All posts by Jim

Left HS before report cards came out. Enlisted in the Marines for four years. By the time those years were over, I was hooked - they had me for life. Spent nearly ten years as enlisted. Received a Silver Star, Bronze Star w/V, Purple Heart as a Sgt during first RVN tour. Upon returning to the State's received a combat commission to 2Lt. Retired after 36 total years as a Colonel. Book follows my career, but is more about the heroes with whom I served, the great mentors I had, and the leadership principles they instilled in me.
Recent Posts

Observations

11 Comments

Hi Folks, it’s ole Jim here; finally home. My bride and I just returned home from a seven week, 4,559 mile trip in the RV to visit children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. The trip took us through sixteen States: FL, GA, TN, KY, MO, KS, IA, IL, IN, OH, WV, PA, MD, VA, NC, and SC. Such a trip through so many states has left me with several observations of  our country and its citizens, or let me just say our society at large, and I thought it may be interesting to some of my readers to share some of my observations.

First, our roadways suck. With only one exception the Interstates are in such horrible shape it is dangerous to drive on them. That exception is OH; theirs are literally wonderful to drive on; I did not have to dodge one pothole on the entire East/West length of I-80, while on some of the other state’s major roadways the potholes were so big and deep one could easily blow a tire or break an axle. What those states are doing with their fuel tax revenue and federal funding has to be secret.

Secondly, I have traveled a lot throughout the country for many years and I have never seen so much truck traffic. Goods are definitely on the move. There were times where I could look across to the other lane and see nothing but a sea of semis, one behind the other for miles; hundreds of them in both lanes. Perhaps that’s why the Interstates are in such bad shape, but then why not OH since I-80 was the first time I noticed the plethora of trucks.

Thirdly, I refuse to accept anyone, and I do mean ANYONE, bitching about the price of gas. Everybody is complaining that gas is too expensive. Well, if they think it is, why not slow down and try to get the best miles per gallon as you can? On Interstates, I drive 60 MPH in the right lane, even though the speed limit is 65/70. Why? Well I am driving a 26,000 LB vehicle while towing my 2,500 LB Mini Cooper behind me. My 6.7 L Cummins engine’s sweet spot seems to be 1600 RPMs (60 MPH), which gave me 11.4 MPG. Plus, I don’t have to look at both mirrors, except of course when passing a merge lane where those folks who got their license at Walmart’s do not know what that upside down red triangle “YIELD” sign means. I am only doing 60 and the speed limit is 70, yet they cannot step on the gas to get into the flow of traffic. Since I’m bigger I simply ignore them and their blaring horns and watch them run onto the shoulder. I know I will catch hell from some for saying this, but trust me folks, more often than not they are young women.

My travels were probably about 50/50 on Interstates and state/county roadways. I can honestly state that I did not pass a dozen vehicles during this entire trip. That includes non-Interstate roadways. I DO NOT SPEED! If the speed limit is 55, I drive 55 and I do not care if a line of idiots begin to form behind me. I refuse to pull over and stop 28,500 LBS so they can speed while bitching about the price of gas. Think about it. If you are on a 200 mile trip and you drive 60 MPH, you should get there in about two hours. If you drive 55 MPH, it will take you ten minutes longer, and will probably save a gallon or two of gas. I am in no hurry, if I were in an emergency situation such as taking my wife to the ER, I would have my “emergency” flashers on and I would push the speed limit as long as it was safe. Otherwise, I obey the speed limit. In my home state of FL, I am the only one who drives the speed limit and believe me I do catch hell for it from blaring horns and obscene gestures from the idiots. How dare I drive the speed limit! We have the worse drivers in America because they all came from up north.

I’m an observant driver and you want to hear something funny? I noticed so many people driving 20 miles over the speed limit with their windows down in 95 degree temperatures. I guess they think they are saving gas by not running their AC. LOL

Fourth, drivers of all makes, models, genders, ages, race, ethnicity, religion, etc. are horrible, ignorant, inconsiderate drivers who must get in front of the one in front of them no matter the costs. They drive as though they own the roadway and could care less about anyone else. I mean it is horrible out there folks. I literally had folks pass me, pull right in front of me, and hit the damn brakes to merge off an exit. The only ones who have any patience and are considerate are the truck drivers. The majority of them are still polite, and like me, are wary of all four wheelers. I would not take a long trip in a car. I feel safe driving our RV as I am sitting up at the height of the truck drivers so I see far out in front of me thus allowing me to anticipate what the idiots in front of me are about to do. And I don’t tailgate; I can’t since everyone is going faster than me. LOL I’ve never seen so many horrible accidents on the Interstates, which of course caused us numerous delays while they policed up the body parts. I often doubted if anyone made it out of the multiple car carnage alive.

