Category: Politics

Suzie-Q and I had to buy a new clothes washer. We had the old one just over 10 years. When the repairman came to see if he could repair it or not, he talked about it like it was an antique. He said they do not make this kind anymore. Told him my mother had an antique. It sat on the back porch and had a wringer on top. These days everything is electronic and computerized he said. He finally called a seasoned repairman who worked back in parts shop. The old guy had to come back with him and show him the problem and conclude the cost of the repair was not worth it. So off we went to the appliance store.

They use words like all electronic, high efficiency, and energy saver to describe the new machines. Certainly somewhere along the line there is a government regulation or two involved. Whoever makes high efficiency washing machines must be in cahoots with whoever makes high efficiency toilets. Both insist they can get the job done with a cup of water. The toilet maker brags his can flush a bucket of golf balls, which would be just dandy if I needed to flush some golf balls.

So, they delivered the new machine and Suzie-Q took it for a test drive. On this new contraption, you cannot set the water level like small, medium or large. The computer does it for you. A concept neither of us fully comprehend. When you select the cycle of choice and press the start button water runs into the tub just like normal. A little light comes on that says “sensing.” The computer is “sensing” how much water it needs to wash the load. Adding insult to injury, when the water shuts off and it begins to wash the lid locks. Suzie-Q is not happy with that, because she is adamant that how much water is enough is up to her and not some unseen nerd who has never washed a load of laundry. And, if the lid locks she can’t raise it up and take the peek she is accustomed to taking. She finally surrendered to the tyranny of a computerized washing machine by pushing the start button and walking away – very un-Suzie-Q like. For the machine’s sake, she better like the smell of the laundry.

In Washington, we have the progressive party formerly known as the Democratic Party. On the other side we have the progressive party formerly known as the Republican Party. Both of them report to the donor class comprised of billionaires, corporations, big banks and their paid lobbyists who program them and then push their start buttons. Together, this makes up the Washington establishment. Looking under the lid stirs them up some, and these progressives not unlike communists will not easily relinquish their power and death grip on America.

Out here in working class America, the American class recently wished dead, people are waking up to the fact that this Washington establishment is a collection of people in it for themselves and their pay-masters. We have candidates who are despised by this cabal who have vowed to look under the lid exposing corruption and yanking out unnecessary parts. Whether or not that is just campaign rhetoric is always the gamble we take. But it seems to have raised the anxiety level of the establishment ruling class.

Sadly, the opposing candidates are being played by the establishment and do not seem able to get past their egos long enough to figure that out. The establishment plan is working just fine. It is keeping them at each other’s throats. It is pushing one to ensure that either does not arrive at the convention with a majority of delegates. If that happens, it will be Paul Ryan as the next progressive up. Another loser for America and he will probably run against Uncle Joe or Kerry the commie.

Unless the so-called outsiders (although establishment types are popping up on one team) can get over their case of cranial rectal inversion syndrome it is going to be just another push the start button election where Americans lose. The saddest part is that we will not be able to see if all the people who threatened to leave the country actually would.

© 2016 J. D. Pendry All Rights Reserved

This is a sad and yet beautiful story.  One place to start is with Matthew Freeman’s final diary entry:

Mom, Dad, I can never repay you for all you have done for me. You made me into the man I am today. I hope that I have made you proud. That has always been my goal. I love you both so much. Tell the girls that I love them and couldn’t be a prouder older brother. I have always tried to be an honorable man and I truly believe in what we are doing here. I am doing this for my family; so that they need not fear, My country, so that it can be a beacon of light for the entire world; the men around me, because no one could ask for a more august company than the men of the US Armed Forces and finally I do this for myself so that I might know the measure of myself and in the end not be found wanting. I believe that it is my duty to fight and having done all that I can to simply stand against this and all the evil works upon this Earth.

I love what he says here, because almost to a man this was the feelings expressed by the guys I served with.  We were where we needed to be.  Not where we wanted to be neccessarily, but where we needed to be.

