Sic Semper Tyrannis

"VMI Test Case for the Country" Abbeville Institute

"In the wake of Floyd’s unfortunate death, a flurry not only of protests but also of writings on race ensued. In time, many of the latter took aim at VMI, a number of which asserted the school’s Confederate heritage had some connection with terms such as “structural” or “systemic” racism. Suddenly, the small but nationally-recognized military college, founded in 1839, was thrust into the limelight. One major problem with the charges – some of which have come from VMI graduates themselves – was that the published allegations fail to meet a traditional, objective definition of structural or systemic racism; in other words, racism that is part of the structure of the institution (school) itself. If such racism exists at VMI, it remains unsubstantiated as of this writing.    

A survey of the articles on VMI and racism in the last six months suggests the allegations of racially-inspired acts – nearly uniformly attributed on the internet or in print to structural or systemic racism – were, in fact, acts of individual poor judgment or an individual’s racism: 1) a second-year cadet’s unserious but equally foolish threat to “lynch” a black cadet during a fevered workout for first-year “Rats” (for which the upperclassman was suspended, a significant discipline given the nature of the event in which the Rats were to undergo intense adversities to prove themselves, an integral part of VMI’s well-known adversarial, successful, model)[1]; 2) a professor’s thoughtless, “wistful” comments in class on the entertaining parties enjoyed years ago by her father, a KKK member; or, 3) some stupid or racially derogatory comments on social media. In fact, those are the three primary anecdotes that have been repeated over and over in news articles since June: none were structural (systemic, institutional) in nature; all took place in an individual or small-group/classroom context with a single protagonist or on social media (highly individualistic by its nature). It is altogether possible that the first two incidents were one-time events that have morphed into different versions in the reporting.       

Certainly, individual acts of stupidity, poor judgment, or outright racism ought to be addressed (some, like the lynching threat, have been). Such incidents, however, are a much different thing than so-called structural (systemic, institutional) racism. Perhaps Virginia’s $1 million investigation of – in the governor’s words – a “clear and appalling culture of ongoing structural racism” [emphasis added] at VMI, will prove to be unfounded. Time will tell."  Abbeville

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I have attempted to hold my tongue concerning the rape of my alma mater.  No more.  I fully and completely associate myself with the undying tradition of service, honor and sacrifice that our graduates have embodied since 1839.

That includes the dead New Market cadets buried around the base of Moses Ezekiel's statue pf "Virginia Mourning Her Dead" and the 50% of our alumni who died in Confederate service in the War Between the States.

There are VMI people who do not revere our dead.  I am not among them.  pl

https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/vmi-test-case-for-the-country/

 

The Democrat plan for Trump

(Air Pelosi)

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a "60 Minutes" interview that aired Sunday night that one of the motivating factors for some in the new effort to impeach President Trump and remove him from office is to eliminate any chance he has of being elected again."  foxnews

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Well, pilgrims, IMO the elimination of a re-run with Trump is the ONLY motivation for the farce intended by the giddy but still apprehensive Donkeyland crew.

To accomplish this they need to impeach Trump while he is still in office because impeachment in the US is about REMOVAL of incumbents.  The Donkeys claim that they could then wait 90 days to have their captive senate try Trump on the charge of "incitement of insurrection."  IMO such a trial would be unconstitutional but with John Roberts as Chief Justice, who knows whether SCOTUS would allow that?   They would need a few Never Trump Republicans to have enough votes in the senate but with people like Romney on board, who knows?

And then!  Wait for it!  The piece de resistance would be a second vote in the senate to bar Trump from FEDERAL office for life.  Aahhh!  So good!  So good!  An aged marine once said "if it feels really, really good, it is probably a bad idea."  Yes.  

IMO Trump needs to resign NOW to put himself beyond the reach of  congress.  He could still be indicted and tried in a Title 3 court, but the odds are a lot better there.

He is a resident of Florida.  Congress does not have the power to bar him from state office.  Governor might be a good retirement job when DeSantis moves on to a national role.  John Quincy Adams was a congressman for many years AFTER being president.  pl

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pelosi-60-minutes-trump-impeachment

IMO former officials cannot be impeached.

"Conviction immediately removes the defendant from office. Following conviction, the Senate may vote to further punish the individual by barring him or her from holding future federal office, elected or appointed. As the threshold for disqualification is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, the Senate has taken the position that disqualification votes only require a simple majority rather than a two-thirds supermajority. The Senate has used disqualification sparingly, as only three individuals have been disqualified from holding future office.

Conviction does not extend to further punishment, for example, loss of pension. After conviction by the Senate, "the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law" in the regular federal or state courts. However, the Former Presidents Act of 1958, which provides a pension, and other benefits, does not extend to presidents who were removed from office following an impeachment conviction. Because of an amendment to that law made in 2013, a former president who has been removed from office due to impeachment and conviction is still guaranteed lifetime Secret Service protection. "  wiki

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IMO impeachment from federal office exists for the purpose of removal from office.  A former official cannot be "removed from office."  IMO the Belknap case will be treated as freakish.  pl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_in_the_United_States

Remember - John Brennan voted Communist at least once.

"Former CIA Director John Brennan Calls for Mao-Like Public Humiliation Sessions for Trump Supporters Before They Are Accepted Back into Society"  timebomb

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Yes.  John Brennan voted for Gus Hall, the head of the CPUSA when he was a young man.  Hall was a perennial candidate for president in those days.

And after that Brennan applied for employment at CIA, and unbelievably they accepted him after a full security screen.  This would have included intensive investigations as well as counter-intelligence and lifestyle polygraphs.   

I remember this guy when he had just joined CIA and was working  in Saudi Arabia.  He was a frighteningly stupid and nasty man even then.

This reminds me of the great spook Gina Haspel (a favorite of Brennan at CIA) who began government employment as the post librarian at Ft. Devens, Massachusetts, a Camp Swampy like place where I started my army life.  

I was in college during the "Great Leap Forward" under Mao.  We laughed sadly at the thought of those poor benighted souls suffering through that.

pl

https://www.timebomb2000.com/xf/index.php?threads/former-cia-director-john-brennan-calls-for-mao-like-public-humiliation-sessions-for-trump-supporters-before-they-are-accepted-back-into-society.592774/

How to make rocket fuel on Mars

"How will future astronauts get back home to Earth from Mars? According to a new study, they could make rocket fuel from the methane that's already on the Red Planet. 

Researchers have devised a new way to create methane-based rocket fuel that they hope could make return trips from Mars far more feasible. This method was previously theorized by Elon Musk and engineers at SpaceX who considered ways to use carbon dioxide and water from ice on Mars to have the necessary carbon and hydrogen necessary to create methane. 

So, in theory, future astronauts could use this technique to turn local Martian materials like ice and carbon dioxide to make rocket fuel for a return trip home. This new method is only a "proof of concept" right now, meaning it has only been tested in labs but not in real-world conditions. 

Still, while "lots of engineering and research is needed before this can be fully implemented," Huolin Xin, a physicist at the University of California, Irvine who led this research, said in a statement. "But the results are very promising.""  Space.com

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Or as they say in New Zealand - "meethane."   Who knew that the stuff of cow flatus would be so useful?  There supposedly is a lot of this material lying around on the bottom of the ocean and when the ocean burps methane in large amounts ships above the burp sink because of the decrease in what- floatability?

The idea of making oxygen and methane on THE RED PLANET is quite inspiring.  It is further evidence of the world beating quality of Musk's leadership.  Take care of yourself man!  C'mon man!   We need you.  pl

https://www.space.com/future-astronauts-methane-rocket-fuel-mars

Denial of freedom of speech underway

Given the purge of Twitter customers underway and present efforts by CNN to have Foxnews denied carrier service I expect that my FB page will disappear soon.  Can Typepad be far behind?  Expect it.  pl 

"A one opinion society" Stuart Varney

"Biden: "No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, they wouldn't have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol. We all know that's true, and it is unacceptable. Totally unacceptable.""  foxnews

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Varney commented today on his show that the US is moving rapidly toward an environment in which deviant opinions and the expression of such will be punished by ostracism, loss of employment and ultimately  - what?

75 million dissidents voted for Trump.  Their party actually grew stronger down ballot, much stronger.  These Smelly dissidents are heavily armed.  Gun sales are way up.  Ammunition is hard to come by because of heavy buying.

President Joe and his "consort"  think that the attitudes of the Smellies are "totally unacceptable?"  

He should be very careful about condemning the mind set of the Smellies, very careful.   The Dems think that they can extrapolate from the hooligans who broke into the capitol to the general attitudes of the Smelly Deplorables?

Be very careful President Joe.  pl

https://www.foxnews.com/media/biden-harris-gaslighting-capitol-hill-rioters-black-lives-matter

President Trump should go. He should go now!

IMO President Trump did a lot of good things in his term until he was torpedoed by COVID-19 and the tangled skein of threads involved in the November 3rd election.  This electoral circus will be puzzled over for a long time.  I take note that Ossoff won in Georgia by just enough to avoid a re-count.  

Nevertheless, The president's actions since November 3 have grown more and more erratic and have now culminated in what can only be called an incitement of mob violence directed at the Congress.

People ask why the Capitol Police and other federal authorities were not better prepared to defend the Capitol complex against attack.  Well, pilgrims, nobody expected the president of the US to whip up crowd anger and then to send the mob to the Capitol.

