Monthly Archives: May 2023

Current Events

America

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Welcome to the newest and biggest “Third World Shithole” among the Nations of the world. If this video does not frost your ass I don’t know what will. Unbelievable. There is nothing I can possible add to what you are about to see.

Giant grocery chain fighting to keep stores open as theft, violence has ‘increased exponentially:’ Report | Fox News

Feel safe in your city? Good for you, I do because I go nowhere without something in back. As more and more of the scum freely come across our border it will get worse until someone takes a stand. Who may that be? There is no justice, there never is in a Third World Shithole. Don’t it make ya proud folks?

What slays me is one store guy has the audacity to blame it all on inflation. LOL, that alone is funny.

 

Current Events

“All Gave Some . . .

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But some gave all. And that is what this weekend is all about. So when you gather around the table for some traditional hotdogs and burgers this weekend, remember to hold hands and give a moment of silence to all those service men and women who are resting in ANC and in all those other hundreds of other  cemeteries spread around the world

Jazz Finally at Rest                    By: Greg Maresca

On January 24, 2022, less than a month after Robert “Jazz” Jasinski, celebrated his 60th birthday, his six-decade run on this third post from the sun came to an abrupt and unexpected close. It would not be until May 23, 2023, that his cremains would be finally interred to their ultimate resting place in Arlington National Cemetery.

As the nation prepares to observe Memorial Day, it was certainly a tailored time to have his last and long overdue request realized. The elapsed time of 16-months – two hockey seasons – would have stirred a hearty laugh tinged with a little disgust from my old friend. Jazz was all too familiar with the enduring federal bureaucracy having spent most of his life toiling on the front lines for Uncle Sam – first as a U.S. Marine and then with the Transportation Security Administration.

 The extended and unnecessary ripple effects of COVID-19 still resonate throughout America’s capital city and wokefully ground zero is Arlington National Cemetery. In no way does COVID still make such a prolonged wait for burial justified. It is nothing short of a national disgrace.

We have no issue with packaging multi billions in military aid to Ukraine and thought nothing of bequeathing nearly just as much military hardware to the Taliban in our flight out of Afghanistan – another national disgrace.

Millions pour over our southern border illegally, while we drown in government debt living in a cultural zeitgeist where plenty of folks think nothing of using a $1000 iPhone 14 Pro to check their food stamp balance.

The nation’s capital was like a second home to the Delaware County, Pennsylvania native having done a tour of duty at Marine Corps Headquarters. A favorite D.C. haunt of his was Arlington. Yet, it took 16-months to finally inter Jazz’s ashes among some of the men he served with and those he helped bury while serving with the Corps’ Casualty Notification Unit decades ago.

If Jazz had survived and knew that any veteran had such a long waiting period, he would have been heard. Given the circumstances, he never would have placed himself in a situation to jump the line, either.

Still, with this Memorial Day weekend upon America, we can’t bury some of our veterans in a timely fashion at the nation’s most hallowed and historic burial grounds affording closure for so many families.

There still exists a third of America who takes seriously the nation’s oldest president whose administration is devoid of many things, most of all – wisdom. According to Biden’s recent commencement address at nearby Howard University, America’s greatest threats are not foreign, but domestic. Is it any wonder why on this Memorial Day weekend, the nation is circling the drain of the abyss?

A call to Arlington’s general service number yielded nothing but excuses, namely COVID overkill. What was emphasized was how Arlington conducts approximately 6,400 burials a year averaging 30 per day. Their backlog consists of 4,500 extending the wait to 16 months – now in its third year.

Unanswered in another column from a year ago was when Biden abandoned Afghanistan in record time, why couldn’t he sign another one of his numerous presidential executive orders to expedite laying to rest heroic American veterans in a timely fashion?

Pulling punches is not in the Jasinski DNA as Jazz’s older brother Stan was generous providing solutions saying, “They (Arlington) need to think out of the box by holding larger ceremonies for groups at a time, use special ceremonial units or ROTC for extra manpower to reduce the wait. They have got to stop this ‘is what we have always done mentality.’”

