Category: Uncategorized

Muddle

“Trump stepped into the puddle, picked up the mud and threw it back at her canceling her trip overseas. What we have here is a Muddle (mud + puddle).”

Guardian 6                                                                                      18 January 2019

Americans are largely disgusted at the massive dysfunction of our government. This latest episode of the Pelosi-Schumer government shutdown demonstrates how the majority of elected representatives serve themselves and not the republic. The ancient, entrenched democratic party leadership led by Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are out of touch with mainstream thought and common sense Americans. Their agenda is centered on power, control and more power, America be dammed.

President Trump has stayed in Washington throughout the holidays and he has canceled several trips ready to negotiate with democratic leadership over funding for the wall and border security. The democrats have vacationed in Hawaii, Puerto Rico and planned a seven day excursion to overseas to “visit the troops.” President Trump canceled Pelosi’s boondoggle to keep her in town to negotiate (the troops wont miss the distraction either!). While on the surface picturing Pelosi & Adam Schiff exiting the shuttle bus when their trip was canceled is priceless, this was more than a tit-for-tat for Pelosi canceling the State of the Union address. President Trump put his foot down telling Pelosi stop playing games with Americans and their government. Compromise!

Border security is a real issue. One statistic alone should make funding border security and key portions of the wall a slam dunk; 300 Americans die weekly due to drug overdoses whereby 90% of drugs are coming across the southern border. That is 15,600 Americans dying a year before we ever get to illegal immigration, human trafficking, MS-13 and terrorists infiltrating across. Failure to address this issue is unforgivable and Trump gets it.

Both Pelosi and Schumer have voted for the wall and border security before, several times. So what is this about? Power, control, resistance and more power. Pelosi & Schumer are willing to let Americans suffer from government dysfunction so they can resist, secure power and undermine the President’s ability to govern. Their conduct is shameful, outrageous and unbecoming a public servant.

The President is right to stand his ground. He has been offering to meet in the middle putting American safety and security first. Reasonable people can compromise. To do less than that is unforgivable after the turmoil Pelosi & Schumer have put the country through. All of this will be remembered in 2020 and the democrats are once again demonstrating their inability to govern responsibly by legislating to the extremes. Although the mainstream media continues to attack and blame Trump for this mess, Americans proved in 2016 they see through all the lies. Democrats should think about that because while they took the House, the Republicans not only maintained the Senate, they added seats. Americans are watching and already regretting giving the democrats back the House.

The childish mud Pelosi threw at President Trump cancelling the State of the Union address landed in a puddle. Trump stepped into the puddle, picked up the mud and threw it back at her canceling her trip overseas. What we have here is a Muddle (mud + puddle). Pelosi still hasn’t learned that President Trump does some of his best work in the mud!

=620

Thanksgiving 2018

This Thanksgiving there is much to give thanks for beyond football games and parades but for a President restoring faith in America and creating opportunity for all.

=435

by Guardian 6   Dateline 19 November 2018

                Thanksgiving originated as a harvest festival beginning with the Pilgrims in 1621. In 1789, with a proclamation by President George Washington, Thanksgiving became a federal holiday but was celebrated on different days throughout the union. It wasn’t until President Lincoln proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving in 1863 as the last Thursday in November that it became a federal holiday celebrated on the same day. This Thanksgiving there is much to give thanks for beyond football games and parades but for a President restoring faith in America and creating opportunity for all.

                Economy. A record number of Americans are working and industries are investing in stateside companies again and employees due to the policies of President Trump. The gross domestic product (GDP) is approaching 4% for 2018, a number thought impossible just a year ago. To put this into perspective, each percentage point adds about 3 million new jobs and $3 trillion in revenue to the economy. These are huge meaningful numbers to be thankful for. There are not only more jobs being created, but Americans have job choices as there are more jobs than employees available. This is driving up wages. Companies are now competing for employees. This is a winning formula for Americans. 

                Justice Kavanaugh! Past administrations would have folded and allowed the deceitful democrats to plant their lies and orchestrate their malicious politics of personal destruction against conservatives with media complicity. Past administrations would have withdrawn the nominee. Not President Trump with able Senators Grassley and Graham calling out the lies and countering with outrage, truth and spine! When your President is strong and fights for justice, he emboldens others to follow suite. This Thanksgiving, we’ll be joining Justice Kavanaugh for several rounds of beer because the 53rd loves beer too! 

                Fair Trade. On the world stage President Trump is standing up to China for manipulating their currency, intellectual property theft and unfair trade practices where they dump their products at low prices to kill American and western industries. Trump’s tariffs target Chinese state sponsored strategies that are destroying America’s economic power, industries and technological advantages through economic espionage. Trump is trying to reverse decades of American economic leadership malaise challenging the Chinese to play fair or suffer the consequences. This is Trump’s America first policy (“I’m a nationalist”), putting Americans and America first. The next issue President Trump should address is Chinese forced partnership in China, again centered on growing Chinese industries at the expense of America.  American industries that do business in China have to be majority owned by a Chinese state enterprise to get access to their market, 50.1% or greater. This is how China has risen to the number two economy in the world. This needs to stop. POTUS is on target and for that the 53rd Regiment is thankful!

