Tag Archives: Politics

Current Events, Recent Posts

Secretary without honor: Voices

6 Comments

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

D-Day Approaches

6 Comments

Hi Gang, the D in this case stands for DEBT, our countries debt! I hesitated to post this article, but I really think it needs to be out there so people understand what is going on in our country today economically. As a self-made Economist who loves the topic and follows it more than anything else we are about to reach a turning point in America. June 1st is D-Day folks. This has never happened in the USA and if it does this time, it will have far reaching impact on many things, not to even mention America’s reputation throughout the world. I’ll save my further comments  after you read it.

15 May 2023
Military.com | By  Rebecca Kheel

Billions of dollars of veterans benefits could be imperiled if the U.S. defaults on its debts, though the full extent of the fallout is uncertain because of the unprecedented nature of a default.

About $12 billion in veterans benefits are expected to be paid out June 1 — the same day the Treasury Department has named as the earliest day a default could happen if Congress doesn’t act to avoid it.

A default would likely delay those benefits, but for exactly how long would depend on the Treasury’s next move after a default, experts who spoke to Military.com said.

“There is significant uncertainty as to what would occur because we’ve never been there,” said Rachel Snyderman, senior associate director of business and economic policy for the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Washington, D.C., think tank that estimated how much money in veterans benefits is due to be paid in June.

At issue is what’s known as the debt ceiling or debt limit, which is the amount of money the Treasury can borrow in order to pay the nation’s bills. The exact timing of the “X date,” or the day the Treasury runs out of cash, is a moving target since it depends on how much tax revenue comes in, but Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned it could happen as soon as June 1. If you care to, look up this idiots bio and see how many Econ courses she has ever taken. She just learned how to spell Treasury when she got the job.

Pentagon officials have sounded the alarm about how a default could affect paychecks for service members.

House Republicans are demanding spending cuts in exchange for lifting the ceiling. The White House has maintained Congress should raise the ceiling immediately to avoid even the specter of a default and that any talks about spending cuts should be handled separately, though President Joe Biden has signaled an openness to clawing back unspent COVID-19 funds as Republicans have demanded. LOL, Biden wants to raise the ceiling THEN talk about cuts, that is so funny, it’s crazy. Does anyone really believe he means that. One of those famous, “The check is in the mail ” statements.. And they are still paying COVID payments? 

With the deadline fast approaching, Biden and congressional leaders met at the White House last week, and staff-level talks have continued since then. A second meeting between Biden and congressional leaders had been scheduled for Friday but was canceled. Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., are next scheduled to meet Tuesday, Biden said Monday.

McCarthy sounded a pessimistic note Monday, telling reporters he thinks the two sides are still “far apart” and that it “seems like [administration officials] want to default more than they want a deal.” Certainly, so they can blame it all on the GOP

While the Biden administration and House Republicans have been trading accusations about whether the GOP proposal to slash overall government spending would mean cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs, less talked about has been how veterans could be affected by a default.

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s estimate of payments that could be missed, including veterans benefits, is based on analysis of past Treasury reports on its daily transactions, Snyderman said. The estimate for veterans benefits covers any benefit administered by the VA, she said.

In addition to the June 1 payment, another round of veterans benefits is expected to be paid June 30.

“With each additional day that impasse continues, there could be an exponential impact on what that payment delay could look like,” Snyderman said.

Experts see two possible scenarios for how the Treasury could try to pay U.S. bills after hitting the debt ceiling. In one scenario, the Treasury could choose to prioritize making certain payments before others as cash comes in. In that case, how long veterans benefits and military pay is delayed would depend on where they fall in line for priorities. Yellen has downplayed the possibility of prioritizing payments, doubting that it is technically feasible.

In another scenario, the Treasury could wait until it has enough cash in hand to make a full day’s worth of payments in the order in which they came due. Then, if a default happened June 1, veterans benefits due that day might see only a short delay, but delays for later veterans benefits and other payments would grow the longer the impasse lasts.

