Tag Archives: PA

Current Events

Are you a “Forgotten Man”?

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Good question posed by the WSJ; are you one? I know I am, and I am praying the “Forgotten Man” comes alive again in two weeks!

The 2020 Election: The Final Days, or Will It Be Weeks?

After the initial shock of Donald Trump’s 2016 victory wore off, a few thoughtful people across the ideological spectrum attempted to wrap their heads around what happened. How did a brash, sometimes crude political neophyte beat everyone from Jeb Bush to Hillary Clinton at their own game on the world’s largest stage? Those more prone to introspection and self-awareness than denial and vindictiveness came to the conclusion that the country’s political and media elites had forgotten about the plight of the “average” American—the so-called Forgotten Man.

The term, first coined by Yale social scientist William Graham Sumner (1840-1910), was used to describe the American who, too poor to have political influence and too rich to be considered worthy of a helping hand, was often taken for granted by the political classes. As Sumner so aptly noted, “he works, he votes, generally he prays—but he always pays.”

There was a post-2016 awakening among those who realized they had ignored a big part of the country—the one that lives far from the corridors of power and the bright lights of cable television studios. Those who hadn’t read J.D. Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy” before the election rushed to buy a copy. For a while, everyone seemed to understand the hidden pain of those in the so-called Rust Belt of the American Midwest who had paid the highest price for 50 years of social engineering at home and abroad.

The costs of trade and immigration policies that favored big business were most often felt by the working class in “flyover country.” These policy changes came at a pace so rapid that people had little chance to adapt. Those same families sent their sons and daughters to fight in far off wars with few obvious connections to the national interest.

Those who complained were either ignored or deemed xenophobic racists and “deplorables.” How dare they question the collective wisdom of highly educated experts? Never mind that those experts bore almost no consequences for the disastrous effects of their policies. To my knowledge, no politician, university professor, news anchor, military officer, or Wall Street titan has ever seen his job outsourced to a foreign land.

From the opinion pages of The Wall Street Journal, critical perspective and analysis on developments from Washington

Originally posted 2020-10-19 11:55:19.

Current Events

Voter Fraud – Already Started.

Received a notice card in the mail telling me my mail-in ballot would be sent to me twenty-five days prior to the election. Hmm, when I applied for my driver's license here in FL I must had applied for a mail-in ballot. Whoops, that "ain't" going to happen. I want to be damn sure my vote is counted, so I called and changed it to in-person voting. Folks, the fraud has already started, I fear this will be the worst election for fraud in our country's history. I fear it will be worse than some of the third world shit holes' elections. These liberal thugs ARE NOT going to allow the linchpin of democracy to play out legally. They simply cannot allow Trump to have four more years.

Pennsylvania: Mailed-In Military Votes for Donald Trump ‘Were Discarded,’ FBI Says

Federal authorities are investigating “discarded” mailed-in ballots in a key Pennsylvania county that swung to President Trump in 2016.

Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis contacted the FBI related to “potential issues with a small number of mail-in ballots at the Luzerne County Board of Elections,” the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a news release.

The FBI, working with Pennsylvania State Police, has been conducting interviews and reviewing physical evidence since Monday in Joe Biden’s hometown of Scranton.

“At this point we can confirm that a small number of military ballots were discarded. Investigators have recovered nine ballots at this time. Some of those ballots can be attributed to specific voters and some cannot,” the DOJ said.

“All nine ballots were cast for presidential candidate Donald Trump.” Is this a surprise to anyone?

The DOJ said the inquiry “remains ongoing.”

The Citizens’ Voice reported County Manager David Pedri said the county “identified an issue and reported it to the authorities.”

“We are confident that it will be successfully resolved so it will not have an impact on the integrity of the election process,” Salavantis told the paper. And if you believe this you know the saying< I have a bridge. . . . . ‘”

In 2016, Trump won Luzerne County 57.9 percent to 38.6 percent, according to published results.

In 2012, President Obama won the county 51.5 percent to 46.7 percent, the county reported.

Absentee ballots have not been mailed out to general voters yet. Pedri said that should happen the first week of October.