I wrote some days ago that Trump's rage and pain were serious factors to consider in a moment of political crisis.   These things and his "one man show" mentality" overwhelmed him yesterday and in acting out his personal agony he did serious damage to the country.  He is done.  Stick a fork in him, maybe over-done.   

The Democrat leadership will not want to pursue him although his actions yesterday might make him criminally liable.  The squaddies will howl for his blood, but Schumer, Pelosi, etc. are not going to want to do anything that rash.

IMO he should leave the scene.  A retreat to Mar a Lago is what should happen.  He can let the clock run out there.  He can resign and let Pence deal with the mess, but he should go.

The populist revolt that he led is not dead.  It is not anything like dead.  The 75 million citizens who voted for him are still here.  They still want the same things, but he should depart and let a new leadership of the Deplorable Smellies emerge.  pl

"Tattoo," A Memoir of Becoming

This memoir could have been subtitled "a message in a bottle."  PL

I am privileged to have been given reviews of the book by two people I greatly respect and admire:

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"Because much of the focus of Walter Lang’s memoir “Tattoo” is on the author’s career in the U.S. Army, it may be fitting to approach it on more than one front: one being what Lang’s experience and adventures in arms tell us about the nature and evolution of U.S. military life during the period he served and also to some degree about the nature and evolution of American society during that period; another being what kind of man has lived this challenging and far from unimportant life; and finally the tale of how this man came to be the man who has lived the life he has. Let me begin, though, in a rather oblique manner but one that I hope it will seen to have point — by quoting the following passage from Rabbi Chaim Jachter:

“Throughout [their] history the Jews have received many appellations.  Among the more famous[is found] in  Exodus chapter 32 … one that evokes mixed feelings….

“The source of the appellation is Hashem himself, who says the following to Moses in the terrible aftermath of the Golden Calf: ‘I have seen [observed] this people, and behold they are a stiff-necked people.  Now leave Me alone and My wrath will blaze against them and destroy them.  I will then make you into a great nation.…” 

“One chapter later, Hashem informs Moses that He will be now be sending a proxy, an angel, to watch over the Israelites instead of leading them directly.  In explaining why, Hashem invokes this notion again:  ‘I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites… [You will then] enter a land flowing with milk and honey… for I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people and I may destroy you along the way.’”

[And yet] in defending the people Israel, Moses uses the very same notion as the essential rationale for their salvation: “If I have found favor in Your eyes my Master, let my Master go among us, because (ki) it is a stiff-necked people.  Pardon our iniquity and our sins, and take us as Your own possession.’” In this case, Moses employs the term “stiff-necked” as a reason to receive God’s mercy.  How could Moses be using this term to win Hashem’s favor?

Ibn Ezra presents two possible solutions to the problem.  First, he cites the opinion of Rabbi Mereinos who explains that the word ki in our context (“ki it is a stiff-necked people”) should be rendered as even though it is a stiff-necked people… Thus Moses is asking Hashem to find the Israelites deserving of mercy despite their stubbornness.

Opting for the standard usage of the word ki as a causative, Ibn Ezra explains that what Moses means is “because (I admit) that we have sinned, that we are a stiff-necked nation, therefore you should forgive.”

In a third interpretation Moses turns to God and says:  “Hashem, Your people do not want an agent.  We want the Divine Manager!”  Why?  The words of the Zohar Hadash explain: “For it is a stiff-necked people and You shall forgive” as meaning “The Jews are obstinate and wearying and when they sin, the angel can only do judgment and not forgiveness, but You are merciful and gracious. Therefore when we sin the angel must punish us.  But You, Hashem, can fathom us in great depth and can find in our being stubborn the very building blocks of forgiveness.

A fourth approach is suggested by the Midrash:

There R. Yakim said: “Three are the undaunted: among beasts, it is the dog; among birds, it is the cock; and among the nations, it is Israel.  You think that ‘stiff-necked people’ is said disparagingly, but it is really in their praise.”

“Tattoo” is rightly subtitled “a memoir of becoming,” and we will return to that theme. But let me suggest another possible subtitle, “The man who knew too much.” 

One sees this, as well as a striking instance of Lang’s “stiff-necked” tendencies, in the Prologue, which takes place at a crucial juncture of the Iran-Iraq War — and to be sure we will find Lang at such crucial junctures more than once. In the presence of the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq but addressing the local CIA chief, who is also present, Lang says to him, with one assumes no little satisfaction, “I am here at the direction of the National Security Council and the Secretary of Defense to take charge of this mess.”

The rest of that enlightening encounter I leave to you to enjoy, but do take account of “take charge of this mess.” On the one hand, Lang is the man who knew too much — knows not only that this is a mess but also that the local CIA chief cannot acknowledge this fact, at least not in this setting. Further, as the rest of the encounter begins to make clear, Lang knows far more about this mess than the CIA chief thinks he does — he knows that the White House has betrayed the Iraqis, that Washington fears that Iran has the upper hand in the war but instead and in fact (as Lang accurately sees it)  the military crisis in the war has passed and Iran will not prevail. But also one detects the underlying satisfaction Lang feels at being able to deliver a justified stinging reprimand to an arrogant man in the wrong who had felt certain that he could push Lang around.

A Re-naming Bee

(Lt Col collar insignia, CSA)

"There are 10 major U.S. military bases named in honor of Confederate military leaders, all in former Confederate States:

• Camp Beauregard (1917), near Pineville, Louisiana, a Louisiana National Guard installation named for Louisiana native and Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard^[3]
• Fort Benning (1917), near Columbus, Georgia, named after Henry L. Benning, a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army^[4][5]
• Fort Bragg (1918), in North Carolina, named for Confederate General Braxton Bragg
• Fort Gordon (1917), near Grovetown, Georgia, named in honor of John Brown Gordon, who was a major general in the Confederate army
• Fort A.P. Hill (1941), near Bowling Green, Virginia, named for Virginia native and Confederate Lieutenant General A. P. Hill^[6]
• Fort Hood (1942), in Killeen, Texas, named after Confederate General John Bell Hood, who is best known for commanding the Texas Brigade during the American Civil War
• Fort Lee (1917), in Prince George County, Virginia, named for Confederate General Robert E. Lee^[7]
• Fort Pickett (1942), near Blackstone, Virginia, a Virginia National Guard installation named for Confederate General George Pickett
• Fort Polk (1941), near Leesville, Louisiana, named in honor of the Right Reverend Leonidas Polk, an Episcopal Bishop and Confederate General
• Fort Rucker (1942), in Dale County, Alabama, named for Edmund Rucker, a colonel appointed acting brigadier general in November 1864, but whose promotion went unconfirmed by the Confederate Congress (disbanded March 18, 1865)

Other installations are:

• Camp Maxey, near Paris, Texas, a Texas National Guard installation named after Confederate Brigadier General Samuel B. Maxey
• Camp Pendleton, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, a Virginia National Guard installation named after Confederate Brigadier General William N. Pendleton"  wiki

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The National Defense Authorization Act, passed over Trump's veto requires the re-naming of these posts.

These posts were all named for Confederate soldiers in the WW1 period in the hope of attracting Southern support for the war.

The two named for Episcopal clergymen seem droll in the light of current denunciation.  Parson Pendleton was the rector of the Episcopal Church in Lexington, Virginia.  In confederate service he was RE Lee's chief of artillery, having been a gunner before he left the US Army long before.  He is buried in the town cemetery at Lexington next to his son Lt. Col. Alexander (Sandy) Pendleton, CSA, KIA at Fisher's Hill in 1864.  

So, these posts are now available for "cleansing" through re-naming.  They can be named for Union soldiers or politicians, noble causes and events, etc.  Offer your suggestions.  pl 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._Army_installations_named_for_Confederate_soldiers

The Republicans prepare for "Opposition" status (and Trump with them)

Consider all this to be an analytic opinion.

1.  The roll out of the Republican insurgent operation for objection to the Electoral College vote on the 6th is indicative of where the party is going.  

Mitch McConnell and the party apparatchiks in congress may think that they will be able to do business with Biden/Harris and their handlers but the the 74 million citizens who voted against the Democrats do not agree.

In this context the 5 January runoffs in Georgia are largely irrelevant.  The Republicans and those who vote with them will be in Opposition no matter who runs the US Senate.

The objecting members of congress know that they cannot succeed in obtaining supporting majorities in both houses of congress in support of their objections.  When pressed they said this on the Sunday morning TeeVee newsies today.  No.  What they are doing is establishing a baseline of political opposition to the results of the 2020 election.  Along this baseline they will insist that Biden/Harris are not legitimately elected and are in fact usurpers against whom any means of resistance is justified.  This closely mirrors Democrat propaganda and tactics throughout the Trump presidency.

People who think that resistance by the Smellies (Deplorables) to Democrat/Marxist rule will disappear as a result of Trump's defeat are deceiving themselves.  It will not.  In this move we see consolidation of Smelly resistance.

2.  When the 6 January rebellion in the congress fails, Trump will be faced by a personal need to maintain himself as party (and Smelly) leader.  One possible course of action would be to start a war against a country so demonized by the media and his own administration that the most recent verbal threats by that country can be said to be a causus belli.   The most obvious target would be Iran, closely followed in order of probability by Syria.

The president/CinC has broad and legal effective powers to wage war against an imminent national threat on a short term basis as opposed to limitations on those powers under the War Powers Act.  He/she has the ability to wage war for 30 days before congress can effectively stop a war.  

