Category Archives: Current Events

Current Events

On The Road

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I must apologize profusely for disappearing for such a long time. I have no excuse other than to blame it on so many birthdays (mine, of course—LOL) and so many items on my Bucket List that have eaten away at my waking hours.

For example, as I type this, my bride – Nancy, and my dog, Edgar – are sitting in the RV at a KOA in Watkins Glen located in the Finger Lakes area of upper state New York. We have been on the road since 27 July visiting kin on our way up the East Coast with an eventual destination of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, which has been on both mine and Nancy’s list for years. Of that, all I can say is been there, done that, no need to do it again. I did come away with a tidbit of information that made a significant impression on me. The amount of water coming over Horseshoe Falls is a phenomenal 34 million gallons PER MINUTE! WOW!

Anyway, we leave here tomorrow and go to Lake George, NY. We stay three nights, then head for the Flight 93 Memorial site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania—a must-see told to us by many fellow RVers and Marine brothers. Several recommended making sure one has a handkerchief.

Then we head home to the heat – which we have not missed at all. We expect to be in SWFL by the end of the month. 

We both have been extremely impressed with upper state NY; what a gorgeous area. If a bunch of die-hard idiot liberals didn’t run the damn state, we could see ourselves living here – during the summer months.

Anyway, my good friend and Marine brother, with whom most of you are familiar, sent me a column he’d written, and that gave me the incentive to make a post. As always, it’s a good read and filled with truisms.

The Buzz on the Bus                                                           By: Greg Maresca

Spending the summer behind the wheel of a bus has brought with it some interesting turns, detours, and plenty of spontaneous conversation. Many of the seniors on board do not get out as they once did. Others have little contact with the outside world except for their journey to various medical appointments, while some do not interact with many other than the small retirement community where they reside.

While driving, I do not like being beholden to the Global Positioning System (GPS), but there are times when it is the only option. Technology, when it works, can make any transition quite smooth but not when you’re sitting in a defunct parking lot or in the middle of a road surrounded by corn fields with no scarecrow in sight with the GPS informing anyone within earshot that “you have arrived at your destination.”

One distinguished gentleman and rider, a Vietnam veteran of two tours, noted how societies fail when tolerance becomes the ultimate virtue and is then defined by one party as gospel. He remarked about the irony of how Democrats preach tolerance of gays, illegal immigrants, and even convicted felons but then turn on fellow Americans who are Christians, conservatives, and republicans. As he stepped off into the smothering humidity, he parted with these words of wisdom: At this juncture, there is no excuse for NeverTrumpers to continue.

Then there was one woman (at least I thought she was female) who boarded wearing her surgical mask giving the ride a retro COVID-19 feel. She was the clear winner of the summer’s best bus rider mask that read simply: “Harris” with each letter emblazoned in a different color. It was the first campaign sign I witnessed in all my journeys extoling Harris for the nation’s highest office.

Perhaps she doesn’t realize how Kamala Harris as vice president owns each one of President Joe Biden’s failures that includes economic decline brought on by rising inflation, tens of millions of illegal immigrants, the Afghanistan debacle, and increased tensions, worldwide. Ironically, Harris opposes voter identification laws, but requires photo ID to get into her campaign stops.

Harris pleads with voters to elect her again, so she can solve all the problems that have been ongoing since she was first elected.

Harris entered the presidential race a month ago and has yet to give any interviews or press conferences with no blowback from journalists. Such behavior underscores how journalistic objectivity is a myth. One recent headline in a national publication read: “Harris Tough on Border.” This was not a satirical piece but an actual “news story.” Politics can be a pleasure when you have a complicit media working nonstop for your campaign and gratis, too. Time magazine admitted Harris refused to grant an interview for their cover story. Her media rebranding is something to behold as it is nothing but a complete fabrication in the first degree.

As such, the Biden basement 2.0 campaign strategy has officially commenced.

