She began gradually showing unusual behavior, and her piety gave way to irrational rants such as claims that God’s mother had shown herself to Patricia Kopta and warned her of looming nuclear armageddon.
After she lost her job, she began frequenting downtown streets, admonishing baseball game spectators and concertgoers to go home because the world was about to end, Bob Kopta recalled, according to the Post-Gazette.
People who encountered her nicknamed her “the Sparrow”, a moniker inspired by her slight physique and erratic walk. Once, a group mugged her and stole her wedding and engagement rings. She was arrested another time, with doctors describing how she was having “delusions of grandeur”, according to the Post-Gazette.
Then, one day in 1992, Bob Kopta went home to Ross Township, found that Patricia Kopta had left, and filed a missing person report with the local police.
There was no sign of her for years, though once she sent her husband a letter recounting how someone was pursuing her, which echoed claims she had made multiple times earlier.
They eventually had her declared dead, but she was found last year in a nursing home in Puerto Rico suffering from dementia. It took 9 months for DNA to confirm it.
Nonetheless, it remains to be seen whether Kopta ever returns to Pennsylvania. She’s struggling with both her mental and physical health, and she told the care home staff that she would prefer to remain in Puerto Rico, the Post-Gazette reported.
“We’re very thankful to know that Patty is alive and well,” Smith said, according to the local news outlet WMTW. “She’s being well taken care of. We really thought she was dead all those years. It was a very big shock to know that she’s still alive – I hope I can get down to see her.”
WASHINGTON — House Republicans have spent months promising to use their majority to uncover an insidious bias against conservatives on the part of the federal government, vowing to produce a roster of brave whistle-blowers who would come forward to provide damning evidence of abuses aimed at the right.
But the first three witnesses to testify privately before the new Republican-led House committee investigating the “weaponization” of the federal government have offered little firsthand knowledge of any wrongdoing or violation of the law, according to Democrats on the panel who have listened to their accounts. Instead, the trio appears to be a group of aggrieved former F.B.I. officials who have trafficked in right-wing conspiracy theories, including about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol, and received financial support from a top ally of former President Donald J. Trump.
There’s a lot in the article–these fools have been working with and paid by neo-fascist Trump ally Kash Patel–but this really makes me angry:
Mr. Friend also engaged with Russian propaganda outlets while he was an F.B.I. employee, the report noted, including being quoted extensively in an article in Sputnik headlined “Under Biden Federal Agencies Turned Into Instrument of Intimidation, F.B.I. Whistleblower Says,” and appearing for an interview with Russia Today.
Music. I found myself in such a beautiful place, nice morning, sun out, driving with my dog to the park. Rocket Man on the radio, Elton John all time classic. I mean, sometimes music is so amazing. Maybe one of the best inventions of humankind that doesn’t get it’s due, or, maybe it does. Anyway, you have those times when the mood and the music and the moment all coalesce to put you in a mode of love or happiness or loss or whatever strikes really. I came home, tuned up my acoustic for the first time in years and I’m gonna, well, just play. Sometimes with the dour politics you get a bit jaded, but then that song, that music, moves you to such a better mental space. I think most OTB’ers know enough not to get bogged down in the minutiae of the daily, but nothing like good tunes on a pleasant morning to break out of it and think of how great life really is and can be.
The results have left Democrats gleeful and even some Republicans deeply unimpressed. A “dumpster fire,” is how one Democrat with knowledge of the at-times combative interactions terms the proceedings. “Clearly there is room to grow and improve before [more] public hearings,” a Republican familiar with the process tells Rolling Stone. But the work so far, the Republican says, has been “very much amateur hour,” adding that airing this “stuff on live television would make us look like morons.” (Sources spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the sensitive matters.)
Interesting. I discovered I had an inactive tuberculosis case about 12 years ago. I had to do a 9 month regimen of pills, I think (might’ve been longer). Every week a public health nurse, escorted by a police officer, would arrive to drop off the new pills and pick up the empty bottles. They never said it out loud, but made it pretty clear there were further steps they could take if I refused to take the pills. When I got done, they gave me a little card to put in my wallet in case I had to take any other TB scratch test and it showed positive, saying I had already undergone the treatment.
Tucker Carlson who, as evidenced by Dominion court filings, lied about the stolen election and thus aided and abetted the Conspiracy to Overthrow the Govt, that reached its climax on Jan. 6th…now claims to have reviewed 40,000 hours of video in less than two weeks.
