Category Archives: Recent Posts

Life Has No Meaning Any More

If anyone doesn’t think or believe we have become a third world sh*thole they are living under a rock. How can we ask for God’s help to re-right our once beloved country when we have killed millions of His unborn children, and continue to do so daily?

As for the mass shootings, I don’t have the full answer, but a step in the right direction might be for the federal government to outlaw the production and sale of todays video games that are all about shooting humans. For those parents who allow their young children to play those games, do not be surprised if he/she grows up to be a disoriented, disconnected human being who has no feelings for the value of  human life. You are the sick ones . My children were born and raised before those awful games were available, but you can bet your sweet bippee had they been around they would not have been allowed in my house. SICK, absolutely SICK!

Have you listened to the music your children are playing their ears phones? I doubt it. We are a country of no morals, no conscience, and surely no empathy for one another or the sanctity of life.

The part of Greg’s article in red is mine not his.

 

Anesthetized America

By: G. Maresca

It was nearly halfway through the class I facilitate on violence prevention that the massacre in Uvalde, Texas finally came up. I was beginning to wonder if the subject would ever be broached as we simply had picked up where we had left off from the previous class.

It was quite telling.

America has been anesthetized over the past generation to the cancer of mass shootings. And as much as the media wants to turn it into a racial issue, they can’t overcome the facts that the latest shooter was Latino, the Brooklyn subway gunman, Black and the Buffalo triggerman, White.

The insight these incarcerated men had went far beyond any critical media talking points. The group consists of long-term guys who, despite their predicament, have a sober understanding of the issues. On “gun free zones” they collectively viewed it as just another soft target begging for trouble. In jest, it was suggested that those who favor such things need to post a sign saying so in front of their homes.

The class is well acquainted with the nonstop howling about gun control and how it provides a perfect excuse to cloak the failures in recognizing and dealing with society’s real and mounting social problems. Anyone who believes more gun legislation will end mass shootings refuses to see the big picture. Ban guns yet the evil remains, and so do the guns but in the hands of society’s villains.

We have a crisis of fatherless homes more than a crisis of too many guns. We have too many enraged and directionless young men, where the root of the problem lies in the breakdown of the nuclear family and a depravity of traditional morals and values.

Most of the men in my charge come from such homes.

More anti-gun laws will not end mass shootings, nor heal these deep-seated social problems. Advocating for “action, any kind of action,” as Barack Obama suggested will not solve the problems that penetrate the American soul.

Author James Howard Kunstler summarized: “This is exactly what you get in a culture where anything goes, and nothing matters.” Many young men are living in what Kunstler describes as an “abyss of missing social relations” with “no communities, no fathers, no mentors, no initiations into personal responsibility, no daily organizing principles, no instruction in useful trades, no productive activities, no opportunities for love and affection, and no way out.”

Then we pile on social media for peer-pressure, and conceit, while remaining reluctant to report any fringe behavior for fear of reprisals.

When I was questioned by the group, I suggested the root of the problem lies in a Supreme Court decision made nearly 50-years ago: Roe v. Wade. The group seemed incredulous, at first.

Our culture does not value the sacredness of human life in its most innocent form – in a mother’s womb and yet we wonder why things are imploding. When I questioned them on how many lives abortion has claimed in its “legalized right” of a 49-year run, the highest guess was one million – 64-million souls short.

Is this not mass murder?

Over the Memorial Day weekend, Chicago experienced its most violent holiday in five years with 10 killed, and 42 wounded despite increased policing. Other than the members of my class, few will mention this or the carnage going on daily throughout the Black community. The Left could care less about Blacks killing Blacks as long as it is kept in their neighborhood.

Leftists refuse to acknowledge most murders are committed by Black and Latino gangbangers, not by White dues-paying members of the NRA, the ones Obama dismissed as “clinging to their guns and their religion.”

Banishing God and prayer from the public square, abortion, broken families, a war on morality, ubiquitous pornography, violent video games, movies, and music has nothing to do with gun violence. To suggest otherwise, gets you not only cancelled but assigned your share of the blame.

Firearms are not the problem. In the hands of heroes, they are often the only solution.

The exceptionally violent are a small percentage, but those who believe that life from conception to natural death is equally sacred remains just as small.

And that is the true tragedy.

Way to go Chicago, another great weekend huh? Ain’t it great that you have the tightest gun laws of any city in the U.S. How’s that working out for you?

