You may not have had the time to listen to his remarks before the entire House today, I did. I was impressed to hear where he is going to lead that broken legislature. I liked his priorities. I am posting it in full on here so you won’t have to listen to the MSM tonight give you only the sound bites that THEY decide you should hear. Listen to it all, and make your own decision instead of hearing what Lester Holts and company want you to hear.
Originally posted 2023-10-26 14:12:30.
Christmas is coming. Do you know a Marine who might not have read that fantastic book about some young kid from the rural area along the Chesapeake Bay outside of Baltimore who was going nowhere, decided to get out of school in his senior year before the report cards came out and enlisted in the Marine Corps? Well, here’s your chance to give him a great Christmas present personally inscribed to him and signed by the author. How can this happen you may ask. Well, it’s simple. you see, I happen to know the author very well. It’s me. LOL
I still have about 20 or so of the hardcover copies left over from when I ditched the publisher once I determined just how much they were ripping me off. The publisher priced the book way out of line, but I had no say in it. We argued via emails, texts, and phone calls for over a month, but I lost out. They claimed it was all based on page count. It is a long book actually 564 pages, but for you Grunts (like me) it has lots photos, so they set the price at $42.95. Would you believe that my profit on each book they and Amazon sold was $2.73.
Anyway, I bought a load of the book before I dropped the publisher. Of course they didn’t give me the same deal they gave to Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I would like get rid of the books I have so I am offering a deal for this coming Christmas, but you have to hurry as we are leaving to attend my sister’s memorial service in Swansboro, NC on 9 December. Then we will continue north to our daughter’s house for Christmas in Pasadena, MD. We expect to be back home around 28-29 December. I will; however, have some books with me as we will travel north in our RV with the two cats and my new dog.
I will sell the hardcover version, which is a beautiful book by the way, personally inscribed to the person and signed by me. I have been selling it for $35.00, but for this one time Christmas deal, I sell it for $30.00 and I will pay the postage, which is now $6.13. In the interest of full disclosure, I am making $5.94 on the each sale as I paid $17.93 per copy from the scumbag publisher.
Anyway, if you are interested google my name on Amazon and it will take you to many reviews of the book. If your interest is then piqued, send me an email telling about this person you want to give it to, and whether you want it mailed directly to him/her or to you. That’s all there is to it. Email me at: sgt-b@comcast.net, or call me at (239)299-6738.
Here is the Table of Contents to give you a feel of what all the book covers if you’ve not read it.
Dedication
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 “Brewed on the Shores of the Chesapeake Bay”
2 From the Halls of Montezuma
3 Parris Island
4 Infantry Training Regiment
5 The Private’s World
6 Schools Demonstration Troops
7 Republic of the Philippines
8 Treasure Island
9 Crossing the Pacific
10 Welcome to Japan
11 The Price of a Lucky Strike
12 The Monkey House
13 Battery D, Second Battalion, Tenth Marines
14 Drill Instructor School
15 The DI
16 The Platoon Leaders Course
17 Schools Demonstration Troops—Redux
18 Republic of Vietnam
19 “Corpsman Up”
20 Only a Sergeant
21 Sparrow Hawk
22 Sheer Terror
23 Operation Hastings
24 Anderson Trail
25 LCpl Albert Brigham, USMC
26 Cpl Gary Wayne Olson, USMC
27 Bordering on Ridiculous
28 WIANE
29 The Silent Majority
30 Oldest Post in the Corps
31 “Who the Hell’s Jim?”
32 Hail to the Chief
33 Officer Candidates School
34 Staff Sergeant “Chesty”
35 Special Ceremonial Platoon
36 Anchors Aweigh
37 Company “E”
38 Amphibious Warfare School
39 Go Army!
40 Methodist College
41 Okinawa
42 Marine Barracks, Lemoore, California
43 Armed Forces Staff College
44 Recruiting Station, Chicago
45 College of Naval Warfare
46 Huxley’s Harlots
47 G-3 Training Officer
48 Landing Force Training Command, Atlantic
49 The School of Infantry
50 The Consequences
Epilogue
A Marine Corps Rank Structure
B Abbreviations/Acronyms
C Glossary
Originally posted 2024-11-29 16:18:08.
That way, they’ll never leave you because they will need a place to live without a job.
If this is not the saddest article I have ever read about the educational system of the richest country in the world, I don’t know what is. And this all happened right before our eyes, and with the help of the U.S. Department of Education. It’s absolutely pathetic. Taking out a loan to pay a university/college thousands of dollars for a degree in something you think is cool at the time, and then have to go flip burgers at McDonald’s and live with mom and dad because the parchment paper is worth anything in the job market. But you were cool and had fun, right? And now that mean old government wants its loan paid back. What a cruel world it is.