If it was successful once, why not again?

Despite a colluding media providing cover like bodyguards with every step her campaign takes, Harris’s extreme positions on abortion, gender ideology, parental rights, crime, and immigration are actually left of Biden, which should speak volumes but reaches only deaf ears.

Harris understands that to get debt-burdened Millennials to support her is by making promises in the extreme – Medicare for all, cancelling student loans and universal basic income. This trifecta of financial doom would have drastic consequences for the economy, stock market, and millions of Americans’ retirement accounts. But given Millennials’ knowledge of economics is just as pathetic as their comprehension of civics, it is the perfect paradigm.

I passed on telling this young woman that Harris and her bus driving hack have one thing in common: We both have never won one presidential primary – ever. And yet it is Donald Trump who is the real threat to democracy. I’m sure she would have been offended because if one disagrees with the left, one is not only ignorant and insipid, but evil.

The time is long past burying our heads in our phones and other narcissistic pursuits while our constitution and the republic founded upon it is being bused over a cliff.

Current Events

Toxicity

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A VERY WELL written article from US & World by someone who must have been a Marine. I looked him up and here is who he is: Prioleau Alexander, who is a native of Charleston, South Carolina, and a graduate of Auburn University, is a former Marine officer and a self-employed advertising entrepreneur. And trust me he pulls no punches. Enjoy. And oh BTW, I personally agree with everything he says. What say you?

US & WORLD

Fitness News – Independen. Unapologetic

Here he is with my favorite 2024 Presidential candidate

Prioleau Alexander: The Marine Ethos

Current administration making changes that go against the Corps’ congressionally mandated responsibilities …

by E Prioleau Alexander May 3, 2023 

I don’t know much about the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Coast Guard, but I do know a bit about the Marines … and I can tell you that since 1775, there is a singular mission that gets a United States Marine out of the bed before sunrise: Killing those who wish harm to the United States.

That’s it.

To understand a Marine, you must know they have one thing they fear far more than death: Failure to perform in a way worthy of those who worn the uniform before them – a reputation built on blood, pain, and death.

The Corps, you see, is not a branch of the military – it is a cult.

This is because Boot Camp and Officer Candidate School tear men down to the edge of their souls, then rebuild them as men who believe they could go head-to-head with Hell’s most powerful demons. These young men and women leave that training with the belief that there is no greater or harder-to-earn honor than wearing the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor insignia. With that goes their belief that “every Marine is a rifleman.”

Are there not men such as these in the other branches? Absolutely, but each branch has its own mission – and serving as America’s “force in readiness” rests with the Marines. It is their job to be the first to fight – taking charge of hostile situations by deploying extreme violence. In the Korean War, North Korea overran the south until there was but a tiny patch of land left unoccupied. The Marines landed, and in short order the retreat of the enemy began.

Who are the Americans who sign on to be a part of this? As liberals would say, “toxic males” join the cult because they are old-fashioned patriots – and want to be a part of America’s most elite fighting team. Tough and driven women who also want to be a part of something elite often join, even if it means certain jobs and promotions won’t be available to them.

Life is much easier for a woman in the other services, but female Marines aren’t looking for “easy.”

What binds these men and women? Their ethos. The belief that they are different from Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen. That they can do the impossible, despite a lack of funding and using the Army’s hand-me-down gear. That they can accomplish the difficult in short order – and the impossible with a little extra time.

The importance of Marines believing themselves to be a breed apart cannot be overstated. Writing about the current failures of Marine Corps leadership, Marine Medal of Honor recipients Maj. General Jim Livingston and Colonel Jay Vargas state, “The structure of the Corps or the weapons they are provided can be changed or reversed. Ethos is different—and once extinguished, it is gone forever.”

Marines have always been told they are America’s shock troops. They are the force the President uses when it’s time to call 911. Take that away, and you might as well offer them a beret and roll them into the Army.