Fifth. Construction is going on everywhere. Building, building, and building in every county, town, and city. Massive buildings, condos, homes, factories, shopping centers are going up everywhere. I have never see so much construction, and my home state of FL is one of the busiest!

Sixth. At every turn all we saw were “Help Wanted,” Hiring,” “Need Help” signs on store fronts, fast food places, factories, etc. Every proprietor and owner is looking for employees. Every semi-trailer has a “Drivers Wanted” sign on the back offering all sorts of benefits and wages. Many even offering to train free of charge to get their CDL license. I mean, damn, why is the unemployment rate so high when everyone is looking for employees? LOL, Of course we all know the answer to that question.

One more thing. We Floridians know which license plate adorns the cars with America’s worst drivers – NJ. Those folks could care less about anyone else! They all got their license’s at Walmart or maybe Wendy’s because they do not know how to drive. Oh, they might know, but could care less about you and me.

Anyway, I thought I’d share with you some thoughts of having travelled through so many States. Personally, the one thing that bothered me more than anything is the state of our society—it sucks. People simply do not seem to care about anything or anyone except perhaps their own close family. Oh there are exceptions, and I consider myself one of them. Despite everyone else’s arrogance and ignorance, some of us continue to be considerate and polite toward other drivers Thank God we made it home safe and sound!

It’s great to be home! I will never do this again. If kin want to see my bride and me, let them come to FL.

 

Originally posted 2022-09-01 14:17:58.

Current Events

The Schuylkill County “We The People”

5 Comments

Still on the road in Charleston, SC, but had to force myself to post another barn burner and a must read from Greg. We are in great danger folks in case you have not realized it yet. God help us!!

“We the People”

By: G. Maresca

Like 48 years ago, it was a hot August day when another unprecedented historical unintended consequence entered the American chronicle when President Richard Nixon resigned his office. Being a paperboy and a two-sewer stickballer, I took time out of my summer vacation to watch the proceedings on network television.

This time I did not watch as another presidential first went down as a 30-member FBI platoon with weapons drawn burst into the home of a former president, The nine-and-a-half-hour marathon raid’s legacy is another despondent day for the American republic.

The raid was another exemplar of how federal agencies have been weaponized against the Constitution they are sworn to defend and protect. Maybe it was another variant of the Trump Derangement Syndrome and a warning to all MAGA supporters of what awaits them.

Parlay all three.

The raid certainly raises constitutional questions and any prosecution under the Espionage Act would be a reach yet remains to be seen.

After the Clintons removed spoils from the White House, no FBI raid occurred despite clearly underestimating the value of what was taken. Donald Trump’s circumstance should have been handled with the same discretion. Instead of the raid, a legal action in conjunction with the National Archives would have sufficed.

Leave it to the Babylon Bee this generation’s version of Mad Magazine to find levity: “The FBI raid on Melania’s closet was justified,” says Attorney General Merrick Garland while wearing a gorgeous new evening gown and sun hat.”

Where are the federal investigations of Hillary Clinton’s bleached servers, Hunter Biden’s laptop and illicit dealings with foreign governments, and Rep. Eric Swalwell’s intimate relationship with a Chinese spy, or the longstanding parade of Democrats sailing off to Epstein’s Island?

Democrats and the bureaucratic swamp creatures they breed have done everything to Trump short of assassinating him. Trump continues to live rent free in their heads but now as a private citizen.

The recently passed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is another ill-advised bill directed at reducing inflation and climate change that will prevent neither. The IRA should be renamed the IRS Enforcement Act as it will supersize the agency by adding 87,000 more agents, arming the IRS with more agents than the Marine Corps has Marines. The bill will not only raise but convolute the tax code even further, stagnating the economy leading to diminished investments in a stock market that is more roller coaster than Ferris wheel.

Democrats and the Washington bureaucratic swamp possess a hearty appetite for self-preservation and understand that the only Republican whom President Biden could defeat in 2024 is Trump. Attacking Trump compels Republicans to rally to his defense making him a likely candidate in 2024.

As the nation continues on its tight rope, Benjamin Franklin’s prophetic words ring louder: “We created a republic, if you can keep it.”

The average life expectancy for an empire is 250 years.

Over two centuries ago, a Scotsman and a contemporary of Franklin named Alexander Tytler, made the insightful reflection that a democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government especially when the electorate discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. Democracy then collapses into a dictatorship.