Under the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986, the military chain of command runs from POTUS to SECDEF to the Combatant Commanders.  Under the same law, the JCS (including the Chairman) and the whole Joint Staff in the Pentagon are merely advisers and planners operating in support of POTUS and SECDEF.  Trump now has the SECDEF he wants and nothing stands between him and the ability to legally launch an air and naval war in the ME.  The small US forces in Iraq and Syria would be greatly endangered by such a move, but ...  In the context of possible action against Iran, the withdrawal of the Nimitz battle group from the Gulf should not be seen as necessarily being a signal of declining US-Iranian tensions.  Perhaps the withdrawal has been long scheduled but elbow room in the Arabian Sea would be needed in a shooting war.

Biden/Harris would be left to deal with the situation.  Trump might face civil or criminal action in the aftermath, but a long, drawn out legal battle with all the opportunity this would present for publicity might suit him well.

Would the Combatant Commanders refuse legal orders to attack?  I doubt that would happen.  pl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwater%E2%80%93Nichols_Act

Starlink will span the globe.

"SpaceX aims to connect rural communities around the globe to reliable satellite internet. The aerospace company is in the process of deploying thousands of Starlink satellites to orbit where each will beam broadband internet connection down to Earth. "With performance that far surpasses that of traditional satellite internet, and a global network unbounded by ground infrastructure limitations, Starlink will deliver high speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable," the company states. 

SpaceX currently operates approximately 960 Starlink satellites and plans to launch at least 120 satellites per month this year. The company is offering service to select customers living in high-latitudes by invitation only via Starlink.com, however, as more satellites are deployed to orbit SpaceX will increase its capability to provide Starlink internet to more customers worldwide. As of today, SpaceX has customers living in rural communities located in Canada, northern United States, and even the United Kingdom, according to social media users who have purchased the service. The company is also working alongside the U.S. government to provide free Starlink service to school districts and households in rural areas that cannot afford the service. Read more: SpaceX will provide Starlink Internet to Virginia’s Wise County School District and Rural Community.

To receive internet from the satellites in space customers purchase a Starlink Kit that includes a phased-array antenna dish, mounting tripod, and Wi-Fi router device. SpaceX says the technology these devices feature is more advanced than what is currently on fighter jets. SpaceX priced the equipment at $499 USD, with a monthly service fee of $99 USD. Long-term, Starlink customers will be supporting SpaceX’s ultimate mission to develop the Starship fleet that will enable humanity to colonize Mars."  tasmanian

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And now pilgrims, I see that Starlink has applied for licensing to operate in Greece where they would offer universal access at prices more expensive than at present from a patchwork of little internet providers, but at speeds up to 150 MPS.  This is far, far higher than in Greece today where speeds are often down around 10 MPS.

Pilgrims!  If this works on a business basis, you can expect that Starlink will spread across Europe and then the world transforming the internet providers market wherever it goes.  pl

https://www.tesmanian.com/blogs/tesmanian-blog/starlink-hiring

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Set to Bring Starlink Internet to Greece | GreekReporter.com

"11 Senate Republicans say they will object to Electoral College results Wednesday" The Hill

"Eleven Senate Republicans on Saturday announced that they will object to the Electoral College results Wednesday, when Congress convenes in a joint session to formally count the vote. 

GOP Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas), Ron Johnson (Wis.), James Lankford (Okla.), Steve Daines (Mont.), John Kennedy (La.), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) and Mike Braun (Ind.) and Sens.-elect Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.), Roger Marshall (Kan.), Bill Hagerty (Tenn.) and Tommy Tuberville (Ala.) said in a joint statement that they will object to the election results until there is a 10-day audit. 

"Congress should immediately appoint an Electoral Commission, with full investigatory and fact-finding authority, to conduct an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed states," they said. "Once completed, individual states would evaluate the Commission’s findings and could convene a special legislative session to certify a change in their vote, if needed.

"Accordingly, we intend to vote on Jan. 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not 'regularly given' and 'lawfully certified' (the statutory requisite), unless and until that emergency 10-day audit is completed," they added. 

The group's announcement means that at least a dozen GOP senators will object on Wednesday."  The Hill

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Well, well.  Lookee here Sayrah!  pl

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/senate-gop-election-fraud-electoral-college/2021/01/02/id/1003985/

Happy New Year - 2021

The Commander in Chief.  Good luck to us all.  pl

"Liz Peek: 10 New Year’s resolutions for Biden"

President-elect Joe Biden, like most Americans, is probably thinking about New Year’s resolutions. Here are 10 helpful suggestions I would give him if we could have a talk.

1 — Stop — please stop — that little jog you do when approaching a podium.

We get it that you want to appear youthful, but Tom Cruise you’re not. Can you imagine Chinese President Xi Jinping trotting onto a stage, or (God forbid) German Chancellor Angela Merkel? No, it’s time to look presidential, Mr. Biden, not like some over-the-hill college athlete trying to relive his glory days.

2 — Ditto the aviator glasses; channeling Top Gun is so 1980s.

Those glasses are not only dated, they make you look shifty, which is a distinctly terrible idea. Especially with so many legitimate questions swirling around about your son Hunter, your brother Jim, and what you did or did not know about the family trying to cash in on your White House gig in Ukraine and China when you were vice president." foxnews

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The whole Joe the Macho (coulda been a soldier thing)  is deeply repulsive.  For god's sake grow up and stop living in your own little fantasy land inhabited by your phantom Iraq hero son and, uh, the other one, the one who is the smartest man you ever met.

And do stop referring to Kamala Harris as the "president elect."  We all know that is true but spare us the agony of the thought.  pl

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/joe-biden-new-years-resolution-liz-peek

"Trump ends Obama's 12-year run as most admired man: Gallup"

"Eighteen percent of the survey's respondents named Trump as their most admired man, compared to 15 percent who named Obama and 6 percent who named President-elect Joe Biden. Three percent named National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, while 2 percent chose Pope Francis.

Rounding out the top 10 were Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and the Dalai Lama, all of whom received 1 percent.

The sitting U.S. president has been named the pollster’s most-admired man in 60 out of 74 years, including all eight years of Obama’s presidency and every year of George W. Bush’s presidency except for 2008. Trump had finished second to Obama in 2017 and 2018.

The 2020 rankings are the 10th time Trump has ranked among the top 10. Before entering the political sphere, he made the list in 1988, 1989, 1990 and 2011. Biden made only his second appearance in the top 10 after making the list in 2018.

Among Republicans surveyed, 48 percent of respondents named Trump as their most admired man. No other public figure got more than 2 percent Republican support, according to Gallup. Among independents, both Obama and Trump received 11 percent support. Fauci was the choice of 5 percent of Democrats but just 1 percent of Republicans."   Gallup

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No comment. pl

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/531906-trump-ends-obamas-12-year-run-as-most-admired-man-gallup

Good Grilling - 57 Fahrenheit in the back garden

pl

The Bidonians at play.

"Another Biden walks free.

Joe Biden’s niece Caroline Biden pleaded guilty to DUI on Dec. 3 — and was sentenced to 20 days to six months of "confinement," Pennsylvania court records said.

But the small print shows Biden, 33, won’t see a day behind bars after she negotiated a plea deal with the Montgomery County district attorney.

Instead of jail, she got five-plus months of probation, with 20 days of rehab in January counted toward her sentence.

The walk-free plea continues a long Biden family tradition of avoiding jail time. A Post investigation in July found at least eight other busts of Bidens resulted in wrist slaps.

"She will be on probation … Should she then violate or break the law at any time, then she will be on the hook for the rest of the sentence," Kate Delano, a DA spokeswoman, told The Post."

"Biden, daughter of James Biden, was busted in Lower Merion Township, Pa., in August 2019 after slamming her car into a tree. Arresting officer Jeffrey Seamans noted Biden, who was driving without a license, "had difficulty focusing on the conversation" as he questioned her."

"As her Uncle Joe campaigned for president, the case took more than a year crawling through the Pennsylvania courts. Her arraignment was held on Nov. 4 — one day after the presidential election.

A court spokesperson insisted the date was auto-generated and its post-election timing was coincidental.

Mike Gottlieb, a Norristown, Pa., attorney with experience in DUI cases, said the ruling was fair for a first offense. "It is not an unusual sentence to get credit for the time in the rehab. So truthfully, I don’t think she was treated any differently than any of my clients would have been," he told The Post." foxnews

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So, this gal;

1. Borrowed a credit card from someone to pay a bill at Bigelow's Pharmacy (in New York City?).  She then used it to open a line of credit with BP and over a year charged $110,000 to the account, but - she says she was a naughty girl and is very sorry.
2. And then, there is this DUI with the tree ramming while whacked incident.
3. And before that there is a little matter of hitting a cop who displeased her.

So, she is James' little girl.  The Bidonians are not really very good at "this."  You know what "this" is.  Someone (I could name them now) will write to say that the Trumps are no better.  Really?  Tell us about it.  pl

https://www.foxnews.com/us/joe-bidens-niece-caroline-gets-no-jail-time-after-dui-guilty-plea

https://www.bigelowchemists.com/

"And now for something completely different ..."

Congressman Ted Budd, Republican of North Carolina, is not a favorite of Nancy the Ice Cream Lady. He is one of the 120 Republican members of the House who signed an amicus brief in support of Texas' lawsuit against Pennsylvania et al.  Nancy is pondering the possibility of a majority vote refusing to seat these people for - what?  Misbehavior?  Now, that would be a "different thing."  The teeth, hair and eyeballs would fly over that attempt.