“We’ve never defaulted, and we’ve never breached the debt limit, and because it’s so unfathomable, there’s no public playbook for what to do in a situation when this happens,” said Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

“Some prioritization is probably possible, but it would be difficult for them to justify continuing to pay full veterans benefits and not paying other things,” he added. “It’s possible they would do that. Veterans are very popular. But I think we should assume that at least payments would be delayed.”

A lengthy default could equate to up to 30% in cuts for non-interest government spending, Goldwein said.

In addition to potentially hitting veterans benefits, about $12 billion in military and civilian retirement pay that is expected June 1 and about $4 billion in military salaries that is scheduled for June 15 could be disrupted by a default, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin alluded to the potential effect on military pay in congressional testimony last week.

“What it would mean realistically for us is that we won’t, in some cases, be able to pay our troops with any degree of predictability,” Austin said at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing Thursday. No kidding Jose, someone woke this fool up, go back to sleep you POS.

Administration officials issued similar warnings the last time the U.S. was close to a default in 2021. That year, Congress approved a debt limit increase with days to spare after Senate Republicans agreed not to block legislation. While Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress at the time, they didn’t have the 60 votes typically needed to advance legislation in the Senate.

The negotiating dynamics are different this time because Republicans now control the House. The last debt ceiling crisis when Republicans held the House and Democrats controlled the White House and the Senate in 2011 ended with an agreement to lift the debt ceiling in exchange for steep spending cuts.

— Rebecca Kheel can be reached at rebecca.kheel@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.

Okay, here is my take.  First of all I find it interesting  the only folks they are talking about being hurt are the military and the VA recipients, what about all the others who will be impacted by this, hopefully including all the illegals, welfare, elected officials, and government workers in general. No, they want to hit home to the compassionate types. Oh dear me, our soldiers and our vets. Hogwash! We’ll handle it.

My take. I want the USA to default, I really do. I know that sounds crazy, but I personally and professionally as an Economist, hope McCarthy stands his ground and doesn’t give Biden one inch. Then we’ll see how all those department heads who got their job, not because of their intelligence or background, but because of their sexual orientation, skin color, or whatever figure out how to handle the issues brought about by a default.

I’m living on a military retirement and am a VA recipient so this will hurt Nancy and I very much. But, we CANNOT keep raising the debt limit and keep spending and spending, Can you imagine what thirty trillion dollars looks like folks. No you can’t, and neither can any of us.

I have written all three of my national elected officials and told them to stand their ground, make everyone hurt so they understand what is at stake here. I encourage you to do the same, then tighten your belt. Nuff said. Semper Fi,

Originally posted 2023-05-16 17:08:53.

Current Events

Bud Who?

6 Comments

I’m absolutely amazed at how stupid some supposedly educated people can be.  Two highly paid ad execs are enjoying their leave of absence while probably wondering what they did wrong. I have always associated Bud Light as the workers beer; electricians, plumbers, welders, carpenters, factory folks; you know – the blue collar gang, that’s who drank Bud Light. But from what I hear and read, that “ain’t” happening now. And as Greg points out they won’t come back, regardless of what AB tries to do. Think of the advertising revenues AB will surely lose for all the sporting events they “used” to sponsor. LOL, Lord, I love it.

 

Bud is no wiser                                                                                                                      By: G. Maresca

Anheuser-Busch (AB) seeking to pass off a man for a woman in their latest advertising campaign, hitched their Clydesdales to 26-year-old transgender Dylan Mulvaney that only reinforces their wokeness.

Overnight, Mulvaney became the image of Bud Light with his face splashed on the cans of the nation’s bestselling brew. One friend said he thought the look was a Surgeon General’s warning that if you drank too many Bud Lights you may wake up next to an ugly woman with plumbing.