The Postal Service is investigating after three trays of mail, which included mailed-in ballots, were found thrown in a ditch in rural Wisconsin.

The mail was found “near the intersection of highways 96 and CB, near the Appleton International Airport” and was turned over to the postal service.

“The United States Postal Inspection Service immediately began investigating and we reserve further comment on this matter until that is complete,” USPS spokesman Bob Sheehan said.

The post office did not disclose how many ballots were discarded in that instance.

Kyle Olson is a reporter for Breitbart News. He is also host of “The Kyle Olson Show,” syndicated on Michigan radio stations on Saturdays. Listen to segments on YouTube or download full podcast episodes. Follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook, and follow him on Parler.

Originally posted 2020-09-25 09:42:58.

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

To Pennsylvania With Love

4 Comments

NOT!

I cannot get over what has happened to the Keystone State. As a kid growing up in MD with the Bathurst clan still living in the Altoona area, we traveled there often. Dad and I used to fish the trout streams and hunted deer in PA. When he and Mom retired they moved back to PA. Therefore, I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the state, always thought it was beautiful and clean, and even considered moving there when I retired. What in hell happened? It has definitely become the Twilight Zone. We are now hearing “rumors” that Fetterman is actually brain dead but still one of their senators. Of course, I always thought he was brain dead to begin with. In case you don’t know it, the town of Elysburg that Greg’s article speaks to is in PA.

 

 

Twilight Zone America                                              By: G. Maresca

If you are not convinced a spiritual war for the American soul is smoldering, consider the recent FBI memo leaked from their Richmond, Virginia field office.  The eight-page report is titled: “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities.”

Perhaps the FBI should have simply composed it in Latin.

The leak underscores the dystopian state of a divided nation.

The only thing missing is Rod Serling fingering a cigarette saying, “The FBI was clueless about 9/11, ignores Hunter Biden’s laptop charades and overlooks the lethal amounts of fentanyl streaming across our border – daily. Instead, the FBI is coming after traditional Catholics as the nation’s newest domestic threat in a relentless vortex of the Twilight Zone.”

The report stated how “radical traditional Catholics have a frequent adherence to anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ, and white supremacist ideology” and their worship preference is the Traditional Latin Mass.  Catholics are maligned since they adhere to the biblical belief that marriage only exists between one man and one woman and thus paints them “anti-LGBTQ.”

The Latin Mass may have been a threat when Nero was feeding Christians to the lions at the Roman Colosseum as it evolved into the Mass of the Ages and is still celebrated every Sunday at the monastery in Elysburg.  Moreover, being prolife gets you labeled as being anti-women and a domestic terrorist.  The memo’s lack of evidence is telling as it attempts to connect anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic behavior to dutiful Catholics, too. Note to the obtuse FBI, the Church is certainly a catholic (universal) immigrant church with longstanding diplomatic relations with Israel.

Since the leak, the FBI has recanted saying the memo, “does not meet the exacting standards of the FBI.” Whatever that means. Nevertheless, reversing course because you got caught is just damage control.

Provided the memo was not leaked leaves many unanswered questions.

What is unquestionable are the nearly two dozen acts of vandalism perpetrated against prolife organizations and Catholic churches over the last year with no arrests.  However, Catholics are the domestic threats along with those conservative parents who publicly question school boards. Conservative and religious is a toxic combination making you unmistakably guilty.

The Department of Justice is nothing less than the Democrat Party’s thought police.  The FBI was once run by the peculiar J. Edgar Hoover that has devolved into the more convincing Fascist Bureau of Intimidation. NOTE: I like that. With all those dangerous Catholics on their knees in worship at The Latin Mass, there won’t be much time to investigate anything else. The FBI is a greater threat to Americans than any foreign spy agencies.

The Biden administration and the federal bureaucracy are rife with Christ haters. All one has to look at is the concerted effort during the Obama presidency to drive Christians out of positions of influence in government and replace them with wokesters.

And “Catholic” Biden is leading the charge.