BUT!  Wait for it pilgrims!  Congressman Budd, a farmer from out there in the boondocks, has another "different" moment in mind.  He and some others in both chambers are going to challenge the legitimacy of some of the state procedures for choosing electors.  And - they are going to do it on constitutional grounds.  Wow!  pl

https://www.oann.com/rep-budd-what-im-doing-jan-6-is-totally-constitutional/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Budd

Bill Harris, The Bulge and Christmas 1944

 "Near-complete surprise was achieved by a combination of Allied overconfidence, preoccupation with Allied offensive plans, and poor aerial reconnaissance. The Germans attacked a weakly defended section of the Allied line, taking advantage of heavily overcast weather conditions, which grounded the Allies' overwhelmingly superior air forces. Fierce resistance on the northern shoulder of the offensive around Elsenborn Ridgeand in the south around Bastogne blocked German access to key roads to the northwest and west that they counted on for success. Columns of armor and infantry that were supposed to advance along parallel routes found themselves on the same roads. This and terrain that favored the defenders threw the German advance behind schedule and allowed the Allies to reinforce the thinly placed troops. Improved weather conditions permitted air attacks on German forces and supply lines, which sealed the failure of the offensive. In the wake of the defeat, many experienced German units were left severely depleted of men and equipment, as survivors retreated to the defenses of the Siegfried Line."  wiki

----------------

 

Long ago and far away I served with a man named Bill Harris.  This was in Turkey in a big NATO headquarters.  Harris was a full colonel and a WW2 paratrooper.  I was a very young major just back from Vietnam. 

Bill was from Missouri, had attended the University of Missouri and had left that institution a year before the war when he ran out of money.   He joined the pre-WW2 US Army and had reached the rank of sergeant before the Japanese attacked the fleet at Pearl Harbor.

He spent a few months improving the training of National Guard troops as they mobilized for war and then was sent to the Infantry Officer Candidate school at Fort Benning, Georgia.  To his surprise he was assigned to the emerging paratroop force at graduation.  He served with the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division throughout the war in Europe. 

Bill jumped into; Sicily and Salerno in Italy, Normandy and Holland with the 505th Regiment.  He was the only man I ever saw who had four stars embedded in his parachute badge, one for each of his combat jumps.  At the end of the Market Garden operation in Holland the 82nd Division was pulled back to a rest and training area outside Paris.  There, the division built itself a camp and settled down to wait for spring and an anticipated jump across the Rhine.   By that time, Bill Harris was a major and the chief operations staff officer (S-3) of the 505th.

Christmas approached and the division prepared to party.   Officers' Class A uniforms were brought over from storage in England so that they would look resplendent for an anticipated grand Christmas gala to be held a few days before the holiday.  The front was far to the east and the intelligence people thought the Germans would be inactive for a while, certainly long enough for the 82nd to celebrate.   The division's engineers  built an amphitheater made of canvas and wood in which to hold the officers' party.   The structure had concentric circular platforms on which tables for four were placed at higher and higher levels as one moved away from the center.   In the very center of the big tent was a dance floor.  The division's band combined forces with part of the Air Corps' Glenn Miller Orchestra to provide music.  "Chattanooga Choo Choo"   and "American Patrol" sounded through the wintry night for the party.     Women and booze were pre-requisites for such an event.  Paris was an easy source for the liquor.   Army nurses, Red Cross girls and French women from the city were invited and eagerly accepted.

 

Minuit Chretien et Joyeux Noël

 

Merry Christmas to you, every one.  pat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7uiqRCW6I8&list=PL27FEC85CEED5C0BB&index=69&app=desktop

The Huron Carol

 

 

"When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise,
Than when we first begun."

Amazing Grace 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhc7MEYY-Ho&feature=fvwrel 

--------------

“Twas in the moon of wintertime, when all the birds had fled,
That God the Lord of all the earth sent angel choirs instead
Before their light the stars grew dim
and wandering hunters heard the hymn

Within a lodge of broken bark, the tender babe was found.
A ragged robe of rabbit skin enwrapped his beauty round;
But as the hunter braves drew nigh,
the angel song rang loud and high

The earliest moon of wintertime is not so round and fair,
As was the ring of glory on the helpless infant there.
The chiefs from far before him knelt
with gifts of fox and beaver pelt

O, children of the forest free, the angel song is true.
The holy child of earth and heav’n is born today for you.
Come kneel before the radiant boy,
Who brings you beauty, peace and joy.

 

Jean de Brebeuf, S.J. Martyr and Author of

 
"The Huron Carol"

--------------

Christmas in Vietnam.

"The war went on in the central highlands. At Christmas time I decided to hold a detachment Christmas party. I mentioned this to the battalion commander of 3/525, MI Group, LTC Paul Langford during a visit by Langford to Song Be. As we discussed this, a five gallon water jug of home made “hootch” bubbled happily in a corner of my office under the beneficent warmth of an electric light. Pineapple juice, brewer’s yeast and a daily “feeding” of sugar were creating something within that obviously was alive. The application of sugar invariably produced a tempest in the bottle. The men began to think of it as a pet.

Langford ignored the bottle. “Are you going to leave someone to man each station?” he asked. “That’s all right then,” he said when assured. “Let’s not tell Group. They already think you and I are nuts.” I bought cases of Mumm’s Cordon Rouge and other goodies in Saigon, and on the appointed day mysterious personages began to arrive from all over the Border on Air America’s scheduled service. All in all, there were about twenty party goers. The province senior advisor, LTC Ray Suarez and the local CIA boss attended. There was much singing of Christmas carols, as well as a ham, a turkey and such cooked by the kitchen in the Special Forces "B" camp in town. The bald headed, middle aged light weapons man in the team was also mess sergeant.  He had been a feldwebel in the Grossdeutschland and later an adjutant-chef in the 2nd REI.  Like most of the men in that B Team he felt sorry for me in my exile from SF.  He and several others from the B Team were at the party.

The guests sang the "Huron Carol" (in English) to humor me.

---------------

“For every boot that tramped in battle,
every cloak rolled in blood,
will be burned as fuel for flames.
For a child is born to us, a son is given...”

Isaiah, 9:1-3, 5-6

---------------

At midnight, celebration was interrupted by the sound of machine gun fire in the distance. The revelers trooped outside to see if they were going to have to fight on Christmas Eve. There were hard words concerning the ancestry of the enemy. Across the wire, across the outpost line, across the valley of no-man’s land were the crests occupied habitually by the “opposition.” From these heights there rose a stream of green, Soviet made “tracer.” The celebrants contemplated this for a minute, and then Suarez suggested a reply. An M-60 machine gun emerged from the house, and while one man fired red tracer into the air, another held the bipod above his head and another fed the gun its belted ammunition. The streams of bullets crossed in the black, star-studded sky. The VC gun fell silent, as did the American. There was a hush as warriors waited for some sign that the hope of common humanity yet lived. The VC fire resumed. Now there were three guns shooting green stars into the blackness. The MI men’s gun chattered merrily, spilling a river of shell casings into the street. Red and green filled the night. " 

---------------------

Every Christmas I post this excerpt from an autobiographical sketch I wrote once.  This incident is reminiscent of the legendary football game in no man's land in 1914. The men at the party were of the Third Combat Battalion, 525th Military Intelligence Group, MACV CORDS Advisory Team 94, the CIA and the 5th Special Forces Group. The place was Song Be, Phuoc Long Province. It was 1968.

There is a statue in Charlottesville, Virginia.  On the pediment is inscribed, "Love makes memory eternal."  That once was true.

The party-goers are long gone. Some never saw another Christmas. Some died a couple of months later when the men across the way nearly took the town.  

They tried for what seemed an eternity but was actually less than a week.  We killed six hundred of them in repelling their valiant effort.   Some died around my house and in the street in front of my gate.  We buried four hundred bodies found in front of and in our (US and Vietnamese) positions.   The Second Brigade of the First Cavalry Division was ordered into the fight halfway through the battle.  Without them the VC would have killed or captured us all.  PW survivors told us how many the enemy lost.  They were of the 211th, 212th and 165th VC battalions under VC Military Region 10. By that time these units were mostly North Vietnamese in their manning.  They were "foemen worthy of our steel."

God rest all these worthy gentlemen.  pl

 

 

 

 

My favorite Nativity scene,

I bought this one in Bethlehem from the Palestinian Christian who carved it.  God bless you every one.  pl

"Bless you, you are a one horse pony." or something ...

Joe ... Joe ...  We hardly know yuh.   Joe's retort to Peter Duecy yesterday is a reprise of his campaign description of a woman in an audience as a "dog faced lying pony soldier."  Say what?

I have known a few "pony soldiers." That is what the Plains Indian called the US Cavalry.  My father was one such.  A dear friend, MG John K Boles was another.  RIP.

If you want to see a representation of what they were like, watch John Ford's cavalry trilogy.

Joe knows that all he has to do is appoint the right AG and it will not be necessary to say or do anything else to defend his son.  MY WAG would be someone like Andrew Cuomo, a man for all seasons.  pl

"Winter Quarters" 1863-1864 Pat Lang ( from Death Piled Hard)

      
                                         

Winter Quarters

(Orange, Virginia)

 

"The seemingly endless time of cold darkness crept past in a succession of grey days and long nights.