PS, How about the latest news about  NASCAR’s woke moves? Never was a NASCAR enthusiast, so I don’t have to worry about it. But I’ll bet there are lot of enthusiasts who giving the organization a second thought.

Originally posted 2022-06-03 12:57:35.

A Day to Remember

Memorial Day. The holiday of holidays is upon us. With all the family get togethers, barbequed dogs, burgers, and cold beer let us not forget what the day is all about. Greg once again gives us a peak into the new America, where everything wrong is now right and vice versus.  Of all the things wrong that can be fixed, why not this one? I have a close attachment to Arlington having buried so many brothers in those hallowed grounds during my time at The Barracks. Thank you Greg and may God bless Jazz and his family in hopes they will get closure sooner than later.

Arlington’s Unsightly Reckoning

By: Greg Maresca

Robert Jasinski “Jazz” and Greg Maresca

What was blatantly missing in action during this much anticipated primary polling season was my time-honored conversation with my old Marine Polish paisan, the Jazzman – Robert Jasinski. During his six-decade run on this third post from the sun, he was an avid historian and a political sage who never hesitated to engage with anyone on any topic.

Having been deployed the world over while in the Corps and an avid reader, Jazz was well spoken and quite knowledgeable. For over a generation, before each primary and general election, we would examine and critique the political ticket facing us in Pennsylvania from top to bottom.

In the midst of this primary season, I reached out to his older brother Stan who promptly informed me what candidate his late brother would have supported in the state’s senatorial race, which on the GOP side is still being contested in an extended recount. My intent was to find out when Jazz’s cremains would finally be laid to rest sometime this spring in the nation’s most hallowed burial grounds, Arlington National Cemetery.

Prior to Jazz’s unexpected step into eternity on January 24th, we had planned to visit Washington D.C. later this year. We had been contemplating it for some time. The nation’s capital was like a second home to the Delaware County native having done a tour of duty at Marine Corps Headquarters. A favorite haunt of his was Arlington. I had been on the cusp of Arlington having visited the Iwo Jima Memorial. For whatever reason, that most iconic of World War II monuments was as far as I ever ventured.

It was initially understood that any interment at Arlington, provided you were not recently killed in action, would take between three to four months. This is despite the fact that not every veteran is eligible to be interred there.

After hearing back from the funeral director, Stan told me that the backlog for burial at this national shrine stands more than a year out. In fact, the funeral director said interment of Jazz’s ashes would most likely occur in June 2023, some 17-months after his passing.

Is there a staffing problem?

There is absolutely nothing about the unprecedented backlog on the Arlington website as it is business as usual. A call to their general service number yielded nothing but more of the same. What I did learn was how Arlington conducts approximately 6,400 burials a year. The cemetery averages 30 funerals per day with their backlog consisting of a 4,500 long waiting list extending to a 15-month delay.

This is an astronomical amount and totally uncalled for.

These unelected bureaucrats in the federal government are still in blame mode putting the delays at the feet of the mighty COVID excuse. How long are we going to use COVID as a crutch for every miscue and mistake? We package $40 billion in military aid to Ukraine and bequeathed more than twice as much military hardware to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Yet, with this Memorial Day weekend upon America, we can’t bury some of our veterans in a timely fashion affording closure for so many families.

There are those  who believe there are some good members of Congress but can’t figure out what they are good for. Perhaps our polarized Congress can fix this. After all, what is there to disagree about?

Perhaps since Congress has been delegating its authority to the executive branch, it begs the question: where is the Biden administration in all of this? Since Biden got us out of Afghanistan in record time, why can’t he sign another one of his numerous presidential executive orders to expedite laying to rest Americans in a timely fashion?

Too often the unrelenting volley of class warfare, microaggressions, and the pronoun police coupled with department store sales and barbeques drowns out the true meaning of Memorial Day. Some veterans gave all in the line of duty and we honor and remember them today, while others pay daily over a lifetime.

Arlington has the remains of more than 330,000 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.

If you’ve never visited these hallowed grounds, you should. In fact you must. We owe so much to the men and women at rest here. It is absolutely beautiful, especially in the spring when the Cherry blossoms are in bloom. One of the things that impresses everyone is that no matter at what angle you look at the white markers, they are lined up perfectly. It’s a place where you can walk around and “feel” them whispering to you. Please go if you have not.

Originally posted 2022-05-28 11:35:51.

Why Do I Love Florida?

I’ll let one of our Sheriffs tell you why.

Copy and paste the URL in browser. I love it!!!!