The best customer is the one you have, so why alienate them? The same friend told me Bud Light tastes like horse urine, that’s why they have all those Clydesdales. Having never imbibed in horse urine, I took him at his word.

There are thousands of microbreweries across the country, and you are drinking Bud Light? It is like eating Wonder bread when there is a bakery next door.

If AB wants to expand their base, feature an accomplished young woman instead of a man who is a caricature of the insipid tramp you pray your daughter never becomes. Such a pathetic advertising campaign is orchestrated by an indoctrinated public relations ensemble who can’t fix a flat or use self-checkout.

AB already possessed a 100% Corporate Equality Index (CEI) score, which rates wokeness prior to bringing Mulvaney onboard. It’s a good bet that most Bud Light consumers have no idea what CEI is, but they do now: Clueless – Entitled – Ignoramuses.

Not a fermenting bunch, the Bud Light cadre stepped up to the bar and ordered a boycott where follow the money is creed with the potential to make “go woke, go broke” a reality. The embargo is being hailed as one of the most successful in recent memory.

In their April 23 edition, Insights Express, a beer industry newsletter, called AB’s lost sales from the Mulvaney advertising campaign “staggering.” Moreover, Beer Business Daily confirmed, “We’ve never seen such a dramatic shift in national share in such a short period of time.”

Sales and the totality of AB’s market share continue to shrink. AB executives should be cognizant of how statistics constantly underscore that some customers never return. Provided the transgender community is as formidable a market as AB believes, they should be able to reverse their losses.

That has yet to occur.

Once you step into the woke quicksand, they demand even more virtue signaling and validation. Businesses need to focus on making an excellent product, not selling a political ideology. Companies can choose to go internally woke with training de rigueur, while hiring and promoting for things other than ability. Nevertheless, when companies fail to distinguish between the two, they only polarize their clientele and play havoc with their stockholders.

What Bud Light executives dismiss is their beverage has always been trans – water identifying as beer. AB should have just introduced a new beer with a rainbow can called TransLight or Bud Light-in-the-Loafers.

Saying they want to get away from their “fratty image” and promote “inclusivity” is their dog whistle for heterosexual white males. Marketing is about gaining customers, and customer service is about keeping them, while advertising is about growth without disgruntling your base.

The leftist echo chamber rings loudly throughout corporate America and the Democrat Party. The transgender mafia claims to be oppressed yet spooks a multibillion-dollar company to conform, while alienating their customers.

AB’s debacle is another teachable moment for woke corporate America. Picking sides, however, does not have to mean you are committed.

With Gay Pride month in June, AB will be on tap for an encore.

Two AB marketing executives were placed on a “leave of absence,” which suggests AB is not at all serious. Rather, it is basic damage control where they believe playing the waiting game is best.

 

AB, like the sporting events they sponsor, does not belong to one cultural group. It can be one thing to have different political opinions, yet folks can still enjoy a beverage and sporting event together. That, however, is not how corporate, political, or sporting America works anymore. You must signal your virtue in every arena of life, or be labelled a racist, fascist, or bigot.

Such absurd behavior only results in a weaker America for all.

I remember being stationed at Camp Lejeune and seeing Bud Light semis delivering beer to the base clubs. They were painted camouflage and in big bold black letters read “Marines Drink Bud Light.” Care to guess which beer was the biggest seller on base? Some marketing person at AB had their “stuff” together.  I wonder what the trucks say now

 

Originally posted 2023-05-15 13:19:06.

Current Events

A Typical American Family

5 Comments

NOT!!! This would make a great mini-series on TV; however, the problem is that none of the liberals would tune in thus the network would lose a substantial amount of ratings. It’s filled with high drama, and unbelievable actions by everyone involved. I feel sorry for Beau, he seemed to be the only “normal” person in the story.

What is amazing to me is that they are still getting away with all their discretions and felonious actions; all because everyone who matters in the U.S. today e.g., administration, DOJ, FBI, DA’s, local authorities, and of course the numero Uno – the media – hate Trump. 