In its camps, the Army of Northern Virginia once again experienced the religious fervor that came to them when they were not busy.  At such times, men of all faiths sought solace in prayer and gathered in revival meetings where many found the inner peace that war denied them.

Families came to the winter camps to spend the season with their men.  Most boarded with local families.  Bearded warriors held in their arms for the first time tiny folk who had not yet been seen.  The children brought joy to them all, but in the evenings the soldiers brooded over their families, their thoughts unreadable in the light of the fireplaces.

Amateur theatrical productions were a natural gift of this army, something so familiar from home that the men expected them.  Wooden theaters sprang up in the snow and frost caked mud.  These were crude structures of field sawn boards, each with its glowing pot bellied iron stove.  The programs were filled with familiar plays, but some of them were only a year or so old in London or New York.  One of these was entitled "Our American Cousin."

Balthazar was fond of the theater.  At school in England he had been prominent in Christmas pantomime and Shakespeare alike.  Now, he did all a commander properly could to interest his men in this activity, thinking it a healthy diversion from the boredom of the winter.  The Stephen Foster songs he had heard in Richmond appeared on the boards as renditions by his battalion chorus.  Soldiers' singing groups were a tradition in the French Army.  He followed the custom in America.  The foreigners in the battalion made up the backbone of the soloists and Joseph White played the piano to accompany.  His skill was yet another of Clotilde Devereux's gifts to the Whites.  Balthazar played the role of Falstaff in a Second Corps' officers’ production of "The Merry Wives of Windsor."  His English accent and baritone were praised around sentry fires for weeks after the play's run.

 

Christmas in Pakistan (FB Ali)

Some pictures from a Karachi newspaper on a rally and procession on Karachi's main street — as part of the Xmas celebrations by the Christian community (in which many local Muslims join). There are more pictures in the paper (at this link).

 

                            

 

                            

 

                            
                            

Rough Men - TTG

 

On this day in 1776, General Washington led his cold, ill fed and ill equipped army across the Delaware River to attack and decisively defeat the Hessian garrison at Trenton, New Jersey. It was a morning of bloody footprints in the snow and supreme audacity.

My son captioned the image above after we joked about the idea. Some may find this inappropriate black humor, but we like it. There are a number of inaccuracies. The Hessians were not sleeping off a night of holiday merriment. They were stone cold sober. Washington crossed the Delaware in the dead of the night, not in the light of dawn. That particular flag was not created until six months after the battle. Nevertheless, I like it. It stands for the Army that I remember and love. The Army of the FIDO attitude. (Look it up if you don't understand.) This is the Army that Churchill aptly described when he said, "We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us."

TTG

"Targets," an old story by Jim Peak (Basilisk)

 

Jim had been out shooting with a friend and wrote this.  pl

 

------------

 

The two men, heavy laden with the implements of destruction, scuffed through crunching autumn leaves. The scent of winter was somewhere near by.

“I doubt we’ll sneak up on anything with all this noise.” The man carried a deer rifle with a heavy leather sling.  The rifle’s stock showed dents and scratches.  The slender barrel wore a patina cut through by shiny patches. It mounted an anachronistic, Chinese-made scope that contrasted by its cheapness with the utilitarian old rifle.

“That’s what’s nice about being out early—the quiet—and I’m ruining it.” The speaker dragged a heavy black rifle case,  “I guess I could carry this thing, but that’s why they call it a sniper drag bag, right?” The weapon in the case was a modern Savage, a thing that looked suited to Star Wars’ imperial storm troopers. It was all fluted black steel and ridged aluminum. There was a folded bipod and a massive piece of glass on the rifle’s back.

“Well, that thing’s a sniper rifle, sure enough, but I’d hate like hell to carry it into the woods.” The man with the deer rifle did not disapprove, but sometimes he felt he did not understand his companion’s obsession with the new.

The second man hoisted the black bag to his shoulder, “That’s why snipers set up on the high ground and let the targets come to them.”

“You know a lot about that, do you?”

The man with the sniper rifle felt the rebuke, it was soft-pedaled, but there nonetheless. “Well, you know all I did there was pick boxes for ARCLIGHT strikes. Probably killed a lot of elephants and monkeys.”

“Yeah, B-52’s will do that all right.” The man with the deer rifle was non-judgmental.

 

 

Jim had been out shooting with a friend and wrote this.  pl

 

------------

 

The two men, heavy laden with the implements of destruction, scuffed through crunching autumn leaves. The scent of winter was somewhere near by.

“I doubt we’ll sneak up on anything with all this noise.” The man carried a deer rifle with a heavy leather sling.  The rifle’s stock showed dents and scratches.  The slender barrel wore a patina cut through by shiny patches. It mounted an anachronistic, Chinese-made scope that contrasted by its cheapness with the utilitarian old rifle.

“That’s what’s nice about being out early—the quiet—and I’m ruining it.” The speaker dragged a heavy black rifle case,  “I guess I could carry this thing, but that’s why they call it a sniper drag bag, right?” The weapon in the case was a modern Savage, a thing that looked suited to Star Wars’ imperial storm troopers. It was all fluted black steel and ridged aluminum. There was a folded bipod and a massive piece of glass on the rifle’s back.

“Well, that thing’s a sniper rifle, sure enough, but I’d hate like hell to carry it into the woods.” The man with the deer rifle did not disapprove, but sometimes he felt he did not understand his companion’s obsession with the new.

The second man hoisted the black bag to his shoulder, “That’s why snipers set up on the high ground and let the targets come to them.”

“You know a lot about that, do you?”

The man with the sniper rifle felt the rebuke, it was soft-pedaled, but there nonetheless. “Well, you know all I did there was pick boxes for ARCLIGHT strikes. Probably killed a lot of elephants and monkeys.”

“Yeah, B-52’s will do that all right.” The man with the deer rifle was non-judgmental.

The two men, heavy laden with the implements of destruction, scuffed through crunching autumn leaves. The scent of winter was somewhere near by.

“I doubt we’ll sneak up on anything with all this noise.” The man carried a deer rifle with a heavy leather sling.  The rifle’s stock showed dents and scratches.  The slender barrel wore a patina cut through by shiny patches. It mounted an anachronistic, Chinese-made scope that contrasted by its cheapness with the utilitarian old rifle.

“That’s what’s nice about being out early—the quiet—and I’m ruining it.” The speaker dragged a heavy black rifle case,  “I guess I could carry this thing, but that’s why they call it a sniper drag bag, right?” The weapon in the case was a modern Savage, a thing that looked suited to Star Wars’ imperial storm troopers. It was all fluted black steel and ridged aluminum. There was a folded bipod and a massive piece of glass on the rifle’s back.

“Well, that thing’s a sniper rifle, sure enough, but I’d hate like hell to carry it into the woods.” The man with the deer rifle did not disapprove, but sometimes he felt he did not understand his companion’s obsession with the new.

The second man hoisted the black bag to his shoulder, “That’s why snipers set up on the high ground and let the targets come to them.”

“You know a lot about that, do you?”

The man with the sniper rifle felt the rebuke, it was soft-pedaled, but there nonetheless. “Well, you know all I did there was pick boxes for ARCLIGHT strikes. Probably killed a lot of elephants and monkeys.”

“Yeah, B-52’s will do that all right.” The man with the deer rifle was non-judgmental.

An 'Alid Christmas in Amman - reposted 20 December 2020

 

It was  snowing heavily in Alexandria, Virginia when I first wrote this.  The moment reminded me of the time in the '80s when I was in Jerusalem and Amman on government business at Christmas time.  It had snowed heavily there as well, an unusual but not unknown event.  People were trying to cope with the white, slippery stuff.  In Amman I was staying at a very modern hotel with a large circular atrium that went way up into the distant heights surrounded by the balconies that led to bedrooms.  The coffee shop was tiered around the well of the atrium.  I think the hotel was the Marriott.  I arrived at night.  In the morning I went down to the lobby to meet the Jordanian Army driver who was to take me to army headquarters.  An enormous, decorated Christmas tree filled the atrium.  It must have been fifty feet tall.  It looked a lot like the tree in the picture.  After looking at it for a bit I went to the Qiyada.  Among the people I met with there was His Highness, Field Marshal Zeid bin Shaker, Commander in Chief of the Jordanian Army (al-jaysh al-'arabi).  When we had finished our business, I told him what I had seen in the hotel.  He said he must see it.  We got into his car and drove back to the hotel so that he could.

The hotel had covered the tree with star shaped ornaments each inscribed with the name of one of its staff.  There were stars with names of all kinds.  There were; Marys, Gunters, Muhammads, Seans, Josephs, Ahmads, 'Issas, Pierres, Ivans, Abdullahs, Muhsins, etc.  There were hundreds of names.

The prince and I sat at the foot of the tree, drank coffee and chatted.  He sent for the manager of the hotel to tell him what a good idea the tree was.  His bedouin soldier driver sat a couple of tables away staring at the tree.

Zeid bin Shaker was one of nature's noblemen.  He was also an 'Alid, a descendent of the Prophet, a Hashemite cousin of King Hussein, and a Muslim gentleman.

God rest you, merry gentleman.  pl

"Joe at Christmas" by Basilisk

“He’s a plasterer,” we used to joke, “unless he’s plastered.” The subject of our youthful mirth was a guy named “Joe.” I’m not sure I ever knew his other name.  Some called him “wino Joe.” He was a fixture in the area around our little town. He had a two-wheeled wagon, a tall thing that we often saw mounded up with bottles. Joe scoured the highways for empty bottles. The two-cent deposits added up, he said, and often enough for his needs, I guess, he was able to buy a bottle of wine with the proceeds.

