Category: Uncategorized

Baksheesh ?

 I learned a new word today  … “baksheesh,” which means “a tip, present, or gratuity,” or in modern day vernacular, a “bribe.” In the Middle East marketplace, the souk culture is all about the baksheesh.

As everyone recalls, Egypt would not let any of those civilians trapped in Gaza escape into Egypt. The suspicion was that Egypt was worried that it would not be able to control those innocents fleeing the war in Gaza. To me that explanation was always suspect. Why not let them temporarily find safety in Egypt, and then when the conflict in Gaza was over, over time, escort all of them back to Gaza.

But could something else be playing a role? 

Remember that age-old adage … “follow the money!”

From Townhall:

“Egypt built a formidable border wall  It is impenetrable, militarized, and closely guarded with Egyptian troops and security forces. The way through it for Gazans seeking to get out of Gaza? Baksheesh. Upwards of $5,000 per person. It has also been a gateway for international aid and smuggling into Gaza resulting in over $88 million in profit to the holder of the border keys. 

The holder of those keys is a Bedouin tribal leader named Ibrahim al-Organi, now the wealthiest man in northern Sinai. He has extremely close ties with Egyptian President al-Sisi, and more significantly, with al-Sisi’s son, General Mahmoud al-Sisi , the Deputy Chief of Egyptian intelligence.

“Every day there is additional evidence  of Egyptian smuggling in Gaza. Intelligence on May 31, 2024 uncovered surface to air missiles smuggled into Rafah from Egypt. The large cache purportedly would have been used to take down IDF helicopters. How much money changed hands  for Egypt to have turned a blind eye (or been complicit) in these types of smuggling operations?”

On the IDF’s first day of entry into Rafah in mid-May they discovered hundreds of tunnels with over 50 two-way underground tunnels between Rafah and Egypt. Dozens more cross-border tunnels have been discovered since, along the Rafah-Egypt border. Some tunnels were paved and wide enough for passage of full-sized cargo trucks.

Beyond hostage remains, the IDF seized hundreds of weapons and war materiel They discovered UN relief packages, food, cash, electrification, housing, office space, etc. An underground metropolis was built by Hamas in Rafah. 

Assuming all of this is true, could it be that Joe Biden and cronies have been completely taken in by Egypt? I would rather believe that it is Biden’s naïveté as to what Egypt is doing, rather than believe his complicity with Egypt involved some baksheesh.

Hmmm!

6/5/24

Although many of you were not alive back in 1960, I think it is safe to assume that today everyone has heard of Martin Luther King Jr.(MLK). Back in 1960 I was in high school, and oblivious to what was happening in Alabama … oblivious to what the Democrats tried to do back then to MLK, a good man!

The following is from the Mississippi Today, May 28, 1960 via the New York Times: 

As the above is difficult to read, the following from Jeff Childers C&C, 6/1, summarizes it pretty well:

“In 1960, Alabama’s democrat officials indited Dr. Martin Luther King on charges of perjury, related to alleged underpayment of his state income taxes in 1956 and 1958. Dr. King’s intial charges were misdemeanor tax evasion. But democrat prosecutors later upgraded the charges to felony perjury — for lying on his tax returns — with a possible prison sentence of two to five years for each count.

Boosting misdemeanor tax evasion — which requires dishonest tax reporting — into a felony required some very creative prosecutorial thinking.

The technical basis for charging Dr. King with felony perjury instead of misdemeanor tax evasion was the Orwellian allegation that he had perjured himself in signing his evasive tax returns. Note that, like with Trump, Dr. King’s alleged unreported Alabama income was related to political donations.

And as with the Trump (DJT) prosecution, it was the first time in Alabama history that any defendant was ever charged that way.

Both cases were brought by democrats against their political enemies. Both cases involved charges for victimless process crimes.  Both cases involved creative bootstrapping of misdemeanors into felonies. Both cases included unprecedented interpretations of the law, charging prominent political figures with crimes never brought against others. Both cases involved charges deeply intertwined with their political activities and public roles: campaign donations in Dr. King’s case, and “legal expenses” argued rather to be campaign expenses for Trump.”

In May, 1960 MLK was acquitted; in May, 2024 DJT was not. I would assume that the all-white jury slept very well after that 1960 MLK trial was over. I wonder how the Manhattan jurors are sleeping today.