The impetus to respond on a local level to our ailing, late-stage empire was not lost on Jim Eisenhart, a Schuylkill County native, who recently formed a “We The People” non-partisan, grassroots group dedicated to educating and discussing Constitutional government.

There is an Edmund Burke quality to Eisenhart’s efforts whom like Burke, the 18th century Irish statesman who served in the British House of Commons, understands that the hallmark of a healthy society is reconciliation of the present and the future to the past.

The U.S. Constitution is the sovereign law of the land and remains the font from which protections against government overreach springs. For it is the Constitution that bounds the power of the federal government, not enables it. People must realize that it is them, not the government that holds the power.

The first three words of the Constitution sum it up concisely and the Schuylkill County “We The People” group will hold their second meeting at the Fountain Springs Country Inn at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 15.

When will we wake up folks and take back our country? I cannot imagine an IRS larger than the United States Marine Corps. Can you? Why?

Originally posted 2022-08-19 17:04:41.

Current Events

Absolutely Criminal

4 Comments

Still on the road traveling. Currently in NC visiting grandson and great grandson, but got this from a fellow Marine and just had to get it out. If you had any idea that our Govt was being run by honest, trustworthy, dedicated supporters of freedom, you live under a rock and are a blind fool. 

The video reveals the truth about how things are done under the Biden regime. I wish the congresswoman would not have taken so long to say what she had to say, but it is worth watching some of it, then shut her off, she rambles on far too long. But the message needed to get out.

Originally posted 2022-08-10 11:34:13.

Current Events

Here’s Greg

4 Comments

In case you haven’t noticed, I have been absent, UA, AWOL, or simply MIA. LOL. Sorry gang, but am still on vacation traveling in the RV visiting relatives. Am currently in MD to celebrate my daughter’s 60th this Saturday. For the first time on the trip, I have a solid Wifi connection so I thought I would peak at what is in my laptop. WOW. For those of you who do not know what minimize means, let me say again. NO EMAIL TRAFFIC. There are a few exceptions and Greg is one of them and he has sent me a good one. With that, here’s Greg.

Clearing the ledger

By: G. Maresca

There is plenty to say about brevity, but that would defeat the purpose.  Neither time nor space affords me the opportunity to opine on the many headlines, stories, and political twists that comprise an average news day – let alone an entire week.  With that in mind, let’s clear the ledger.

The Federal Reserve has yet to learn the hard lessons of the 1970s inflation that when growth of the money supply slows, so does the increase in prices.

Considering the rapid increase in inflation, it should lead to a major reform in the capital gains tax but it won’t considering Congress is home to so many fiscal illiterates.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill into law that allows all teachers to conceal carry a handgun – with librarians allowed to use silencers.

German leaders of the anti-immigration party called Angela Merkel the worst Chancellor in Germany’s history – now that is saying something.

Why can’t the left comprehend that Title IX was never meant to allow male athletes to compete against female athletes?

How fortunate the nation is that Merrick Garland is not on the Supreme Court.

With unstable financial markets, and increasing crime, Democrats want you to turn in your weapons.

 The tithe at the Church of Green Energy is well over 10% and it is anything but voluntary.

Leftist fanatics find their way to university faculties, journalists, and district attorneys, while those on the right are ostracized, threatened, and fired.

The issue of Nazism was settled in 1945 when the notion of white supremacy was soundly defeated by the forces of white privilege.

Every school board in the country needs to make the U.S. Citizenship Test, administered to naturalizing immigrants, a high-school graduation requirement.

At this point, any abduction by aliens, is not an abduction, but a rescue.

The ability of children to read has become secondary to what they are allowed to read – for fear they may learn to read between the lines.

At the rate U.S. drug laws are being repealed, Hunter Biden could get indicted for not bringing enough drugs for everyone.

Perhaps the U.S. needs to expand the census to South America so that they can register in advance of arriving.

Many Democrat policy proposals are not only radical, but scientifically, economically, and numerically illiterate: Medicare for All and the Green New Deal violate the laws of economics, physics, and mathematics.

Socialism is contrary to human nature, while capitalism is the only proven economic system.

Wise decisions about how to utilize deficits start with understanding the factors that actually play into it and sadly many of our politicians don’t have a clue. Congress does not want the responsibility of governing, just the perks.

Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat no less, has doomed humankind by not supporting Biden’s green agenda.  And here I thought Donald Trump was humanity’s greatest villain. You need a scorecard to keep track of who the Democrats blame as the greatest nemesis of humanity each week.

Arguably, the nation’s two most existential threats are China and our national debt and Republicans need to start selling it that way.

Arizona executed its first prisoner in nearly eight years and for his last meal he requested some Kentucky Fried Chicken before kicking the bucket.