Attorneys general of 20 states so far have spoken out but that is not nearly enough. Where is the United States Council of Catholic Bishops?  Practicing Catholics are on their own, like the faithful in China. Perhaps the church can counter by getting the Jesuits after the FBI.

There is a long, documented history of discrimination against American Catholics. The late historian Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. called anti-Catholicism, “the deepest-held bias in the history of the American people.”

This is nothing new.

German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoller’s 1946 poem “First they came” put it best: “First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a communist. Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

Cue Rod Serling: “As Catholics defend the unborn and condemn the LGTBQ+ agenda as immoral, persecution will continue and intensify. Welcome to 21st-century America where ignorance is no defense in the Twilight Zone.”

Otherwise, all’s well in America, that is if you’re living under a rock!

Recent Posts

America the Beautiful

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To all those, actually only one, of my followers who takes umberance to my reference to this once great nation as a Third World Shithole, here are some things to chew on.  Absolutely unbelievable. In the very place where this nation was born, it now provides evidence as to what we have been become. Where were the police? Oh, they have probably been defunded by those in charge. Love when the one nonparticipant customer asks, “Are y’all making the sandwiches, or y’all gonna keep recording?” And the employee says, “It’ll be a little while,” like this sort of thing happens around this time every night. LOL

https://twitter.com/i/status/1573879098761392128

Then let’s go to the great state of CA, the home of fruits and nuts.

This clip shows a woman worker — identified only as “Mary” — following the grey-hooded man down an aisle and telling him she’s “called the police already.”

The shoplifter then brazenly reaches into the shelves and stuffs several items down his pants — and Mary calls him out for it, just inches from him. I wonder why he hid them as though no one knew what he was doing. Look closely at that dirtbag’s face, note the arrogance and defiance.

And how about these replies from your fellow Americans:

  • “Walgreens needs to suspend her for this,” one user declared. “She should not be risking her life over corporate profits.”
  • “This is how employees get murdered. Girl let that man keep them bags of chips. They not even half-full anyway,” another commenter said before incorrectly calling the store “Walmart” and adding that it “will hire another dummy in know time if she was killed.”
  • “There is nothing in that store that is worth your life and health,” another user wrote. “You’d get fired and screwed over if you got injured by that nonpaying customer.”
  • “She should’ve left him alone,” another commenter said. “She’s so lucky, he could’ve struck her. It’s not worth your safety & life stopping him.”
  • “This is absolutely against company policy. There are literal training videos that show that this is NOT what employees are supposed to do. (I may, or may not, have seen that training),” another user said. “I would bet that this woman will be getting written up, if not fired…”
  • “She is stupid,” another commenter wrote. “Could have gotten her teeth knocked out. Not worth it…. Corporate insurance covers loss. Btw she is violating Walgreen[s’] employee policy for physically trying to intervene, Call police is her only policy duty.”

Oh, and one commenter mocked the crook and what soft-on-crime San Francisco recently has become: “Please don’t shame this man! He is a valued, loyal customer of our beautiful, historic, open-air drug market. We love it when he brings toiletries, OTC meds, and other new, unopened merchandise to trade for fentanyl.”

Walgreens will shut down five San Francisco locations next month because of problems with “organized retail crime.”

The pharmacy chain said that each location will shift prescriptions to another store in the area.

“Due to ongoing organized retail crime, we have made the difficult decision to close five stores across San Francisco,” a Walgreens spokesperson informed Fox Business via a statement. “Each store will transfer prescriptions to a nearby Walgreens location within a mile radius and we expect to place the stores’ team members in other nearby locations.”

“Organized retail crime continues to be a challenge facing retailers across San Francisco, and we are not immune to that,” the spokesperson noted. “Retail theft across our San Francisco stores has continued to increase in the past few months to five times our chain average. During this time to help combat this issue, we increased our investments in security measures in stores across the city to 46 times our chain average in an effort to provide a safe environment.”

Sleep well my  fellow Americans. I, personally, can’t wait to see how this Third World Shithole handles the election come November. Probably just like the one that put that piece of shit in the White House two years ago.