6/3/24

On Sundays I write about someone who warrants our praise. Osvaldo Lugo is such a person.

From Epoch Bright:

Originally from Puerto Rico, 47-year-old Osvaldo Lugo is now based in Hartford, Connecticut, and owns LookSharp barber shop.

Around 11:30 a.m. on 4/10/24, as Mr. Lugo was busy working on his third customer of the day, his colleague Rafael Santana looked out the window and saw it—a little girl running toward the middle of the busy street.

Concerned at seeing the child without an adult, Mr. Santana took a second look. He then quickly voiced his concern, questioning why an unaccompanied child was playing in the middle of the street.

“I’ve been in this area for three years, in business, and I have never seen kids play in the middle of the street,” Mr. Lugo told the Epoch Times.

Seeing how fast the girl was running, he put his clippers down and took off after her.

The quick-thinking barber remembered telling himself, “You make sure you run as fast as you can. Because you only got one shot.”

“Once I opened the door [of the shop], all I remember is running and running,” Mr. Lugo said. “And I felt that I was running the fastest I ever have.”

As he got hold of her “she was alarmed” and looked at him with suspicion.

Mr. Lugo scooped her into his arms, and she began calling for her mother. Mr. Lugo looked around, searching for the child’s parents.

It wasn’t long before he found her mother.

Many have hailed the barber a hero for his swift action, to which he said: “The word hero is too big, the responsibility behind that word, it was too big. But all I know is that I’m proud of myself for getting involved.”

The barber, who served in jail for 10 years and was released six years ago, has worked hard to better himself. While in jail he took business and psychology courses and values the education he received that allowed him to learn about himself and the human mind.

“I have changed my ways and now God blessed me with a business, a house, a property, and a community to serve,” he said.

Kudos to Osvaldo Lugo not only for his rescue of the little girl, but also for turning his life around.

6/2/

For those not familiar! “Crossing the Rubicon” means “making an irrevocable decision.” It comes from the name of the river Julius Caesar crossed with his army, thereby starting a civil war in Rome.

Did the Dems essentially cross the Rubicon with the nonsensical Manhattan Trump trial?

Some Republicans in the Senate seem to think so … Republican Sens. Michael S. Lee (Utah), J.D. Vance (Ohio), Tommy Tuberville (Ala.), Eric Schmitt (Mo.), Rick Scott (Fla.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Roger Marshall (Kan.), and Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) issued a statement Friday, noting, “The White House has made a mockery of the rule of law and fundamentally altered our politics in un-American ways. As a Senate Republican conference, we are unwilling to aid and abet this White House in its project to tear this country apart.”

“To this end, we will not 1) allow any increase to non-security related funding for this administration, or any appropriations bill which funds partisan lawfare; 2) vote to confirm this administration’s political and judicial appointees; and 3) allow expedited consideration and passage of Democrat legislation or authorities that are not directly relevant to the safety of the American people,” said the statement.

But others are saying that this is not enough, and suggest that what the Bible says, should be considered:

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is a biblical concept spoken by Jesus in Luke 6:31 and Matthew 7:12; it is commonly referred to as the “Golden Rule.” 

Or similarly:

“The saying Jesus quotes in Matthew 5:38, “Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth” occurs not once, but at least three times, in the Old Testament (Ex. 21:23-25; Lev. 24:19-20; Deut. 19:21).

From BlazeMedia:

UC Berkeley law professor John Yoo made clear this week that President Donald Trump’s convictionbefore a Democratic judge in a Democratic enclave on charges brought by a Democratic prosecutor effectively obliterates any remaining pretense that the justice system is a means for resolution and restitution. The courtroom is now instead apparently a vehicle for seeking retribution and political advantage.

With this transformation, Yoo says it’s high time for “retaliation in kind” by Republican district attorneys.

Ahead of President Donald Trump’s conviction, Yoo noted in National Review that it was abundantly clear the hush-money case was built around “farcical charges” and aimed not at delivering justice but at protecting a decrepit Democratic president from facing his top competitor in November.

“The superficiality of the facts and the vagueness of the crimes magnify the harm that Democrats have inflicted on our political norms,” wrote the former deputy assistant attorney general. “Make no mistake, Democrats have crossed a constitutional Rubicon.”