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/04/22/florida-sheriff-says-homeowners-save-taxpayers-money-shooting-intruders/

 

We love our Gov and our State!!

 

 

Originally posted 2022-04-24 15:28:53.

Does Watching TV Make You Stupid?

Well, watch the video and you may learn just how stupid you really are. It’s amazing how Americans are duped by watching TV shows and especially the commercials.

Now, I know not how accurate the actual figures are, but they come from the government. Of course, we all know how well we can trust the government, but I suspect the actual figures are close to reality. It will probably surprise some fo you to learn the population breakdown between blacks and Hispanics. However, if you watch the new shows on TV, and especially those horribly biased commercials placed by nationally known companies I’m sure that’s what caused the highly skewed estimates by Americans. Just who are these commercials aimed at, you and me? I doubt it.

Originally posted 2022-04-15 12:45:52.

You’re Out!

What a shame that one of America’s favorite past times is going by the way of the NFL. Millionaires haggling over salaries while playing a game while its fans pay the bill. Not me! I don’t watch either.

MLB’s Alternate Universe

By: G. Maresca

As the Russians deployed tens of thousands of troops for an invasion of Ukraine, Major League Baseball’s (MLB) owners and the players’ union agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement.

MLB’s latest contract ended a lockout that lasted more than three months and barely registered a blip on the news’ radar. Their lockout impacted not just the spring training stadiums, but the local bars, restaurants, and hotels throughout Arizona and Florida. According to Seidman Research, these venues lost nearly half of their revenue when spring training was cut short in 2020.

Once upon a time in America, the national pastime was baseball. The once coast-to-coast sporting diversion is long past its time and prime. Baseball is the Pony Express in the era of the iPhone.

A work stoppage should be the last thing any professional league facing declining numbers needs. Billionaires argue with millionaires who disagree on how to divvy up a dumpster full of cash with the remaining fans paying the freight. Players and owners are heading down the Niagara River fighting over who gets to steer. Such unhinged business practices do not bode well for future growth.

When the MLB minimum salary is well over half a million, it is difficult to convince anyone with a pulse that the players are undergoing financial hardships, while the league’s anti-trust exemption remains. Making it to the “show” as players refer to the majors means the last guy on the bench can afford a wine cellar in their self-driving Bentley, while your average fan is fighting growing inflation that will price many out.

The issue is always the almighty dollar and if MLB’s goal is to drive their fans out, they are clearing the bases. Most could care less about salary caps, player minimums, arbitration, and baseball’s luxury tax structure, which parallels the federal tax code. The more they muddle with it, the more incomprehensible it becomes that has even seasoned tax attorneys bamboozled.

As Jason Gay in the Wall Street Journal put it recently, “the nation’s most self-sabotaging sport is once more setting its own shoelaces aflame” and they have been at it for the last half century.

The league’s television ratings and attendance are proof the game remains in a serious funk. MLB is its own worst enemy and cannot afford to keep their fans away. Commissioner Rob Manfred makes his NFL counterpart Roger Goodell seem like a once in a lifetime lottery pick. MLB attendance last year was down to a 37-year low. The final game of the 2020 World Series had the lowest television ratings ever, while last year’s All-Star game was the second lowest. The league saw 45.3 million fans attend regular season games in 2021, a drop of 33.9% from 2019 – the lowest figure in 35-years.

There remains no joy in Mudville as COVID’s ominous clouds still cast a long shadow as unvaccinated players will be barred from Canada to play the Toronto Blue Jays. MLB’s slow suicide picked up steam when the league stenciled BLM on mounds and outfields, while moving their All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver to appease Leftists – an insufferable and impossible task.

For many, MLB could terminate the season and it would have the same impact if the American Ceramic Society cancelled their annual convention. Even a game as superbly conceived as baseball can be so mismanaged that its fan base is doing a MacArthur and fading away. Those who still find the game worth the time and the expense, MLB’s opening day was Thursday, April 7, one week later than initially scheduled with its 162-regular season games in place.

Greed and envy are just two more nails in MLB’s coffin. In the free marketplace, businesses are at liberty to choose and live with the consequences.

Baseball will survive as it is great entertainment at many levels from the minors to college, high school, and youth leagues, where games don’t last three and a half hours and a hot dog and a beer won’t cost you a small fortune.

MLB’s hubris cares little about their fans just like Hollywood. Fans, however, can be heard by using their pastime money to support the millions of displaced Ukrainians – a grand slam in the humanity game.

 

Originally posted 2022-04-07 09:27:09.