Matt grew up in Richmond Hill, Georgia, became an Eagle Scout, loved reading Shakespeare and playing Tennis.  He was accepted and enrolled at the US Naval Academy, and upon graduation became a Marine Officer.  On his website bio it states

Matthew’s true passion though, was flying. As a young boy he fell in love with flying and went on to become a Marine pilot – the third generation of Freemans to wear Navy wings. In 2009, he married his childhood sweetheart, Theresa Hess. Three weeks later, he opted out of the relative safety of the cockpit and volunteered for ground action when he heard the Marines needed more ground forces – in Afghanistan.

At the age of 29, while conducting combat operations in Kapisa province, Afghanistan, Matthew Freeman would be killed in action.

Flash forward now to a seemingly unrelated story out of Poland:

 A newborn baby in Poland carries the name of a hero soldier from Staten Island who died two years ago saving the life of the infant’s father.

U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Michael Ollis, 24, a lifelong resident of New Dorp, sacrificed his life on Aug. 28, 2013, while shielding Lt. Karol Cierpica from a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.

Newborn baby Michael Cierpica lies with a teddy bear made from the Army fatigues of Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis, the soldier from New Dorp who sacrificed his life saving the infant’s father during an attack in Afghanistan. (Photo courtesy of Ollis family)

 

 Earlier this month, the Polish soldier became the proud father of a baby boy he named in honor of Ollis.

Robert Ollis and his wife, Linda, called the tribute to their son “unexpected” and “wonderful.”

“I thought of the baby as a grandson,” Ollis Sr. said “We are very happy and honored.”

To thank Cierpica and his wife, the Ollis family sent the couple a teddy bear they had specially made out of their son’s Army fatigues.

Now, the reason these two stories are related is because of Matthew Freeman’s Mom, Lisa, who to honor her son, and the sons, daughters and siblings of our fallen heroes has been making these bears (in fact her nonprofit made the very one pictured above with the Polish baby) and raising funds for scholarships of siblings who have suffered loss.  

Anyway, it came to my attention yesterday because of an article in Stars and Stripes:

 

Friends and family recall how Matthew Freeman always tried to help others. It’s been more than six years since the Marine captain fell in combat, but that legacy lives on through those who serve in his name.

 

A C-130 pilot who didn’t have to pick up a rifle and fight, Freeman volunteered for the ground force when the call came for more troops. The 29-year-old died bravely leading his men onto an Afghan rooftop during an intense firefight with the Taliban on Aug. 7, 2009.

 

The Matthew Freeman Project started inauspiciously at his direction shortly before his death when he requested school supplies for Afghan children. The nonprofit continued after he was gone, and when ensuring the delivery of supplies became impossible, it focused on college scholarships for the oft-overlooked casualties of war, Gold Star siblings and the siblings of combat-related suicide victims.

 

The project didn’t stop there: mother Lisa Freeman and a small army of craftsmen began sewing “Matthew Bears” for the children of fallen servicemembers, using their uniforms as material.

 

“Even as a kid he was always looking to help,” Lisa Freeman said. “He always believed he could make a difference.”

I’m not going to steal any more of Stripes story, because you should go read the whole thing for yourself.  YOU CAN READ ABOUT IT BY CLICKING HERE.

As luck would have it, my wife and the wife of my battle buddy from Afghanistan were pregnant at the same time, right when the story came out about the Polish baby, and the story really touched me deeply, because my battle buddy and I had served on the very same FOB where Michael Ollis had saved Karol Cierpica, FOB Ghazni.  And my awesome mother in law graciously offered to not just make one for my new born, but also for my battle buddy.  Now 8 months old my daughter mostly just gnaws on his ear, but as she gets older I hope to explain to her what the bear is made of, and why Daddy had to go far away to stop people from hurting other people.  And when I read yesterday the words that Matthew Freeman wrote I thought that that was exactly what I felt, even if I couldn’t express it as well as Matthew.

But, if you are interested in making bears for other families who have lost loved ones, or if you just want to send Mrs. Freeman a nice email to support her, you should definitely go to the website for more info.  I emailed with Lisa yesterday, and she’s just an absolute wonderful lady, and took time out of her busy day to email back and forth with me for quite a while.

So again, if you know how to sew, and you have some extra time in your day, maybe you could help out the project,

For more information on The Matthew Freeman Project, how to donate or to request a Matthew Bear, visit www.freemanproject.org or https://www.facebook.com/TheMatthewFreemanProject/

[NOTE:  The bears at the top of this blog posting are the ones that my mother in law made for my baby and that of my battle buddy.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cross-posted from paying gig.