6/1/24

These days just about everyone is suffering from inflation, and yet the Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, in answers to questioning from Sen. John Kennedy on 5/30/24 insisted that Bidenomics is working. 

How out of touch is Janet Yellen?

Recall that years back she was the same person who tried to convince everyone that inflation was going to be temporary.

(From The Hill, 5/27/21, quoting Janet Yellen: “My judgment right now is that the recent inflation that we have seen will be temporary. It’s not something that’s endemic,” Yellen said at a hearing held by a House Appropriations subcommittee.”) 

After reading what Janet Yellen said three years ago and again now in response to Sen. John Kennedy (R,LA), I concluded that at least she has been consistent … consistently “out of touch.”

Last night was my monthly poker game. It is a very low stakes game with an eclectic group. One of the unwritten rules is that politics are not discussed as the group is composed of both far-left and far-right participants. The game was to begin only few hours after the Trump verdict was announced, and I vowed to myself that I would not say anything about that trial, etc. Almost immediately after walking in the far-left player announced that it was a monumental day in U.S. history, and he had brought a bottle of Prosecco to toast the occasion. FYI: I refused to participate in any toast, and I kept my vow of silence when that same individual proclaimed that the guilty verdict would certainly sway voters never to vote for a “convicted felon!” My initial response to myself was, “how out of touch is he?”

It wasn’t until this morning that I realized that he was monumentally way out of touch. After the verdict a few interesting things happened.

From The Daily Caller:

“Following the verdict, the former president’s campaign donation page displayed a 500 error stating “something went wrong.” After the news of the verdict and the site crashing, the Trump campaign announced that it had raised $34.8 million. This was in large part due to “ small donors.

Not only was the amount historic, but 29.7% of yesterday’s donors were brand new donors to the WinRed platform,” Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, Trump campaign senior advisors, said in a statement.”

In addition to contributions from small donors, there were some big chunks of change donated to the Trump campaign.

“Following the former president’s guilty verdict, the campaign site received major influxes in donations. Among those was Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire, who said on Twitter that he donated $300,000. Former Republican New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin said that he “secured a $800k donation from someone for President Trump’s Joint Fundraising Committee.”

What about polling?

From C&C:

First of all, in the Verdict’s wake last night, the betting markets — the people silently staking real money, not Times-approved witless gasbag ramblings — have increased the odds of Trump’s re-election (currently standing at 54% likely):

Wow a ten point jump in just two weeks! 

Perhaps those who declared 5/30/24 to be a monumental day in U.S history are not so out of touch after all.

Looking forward …  Would it be uncouth for me to bring a bottle of Prosecco to our November game to toast a Trump victory?  … Just askin!

5/31/24

 My answer to the question posed in the title is “Hell Yes!”

“Lawfare” is a term that I was unfamiliar with until just recently. For those not aware, “lawfare” is the use of legal systems and institutions to damage or delegitimize an opponent, or to deter an individual’s usage of their legal rights.

In general, if you answered, “no, Lawfare is not unfair,” then pretty much you have identified yourself as a liberal Democrat, and furthermore you have categorized yourself as being anti-Trump. However at this juncture in our political history, Donald Trump is only one individual who is being attacked by lawfare. The dilemma for progressives is that Donald Trump can afford to fight against the accusations against him because he is uber rich. But what about those individuals who are not uber rich, and  whose reputations are being damaged and whose careers are being 

delegitimized? 

In the case of Trump these various cases against him are basically meant  to attempt to somehow damage his reputation and simultaneously to keep him from campaigning. Everybody knows this and AOC just admitted it to be true, when she said that the legal cases against former President Donald Trump are effectively serving as a “legal version of an ankle bracelet,” affecting his campaigning ahead of the November elections.

As an aside, how many of you are familiar with Lavrently Beria?

He was Stalin’s most ruthless and longest serving head of his secret police. Beria once infamously said, “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.” He was confident that he could convict any person he chose to take on, and would make up any charge needed to do so.

If the tactics of Beria sound familiar it is because they are comparable to the lawfare being used by our present day progressives.

While Trump can afford the cost of the Democrat-inspired frivolity directed at him, what about others who are victims of Dem lawfare?

For instance, what about John Eastman?

Mr. Eastman is being indicted by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes. even though he had nothing to do with challenging election results in Arizona. He is not on any of the legal filings in that state. He never spoke with any electors in Arizona about Trump’s challenges. He never had any communication whatsoever with any of the contingent electors in Arizona.