I think the stuff might have been called “Golden Pheasant.” It came in flat-sided pint bottles, and I recall seeing Joe hold a full one up to the rising sun one morning. “Breakfast,” he said appreciatively.

There were times, however, when the supply of empty pop bottles was simply insufficient. In those times Joe fell back on plastering. My dad said he was an artisan. I never knew exactly what he meant, but one night late Joe came to do a job and he was so drunk my dad had to hold him on the ladder. The house didn’t have sheetrock then, but rather real plaster with thin, hand-hewn strips of lath behind the uneven, discolored plaster. Sometimes when big chunks fell off we were able to extract long strips of yellowed newsprint with dates from the early 1870s.

When Joe finished the job my dad took out a ten-dollar bill and Joe said, “Nope. That is the ten-dollar bill you loaned me last week. I’m payin’ you back.” My dad shrugged and folded the bill into his pocket.

The next morning Joe was back. He had a sheepish look and he said, “I’d kinda like to look at the job I did last night, I might have had a skinful.”

My dad ushered him inside and they checked the work. I stood in the back of the room and watched. Joe finally turned around, He had an embarrassed smile, “Yeh, that don’t look half bad. Yuh know that ten-dollar bill? I wonder if I could borrow that again?”

 

Brooding in the Marble City beside the Great Swamp

The cognoscenti are whispering, whispering of a failure of will and steadiness in the SCOTUS in the matter of the Texas constitutional lawsuit against several states for a failure to provide equal rights to Texans and the citizens of six other states in election process.

According to listeners in the halls of SCOTUS actual screaming could be heard in debate among the justices over whether or not to hear the case.  This is unheard of within the most exclusive club in the world.  Mutual dislikes and contempts are carefully concealed within that charmed circle. An alternative version of the story has them screaming at each others' screens.

On this occasion, Roberts and the liberals made common cause to prevent acceptance of this case under "original jurisdiction" in this case arguing against Thomas and Alito.  Kavanaugh and Barrett were supposedly admonished by Roberts to abstain from argument on the basis of their lack of experience.  With Kavanaugh this would be easy.  IMO he is a broken man, torn to bits and mortally wounded psychologically.  

1.  Roberts actually said (or screamed) that he feared leftist mobs in the streets if the court heard the case.

2.  This establishes a context for SCOTUS decisions in which fear of the mob will decide rather than the concept of the constitution as a compact of the 50 states, a compact created by state ratifications and which cannot be changed except through ratification of changes by the states.

3.  In other words, SCOTUS is no longer an honest broker and referee among the states.

4.  What is left - force majeure?

BTW, in the chart above, North Carolina and Rhode Island had previously voted NOT to ratify but re-voted after Virginia's ratification meant that they would be excluded from the new country if they did not.  

pl

The Fall of the Republic - part1

"Correspondence between Hunter Biden and CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming from 2017 shows President-elect Joe Biden's son extending "best wishes from the entire Biden family," and urging the chairman to "quickly" send a $10 million wire to "properly fund and operate" the Biden joint venture with the now-bankrupt Chinese energy company.

The $10 million transfer to the joint venture was never completed.

Fox News obtained an email Hunter Biden sent on June 18, 2017, to Zhao Run Long at CEFC, asking that they please "translate my letter to Chairman Ye, please extend my warmest best wishes and that I hope to see the Chairman soon.""

Biden went on to note that Bobulinski had "sent a request to Dong Gongwen [Gongwen Dong] and Director Zang for the funding of the $10 MM USD wire."

"I would appreciate if you will send that quickly so we can properly fund and operate Sinohawk," Biden wrote.

"I am sure you have been well briefed by our dear friend Director Zang on the political and economic connections we have established in countries where you are interested in expanding during the coming months and years," he continued. "I look forward to our next meeting."

"Fox News also obtained the response from Ye as part of an email, dated Sept. 6, 2017, from Biden business associate James Gilliar to Bobulinski. That email forwarded Ye's letter responding to Biden. The letter is dated July 10, 2017.

Ye stated that he had arranged for Zang and Dong to "expedite the charter capital input to SinoHawk."

"I am glad to hear from you! Time flies and it has been months since we met in the US. It seems that we were always on a rush when we were together," Ye wrote to Biden, adding that "the consensus we made last time has been materialized in a timely manner." 

Ye also recommended Biden "arrange your people to coordinate with Director Zang and Gongwen Dong for specific work." 

"I will continue to pay attention and give my support," Ye stated. "I have arranged Director Zang and Gongwen Dong to expedite the charter capital input to SinoHawk." 

"I look forward to meeting you in the near future and discussing our joint undertaking. If there is anything I could do please do not hesitate to write to me," Ye wrote. "Please accept my best regards to you and your family.""  foxnews

------------

Well, pilgrims, the Ron Johnson hearing today was fun.  The best part for me was former Director Krebs' (election security guy for DHS) repeated statements that the election was secure, "the most secure in history."  Pilgrims, the distinction betwixt "secure" and "honest" seems to have escaped him as he ignored questions about actual evidence of fraud, a swampie to the end.

And then, there is Chairman Joe.  He knows that nothing will be easier than to kill off prosecution of his creepy son, or to "suggest" to the Delaware federal prosecutor that a minor indictment would be appropriate, something resulting in a suspended sentence.

I have watched Tucker debrief Bobulinski twice about that payment.  The way Bobulinski tells it  (with documentation) the Bidens were loaned $5 million by MEFC to pay their side of the capitalization and then actually pocketed the other $5  million as a direct payment to La Familia from FEMC (Oh Danny Boy!) from - equal opportunity!  That was too much for the Bobster (former naval Lt., man of world finance, patriot, self-abnegator, etc.) Besides, where was his share?

Pistols at dawn?  Good!  Tucker can act as his second.  Where are my cased flintlock smoothbores?  They are somewhere around here, the English 18th Century ones in the fitted blue velvet case.  pl

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hunter-biden-letter-chinese-cefc-chairman-wire-request

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-says-im-confident-hunter-did-nothing-wrong-amid-federal-probe-into-tax-affairs

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-election-hearing-clash-johnson-peters

‘You will own nothing, and you will be happy’: Warnings of ‘Orwellian’ Great Reset

"A terrifying coalition of big business and big tech are so confident and brazen they are promising the public “you will own nothing, and you will be happy” in an advertising campaign for a global reset, according to Sky News host Rowan Dean. “What they should have added is ‘we the very rich will own everything and be even happier’," he said. The Great Reset is a proposal set out by the World Economic Forum for a new globalised fiscal system which would allow the world to effectively tackle the so-called climate crisis. Mr Dean said the plan intends to use the “tools of oppression” implemented during the pandemic, such as lockdowns and forced business closures as well as other measures destroying private property rights, to combat the coronavirus to achieve climate outcomes. “I've spoken before about the insidious phrase Build Back Better which sounds like common sense but is in fact just one of several slogans for the Great reset, another being the Orwellian phrase the fourth industrial revolution”. “This is as serious and as dangerous a threat to our prosperity and freedom as we have faced in decades." Mr Dean warned viewers to think again if they believed this was just “crazy old Rowan with his conspiracy theories”. “This garbage is already deeply embedded into our state and federal governments.”"  skynew

---------------

"Nothing is too good for the troops" is an old US Army expression "and that is what they will get - nothing!"  But will the "troops" accept that?  Will the "troops" accept that the Orwellian pigs should live in the departed master's farmhouse?  Will they?  The motto is supposed to be "two legs bad, four legs good," but only the pigs can live in the dachas of the nomenklatura?

The depth and scope of the pigs' intentions in such statements from Davos and other sanctimonious centers of "learning" is evident.  

Biden is a potential hazard for such plans.  His evident dementia and crime familia record might bring the whole scheme low.  He, therefore, must be treated as an expendable "card" in the piggy game.  A Special Counsel to investigate The Bidens? (someday to have a warship named for them like "The Sullivans?")  Sure, why not?

If "The Bidens" go down, Kamala will be there, standing by to carry on.  A Special Counsel to investigate the "greatest election fraud machinery in American history" might bring her down as well.

No! No! That can't be.  That would not follow the arc of history.  pl

https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6215927832001

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell

New York! New York!

