Category: Politics

According to Fox News, who has a fleet of choppers in the air with cameras pointed at schools in LA waiting for one of them to explode, the LA County school district has closed their more than 1,000 facilities and turned away nearly 700,000 students out of an “abundance of caution” due to a “credible threat” to students;

LA Unified School District Superintendent Ramon Cortines said the threat involved backpacks and said every school in the 700,000-pupil district would be searched.

“I think it is important that I take this precaution based upon what has happened recently and what has happened in the past,” Cortines said.

The school officials said that they regularly get these types of threats all of the time, but that there was something specific about this particular threat (reportedly an email to a school district official) that raised concerns to this point. I guess they’re searching all of those facilities and the school buses.

Seems to me this is a pretty good terrorist tactic, too.

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. Luke 2:11 (NIV)

It started at the post office. Suzie-Q sent me out for stamps so we could mail out our annual bale of Christmas cards. Yes, we still do that. I was standing in line with a number of others attending to their Christmas postal needs. While I was waiting, I looked at the display case filled with samples of available stamps and decided the Magi stamp and the Virgin and Child stamp would be the best choices.

Other stamps displayed right beside them were Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. Both dead from drug overdoses yet honored with a U.S. postage stamp and right there beside of stamps honoring the birth of the Christ child. Maybe better in a case with pop music stars that died from drug overdoses. That could be a whole collection by itself. Do not get me wrong, a teenager from the 60’s I have the whole Janis Joplin Pearl collection and would enjoy listening to it right now. Never was very taken with Hendrix though. I mostly remember his ear splitting ode to Purple Haze LSD. Excuse me while I kiss the sky.

By the time I got to a clerk, she told me they were out of Magi stamps. She only had a couple books of the Virgin and Child. I left with those two and Peanuts, Charlie Brown Christmas stamps. If you are on my Christmas list, you may have received a card with Snoopy taking aim at the Red Baron.

When I got back home, it was time to haul out the decorations. This year the granddaughters are coming so decorating required a little more effort. Somehow, I talked myself into buying a lighted reindeer and sleigh to put out into the front yard. In China, some guy is laughing at me. I am certain of that and I probably have some toxic illness from wrestling those things around the garage floor. By the time they were assembled and out into the yard, the garage floor and I were covered with gold glitter. Did you ever try to vacuum sticky glitter from a garage floor? Did your wife ever make you get undressed in the garage? There just seems to be no gratitude for the work I do. With that and other decorations out, I had to bring the tree in. No, I am not going to speak about a box filled with tangled lights. Mine never tangle because I roll them into one gigantic ball. If you try this at home, do not plug the giant ball of lights into the electric outlet otherwise the neighbors may think there has been a nuclear attack.

As I was putting the tree where the Secretary of War directed, I peeked out the window at the reindeer. Something did not look quite right I just could not put my finger on what it was. I continued working. After the tree was up, I noticed Suzie-Q standing in front of the window with her head tilted sideways. I inquired and she responded, I think one of those deer has his antlers on upside down. In defense I declared, well that is what happens when a Chinese guy writes the directions.

Today, after Church I was out on the patio grilling steaks for lunch. Now I have been known to clear the snow from the grill, but today it is 70 degrees. Yes, in the middle of December. The inconvenient truth is that it is the El Nino affect Al, not global warming. Sometimes that means a heavy wet snowstorm at some point and in other years warm and dry with some wind. In either event, now is the time for me to perform maintenance on the generator.

We have secured all the gifts. Some people got those warm heartfelt plastic gift cards. Since people always scratch the prices off of the gifts they give, we decided this year to not put a receipt in with the gift card. We bought the ones that can be set from $25 to $500. Now remember, it is the thought that counts.

From Suzie-Q and I, have a blessed Christmas and may your dreams be realized in the New Year.

© 2015 J. D. Pendry American Journal All Rights Reserved

But first let me say this. It does not matter that you say these terrorists do not represent Islam. They believe they do. It does not matter that you say we are not at war with Islam. Those who are murdering defenseless people across the globe and right up to our own doorstep and who believe they represent Islam are adamant that they are at war with us.

You really need to help me understand some things. You keep telling me that Islam is a religion of peace and the vast majority of its practitioners do not support acts of terror. I am asked to believe that the vast majority of more than 2 billion Muslims do not support terror. If that number of people do not support the terror taking place in the name of their god and their religion why on earth have they not eradicated this vermin? Could it be that the vast majority also believes they are at war with us? And this explains their silence?