Spoiler alert: two weeks = 336 hours. Tuckster would have to have 120 people working 24/7 to have reviewed the video.
The circuit court judge denied my ex parte protective order because there “wasn’t enough contact”. I can request a hearing, but he has to be served in person within a limited amount of time, and given that he’s homeless, they don’t think he can be served in the time frame allowed by law.
The only reason there wasn’t any contact is because we took extreme steps to keep him from coming near any of us. My kid’s had nightmares every night this week about her crazy daddy coming to the school and trying to kidnap her. I don’t even want to talk about the dreams I’ve had since then, suffice to say that some mornings I wake up wondering what’s real or what’s not, too. Between this new stressor and the goddamn snow and cold, it’s really affecting my mental health.
@Jax: I wish there was something I could do, but I’m limited to saying I’m sending good thoughts your way and hoping everything resolves and resolves well.
@CSK: He’s a paranoid schizophrenic off his meds, and certain everybody is trying to kill him (me included), constantly going off about how I haven’t let him see his daughter in 8 years. I feel he’s a threat, just because of his mental instability. He’s already shown up once. I guess next time I have to actually let him try to hurt someone. 😐
@Jax: My little sis got TB many years ago. We all got tested and fortunately she didn’t pass it on to anybody. And yeah, she had to go thru the same as you.
@Jax: The circuit court judge denied my ex parte protective order because there “wasn’t enough contact”.
I’m sorry to hear this, I know how hard it is. Some judges don’t live in the same world as us everyday peons.
@Jax: Ugh. I remember you posting about this a while ago (weeks?) and when I checked his Facebook he seemed like he was on a collision course with someone (really anyone) and would encounter law enforcement soon. Sorry it is still going on.
Keep your head down, and trust your instincts as much as you can afford to. Hug the cows (there are cows, right?). And, do something for the kid, whatever one does for kids that says “you’re not wrong to be scared, but it’s not likely to be as bad as you fear if you do see him and it’s entirely unfair that this is happening to you but we will get through this” — maybe get her a sugar cookie and write all that on the icing?
@CSK: Yeah. I guess they’re all right with somebody just shooting him if he shows up on our property, as far as we’re concerned he’s a trespasser and potential home invader.
They eventually had her declared dead, but she was found last year in a nursing home in Puerto Rico suffering from dementia. It took 9 months for DNA to confirm it.
There was the most sensational aurora borealis this morning between 3 a.m. and 8 a.m. My viewing point wss northeastern Mass. Did anyone else see it?
@OzarkHillbilly: Wow. That had to be a shock, to say the least. I wonder if she will remember him.
Kellyanne Conway and George Conway are divorcing. There’s a surprise.
The MAGA morons are failing once again. That tends to happen when you start a process from a position of bullshit.
G.O.P. Witnesses, Paid by Trump Ally, Embraced Jan. 6 Conspiracy Theories
There’s a lot in the article–these fools have been working with and paid by neo-fascist Trump ally Kash Patel–but this really makes me angry:
Music. I found myself in such a beautiful place, nice morning, sun out, driving with my dog to the park. Rocket Man on the radio, Elton John all time classic. I mean, sometimes music is so amazing. Maybe one of the best inventions of humankind that doesn’t get it’s due, or, maybe it does. Anyway, you have those times when the mood and the music and the moment all coalesce to put you in a mode of love or happiness or loss or whatever strikes really. I came home, tuned up my acoustic for the first time in years and I’m gonna, well, just play. Sometimes with the dour politics you get a bit jaded, but then that song, that music, moves you to such a better mental space. I think most OTB’ers know enough not to get bogged down in the minutiae of the daily, but nothing like good tunes on a pleasant morning to break out of it and think of how great life really is and can be.
@clarkontheweekend: Thanks for that.
I love how at 62 I’m still constantly finding new music from all kinds of genres. (Sometimes actually new and sometimes just new to me.)
@Mikey: From Rolling Stones’ piece on this fiasco:
They are morons.