And yet, he is accused of various felonies including conspiracy, forgery, tampering with a public record, presentment of a false instrument for filing, and other crimes.

What abhorrent thing did John Eastman do to be accused of these felonies? … He lawfully supported Donald Trump’s effort to bring forth his concerns about election irregularities in the 2020 presidential election.

To any reasonable individual Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is trying to bankrupt John Eastman.

Are these types of indictments fair for the individual? Granted in the end he may be exonerated of all charges, but at what cost? While Mr. Eastman is scrambling to dig up money to pay his legal expenses, Kris Mayes is content to have the people of Arizona pay for her obviously political prosecution. To me, that hardly seems fair. These lawfare cases will continue until these D.A.s and Attorney Generals have some skin in the game.

To my way of thinking, impeachment is not enough … fines or prison time needs to happen for Kris Mayes in Arizona as well as for the 

Soros-DA and the prejudiced  judges in  the Trump pseudo-trials in New York .

Ideas anyone?

5/30/24

Houston, we have a problem!

Texas, we have a problem!!

USA, we have a problem!!!

From Wikipedia:

“Houston, we have a problem” is popularly quoted as a phrase spoken during Apollo 13, a NASAmission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. After an explosion occurred on board the spacecraft en route to the Moon at 55:54:53 (03:07 UTC on April 14, 1970),[1] Jack Swigert, the command module pilot, reported to Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas: “Okay, Houston … we’ve had a problem here.“

The 1995 film Apollo 13 used the slight misquotation “Houston, we have a problem”, which had become the popularly expected phrase, in its dramatization of the mission. The phrase has been informally used to describe the emergence of an unforeseen problem, often with a sense of ironic understatement.”

Well it wasn’t an understatement to describe what recently happened in Houston, Texas, as those who live in Houston had a real problem … a big real problem, that could be disastrous if it recurred in the future.

From the Daily Signal:

“We live in a world with more and more devices that require charging. Nothing shows the downside of that better than the recent storm that hit Houston, where thousands of residents still lack power.

Houstonians with electric stoves can’t cook, those with electric water heaters lack hot water—and those with electric cars can’t charge them.

The range of an electric vehicle without electricity is zero.

 From the Daily Caller:

And again on 5/2824, over 600,000 customers in northern Texas have been affected by power outages created by powerful storms raging through the region Tuesday, according to Oncor’s Storm Center.

Oncor, the largest energy delivery company in Texas, stated that thunderstorms accompanied by hail and 80-mph winds were detected in the area, according to their Storm Center.

The company’s Storm Center said that there were about 14,000 active outages so far. “Following this morning’s destructive storms, Oncor teams & resources are out in force working to assess damages, & clear displaced debris & vegetation, & access areas to perform repair work across impacted areas. Work began as soon as it was safe & will continue around the clock,” Oncor tweeted.

Officials said that they expected the outages to last for multiple days in the Dallas area.

But President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation are requiring that, by 2032, 70% of new cars and 25% of new trucks sold will be electric.

Imagine the state that Houston and the Dallas area would be in if the number of EVs on the road today met those standards.”

“Biden’s Energy Department has issued final regulations that most stoves sold must be electric by 2028, and most water heaters must be electric by 2029.

If these rules were fully phased in, many Texans would be worse off today. These appliances not only are more expensive, they don’t work without electricity—unlike natural gas stoves and water heaters.”

So in a Joe Biden world not only would a whole bunch of people be stuck in there homes with their nonfunctioning Electric Vehicles, but while stuck at home they would not be able take a hot shower, or cook any meals with the mandated electric hot water heaters and electric stoves.

Meanwhile, the  latest report from the Institute of Energy Research, released earlier this month, shows that the United States has 4 quadrillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough for 130 years; 1.7 trillion barrels of oil, more than five times the reserves of Saudi Arabia, enough for 227 years; and 470 billion short tons of coal, enough for 485 years, and 50% more than Russia.

As we are all aware Houston and Dallas can get quite warm and quite humid in the summer. What would those who live in Houston/Dallas say concerning the lack of air-conditioning or even electric fans!  There would certainly be a lot of cursing of Joe Biden at that time.

All of these major misfortunes could happen and get worse if J.B. gets re-elected this November. 

