the structure which encompassed almost two whole acres by itself. There was a decrepit, disintegrating wooden sign at the start of a stone walkway, the word “sanitarium” could be just barely made out. I walked beyond it and the air became heavy around me, pressure building on my shoulders, filling my shoes with lead and slowing my walk toward the large door with chipped paint which stood half open.
CAAAA! The shrill scream erupted from the tall grass. It sounded like a large bird. I turned to the door, now closed and tried it to find it locked. I turned around and saw in the tall grass a trail had been cut through it…had it been there before? Had I simply missed it? I plodded through the thick air down the trail leading me through the lot. The wall of grass to either side was too dense to see anything through it. As I walked there was a wet, meaty, smacking sound accompanied with a dry CLACK interspersed, and a smell began to grow with each step. When I was seven years old I’d wrecked my bike riding down a hill and landed near a pretty choice cut of road kill. I’d puked my guts up after taking a few deep breaths of the air around it. The smell from the grass was the same.
I know that you aren’t supposed to be able to smell or really taste in dreams…but I did. I stopped dead in my tracks as I noticed the cut grass beneath me was becoming wet and sticky, crimson colored patches that lead to a clearing. Vultures. Dozens…maybe a hundred…vultures, all in the clearing feasting on a pile of dismembered limbs. Hands, feet, legs, arms sometimes whole sometimes not. They were eating them and when I breathed the frosty, sickly air stung my lungs and cut it short and the vultures stopped, turning to stare at me with dull, beady…no…they were not just black. They were empty hollows where eyes should have been.
Following an instinct to get away as fast as possible, I edged around them to another path, I turned and as soon as I was sure I was clear of them, I ran as fast as I could down the next trail where I came to a hole in the ground. A deep fracture, what I imagined a fault line might look like I suppose. I couldn’t bring myself to look down into it, the nearer I got the closer my brain got to shutting down as terror tightened its grip on me. My chest was heaving…and then I heard it for the first time. A voice as smoky and acidic as I had ever heard, “Good morning” it said to me from the hole. I stood and watched, unable to move as a wiry haired, tall, black furred wolfhound climbed out of the hole. I could smell it as it inched closer, an acrid, oily smell that was probably coming from whatever it was that clung to its fur.
“good morning…” Its mouth moved in some horrible human facsimile, its canine mouth stretching obscenely to form the words. I noticed then that it too was missing eyes and was leaking black oil from the sockets. “The birds are out.” It said.
CCCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! came from behind me, but this time it sounded less avian, it sounded like someone, a woman or a man maybe, screaming as loudly as they could through a megaphone right through my ear. I turned around to the path to the vultures… When I woke up, I was screaming. While at work that day I took the time to run a google search for old hospitals in the county, and came upon a picture that left me cold. They called it Rescue Gate, it had been a TB hospital before it was used to house dead and dying from the mines, located somewhere between Adamson and Coalgate in a ghost town called Coleville. I shot a text to Fran on my lunch break with the hospitals information who asked me to take them there on Saturday.