Of course, you could join the military. Oh, but wait. The latest stats I’ve read suggest that 70% of 18-25-year-olds are not physically or mentally qualified to join the military. Oops
The academic world is as much to blame for this as are the foolish students. While all this goes on, the Harvards and the Yales get richer and richer.
From the Wall Street Journal 2/9/2025
It’s the best of times for Wall Street bulls and the worst of times for young college grads. The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday smashed a record and crossed 50000 amid renewed optimism about the economy. Meantime, unemployment among young college grads has risen to recession levels. Behold a tale of two labor markets.
Unemployment declined last year for college non-graduates and ticked up slightly for older grads, though it is still lower than average historically. Yet new data from the New York Federal Reserve Bank last week showed that unemployment among college grads age 22 to 27 rose to 5.6% in December, roughly what it was in February 2009 during the financial panic.
Artificial intelligence isn’t taking their jobs. Young grads’ struggles started before AI went mainstream. Between 1990 and 2014, unemployment for young college grads was generally 1 to 3 percentage points lower than for all workers. The gap started to tighten around 2014 and reversed in late 2018. Unemployment for young college grads is now about 1.4 points higher than for all workers.
The real problem is a mismatch between labor supply and demand. Government subsidies and public schools have funneled too many young people to credential mills, which churn out grads who lack the skills that employers demand. Many would be better off training in skilled trades, for which demand is enormous.
More than half of high-school grads matriculate to college, even though only 35% of 12th graders score proficient in reading and 22% in math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. This suggests that many college students aren’t academically prepared or even inclined. But colleges ensure they graduate just the same by handing out A’s for no effort.
U.S. colleges awarded 2.2 million bachelor’s degrees last year, about twice as many as in 1990. That’s also double the number of associate’s degrees. Another 860,000 Americans last year received a master’s degree, nearly triple the 1990 figure. Nearly 40% of Americans with a bachelor’s now have an advanced degree.
Colleges have added graduate programs in fields like urban planning, sustainability and fine arts to rake in more federal dollars. Students had been allowed to take out unlimited federal loans for graduate studies until last summer’s GOP tax bill capped borrowing at $200,000 for professional degrees (like medicine or law) and $100,000 for others.
One result: Young college grads enter a labor market that is saturated with heavily credentialed workers. But they have less work experience and are often less productive than their older counterparts. Many skated through college by relying on AI to do their work. Take ChatGPT away, and they struggle to function.
Some also struggle with executive functioning because of disability accommodations in high school and college that allowed them extra time to complete tests and assignments. More than 20% of undergrads at Harvard and Brown and 38% at Stanford have registered disabilities.
Employers are required by law to make accommodations for disabled workers, but that doesn’t mean they have to hire someone who can’t meet a deadline or doesn’t want to work on a weekend because she’s “cooked.” Or for that matter, someone who needs his hand held all the time—a common employer gripe about recent grads.
Next, consider the demand side of the labor market. Retirements are increasing as the population ages. Last year the number of Americans on Social Security increased by two million, about double the average increase over the prior decade. Resulting job vacancies in the trades are going unfilled because of a dearth of skilled workers.
The National Federation of Independent Business reported last week that 31% of small-business owners had job openings they couldn’t fill, compared with a historical average of 24%. A Montana construction firm told the survey: “The biggest issue for our business is finding workers who want to work and finish an apprenticeship.”
An Ohio manufacturer noted that “skilled machinists are not available. We tried for years to get one.” A Connecticut manufacturer mused that “the need for trades is desperate in order for businesses to continue in this country. When the older workforce finally feels able to retire and live a comfortable life, who is going to take their place?” Not young college grads.
The Federal Reserve’s latest survey of businesses observed that while demand for workers has softened, “firms reported continued challenges finding skilled labor, particularly in engineering, health care, and other trades.” The report added: “AI’s current impact on employment was limited, with more significant effects anticipated in the coming years rather than immediately.”
Which suggests the job market for young grads could get worse in the years to come. If rote work is all that college grads are capable of, why not employ AI instead? ChatGPT, after all, never complains or gets cooked.