For Marines, “the good order and disciple” of a combat unit is paramount, and that good order and disciple is based one primary belief: We are all the same. Yes, we are different colors of green, but we are all green. We are Marines, nothing will divide us, and no one will be singled out for any kind of special treatment.

The first open strike of the Marines’ ethos came with the reversal of “Don’t ask don’t tell,” a policy that worked well for the Marines. Openly gay individuals began serving in the Corps despite the fact the Corps is mostly comprised of “toxic males” who object.

Then came women in combat arms, and many “toxic” males in the business of gunfighting don’t want to be burdened by a female who may slow them down, or receive undue attention from instinctually-concerned males if wounded in combat. (For men, hearing a man scream in pain is very different than hearing a woman scream in pain).

U.S. Marines (USMC)

Finally, we come to admittance of openly trans individuals, with the military paying for their gender mutilation surgery. This needs no further analysis.

Is honoring the particular friction a person likes during sex worth disrupting the ethos of America’s one military unit capable of serving in every clime and place? Liberals would say, “If they don’t like it, they can get out.” They are. Liberals also say, “If they don’t like the new system, don’t join.” They aren’t.

If you haven’t served in the Corps, Marines don’t care about your opinion on “toxic” men… because they know first-hand these men are the best at stacking up enemy dead like cord wood. These “toxic “males speak of themselves only as Marines, without the need for adjectives pointing out their differences.

The current mumbling point for those in favor of this lunacy is that “the Corps is stronger with diversity.” No statement could be further from the truth: The Corps has been feared by enemies of America for centuries because there’s no diversity. Everyone is green, and committed solely to the accomplishment of the mission.

Is that offensive? Too bad … the truth can hurt.

In addition to the sexual revolution in an organization that lives and dies by unit cohesion, Marines find themselves with a new Commandant — General David Berger — who seems to have lost his mind … to the point of making changes that go against the Corps’ Congressionally mandated responsibilities.

No two words sum up this evolution better than the Commandant’s retention efforts being touted as “Talent Management.” First, these warriors aren’t “talent” — they are Marines. Second, Marines don’t “manage” anything – they lead. I confess I laughed out loud at the Commandant’s cluelessness when I read the words “talent management.”

U.S. Marines (USMC)

General Livingston and Colonel Vargas sum up the current Commandant’s other changes quite succinctly, pointing to the erosion of the Corps’ ethos: “The decision has been made to eliminate all armor, and scout sniper platoons in infantry battalions. The Corps is moving forward with drastic cuts in the infantry, cannon artillery, assault amphibious vehicles, aviation, military police, assault beaching and combat service support. They have crippled the Marine Corps capabilities to respond to global crises and contingencies across the spectrum of conflict. And they are investing in experimental weapons that simply replicate war-fighting skills offered by other services.”

It is madness to make cuts to anything having to do with the man-to-man warfighting skills and equipment needed to destroy the enemy, because man-to-man warfighting is the Corps. Tanks, assault amphibian vehicles, combat engineers, artillery, and the air wing exist solely to assist infantry grunts in planting the American flag on enemy soil. The rest of the Corps exists solely to support those combat arms units. The Army, Navy, and Air Force can handle the other warfighting needs — and they are quite good at it.

If you were to meet General Livingston or Colonel Vargas in person, even if they were attired in their Dress Blues and wearing their Medal of Honor decorations, it would be perfectly acceptable for you to forgo the formalities of their rank, and greet them by saying, “Hello there, Marine.”

That is part of the uniqueness of the Corps—that rank and awards take a distant second to the honor of being called a Marine.

If the Corps isn’t going to react on a moment’s notice to rain hell on an enemy that pops up in some remote area of the globe, who will?

I hope Congress and the Corps’ current leadership will get together for a discussion centering on the question, “Why are we trying to strangle the life out of the very things that make Marines who and what they are?” There are hundreds of thousands of former Marines out here who’d love to know the answer, and they’ll be joined by a few million civilians when they no longer hear the words, “The Marines have landed, and the situation is now under control.”