Can you even imagine the screaming from rooftops by the democrats if any of Trump’s family would have committed any of these actions? Of course not!

The Biden’s: A “Hallmark Family…”Here is a REAL story: Joe Biden & his first wife, Neilia, had three children: Hunter, Beau and Naomi…  In 1972, his wife Neilia and Naomi, tragically died in a car accident…

Joe eventually married a woman named Jill (his current wife, the “PHD”)…

Joe already knew Jill, because she had been Hunter’s babysitter (Yeah, THAT seems like something out of “Father Knows Best” – marry the babysitter)… They had a daughter named Ashley,   who lives ‘a quiet life’ and is frequently in and out of rehab for various substance abuse issues…

Now sadly, the sanest, most normal one of the 3 surviving kids, Beau, died in 2015 from a brain tumor… He had been married to Hallie and they had 2 children, a boy and a girl named Natalie, who was 11 yrs. old when her dad died…

Enter Hunter Biden, in 2015, to “comfort” his brother’s widow… Mind you, Hunter is married at the time, to Kathleen Biden, since 1993… He starts screwing around with his dead brother’s wife in 2015… Hunter’s wife Kathleen finds out about it and they separate… Hunter moves in with his dead brother’s wife, Hallie, and her two kids, and they have a grand old time…

Hunter ultimately gets divorced from Kathleen in 2017… But, before that happens…

Hunter starts screwing around with a stripper, while still shacking-up with his dead brother’s wife, before his divorce is finalized and gets the stripper pregnant… Hailie kicks his butt to the curb supposedly for this indiscretion in 2018…

OK, at this point in the drama, he is still legally married to his first wife, living with his widowed sister-in-law and has knocked up a pole dancer… You following this…??? Can you begin to imagine if that was one of Trump’s sons…???

He denies the stripper’s baby is his, although a paternity test proves otherwise and eventually he marries yet another woman named Melissa in 2019 after knowing her for 6 days… And should you NOT believe all that you’ve just read, go to Google and put this in: 

…Hunter Biden’s wives and girlfriends…

Does the fairy tale end there…??? Why no, no it doesn’t…

This just sets the stage…

Enter the laptop from hell… Loaded with e-mails, text messages, photos, child pornography, videos and other sordid digital images of drug use and rampant weirdness…

Hunter Biden dropped the laptop off in Delaware, his home state, to get it repaired… It seems he dropped it in some water while in a meth-induced state of mind… He then neglected to pay the $m8500 repair fee and the laptop became the repair shop owner’s property for non-payment…

When the owner saw what was on it, he was so disturbed that he contacted the FBI… No response, it wasn’t a “noose” hanging in a NASCAR garage… The DOJ…??? No response, it didn’t involve Trump’s tax returns…

Eventually, it landed in Rudy Giuliani’s possession and he turned it over to the Delaware State Police ‘AFTER making 4 copies’ of the hard drive…

Turns out, there’s quite a lot of child pornography on there… Much of it involving youngsters on Hunter’s many trips to China…

The Chinese Communist Party uses this as a blackmail tactic…

They supply the young girls, they film you, unknowingly and then they can keep you “in line,” while paying you the big $$ to do their bidding, like lucrative deals with your VP father…

Millions of dollars were paid to Hunter Biden for favors with the U.S. Government while Joe Biden was VP under Obama…

For 8 years Hunter made the contacts and split the money with his father, referred to as the “Big Guy” in all e-mails detailing how their ill-gotten gains would be split-up amongst all the criminals involved…

Did Joe Biden sell out his country and used his meth head son to do it.?

Doesn’t this make you proud to be an American knowing we elected this scumbag as our leader and the Biden’s our first family?

 

 

 

Originally posted 2023-03-22 10:57:42.

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!

Originally posted 2023-03-03 11:19:03.