Arlington guards the remains of more than 330,000 immortal souls buried under plain, white granite stones all in formation where every day is Memorial Day, and where waiting lists should be entrusted to the dustbin of history.

Arlington is the priciest of American real estate and is the unabridged narrative of the nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. And my old friend, whose ashes now finally rest here, would stress in no uncertain terms that we need to keep it that way.

Rest easy, Jazz, you are finally home.

Yes, may God please bless Jazz, and all the others who have served this once famous country. Amen

Postscript: I just received some very bad news from a Marine Brother, Sam Garland. Our best friend and brother Marine hero, LtCol Vic Taylor, USMC (Ret) from Steamboat Springs, CO has passed away. We know none of the details at this time. When I get more information, I will pass it along on here.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 An older picture (1959) of Vic as a LCpl

 

Current Events

The First is Always the Best

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Yes, how well I remember the first salute I received at around 1530 on 7 August 1967 at MB, 8th&I, Washington, D.C. when I was commissioned. Here it is:

Then GySgt Lee M. Bradley, my hero, mentor, and godfather giving the newly commissioned brown bar his first salute and collecting the infamous silver dollar, which now retired SgtMaj Lee M. Bradley says he still has.

One Final Salute                                                                  By: G. Maresca

For my first 17 years, a hat was, well, a hat. It wasn’t until I stepped off the bus in the wee hours of a humid June morning and landed on those celebrated yellow footprints of Parris Island that I quickly learned what I once called a hat was now a cover.

After my tour in the Corps, which included two deployments that literally took me around the globe, the only piece of uniform that fit me upon my departure were my covers. Thanks to adding two inches in height and 45-pounds in girth, my dress uniforms were always a major point of contention, especially during inspections. Fortunately, the camouflage utility uniform had a good amount of give, which was our uniform of the day – the one benefit of not being a pogue.

Once I returned to civilian life, my remaining covers were tucked away in my sea bag that in subsequent moves always found a home anchored in the basement. It wasn’t until my daughter requested me to render her first salute upon her commissioning in the U.S. Army that the cover would find itself, however briefly, returning to active duty.

Having been prior enlisted, I was unfamiliar with the protocols of the commissioning of a second lieutenant. Not only would she be commissioning but was named a George C. Marshall graduate having earned the U.S. Army’s top cadet award based upon scholarship, leadership, and physical fitness.

My poplin camouflaged cover was practically inspection ready considering it spent nearly four decades packed away awaiting its eventual parole to a hunting or fishing expedition that never materialized. My name was still visibly stamped on the inside and all that was left was a brief meeting with a touch of starch and an iron.

The only issue that still needed to be addressed was my hair. The mane is still in full force and pretty much the same color as when I first donned that cover. The mop, or what Uncle Vinny once sardonically called “good guinea hair,” was on tap to get a regulation high and tight shortly before the commissioning allowing enough growth to still pass muster with USMC regulation and acceptable to our family’s commanding officer, the butter bar’s mother.

The last time, I rendered a salute wearing that cover, I was still on active duty. I have no recall who was the heir of that salute, but to think the next one bestowed would be my own daughter decades later at her commissioning was surreal. The entirety of the formal proceedings were certainly a significant moment in time for an aging Jarhead.

Before accepting her request, I wanted to make sure that she didn’t want one of her ROTC cadre to do the honors as she has spoken with high regard for the senior noncommissioned officers that worked diligently with her during her undergraduate years and in particular MSgt. Cardray Moulden.

Our family’s military history is significant, having had two uncles who served in World War II one in the Army, the other in the Navy, and my, Dad, a Marine, served in the Korean War – all were enlisted. On her maternal side, one served on Iwo Jima, while the rest were Army veterans fighting the Nazi’s in Europe during World War II when military service was not necessarily a choice. The common denominator that ran through them was a patriotic sense of time-honored duty to serve one’s nation.

This seems to be missing among today’s youth as last year the Army reached only 75% of its recruiting goal, while the other branches barely met theirs. 2023 is no different. At a Congressional hearing, Pentagon brass testified things have not been this bad since the draft ended in 1973 and that the all-volunteer force may no longer be feasible.