In Christianity, today is our most holy day. The day of resurrection is about many things but, most certainly it is about renewal. It is about the gift of a second chance. It is the opportunity for a new life. It is springtime for humankind. It is a time for introspect and choices. Choices whether good or bad that will shape us as individuals and as a people.

In the people’s house is a man well-heeled in communism and Islam. He makes little effort these days to masquerade otherwise. His parents and grandparents were communists. He was raised Muslim by a stepfather. He was mentored in adolescence by a card carrying communist. He has publicly proclaimed his Christianity on more than one occasion. The punditry minds us to accept what he says as truth lamenting that not one of us mortals truly knows his heart.

We are taught not to judge others, but conversely we are taught that a person’s actions speak to what he holds in his heart. Think of the tremendous cost in American blood and treasure spent to block the advancement of communism. Consider the millions who died under the boot of communists across this earth. Then to watch the President of the last nation standing between worldwide tyranny and freedom embrace a murdering communist dictator is sickening. It is just a bit more than I care to take. To look across the globe and see the atrocities committed in the name of Islam and have a leader who still refuses to mention the name of that religious political system in the context of terrorism has also reached a level of detestable I would have never imagined in our country.

The President embraces communism and Islam. Two brutal systems that is wholly antithetical to our constitutionally guided representative republic.

When the President of our country drones on about our values and what we should and should not do regarding out of control immigration, our relationships with oppressive communist regimes, and how we should or should not confront the brutality of Islamic terrorism – we should clearly understand. When he attempts to shame us by declaring “that is just not who we are”, the “we” he is talking about should be clear in our minds.

I recall listening to a local football coach talking about bowl selections. His phrase that sticks in my mind is that “in December, you will remember November.”

We have a chance for renewal. A change to reverse the course we are on, but only if we have leadership that has our security and freedom in mind. First and foremost. There will be a communist on the ballot who is connected through associations at the very top of her inner circle with the Muslim brotherhood. There is no assurance of who will represent the rest of us on the other side of the ballot. But we must note that this is our chance for renewal of America.

We are at one another’s throats about who the person should be to lead our country’s healing process. The political class is trying to circumvent the democratic process to ensure that the “wrong” person is not on the ballot. How does that differ from communist thinking? The punditry class has injected itself at a level I have never seen in a primary cycle. Some declaring for whom they would never vote even if it means putting another person in the Whitehouse to complete the destruction of our country. Some of them are displaying total disdain for voters. One presumably conservative magazine published an article on how America would be better off if the working middle class would just die out. Radio talker Glenn Beck, whom I once listened to, declared that you cannot be a Christian if you are supporting Donald Trump. I guess Beck who is quite proud of his transformation from a down and out alcoholic to a God fearing man, cannot find it in his heart to believe that someone like Trump could have his own re-birth.

For all who are battling hard to save our nation, remember who we really are because in December we will be thinking about what happened in November.

© 2016 J. D. Pendry All Rights Reserved

Carl Higbie, a former Navy SEAL, and Pete Hegseth, a former Army infantry platoon leader, two combat veterans I greatly admire who are now frequent contributors to FOX News, just squared off in the political ring, where Carl is a Trump supporter and Pete a Cruz man. What caught my attention was when Sandra Smith asked them their opinion of waterboarding, an issue just raised by Hillary Clinton, who piously declared her absolute opposition to torture of terrorists to obtain information to abort future attacks like those in Belgium.

Higbie noted that waterboarding is inflicted on our military personnel as part of their training, preparing them for what they may face if captured, so what’s the problem with using it on terrorists? Hegseth readily agreed, and then Higbie volunteered that he is agreeable to doing more than waterboarding if it saves innocent lives. Neither of these former warriors commented on the ignorance of Hillary’s flat-out declaration that torture does not work, as I had been hoping they would. They know better.

For someone who wants to command our military forces, Hillary needs to get herself up to speed on very basic military matters rather than simply spouting liberal pieties. If torture doesn’t work, then why are our troops trained very harshly to be prepared to resist it? If it doesn’t work, then why spend all that time and money training, and why does the American military’s Code of Conduct state this as its fifth rule (emphasis mine)?