Why are you so reluctant to call these murdering bastards what they are? Radical Islamic terrorists. Why are you so reluctant to correctly label their acts of terrorism? Why is the United States Attorney General vowing to prosecute anyone speaking ill of Islam? Are you now, in the United States of America, going to enforce Sharia blasphemy laws? I will take your empathy for Islam for what it is worth and raise you one Piss Christ. Is the Attorney General going to initiate stoning and public beheadings for the violators of her dictate?

In our most recent act of terrorism, why was the FBI and ATF on the scene almost immediately? Makes one think they knew about these two radical Islamic terrorists. Considering that possibility, maybe the Sharia enforcing Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security can enlighten us. Did the FBI know about these two? If so, why were they not arrested before they started murdering people? The FBI Director seems a little uneasy in his job recently. What does he know that he is being prevented from sharing with the American public?

What is our national strategy for defeating an enemy who we state is not at war with us? How can we defeat radical Islamic terrorism if we cannot even bring ourselves to call it what it is? As far as I can see, our only strategy is defeating terrorism with global wealth redistribution called climate change and disarming the American public.

That brings up some more questions. To keep and bear arms is a fundamental right guaranteed by the United States Constitution. Why is it necessary for me to request permission or a permit from anyone to exercise my Constitutional right? My state is an open carry state. I can open carry a side arm without anyone’s permission. Why is it not that way across the country? Would not a visibly armed populace deter some of these terrorist acts? Or workplace violence depending on where your sympathies lie?

Why have we not absolutely secured the borders and ports of entry into our country? It is clear that we have people in charge of our country who are traitorous in their conduct. They are the biggest threat to our nation security. Why have we not initiated impeachment actions against them?

I cannot tell anyone what they should do. But our first obligation is to defend ourselves, our families and our property. Any American who is not armed and prepared to do that is naïve at best. I do not believe a gun confiscation would ever occur although it most certainly is the Holy Grail for the progressive left who for decades has sympathized with every murdering regime on the planet. But something is coming and I am betting it is in the President’s primetime oval office address tonight. And maybe he will answer some of my questions to. Guess that latter assumption shows my naïveté too.

© 2015 J. D. Pendry American Journal All Right Reserved

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever. – Psalm 107:1 (NIV)

Mom would wring the chicken’s neck. Usually a couple of them. She was quite efficient. They would flop around some then she would grab them up and souse them in a tub of hot water. Shortly after that feathers started flying. The next time I would see those chickens, they would be on the dinner table baked golden brown and stuffed and sitting alongside a rather large ham. Growing up in the West Virginia hills, I do not recall having turkey for Thanksgiving. Chickens and ham were plentiful.

The smell of giant yeast dinner rolls filled the house. The aroma would make my mouth water. But also did the thought of banana pudding, chocolate pie, and applesauce, molasses stack cake. Ham replaced bacon for breakfast that morning as Mom trimmed some from the dinner ham.

It was not however about the feast of the year. It was about being thankful for our many blessings.

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done. – Johnson Oatman, Jr., Count Your Blessings, 1897

In school at this time each year, no matter the grade, we revisited the original Thanksgiving story. It was the important beginning of a blessed nation and it was important for us to understand how what would ultimately become the United States of America began.

Looking around these days, you can find plenty for which to be thankful. We live in a country that is blessed with wealth. Even those considered in poverty in many cases are fabulously wealthy compared to people in many other nations of the world. As a people, we have overcome many difficult periods and have always come out the other side a better nation and better people. Be thankful of our humble beginnings and never lose sight of them. We are where we are now because of who we were then.

We are blessed with men and women who do not need to be conscripted to come to the defense of our great nation. We will always have the disgruntled, but to counter that we have more who are not and the contentment of freedom always wins.

We have friends who have stood by us in both good and troubled times. We have family ranging from great grandchildren to great grandparents. Although we may have lost loved ones along the way, rather than grieve we reflect on how they blessed our lives.

From my family to yours, have a joyous and blessed Thanksgiving.