Maria Maresca’s initial salute had two sets of firsts. Not only would she be the first woman in the family on either side to serve, but also the first to forgo the chevrons and pin on the gold bars of a second lieutenant.

Across our fruited plain, May is commissioning season. The formalities at Shippensburg University, not far from the hallowed grounds of Gettysburg or the Army’s longtime War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania is by no means a destination for any of these young officers. Rather it is the first stop in a journey that will sculpt, fashion, and solidify the rest of their lives as they serve a cause much greater than themselves.

The hope inspired by both Major General Andy Munera, the Commanding General U.S. Army Cadet Command out of Fort Knox. Kentucky, and the university’s ROTC’s Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Nicole Jepsen stirred a current that could not help but energize the auditorium of the Luhrs Performing Arts Center.

These newly commissioned officers’ commitment to serve stands out in a nation where only 9% of those eligible to serve do. They carry with them the hope of a nation that my last commander-in-chief Ronald Reagan once called “a shining city on a hill.”

This will be my last post for a while as my bride and I are taking our new RV (new to us) on its second shake down cruise to another FL State Park, that will make two down and 45 to go. I think it is fitting to post Greg’s story of his daughter receiving her first salute from her Dad. Great story. Congratulations Greg to you and to the new Brown Bar! I wish her well.

 

 

 

Current Events

D-Day Approaches

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Hi Gang, the D in this case stands for DEBT, our countries debt! I hesitated to post this article, but I really think it needs to be out there so people understand what is going on in our country today economically. As a self-made Economist who loves the topic and follows it more than anything else we are about to reach a turning point in America. June 1st is D-Day folks. This has never happened in the USA and if it does this time, it will have far reaching impact on many things, not to even mention America’s reputation throughout the world. I’ll save my further comments  after you read it.

15 May 2023
Military.com | By  Rebecca Kheel

Billions of dollars of veterans benefits could be imperiled if the U.S. defaults on its debts, though the full extent of the fallout is uncertain because of the unprecedented nature of a default.

About $12 billion in veterans benefits are expected to be paid out June 1 — the same day the Treasury Department has named as the earliest day a default could happen if Congress doesn’t act to avoid it.

A default would likely delay those benefits, but for exactly how long would depend on the Treasury’s next move after a default, experts who spoke to Military.com said.

“There is significant uncertainty as to what would occur because we’ve never been there,” said Rachel Snyderman, senior associate director of business and economic policy for the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Washington, D.C., think tank that estimated how much money in veterans benefits is due to be paid in June.

At issue is what’s known as the debt ceiling or debt limit, which is the amount of money the Treasury can borrow in order to pay the nation’s bills. The exact timing of the “X date,” or the day the Treasury runs out of cash, is a moving target since it depends on how much tax revenue comes in, but Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned it could happen as soon as June 1. If you care to, look up this idiots bio and see how many Econ courses she has ever taken. She just learned how to spell Treasury when she got the job.

Pentagon officials have sounded the alarm about how a default could affect paychecks for service members.

House Republicans are demanding spending cuts in exchange for lifting the ceiling. The White House has maintained Congress should raise the ceiling immediately to avoid even the specter of a default and that any talks about spending cuts should be handled separately, though President Joe Biden has signaled an openness to clawing back unspent COVID-19 funds as Republicans have demanded. LOL, Biden wants to raise the ceiling THEN talk about cuts, that is so funny, it’s crazy. Does anyone really believe he means that. One of those famous, “The check is in the mail ” statements.. And they are still paying COVID payments? 

With the deadline fast approaching, Biden and congressional leaders met at the White House last week, and staff-level talks have continued since then. A second meeting between Biden and congressional leaders had been scheduled for Friday but was canceled. Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., are next scheduled to meet Tuesday, Biden said Monday.

McCarthy sounded a pessimistic note Monday, telling reporters he thinks the two sides are still “far apart” and that it “seems like [administration officials] want to default more than they want a deal.” Certainly, so they can blame it all on the GOP

While the Biden administration and House Republicans have been trading accusations about whether the GOP proposal to slash overall government spending would mean cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs, less talked about has been how veterans could be affected by a default.