Back of the freezer, cleaning out.  Two inches thick.  pl

"German prisoners of war in the United States" wiki

"There were insufficient American guards, especially German speakers. They mostly supervised the German officers and NCOs who strictly maintained discipline.^{[13][25][12]:33–34[16]} The Germans woke their own men, marched them to and from meals, and prepared them for work;^[26] their routine successfully recreated the feel of military discipline for prisoners.^[12]:34 Prisoners had friendly interaction with local civilians^[26] and sometimes were allowed outside the camps without guards on the honor system^[14]:104,223 (Black American guards noted that German prisoners could visit restaurants that they could not because of Jim Crow laws.^[20]:52–53), luxuries such as beer and wine were sometimes available, and hobbies or sports were encouraged.^[15] Alex Funke, a former POW at Camp Algona, wrote: "We all were positively impressed" by the U.S. and that "We all had been won over to friendly relations with" the U.S.^[27]Indeed, unauthorized fraternization between American women and German prisoners was sometimes a problem.^[24][16] Several camps held social receptions with local American girls, and some Germans met their future wives as prisoners."  wiki

^{-------------------}

^{Well, pilgrims.  I find this interesting.  This could not be more different from the situation in the Borg/jihadi wars of the last 20 years.}

^{My father was an officer in the US Army Service Forces in WW2.  (logistics and base operations in CONUS) until he started training to be a military government official in Germany.  He was stationed at several posts that had German POWs confined there.  I found them fascinating.  I watched them march to and from work singing in four part harmony.  Their officers and NCOs marched them.  They did the gardening around on-post housing.  I often went out to watch them work and talk to them.  My mother hated that, but then, she was a person of simple hatreds.  The US MP guards watched but did not interfere.  These prisoners were veterans of Panzerarmee Afrika, all captured at the surrender in Tunisia..  They told me so.  A lot of them spoke excellent English, usually with a British accent that they had learned in school.  There were a lot of family men who missed their children.}

^{I find it particularly interesting that a few volunteered to fight Japan and that OKW arranged through the ICRC for them to receive constructive credits at German Universities for the courses that they taught each other.}

^{A different world.  pl}

German prisoners of war in the United States - Wikipedia

More sword

63 degrees today, sunny tomorrow.  pl

Jeffrey, "a gift that keeps on giving."

"Under the authority of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, administration officials had devised a plan under which the US military’s counter-Islamic State (IS, or ISIS) force would remain in Syria at least until the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad went through with UN-backed elections. On top of their Congressionally-mandated mission of fighting IS, US forces would continue to deny Assad access to Syrian oilfields, which were located in areas controlled by Syrian Kurdish fighters backed by the United States, and to obstruct the Iranian military’s access to the Levant.

Trump didn’t like it. “The president was very uncomfortable with our presence in Syria,” Jeffrey told Al-Monitor in a two-hour interview at his home in Washington last week. “He was very uncomfortable with what he saw as endless wars.”"  al-monitor

---------------

This guy likes to talk.  Hopefully he will hang himself in the coils of the rope he is weaving.

The gist of this is that he has a deep seated hatred for the Syrian Government and an exaggerated sense of self-importance.  His globalist strategic thinking fit together nicely with Pompeo's simple minded evangelical devotion to Israel and its self fulfilling 1% fantasies.  They were a deadly duo hatched out in hell.

As for General McKenzie's claim that numerical accounting for troops is not fiddled with at the Pentagon, I hope he is lying and not just another simpleton.  All through the Afghanistan War the DoD lied about how many people we had in Afghanistan.  They did this by counting people who were arriving and leaving, people on temporary assignment, people on leave, etc. etc.  pl

https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/12/trump-syria-envoy-jeffrey-mideast-policy-turkey-erdogan.html

"House Conservatives Urge President Trump To Name A Special Counsel To Investigate Election Fraud" OAN

"Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas) is leading an effort with nearly three dozen House GOP lawmakers, urging President Trump to name a special counsel to investigate election fraud. The lawmakers noted they believe the Justice Department isn’t taking the allegations seriously."  OAN

--------------

IMO this should be done.  A Special Counsel should be named to make it as difficult as possible for the Harris/Biden Administration to cancel all investigation of the obvious fraud at both the wholesale and retail levels (Dershowitz reference).  If this is not done, consolidation of power on the Left will lead to a sham republic.  IMO this Special Counsel should be appointed from outside the government.  If Barr has to be fired to accomplish a direct appointment by the president, so be it.   pl 

https://www.oann.com/house-conservatives-urge-president-trump-to-name-a-special-counsel-to-investigate-election-fraud/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_prosecutor

Congressmen and federal judges ...

Do not have security clearances.

They are members of separate branches of government and the Executive Branch gives security clearances.

Federal judges and congressmen have access based on their constitutional office and need to know.

That is why Eric Swalwell was never background checked by the FBI.  pl

"SpaceX performs incredible Starship SN8 test flight in South Texas!" tasmanian

"Today SpaceX is one step closer to Mars! The aerospace company performed an incredible test flight with a prototype of the Starship spacecraft that could one day transform humans into a multiplanet species. This afternoon SpaceX conducted the first high-altitude test flight and achieved many milestones during the launch! The Starship SN8 prototype soared approximately 50,000 feet (15-kilometers) into the sky powered by a trio of Raptor engines."

"During the epic flight test SpaceX tested the vehicles aerodynamic flaps during a ‘belly dive’ maneuver that left everyone in awe. The maneuver is important towards Starship’s development, it is how the spacecraft will move to enter a planet’s rough atmosphere before landing. The test flight lasted around seven minutes in which Starship used its aerodynamic flaps to glide itself down Boca Chica’s sky. SN8 was capable of reorienting itself to a vertical position to prepare for a landing, but upon landing the vehicle exploded."

"However, Starship SN8 performed an excellent flight. SpaceX said SN8 is "designed to test a number of objectives, from how the vehicle’s three Raptor engines perform to the overall aerodynamic entry capabilities of the vehicle (including its body flaps) to how the vehicle manages propellant transition [...]," the company wrote on its website, “With a test such as this, success is not measured by completion of specific objectives but rather how much we can learn, which will inform and improve the probability of success in the future as SpaceX rapidly advances development of Starship.” Musk shared the vehicle achieved going through all the testing objectives -“Successful ascent, switchover to header tanks & precise flap control to landing point!” he wrote via Twitter. He also shared that the reason why Starship SN8 exploded upon landing was because the –“Fuel header tank pressure was low during landing burn, causing touchdown velocity to be high & RUD [Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly], but we got all the data we needed! Congrats SpaceX team hell yeah!!” Musk stated via Twitter after the successful test flight today. “SN8 did great! Even reaching apogee would’ve been great, so controlling all way to putting the crater in the right spot was epic!!” he said."  tasmanian

--------------

I waited all day to watch this bird fly.  It was absolutely grand.  The nose dive and glide followed by self righting was all that one could hope for in an early test.  This machine is the gateway to the solar system.  pl 

https://www.tesmanian.com/blogs/tesmanian-blog/sn8-1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Starship

Missouri, 17 other states file supporting Texas suit to delay presidential elector appointment" foxnews

"Missouri led a group of 17 states that Wednesday afternoon filed a brief with the Supreme Court supporting the Texas lawsuit aimed at delaying the appointment of presidential electors from Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. 

The brief mirrors the argument of the Texas suit in saying that the states acted unconstitutionally when either their judiciaries or executive branches changed their elections laws. The Texas suit, and the states that support it, say that only state legislatures may set laws regarding how states appoint their presidential electors. 

"The integrity of our elections is of critical importance to maintaining our republic, both today and in future elections,” Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said in a statement. “The stakes of protecting our Constitution, defending our liberty and ensuring that all votes are counted fairly couldn’t be higher. With this brief, we are joining the fight."

The Trump campaign also filed a brief asking to join on the Texas suit on Wednesday.

"The illegal suspension or violation of state law thus calls directly into question the certification of the results of the elections in Defendant States for Vice President Joe Biden, Proposed Plaintiff in Intervention’s opponent in the election," its brief said. "President Trump’s interest in the outcome of this litigation could therefore not be more acute."

The brief filed by Missouri and the other states, which is officially a motion for leave to file a bill of complaint, also warns that the changes enacted by the state executives and judicial branches opened the states' elections up to potential fraud."  foxnews

------------

It appears to me that the Democrats in all their varied glory have become subversive of the Constitution except in so far as it supports the creation of a sham republic like the Soviet Union.  We will now see if SCOTUS will save us from that.  pl 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/missouri-16-other-states-file-brief-supporting-texas-suit-to-delay-presidential-elector-appointment

Hunter agonistes? Not.

"The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware is investigating Hunter Biden’s “tax affairs,” President-elect Joe Biden’s son confirmed Wednesday, saying he is taking the matter “very seriously” and is “confident” he handled his affairs “legally and appropriately.”

“I learned yesterday for the first time that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also yesterday, that they are investigating my tax affairs,” Hunter Biden said in a statement. “I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors.”

A well-placed government source told Fox News that Hunter Biden is a subject/target of the grand jury investigation. According to the source, a "target" means that there is a "high probability that person committed a crime," while a "subject" is someone you "don't know for sure" has committed a crime. "  foxnews

----------------

IMO this will be dismissed as soon as Joe is inaugurated and in office.  IMO Hunter will be exonerated and the press will say that all charges have been resolved.  pl 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hunter-biden-tax-affairs-under-federal-investigation

Eric Swalwell and the Dragon Lady

 Axios reported on Monday that a Chinese national named Fang Fang or Christine Fang targeted up-and-coming local politicians, including Swalwell, D-Calif. 

Fang reportedly took part in fundraising for Swalwell's 2014 reelection campaign although she did not make donations nor was there evidence of illegal contributions.

According to Axios, investigators became so alarmed by Fang’s behavior and activities that they alerted Swalwell in 2015 to their concerns, and gave him a “defensive briefing.” Swalwell then cut off all ties with Fang and has not been accused of any wrongdoing, according to an official who spoke to the outlet. 

AFTER ENTANGLEMENT WITH CHINESE SPY, ERIC SWALWELL WARNED OF 'INFLUX OF RUSSIANS' IN US POLITICS UNDER TRUMP

Swalwell, who was one of the most outspoken lawmakers who pushed the Russia collusion narrative since Trump took office, is now hinting that the president was behind Axios' explosive reporting during an interview with Politico. 