I never met Colonel Vargas, but I know MajGen Livingston very well. He was my 6th Marines regimental commander when I was blessed to have had command of 2/6, Huxley’s Harlots. There is no better warrior in my book. A Marines’ Marine through and through.

Originally posted 2023-06-21 18:41:14.

Current Events, Recent Posts

God Help Us Save our Nation!

Video

This video needs no introduction, except to say turn up the volume and listen to what he has to say, maybe even listen to it twice. And when you’re finished, send it to those you know of whom he speaks.

NOTE: You will probably have to copy and paste this hyperlink in your browser. It is safe, you have my word.

https://t.co/B896fqBmkS

And when you’ve finished listening to that video, click anywhere on the one below, and listen to a very short one to have your memory refreshed from years ago, when all this started. I remember it well.

Yes, friends, we are at war. A war that our country has not seen since the Revolutionary War.  The democrat’s will not stop until we have become a member of the new globalist society. where scum like Bill Gates will merely become richer. Why did Soros feel it was time for him to get involved in our elections? Call me a conspiracy theorist if you will, but I truly believe our country is doomed. We must be prepared to fight for our once great nation.  Agree or disagree, let me hear your comments.

Current Events, Recent Posts

Secretary without honor: Voices

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6/16/2023 UPDATE: I posted this in 2016, and based on what is going on today with Trump, I decided to repost it bc I believe it is pertinent.  A lot has happened since the original post regarding folks in various positions disregarding the procedures for handling classified documents, some of whom are in jail while others are not. I am not condemning Trump bc I strictly believe in innocent until proven guilty, albeit the media doesn’t adhere to that dictum.

All I am asking is why isn’t this bitch in jail? Well, that’s an easy one to answer. Because she is a democrat. Over the years we have developed two sets of standards, one for  them and one for republicans. I liked what Pence recently said when he threw his hat in the ring for this next election. He committed himself to cleaning up the entire Dept. of Justice. The entire system is wrought with injustice; lady justice is not blind anymore.

Anyway, I reposted this one just to get into the fray. This thing with Trump will last a long time and will certainly not play out before the primaries. It will be interesting.

It is an interesting story line. BTW, when this was posted several ask what happened to Capt Chapman. He did, in fact, die from a scuba accident while stationed in Okinawa in 1979.

Stay Tuned.

This is a must read for anyone even considering voting for this person in the upcoming election. As one who grew up in the Marine Corps and imbued with the Honor, Courage, and Commitment with which the Corps adheres, I must vehemently agree with every word this author has written. Every politician, or anyone running for a political office needs to read this article. In fact, I will even go a step further and state that every so-called “citizen” of this once great nation should read this and do some soul-searching to see what their decision would have been in this captain’s situation. This officer’s father was one of the finest officers and Commandant of the Marine Corps under which I served. He did not attempt to save his son!

Hillary againWhen I hear people say Clinton emails don’t matter, I remember a young Marine captain who owned up to his career-ruining mistake.

Apologists for Hillary Clinton’s alleged criminal mishandling of classified documents say that it doesn’t matter, that she really did nothing wrong, or nothing significant. But the real question is not so much what she did as how she has responded to being found out.

Once during the mid-1960s when I was on active duty in the Marine Corps, I was the air liaison officer for a battalion of Marines aboard 11 ships in the Mediterranean. As the air officer and a senior captain, I had a rotating responsibility for the nuclear code book, kept in the safe in the operations room of the lead amphibious squadron command ship. I shared that duty with another captain, a squared away young man, liked by all he commanded and the son of a very high-ranking Marine.