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s estimate of payments that could be missed, including veterans benefits, is based on analysis of past Treasury reports on its daily transactions, Snyderman said. The estimate for veterans benefits covers any benefit administered by the VA, she said.

In addition to the June 1 payment, another round of veterans benefits is expected to be paid June 30.

“With each additional day that impasse continues, there could be an exponential impact on what that payment delay could look like,” Snyderman said.

Experts see two possible scenarios for how the Treasury could try to pay U.S. bills after hitting the debt ceiling. In one scenario, the Treasury could choose to prioritize making certain payments before others as cash comes in. In that case, how long veterans benefits and military pay is delayed would depend on where they fall in line for priorities. Yellen has downplayed the possibility of prioritizing payments, doubting that it is technically feasible.

In another scenario, the Treasury could wait until it has enough cash in hand to make a full day’s worth of payments in the order in which they came due. Then, if a default happened June 1, veterans benefits due that day might see only a short delay, but delays for later veterans benefits and other payments would grow the longer the impasse lasts.

“We’ve never defaulted, and we’ve never breached the debt limit, and because it’s so unfathomable, there’s no public playbook for what to do in a situation when this happens,” said Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

“Some prioritization is probably possible, but it would be difficult for them to justify continuing to pay full veterans benefits and not paying other things,” he added. “It’s possible they would do that. Veterans are very popular. But I think we should assume that at least payments would be delayed.”

A lengthy default could equate to up to 30% in cuts for non-interest government spending, Goldwein said.

In addition to potentially hitting veterans benefits, about $12 billion in military and civilian retirement pay that is expected June 1 and about $4 billion in military salaries that is scheduled for June 15 could be disrupted by a default, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin alluded to the potential effect on military pay in congressional testimony last week.

“What it would mean realistically for us is that we won’t, in some cases, be able to pay our troops with any degree of predictability,” Austin said at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing Thursday. No kidding Jose, someone woke this fool up, go back to sleep you POS.

Administration officials issued similar warnings the last time the U.S. was close to a default in 2021. That year, Congress approved a debt limit increase with days to spare after Senate Republicans agreed not to block legislation. While Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress at the time, they didn’t have the 60 votes typically needed to advance legislation in the Senate.

The negotiating dynamics are different this time because Republicans now control the House. The last debt ceiling crisis when Republicans held the House and Democrats controlled the White House and the Senate in 2011 ended with an agreement to lift the debt ceiling in exchange for steep spending cuts.

— Rebecca Kheel can be reached at rebecca.kheel@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.

Okay, here is my take.  First of all I find it interesting  the only folks they are talking about being hurt are the military and the VA recipients, what about all the others who will be impacted by this, hopefully including all the illegals, welfare, elected officials, and government workers in general. No, they want to hit home to the compassionate types. Oh dear me, our soldiers and our vets. Hogwash! We’ll handle it.

My take. I want the USA to default, I really do. I know that sounds crazy, but I personally and professionally as an Economist, hope McCarthy stands his ground and doesn’t give Biden one inch. Then we’ll see how all those department heads who got their job, not because of their intelligence or background, but because of their sexual orientation, skin color, or whatever figure out how to handle the issues brought about by a default.

I’m living on a military retirement and am a VA recipient so this will hurt Nancy and I very much. But, we CANNOT keep raising the debt limit and keep spending and spending, Can you imagine what thirty trillion dollars looks like folks. No you can’t, and neither can any of us.

I have written all three of my national elected officials and told them to stand their ground, make everyone hurt so they understand what is at stake here. I encourage you to do the same, then tighten your belt. Nuff said. Semper Fi,

Current Events

Bud Who?

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I’m absolutely amazed at how stupid some supposedly educated people can be.  Two highly paid ad execs are enjoying their leave of absence while probably wondering what they did wrong. I have always associated Bud Light as the workers beer; electricians, plumbers, welders, carpenters, factory folks; you know – the blue collar gang, that’s who drank Bud Light. But from what I hear and read, that “ain’t” happening now. And as Greg points out they won’t come back, regardless of what AB tries to do. Think of the advertising revenues AB will surely lose for all the sporting events they “used” to sponsor. LOL, Lord, I love it.