“I’ve been a critic of the president. I’ve spoken out against him. I was on both committees that worked to impeach him. The timing feels like that should be looked at," Swalwell said on Tuesday. 

Swalwell revealed that Axios first approached him about his ties to Fang in July 2019, which was also when he ended his short-lived presidential campaign. But the Democratic lawmaker seemed to suggest that intelligence officials involved in Axios' reporting were trying to "weaponize" his cooperation with authorities. "  foxnews

---------------

You have to love thus stuff.  Poor Swalwell, he probably thought he was the only one.  The most basic approaches always work best.  I call it "glandular warfare."  Or,  "the power of the p---y."  Fortunately, we would never do anything like that.

The Chinese, however,  are practical people.  What works, works.  pl

https://www.foxnews.com/media/eric-swalwell-trump-axios-report-chinese-spy

US/Israeli/Alien alliance looms claims Israeli general (retired) - RT

"The former head of the Israeli military’s space division has claimed that Tel Aviv and Washington have contacted a “Galactic Federation” of extraterrestrials, but that mankind is not ready for the “truth” about life in the cosmos.

Retired general Haim Eshed, 87, who headed up the Defense Ministry’s space unit for nearly three decades, alleged the existence of an alien alliance spanning the galaxy in a bewildering interview with Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

“The UFOs asked not to advertise that they are here, [because] humanity is not ready yet,” Eshed told the paper on Saturday, adding that US President Donald Trump “was on the verge of finding out, but the aliens in the Galactic Federation say: wait, let the spirits calm first. They don’t want us to have mass hysteria.”"  RT

-----------

 Aahh ... the Rooshans are making fun of us again.   They must think that any country that would elect the incoming menagerie should be subject to ridicule.  I never met this old gent, and I worked with the world-beating IDF general staff on a daily basis.  Dunno what that means.  

CNN and MSNBC will probably try to pin this on Trump.  NBC - not so much.  pl

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/weird-news/former-israeli-space-security-chief-says-extraterrestrials-exist-trump-knows-n1250333

https://www.rt.com/news/508962-israel-space-chief-alien-federation/

Lamb Chops

porterhouse, medium, marinated for a couple of hours in good stuff

Briard's presentation at Johns Hopkins University

One of our correspondents was kind enough to send me what he says is an unmodified video of Professor Briard's presentation on COVID-19 deaths.  pl

https://url.emailprotection.link/?bSYr50gRhBjC615YOdskIg0xxU1LejLqUk1UQ14SxNXFhWAQfWYBlryzE0R2oqACXnwyJNEdUkY5vx1Cf0V7FAu49lDZkzwrXN6pRl5Hwnun-KUOTCHB354SulJiavSDil_NK6tUAjx5EO2gZxq7WniWWke-JnWIGQnEKcOEHl1CBDf6eNwKxarB1O1XsIzWD4kSx-EDRSPnrjY9VG6WWKw~~

"A closer look at U.S. deaths due to COVID-19" retracted Johns Hopkins journal article

"The CDC classified all deaths that are related to COVID-19 simply as COVID-19 deaths. Even patients dying from other underlying diseases but are infected with COVID-19 count as COVID-19 deaths. This is likely the main explanation as to why COVID-19 deaths drastically increased while deaths by all other diseases experienced a significant decrease.

“All of this points to no evidence that COVID-19 created any excess deaths. Total death numbers are not above normal death numbers. We found no evidence to the contrary,” Briand concluded.

In an interview with The News-Letter, Briand addressed the question of whether COVID-19 deaths can be called misleading since the infection might have exacerbated and even led to deaths by other underlying diseases.

“If [the COVID-19 death toll] was not misleading at all, what we should have observed is an increased number of heart attacks and increased COVID-19 numbers. But a decreased number of heart attacks and all the other death causes doesn’t give us a choice but to point to some misclassification,” Briand replied.

In other words, the effect of COVID-19 on deaths in the U.S. is considered problematic only when it increases the total number of deaths or the true death burden by a significant amount in addition to the expected deaths by other causes. Since the crude number of total deaths by all causes before and after COVID-19 has stayed the same, one can hardly say, in Briand’s view, that COVID-19 deaths are concerning."

----------------

The editorial board of this Johns Hopkins student journal retracted the article after they were confronted by faculty wokists and Covidians.  pl

https://web.archive.org/web/20201126163323/https://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2020/11/a-closer-look-at-u-s-deaths-due-to-covid-19

" ... 'not statistically impossible, but ... statistically implausible.'" Basham

"Those metrics, according to Basham, include "party registration trends, how the candidates did in their respective presidential primaries, the number of individual donations, [and] how much enthusiasm each candidate generated in the opinion polls."

"In 2016, they all indicated strongly that Donald Trump would win against most of the public polling," Basham said. "That was again the case in 2020. So if we are to accept that Biden won against the trend of all these non-polling metrics, it not only means that one of these metrics was inaccurate ... for the first time ever, it means that each one of these metrics was wrong for the first time and at the same time as all of the others."

WATCH 'LIFE, LIBERTY & LEVIN' SUNDAYS AT 8 PM ET ON FOX NEWS CHANNEL

Another anomaly of the 2020 election, Basham told Levin, is the fact that Trump performed better in many key voting metrics than he did four years earlier. 

"If you look at the results, you see how Donald Trump improved his national performance over 2016 by almost 20%," he said. "No incumbent president has ever lost a reelection bid if he's increased his votes [total]. Obama went down by three and a half million votes between 2008 and 2012, but still won comfortably.

"If you look at those results, you see that Donald Trump did very well, even better than four years earlier, with the white working class. He held his own with women and suburban voters against all of most of the polling expectations, did very well with Catholics, improved his vote among Jewish voters," continued Basham, who detailed his incredulity in an article published in the American edition of the Spectator. "He had the best minority performance for a Republican since Richard Nixon in 1960, doing so well with African-Americans, and importantly with Hispanics."

In fact, Basham suggested, Trump's performance was so impressive that if anyone asked 100 observers "who were sequestered for the actual election night" and had been given "the vote breakdown by demographic group" who they thought won the election, "99, at least out of those 100 independent, well-informed observers would say, well, obviously, Trump.""  foxnews

----------------

And yet Trump's people cannot thus far find a judge who will accept the power of such arguments.  Those who deny justice are sowing the wind.  pl

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2020-presidential-election-joe-biden-donald-trump-patrick-basham-mark-levin

"We come in peace." Really?

"Overwhelmingly, everyone The Debrief spoke with said the most striking feature of the recently released UAPTF intelligence position report was the inclusion of new and “extremely clear” photograph of an unidentifiable triangular aircraft.

The photograph, which is said to have also been taken from inside the cockpit of a military fighter jet, depicted an apparent aerospace vehicle described as a large equilateral triangle with rounded or “blunted” edges and large, perfectly spherical white “lights” in each corner. Officials who had seen it said the image was captured in 2019 by an F/A-18 fighter pilot. 

Two officials that received the report said the photo was taken after the triangular craft emerged from the ocean and began to ascend straight upwards at a 90-degree angle. It was indicated that this event occurred off the eastern coast of the United States. Several other sources confirmed the photo’s existence; however, they declined to provide any further specifics of the incident. 

Regarding the overall theme of the recent report, officials who read it say the report primarily focused on “Unidentified Submersible Phenomena,” or unidentified “transmedium” vehicles capable of operating both under water and in the air. "  the debrief

https://youtu.be/gEhgnkQoPqQ

--------------

I am surprised by people who are so intellectually limited that they insist that UFO/UAP cannot be real.  Dana Perino, the cute blonde midget who is a talking head on Foxnews says that she not only "thinks" there is nothing but us in the great, wide universe but that she believes the whole US Space Program has been a waste of time and money from its very inception in the era of the godlike JFK except as it was a useful tool with which to tweak the Soviets.  

Now, the generals and admirals, a notably unimaginative lot, are slowly coming to a consensus with regard to UFO/UAP and that consensus points to a conclusion of the reality of these things, whatever they are.  pl 

https://www.thedebrief.org/fast-movers-and-transmedium-vehicles-the-pentagons-uap-task-force/

A widespread but poorly executed plot?

(monkey screwing a football)

We watched the quadripartite building security camera show last night on several TeeVee news shows.  You know, the one in which the poll workers shoo the GOP poll watchers and press out of the big counting room at the Farm State Arena and then pull suit cases of something out from under a table and get to counting.

Several interesting things about this;  1.  They all seem to have been pre-briefed and are acting as a team, 2.  They seem oblivious of the permanent security cameras in the room, 3. The GOP somehow obtained these tapes.  Outraged security guard maybe? 

The governator of Georgia, a one time Trumpista, now says that maybe, maybe something bad happened in that room, maybe.  And maybe, maybe, there should be an audit.

It seems to be the case that a lot of effective skullduggery happened in quite a few states in this election, but it was poorly and clumsily done.  A lot of it was more or less in plain sight if one had eyes to see.  Truck drivers were tasked to haul pallets of Biden ballots from place to place.  Biden ballots were run through counting machines ten times.  Remarkable!  Magic computer networks!  

This sounds to me to be something like a plot cooked up by a group of self important but not too clever Ivy grads sitting around at somewhere like ... Brooklyn?

"We could do this" one cries out! "We could make it happen!"

So, the concept was great, but the execution was piss poor (army talk).  This may bite them in the ass yet.  (more army talk)  pl