By Allysia Finley
I received an email this morning from a reliable source that contained an article allegedly written by one Dave Ramsey. I replied to the email asking if I could have Dave’s original email because I wanted to contact him. I don’t know if this is the same Dave Ramsey that I knew back in 1965 when he was a fresh-caught 2dLt. out of TBS. The Dave I know graciously wrote the Foreword for my book. I was his first plt sgt in Co B, Schools Demonstration Troops (SDT) at Quantico, VA, in 1965. Dave retired as a Col, USMCR. It may not be the same Dave Ramsey. It could be the Dave Ramsey from Ramsey Solutions, but it doesn’t matter.
Dave says it all. I’m certain any one of us on here could have written it exactly as he did. We live in a strange, upside-down, aggravating, dangerous, and frustrating world. I am of the opinion that our country is on the brink of total disaster, much moreso than many countries throughout the world. To even consider that there are countries that are doing very well today, while we slowly crumble. Sadly, we have no one to blame but ourselves. And it appears the only thing we can do about it is await the second coming of the Lord.
Here’s Dave’s article:
“This morning, I realized that everything is about to change. No matter how I vote, no matter what I say, lives are never going to be the same. I have been confused by the hostility of family and friends. I look at people I have known all my life, so hate-filled that they agree with opinions they would never express as their own. I think that I may well have entered the Twilight Zone. You can’t justify this insanity. We have become a nation that has lost its collective sense of direction. We see other countries going Socialist and collapsing, but it seems like a great plan to us. Somehow, it’s un-American for the census to count how many Americans are in America. People who say there is no such thing as gender are demanding a female President. Universities that advocate equality discriminate against Asian-Americans in favor of African-Americans. Some people are held responsible for things that happened before they were born, while others are not held responsible for their actions at present. Criminals are caught-and-released to hurt more people, but stopping them is bad because it’s a violation of THEIR rights. People who have never owned slaves should pay slavery reparations to people who have never been slaves.After legislating gender, if a dude pretends to be a woman, you are required to pretend with him. It was cool for Joe Biden to “blackmail” the President of Ukraine, but it’s an impeachable offense if Donald Trump inquires about it. People who have never been to college should pay the debts of college students who took out huge loans for their degrees. Immigrants with tuberculosis and polio are welcome, but you’d better be able to prove your dog is vaccinated. Irish doctors and German engineers who want to immigrate to the US must go through a rigorous vetting process, but any illiterate gang-bangers who jump the southern fence are welcomed. Five billion dollars for border security is too expensive, but $1.5 trillion for “free” health care is not. If you cheat to get into college, you go to prison, but if you cheat to get into the country, you go to college for free. And, pointing out all this hypocrisy somehow makes us “racists”! Nothing makes sense anymore, no values, no morals, no civility, and people were dying of a Chinese virus, but it was racist to refer to it as Chinese, even though it began in China. We are clearly living in an upside-down world where right is wrong and wrong is right, where moral is immoral and immoral is moral, where good is evil and evil is good, where killing murderers is wrong, but killing innocent babies is right. Wake up, America. The great unsinkable ship Titanic America has hit an iceberg, is taking on water, and sinking fast.”
Dave Ramsey
Thank you, Dave, wherever you are, my friend. God Bless!
Well, after all the many years of hard work, dedication, and perseverance, it’s finally happening Marines. We as Marines always took pride in the fact that we were born in bar. And now the tavern is being rebuilt. From the website “TheTun.org” here’s the report:
Lieutenant General Calvert L. Worth, Jr., Commanding General, II Marine Expeditionary Force, and Medal of Honor Recipient Major General James E. Livingston, USMC, (Ret.), joined representatives from the six organizations with a heritage at The Tun in Philadelphia for a groundbreaking ceremony in Philadelphia on November 10, 2024, the 249th birthday of the United States Marines Corps. The Tun Legacy Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is rebuilding the historic Tun, the birthplace of the Marines, to coincide with the 250th birthday of the United States Marine Corps in 2025 and America250 in 2026. In a nod to The Tun’s significance in the history of the Marines, participants in the groundbreaking used hand-held entrenching tools (E-Tools) for the ceremony.
Please go to the website and read all about the plans as well as look at all the photos of the groundbreaking ceremony on the Corps’ 249th birthday. The Marine in the daper sport coat (5th from the left) is MGen James (“Jungle Jim”) Livingston who was my Regimental Commander when I had 2/6 back in 1987-88. For some reason I was not aware of this event for had I known about it, I would have been there. I will tell you this though, I will be there for the commemoration planned for the Corps’ 250th birthday! Care to join me?
And while you are there, PLEASE make a donation; it’s tax deductible, but that should not be the reason for a donation. We must make this happen! We need our bar back. LOL. I have already made mine; do yours Marine.
Originally posted 2024-11-26 13:31:51.