 

Bud is no wiser                                                                                                                      By: G. Maresca

Anheuser-Busch (AB) seeking to pass off a man for a woman in their latest advertising campaign, hitched their Clydesdales to 26-year-old transgender Dylan Mulvaney that only reinforces their wokeness.

Overnight, Mulvaney became the image of Bud Light with his face splashed on the cans of the nation’s bestselling brew. One friend said he thought the look was a Surgeon General’s warning that if you drank too many Bud Lights you may wake up next to an ugly woman with plumbing.

The best customer is the one you have, so why alienate them? The same friend told me Bud Light tastes like horse urine, that’s why they have all those Clydesdales. Having never imbibed in horse urine, I took him at his word.

There are thousands of microbreweries across the country, and you are drinking Bud Light? It is like eating Wonder bread when there is a bakery next door.

If AB wants to expand their base, feature an accomplished young woman instead of a man who is a caricature of the insipid tramp you pray your daughter never becomes. Such a pathetic advertising campaign is orchestrated by an indoctrinated public relations ensemble who can’t fix a flat or use self-checkout.

AB already possessed a 100% Corporate Equality Index (CEI) score, which rates wokeness prior to bringing Mulvaney onboard. It’s a good bet that most Bud Light consumers have no idea what CEI is, but they do now: Clueless – Entitled – Ignoramuses.

Not a fermenting bunch, the Bud Light cadre stepped up to the bar and ordered a boycott where follow the money is creed with the potential to make “go woke, go broke” a reality. The embargo is being hailed as one of the most successful in recent memory.

In their April 23 edition, Insights Express, a beer industry newsletter, called AB’s lost sales from the Mulvaney advertising campaign “staggering.” Moreover, Beer Business Daily confirmed, “We’ve never seen such a dramatic shift in national share in such a short period of time.”

Sales and the totality of AB’s market share continue to shrink. AB executives should be cognizant of how statistics constantly underscore that some customers never return. Provided the transgender community is as formidable a market as AB believes, they should be able to reverse their losses.

That has yet to occur.

Once you step into the woke quicksand, they demand even more virtue signaling and validation. Businesses need to focus on making an excellent product, not selling a political ideology. Companies can choose to go internally woke with training de rigueur, while hiring and promoting for things other than ability. Nevertheless, when companies fail to distinguish between the two, they only polarize their clientele and play havoc with their stockholders.

What Bud Light executives dismiss is their beverage has always been trans – water identifying as beer. AB should have just introduced a new beer with a rainbow can called TransLight or Bud Light-in-the-Loafers.

Saying they want to get away from their “fratty image” and promote “inclusivity” is their dog whistle for heterosexual white males. Marketing is about gaining customers, and customer service is about keeping them, while advertising is about growth without disgruntling your base.

The leftist echo chamber rings loudly throughout corporate America and the Democrat Party. The transgender mafia claims to be oppressed yet spooks a multibillion-dollar company to conform, while alienating their customers.

AB’s debacle is another teachable moment for woke corporate America. Picking sides, however, does not have to mean you are committed.

With Gay Pride month in June, AB will be on tap for an encore.

Two AB marketing executives were placed on a “leave of absence,” which suggests AB is not at all serious. Rather, it is basic damage control where they believe playing the waiting game is best.

 

AB, like the sporting events they sponsor, does not belong to one cultural group. It can be one thing to have different political opinions, yet folks can still enjoy a beverage and sporting event together. That, however, is not how corporate, political, or sporting America works anymore. You must signal your virtue in every arena of life, or be labelled a racist, fascist, or bigot.

Such absurd behavior only results in a weaker America for all.

I remember being stationed at Camp Lejeune and seeing Bud Light semis delivering beer to the base clubs. They were painted camouflage and in big bold black letters read “Marines Drink Bud Light.” Care to guess which beer was the biggest seller on base? Some marketing person at AB had their “stuff” together.  I wonder what the trucks say now