Interesting. I discovered I had an inactive tuberculosis case about 12 years ago. I had to do a 9 month regimen of pills, I think (might’ve been longer). Every week a public health nurse, escorted by a police officer, would arrive to drop off the new pills and pick up the empty bottles. They never said it out loud, but made it pretty clear there were further steps they could take if I refused to take the pills. When I got done, they gave me a little card to put in my wallet in case I had to take any other TB scratch test and it showed positive, saying I had already undergone the treatment.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/03/us-woman-headed-to-jail-for-refusing-tb-treatment-for-over-a-year/
Tucker Carlson who, as evidenced by Dominion court filings, lied about the stolen election and thus aided and abetted the Conspiracy to Overthrow the Govt, that reached its climax on Jan. 6th…now claims to have reviewed 40,000 hours of video in less than two weeks.
Spoiler alert: two weeks = 336 hours. Tuckster would have to have 120 people working 24/7 to have reviewed the video.
https://twitter.com/tuckercarlson/status/1631769605902413824?s=46&t=X6ycgCiagnVHSzYoUDrIUw
@CSK:
Damn, I missed it.
Oh and what were you doing up at 3 AM???? 🙂
The circuit court judge denied my ex parte protective order because there “wasn’t enough contact”. I can request a hearing, but he has to be served in person within a limited amount of time, and given that he’s homeless, they don’t think he can be served in the time frame allowed by law.
The only reason there wasn’t any contact is because we took extreme steps to keep him from coming near any of us. My kid’s had nightmares every night this week about her crazy daddy coming to the school and trying to kidnap her. I don’t even want to talk about the dreams I’ve had since then, suffice to say that some mornings I wake up wondering what’s real or what’s not, too. Between this new stressor and the goddamn snow and cold, it’s really affecting my mental health.
@Sleeping Dog:
Don’t know; I just woke up then. The cloud cover must have broken. It’s snowing fairly hard here now.
@Jax:
That’s awful. Does your ex represent a serious threat?
@Jax: I wish there was something I could do, but I’m limited to saying I’m sending good thoughts your way and hoping everything resolves and resolves well.
@CSK: He’s a paranoid schizophrenic off his meds, and certain everybody is trying to kill him (me included), constantly going off about how I haven’t let him see his daughter in 8 years. I feel he’s a threat, just because of his mental instability. He’s already shown up once. I guess next time I have to actually let him try to hurt someone. 😐
This is how people get hurt.
@Jax:
Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. I wish I had more to offer than sympathy.
I’m halfway through a short Great Courses series on synthetic biology.
Thus far I’ve learned two things:
1) What biologists and geneticists can do is somewhat ahead of what I thought was possible.
2) But not as far ahead as the hype has it. Much of the lectures are about possible developments, rather than the actual state of the art.
@Jax:
What is it about people, especially those in authority, that they’d rather clean up a mess than prevent one?
I hope it doesn’t come to that in this case, though
@Jax: My little sis got TB many years ago. We all got tested and fortunately she didn’t pass it on to anybody. And yeah, she had to go thru the same as you.
I’m sorry to hear this, I know how hard it is. Some judges don’t live in the same world as us everyday peons.
@Jax: Ugh. I remember you posting about this a while ago (weeks?) and when I checked his Facebook he seemed like he was on a collision course with someone (really anyone) and would encounter law enforcement soon. Sorry it is still going on.
Keep your head down, and trust your instincts as much as you can afford to. Hug the cows (there are cows, right?). And, do something for the kid, whatever one does for kids that says “you’re not wrong to be scared, but it’s not likely to be as bad as you fear if you do see him and it’s entirely unfair that this is happening to you but we will get through this” — maybe get her a sugar cookie and write all that on the icing?
And I’m sorry you’re dealing with this.
Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo received “tepid” receptions at CPAC. It seems to have been almost completely taken over by MAGAs.
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trumps-cpac-domination-yields-chilly-reception-rivals-rcna72986
@Jax:
That constant worry–what will he do next?–is very wearing.
@CSK: WA! That catches me totally by surprise! Hoodathunkit!
@CSK: Yeah. I guess they’re all right with somebody just shooting him if he shows up on our property, as far as we’re concerned he’s a trespasser and potential home invader.
@Jax:
As LEO’s told me 45+ years ago, make sure the entry holes are in the front, and there aren’t any drag marks.
Seriously, they told me that. The rules haven’t changed. Keeping you and yours safe is the only priority.
@Flat Earth Luddite: I see that, now. I tried the legal way. (shrugs) What happens to him after now is on him.