Dr. Seuss’s latest: There is Disorder at the Border by Executive Order.

A cargo plane arrived in Philadelphia from Australia with three million cans of baby formula on board.  Apparently, each can is labeled: Foster’s. Relax, it is a joke albeit a weak one. But any mother reading this can at some level certainly relate.

Have you noticed that when any leftist threaten to leave the U.S., they only mention white enclaves like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand?

Heinz Field was renamed by the Pittsburgh Steelers to Acrisure Stadium as the insurance and real-estate company acquired the naming rights for next 15 years. Granted, a good number of Steeler fans may not be able to spell or even pronounce the new name; but they will certainly ketchup sooner than later.

A recession is when your neighbor loses their job, a depression is when you lose your job and a recovery when Joe Biden and Congressional Democrats lose their jobs.

Originally posted 2022-07-28 11:03:51.

Current Events

Berger’s Corps – Part II

16 Comments

Ok, Mr. Berger, you asked for it, so here it comes.. Was this part of your FD 2030 plan. I’m sure it was, or you are even less of a Marine than I originally thought. You should meritoriously promote her to Major so she can lead the way to your new USMC (United States Misfit Corps). Meanwhile you purge Marines who won’t take the shot and let officers wear their religious head gear. BTW, how’s all that “stuff” helping recruiting? Getting much help from the retired community? I don’t think so from what I hear.

Oh BTW sir, there is a great article in the June issue of the Gazette about these staffers Moe, Larry, and Curly task with coming up with a new name for this organization that some brain child in DOD came up with in the year 2042. You should read it. Or maybe you already have — Nah, you wouldn’t waste your time reading something like that. You’re too busy trying to beat down all those foolish retired generals that have not a clue what they are talking about. Happy Wokeness sir!

 

Lesbian Marine Corps Pilot Dreams of Waging War on Conservative Americans Over Roe v. Wade Repeal
Capt. Meleah Martin, a pilot with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 323, smiles from the cockpit of an F/A-18C Hornet at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif. Marines like Martin keep 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing ready to “Fix, Fly and Fight” as the Corps’ largest aircraft wing. 3rd MAW continues to answer the call of this nation whenever and wherever it is needed.

A lesbian marine corps pilot is fantasizing about going to war with the “domestic” enemies of America, who she describes as the conservative members of the Supreme Court following the repeal of Roe v. Wade.

The pilot was profiled in an NPR article published on July 4 where she stated that conservatives are a worse threat than any foreign terrorist because of a Supreme Court decision she disagreed with.

“We swear an oath, ‘To support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic’ … Well, it’s time to start worrying about the domestic, because clearly we have more of a problem here than we do anywhere else,” Marine Corps Capt. Meleah Martin told NPR.

“It’s really disappointing when something like this happens, because, like, how do I defend that?” she continued.

“We thought The Handmaid’s Tale was, you know, just an entertaining show, but we’re honestly headed back towards that direction, you know what I mean?” Martin said. “It’s just sad to see. It’s crazy,” Martin added.

Big League Politics has reported on the purge in the military of patriotic individuals who love freedom and stand for traditional values:

“In what is being hailed as a victory for diversity and progress by Democrats, transgenders are now shockingly overrepresented in the Armed Forces.

A study from the National LGBTQ Task Force has shown that transgenders are two times as likely to join the Armed Forces as their counterparts who do not suffer from gender dysphoria. One reason might be the free genital mutilation surgeries offered by the woke military.

The National LGBTQ Task Force is taking their findings and demanding for more taxpayer-funded giveaways and privileges for transgenders.

“The Defense Department must allow transgender people to serve openly,” said Darlene Nipper, deputy executive director of the organization. 

“It’s wrong that these brave men and women — who sacrifice so much through their service to our nation — should have to fight for their rights both as active military and then as veterans,” Nipper added.

The study showed that transgenders participating in the study blamed discrimination for their inability to hold a job. This is being used by lobbyist groups like the National LGBTQ Task Force to demand more handouts.

“The reality is that after honorably serving their country, transgender veterans often face discrimination in employment, housing, health care, and in other settings,” said Nipper. 

“Transgender people must be able to serve in the military if they choose to and after their service, they must receive all benefits and services free from discrimination,” she added.

This is happening while conservatives and patriots are being expelled from the military for exercising their 1st Amendment rights.”

This is why the military is being purged. The regime wants demonic LGBT perverts who will not hesitate to shoot on Americans. Some of them even brag about how they would do it at a moment’s notice. This is the New America under the “liberal world order” pushed by the illegitimate Biden coup regime.

Originally posted 2022-07-10 08:48:17.