5/29/24

About forty-five years ago due to an unusual confluence of circumstances, I found myself in a new location with a new boss, Vic V. As time went on I learned this new boss was a wise leader. He was always looking out for those of us in our division, which was only one of many divisions.

Early on of the things I learned from him was … “never give up something without getting something in return.” He did not say this in a vindictive way, but in a practical sense, as one of the duties of a leader is to look out for those under him, and this is exactly what he did.

I was reminded of him and his mantra when I read about the chaos the Democrats have brought on themselves in Ohio. For those not familiar with this example of incompetence, it goes like this:

According to Ohio law the date to include someone  on Ohio’s general election ballot is the statutory filing deadline of August 7th. Joe Biden will miss that deadline because the Democrat National Convention in Chicago starts weeks afterwards, on August 19th,  so Joe won’t yet be the official party nominee when the August 7th deadline comes and goes.

Oops! Did the DNC  make a big boo-boo by scheduling their convention so late this year. As an aside, I must ask if they did this purposely. … Hmmm! … If for some reason Joe Biden turns out not to be the Democrat’s nominee, then he cannot/should not be on the ballot in Ohio. Is this apparent rookie mistake actually a fail safe way to replace Biden on the ticket if he continues to tank in the polls?

Nonetheless, the Republican Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio has called a special legislative session, hauling all Ohio’s lawmakers back to Columbus on May 28, so they can change Ohio’s laws to accommodate the democrats’ tardy convention schedule. I realize that Governor DeWine is not familiar with Vic V., but if he is listening or reading this, he needs to be familiar with Vic V’s  prudent statement … “never give up something without getting something in return.”

5/28/24

On this Memorial Day morning I was thinking how lucky we all are that Irving Berlin was born when he was and thus was able to write “God Bless America” when he did. 

From Wikipedia:

As you may or may not be aware Irving Berlin originally wrote the song while serving in the U.S. Army at Camp Upton in Yaphank, New York at the end of World War I, but decided that it did not fit in a revuecalled Yip Yip Yaphank, so he set it aside.

In 1938, with the rise of Adolf Hitler, Berlin, who was Jewish and had arrived in the U.S. from Russia at the age of five, felt it was time to revive it as a “peace song”, and it was introduced on an Armistice Daybroadcast in 1938, sung by Kate Smith on her radio show.

Try to conceptualize what would have happened if Irving Berlin was born in 1988 instead of 1888. Would he then have written “God Bless America” in 2024? More to the point could he have written that same song in today’s political milieu? Which words in that title would have been acceptable to the general public? “God” … no! “Bless” … no!  “America” … not likely, as these words are only acceptable to those on the right!

Today Kate Smith would probably not be able to sing “God Bless America” on a nationwide show as the left would never stand for it. The major networks (ABC,CBS, & NBC) would neither be able to say “God” or “Bless” on live T.V nor would they be able to convince a lot of their viewers that there could be such a thing as a patriotic song.

Personally, I love “God Bless America” and tear-up a bit each time I hear it sung, especially when sung by Kate Smith. I think we all are fortunate that Irving Berlin was born when he was.

5/27/24

Lauderhill Police Officer Jason Reyes arrived at the scene of crash Thursday night, 5/23/24. The video appears to show surveillance footage of one car attempting to turn, only to be crashed into by a second.

The video shows Reyes rush to the burning vehicle. Another individual at the scene can be seen trying to douse the flames using a fire extinguisher as the officer arrived.

“Anybody else in there? Is there anybody else inside?” the officer asked in the video.

“Walking up to it, you’re not knowing if anybody’s there to begin with … there’s a risk you might get burned in the mix, but you have to check to see if there’s somebody inside that car,”  said Reyes “You kind of have to put yourself aside and, you know, act.”

The officer worked to put the flames out until firefighters arrived on the scene and assisted in rescuing the trapped driver by breaking the car’s window with his baton, according to the outlet. He recalled the the rescue.

“She was scrunched up almost underneath the steering wheel, so getting her out-I was very surprised when she was breathing,” said Reyes.“There was a little bit of relief, and shortly after that, the car was engulfed. So it was a tight, tight timeline.”

A tight timeline! … to say the least!

“You kind of have to put yourself aside and, you know, act.”

Jason Reyes is a true hero!

5/26/24