On the day our ships were leaving the Mediterranean, we met the new amphibious squadron near Gibraltar and made preparations to transfer security codes and other sensitive material to the incoming Marine battalion. The young captain was on duty and went to the operations office to pick up the code book. He was alone in the office. He removed the code book and placed it on the desk while closing the safe. In a rushed moment, he stepped across the passageway to retrieve something he needed from his quarters. Seconds later, he stepped back into the operations office and found the operations sergeant having just entered, looking down at the code book.

Against all regulations, the code book had been out of the safe and unattended. It mattered not that it was unattended for only seconds, that the ship was 5 miles at sea, or that it was certain no one unauthorized had seen the code. The captain could have explained this to the operations sergeant. He could have told the sergeant that he “would take care of it.” He could have hinted that his high-ranking dad could smooth it over.

But the Marine Corps’ values are honor, courage and commitment. Honor is the bedrock of our character. The young captain could not ask the sergeant to betray his duty to report the infraction, no matter how small. Instead, the captain simply said, “Let’s go see the colonel.”

That captain had wanted to be a Marine officer all of his life. It was the only career he ever wanted. When he reported the incident to the colonel, he knew he was jeopardizing his life’s dream. But he did it.

The results went by the book. The amphibious squadron stood down. Military couriers flew in from NATO. The codes were changed all over Europe. The battalion was a day late in leaving the Mediterranean. The captain, Leonard F. Chapman III, received a letter of reprimand, damaging his career. He stayed in the corps and died in a tragic accident aboard another ship.

I saw some heroic acts in combat in Vietnam, things that made me proud to be an American and a Marine. But that young captain stood for what makes our Corps and our country great.

Clinton is the antithesis of that young captain, someone with no honor, little courage and commitment only to her endless ambition. This has nothing to do with gender, party affiliation, ideology or policy. It is a question of character — not just hers, but ours. Electing Clinton would mean abandoning holding people accountable for grievous errors of integrity and responsibility. What we already know about her security infractions should disqualify her for any government position that deals in information critical to mission success, domestic or foreign. But beyond that, her responses to being found out — dismissing its importance, claiming ignorance,blaming others — indict her beyond anything the investigation can reveal. Those elements reveal her character. And the saddest thing is that so many in America seem not to care.

Phillip Jennings is an investment banker and entrepreneur, former Marine Corps pilot in Vietnam and Air America pilot in Laos. He is the author of two novels and one non-fiction book. 

In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. To read more columns, go to the Opinion front page and follow us on Twitter @USATOpinion. 

Originally posted 2023-06-16 09:00:16.

Current Events

Birthday Ball 2015

In five days our Corps will be 240 years old. Born in Tun Tavern, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 10 November 1775 makes us the second oldest and therefore, the second senior service in United States. Many have commented over the years that it seems appropriate the Corps was born in a bar—actually we consider it a compliment. Regardless of where we are, or what we are doing, we stop for a moment to celebrate with reverence our Corps’s birthday. It should not go unnoticed by the unfamiliar reader that unlike other organizations, we do not consider it our Corps’s anniversary, but a birthday—there is a difference. If at all possible there is always a “Birthday Ball,” filled with pomp and circumstance, usually a speech by the unit commanding officer, or from an invited guest, reading of our thirteenth Commandant General Lejeune’s message, and cutting of the birthday cake with the first piece going to the oldest Marine present and the second going to the youngest—in hopes that someday, he will receive the first piece.

This year I have been honored by an invitation to be the guest speaker at the Williamson County, Texas Detachment #1022 of the Marine Corps league birthday ball on 14 November. The Commandant of the League happens to be “Doc” John Weed, who was our platoon Corpsman in Vietnam in 1966–67. I believe this is the first time I have heard of a League commanded by a Navy Corpsman—a testimony to the respect and admiration we, as Marines, have for our Navy corpsmen—it is an elected position.

Nancy and I are both excited to be able to participate in one more birthday ball. If my memory serves me well, I believe my first birthday ball was our Corps’s 183rd—that, my friends, was a long time ago!

Originally posted 2015-11-05 17:05:54.