5. When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number, and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability, I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause.

I’d like Hillary to explain to the nation why our national guidelines for American military personnel who are captured recognize the reality that, unable to resist the pain of torture, even our bravest warriors may divulge more than the permitted name, rank, serial number, and date of birth. That’s the meaning of that clause, to the utmost of my ability. It’s recognition by the military that eventually, everyone talks if subjected to enough mistreatment. Then of course there’s the question that if torture doesn’t work, why do so many nations around this globe regularly employ it as an interrogation tool?

As an infantry NCO in Vietnam, I saw freshly captured Viet Cong prisoners punched, kicked, choked, and even electrically shocked with field telephones during battlefield interrogations, and every single one broke quickly and began giving up intelligence on their troop formations and placements. That was information that saved who knows how many American lives, perhaps even mine, and I never once felt regret as to how it was obtained. Following interrogation, we fed them C-Rations and evacuated them to our coastal bases, a far better fate than they faced from their own Vietnamese rivals, the ARVN, who simply shot them on the spot and left them to be buried by villagers.

So Hillary, despite your extensive combat experience in Bosnia, this old grunt is here to tell you that you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about when you say torture doesn’t work. It may not be morally correct by American standards, but lady, I’m here to tell you: it does work, or it wouldn’t have been going on since the first cave man, caught away from his clan, dropped his club and threw up his hands in surrender.

Crossposted at American Thinker

Millions of Americans on both sides of the political spectrum are eagerly awaiting the results of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s fairly obviously unlawful misdeeds regarding federal secure communications laws. Democrats whistle past the graveyard, hoping that even if there is a finding of criminality, their party’s control of the federal prosecution process will prevent their conceivably convictable candidate from ever standing in the dock. Many Republicans are in an almost foaming at the mouth condition, fearing the very thing the Democrats are hoping for.

All speculation on both sides is focused tightly on Barack Obama, because it is his, and only his, call. A simple shake of those expansive ears will absolutely end any possibility of Hillary facing a jury for her violations. Conversely, a mere nod to his attorney general will set in motion a scenario never before seen in American politics: the indictment of a political party’s nominee for president.

Hillary knows that her fate is in the hands of one man who is rumored to be less than enamored of her and her husband because of past slights of which he’s rumored to be resentful. On the other hand, she knows Barry wants to see his socialist deconstruction of constitutional America continue through what the media frequently refer to as Obama’s third term. Thus, Hillary’s knee-bending deference to Obama’s programs and presidency, although stomach-turning even to some Democrats, can be expected. When a single person wields the power to keep you from serving hard time, you’ll be inclined to do a bit of sucking up, no matter how badly it gags you.

With all that in mind, how is it that in a speech in Spokane, Bill Clinton, while exhorting the crowd to support his wife, said this:

But if you believe we can all rise together, if you believe we’ve finally come to the point where we can put the awful legacy of the last eight years behind us and the seven years before that where we were practicing trickle-down economics with no regulation in Washington, which is what caused the crash, then you should vote for her.

Uh, Bill, “awful legacy of the last eight years”? Does anyone besides me think ol’ Slick Willie, in a not so slick moment, just let his real feelings about the guy who would have been carrying his bags slip out in a rare, un-Clinton-like moment of absolute candor? Wouldn’t you just love to be a fly on the wall of the Oval Office when that little gem of obvious truth is whispered into one of those outstanding ears? Do you think it might drop with a rather loud clunk on one side of the scales of political payback in Barry’s brain? Do you get the feeling Bill may not be making too many future appearances on behalf of his wife?

Well, maybe if it’s on the witness stand….

Thomas Lifson adds: I am not the only one who has been struck by how feeble Bill Clinton looks of late. The open mouth while others speak, the licking of lips, and other behavior that indicates someone losing his faculties are just plain sad. His health may become a factor in the presidential race of his wife. A normal devoted and loving marriage relationship might occassion the jettisoning of career plans in order to care for an ailing spouse. Does anyone believe Hillary would put aside ambition in order to care for Bill? Or do you think she would attempt to squeeze every possible degree of advantage from sympathy?

Crossposted at American Thinker