I’ll wager that most readers here at [This Ain’t Hell] are just as fed up with meaningless polls as I am. You probably hang up on the endless callers wanting just a few minutes of your time to conduct yet another survey, don’t you? And the result of all this endless polling is that every day of the week, the American public is subjected to the publication and broadcasting of multiple polls telling us that this person leads or that person’s numbers are climbing/declining; Americans love/hate guns; Syrian refugees should be accepted/rejected, on and on until it all blends together into media blather.

Remember when you actually paid attention to the results of a Gallup Poll? Now you hardly ever hear of Gallup; there are so many polling agencies feeding their confusing results into the media stream that it is impossible to keep track of who polled what

With all that being considered, I’ve decided to ask AT’s editor, Thomas Lifson, in the spirit of the season, to allow me to use his conservative flagship for the purpose of conducting a truly meaningful poll that should generate record-setting results for this format. It is a simple, single-sentence poll with a simple yes-or-no response. If you’re reading this, then Mr. Lifson has shown his usual generosity and approved my poll. Are you ready? Here it is:

Should the American people pardon the turkey in the White House?

Please register your vote in the comments section; commentary regarding your vote is encouraged, but please keep profane and scatological embellishments to a minimum.

Thank you for these few moments of your time.

Crossposted at American Thinker

This is really great news all around, and some reason for optimism after what happened last week in Mali and Paris.  Sure, the lone wolf packs that did those attacks will still be able to do attacks, but capturing Raqqa would REALLY hurt ISIS in terms of both having lost their capitol which hurts their PR in terms of viability, and deprives them of a lot of resources.

First, from CNN:

Raqqa is now firmly in the sights not only of the U.S.-led coalition, but also the French and Russian militaries. And in a few hours along the front line, you can periodically hear distant thuds.

Utopia is supposed to be the perfect place politically and socially. Throughout the ages people have sought it. Philosophers described their versions of it. Others have sought to achieve it only to leave in their wake pain, suffering and death. You can find versions of it playing out across the world today. These failed utopias have commonality. The demands that everyone have the same, be the same, do the same, live the same. Become a society devoid of what they claim to have sought. Diversity, equality, and justice by now you know the meme well.

The quest for this perfect society seems to always begin the same way. Adhere to this religious doctrine or none. Think as we do. Do was we demand. Never disagree with our utopian approach. A promise of social justice, equality and sharing the national wealth. And if you do as we say, it will be a wonderful society. Refuse and we have gas chambers, beheadings, and mass executions because the earth must be rid of those who stand in the way of utopia. Modern varieties still include death, but it also includes the absolute personal destruction of anyone not toeing the line.

Here in the land of the free there is an ongoing search for something. Maybe in the eyes of the searchers it is utopia, but by their actions if it is utopia it is the single layer, one size fits all, our way or the highway existence. Their utopias certainly not mine or that of anyone who does not embrace them or their ideals.

In my life, I have been fortunate to have held some important leadership positions. I have been challenged, but have never failed. I have never come into an organization with a mindset that everything about it from the foundation up was wrong and to fix it I had to fundamentally transform it. The road to success was not about demanding that everyone adhere to my views except for the view that says there are rules we have written for ourselves that we must follow and there are standards we must reach to achieve success.

If you despised the very tenants of an organization or country and its stated purpose and your worldview was wholly incompatible with it. How could you possibly lead it? Watching over recent years we have seen the absolute failure of leadership that insists all is wrong and must be changed while displaying total disdain for the led. Leadership convinced through upbringing and indoctrination of the evil of this place. A place not worth keeping. Such a leader, in the zeal to transform us in the end will only destroy us. And through blind arrogance and hatred will continue to insist they did a good job and may have done decidedly better if not for those who opposed their idealistic road to utopia. Ideologically blinded, they never saw the true utopia that was before them.

The United States of America is a country with open arms. That is why most want to come here or did want to come here. But, we are also a country of laws and the law of our land is the United States Constitution. It is not a holy book from any dominion. It is not what tyrannical leadership wishes it was.

The Constitution is an amazing document. It is the only one of its kind that guarantees freedom for the citizenry. Guarantees the right to worship the deity of your choice or none and guarantees the government will not interfere with the free exercise that right or impose a religion upon the people.

Guarantees the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It does not give anyone or group the right to impose their views on another. That is the American way. Is it not? If everyone bought into that precept and lived their lives accordingly, would that not be as near utopia as any political or social system devised by men?

© 2015 J. D. Pendry American Journal All Rights Reserved