Religious Liberty. In America it is shocking to even have to write this but political correctness, the abortion industry and Hollywood regularly mock the faithful and label us. There are Americans afraid to demonstrate their faith in public. Not only is President Trump wishing all of us a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah, but he has shown humility by publicaly asking for prayers from pastors and seeking their counsel. As the President has stated, “America is a nation of believers, and together we are strengthened by the power of prayer.” 

This Thanksgiving there is much to give thanks for beyond football games and parades but for a President restoring faith in America and creating opportunity for all.

Twitter Patriots

America’s sons and daughters of liberty are taking twitter by storm. They are the modern day equivalent of Minute Men or Daughters of Liberty pushing back against the fake news networks, the leftist-socialist propaganda agenda and the 24/7 President Trump resistance movement. While @twitter does their best to shadow ban or limit their messaging, these patriots will not be silenced. These patriots stand proudly with @potus Trump Make America Great Again movement, #MAGA.

The trailblazing duo of @DiamondandSilk were early adopters of President Trump as a pair of his most outspoken and loyal supporters. Their tag team approach of bringing reality to liberals with a little “chit chat” is direct, humorous and on point. 

Bringing national security expertise and street smarts, former secret service agent and NYPD officer @dbongino deals directly and forcefully with liberal lies and fake news on all forums including his podcast. Dan is eloquent, quick witted and a regular on @foxnews burning the midnight oil ready to joist a liberal elite off their horse at a moment’s notice. 

@RealJamesWoods is our favorite Hollywood conservative with his take no prisoners approach to commentary. Quick witted and armed with an MIT education, foolish fake fanciful liberals think they can challenge him or refute his critiques. Wrong! James will quickly undress you with your pants down around your ankles with your shoes tied together.

Brilliant, quick witted and tough, the @hodgetwins don’t mess around! They go deep and swing for the fences. These two “Comedians, Black Conservatives” are all about calling out the loons on the left with humor and wit. Make America Great Again! 

@The_Smirker is our “Common Sense Conservative and Psychiatrist for Joe Scarborough” and takes on all lying Liberal & Never Trumpers for morning coffee and evening beers. He fights and wins! Really have to appreciate the selfless service counseling America’s #1 clown @JoeNBC. 

Big victory coming November 6th! #Redwave coming with Twitter Patriots armed with facts, principles and love of country. @potus just wins and so do the Twitter Patriots! 

Who Do Dems Support – Americans or Coyotes?

by Guardian 6                                          Dateline: The Swamp July 1st, 2018

Failing to secure the border is endangering families and children. American communities are under assault from crime, drugs and gangs. American government agencies such as Immigration Control & Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol are being overrun by an orchestrated campaign by democrats in Congress to not enforce our immigration laws while encouraging open borders, the abolishment of ICE and mass amnesty to anyone who illegally crosses into our country. Who Do Dems Support – Americans or Coyotes?

People in Central American countries are being manipulated by human traffickers, Coyotes (a person who smuggles Latin Americans across the US border, typically for a high fee), drug cartels and profiteers. Innocent people  in poor countries are fleeing economic plight to find better opportunities in America not legally, but illegally. Under these circumstances, the democrats are not only putting the lives of women and children trying to make it to America at great risk by empowering criminal elements, they are failing to enforce our laws endangering their fellow Americans while calling for open borders and the elimination of ICE. Who Do Dems Support – Americans or Coyotes?

Seventeen years removed from the attacks of September 11th, the irresponsible leadership of the Democratic Party (Sen. Schumer, Congresswoman Pelosi and Congresswoman Maxine Waters) are inviting lawlessness through their false narratives about illegal immigration. Once again, the media is partnering with the democrats to help whip up a frenzy, create the false narrative against ICE and covering democratic marches against ICE making this the lead story in the US. All of this is highly irresponsible. We elect fellow citizens to govern and solve problems. Schumer and Waters refuse to work with President Trump and the republicans. They continue to demagogue the issue to score political points and position themselves on the fringe for the 2018 Midterm elections. Who Do Dems Support – Americans or Coyotes?

Who continues to lose? Americans; American communities over burdened with illegals; border towns; citizens who have lost loved ones to illegal immigration gangs such as MS-13; blue collar working Americans marginalized by illegals working for lower wages; and American institutions under assault by elected government officials failing to support them for upholding the laws they passed. Who Do The Democrats Support – Americans or Coyotes? 

Are these Union or Confederate Sabers?

The UVA football helmet as well as other UVA sports team logos have military sabres on them that appear to be from the civil war era.

  1. Are these union or confederate sabres?

2. Will this be the next outcry?

3. Where does this end?

4. Can there be Cavaliers without swords?

5. Would the Virginia state bird or flower be a better symbol than swords?

 

Glory Days – “BOLO”

The 53rd Regiment News

Dateline: March 1st, 2017

Army troops know the term. No one wanted to BOLO a training event, fail a land navigation course or be associated with some Army training event or exercise that they failed in. No one wanted to be a “BOLO.”

BOLO is a pejorative term meaning failure. It also has some history meaning “Be on the Look Out,” but this is not the meaning in modern day units. In my “glory days,” BOLO was directed at failure or a person who couldn’t get their act together meeting the lowest of standards. One might hear:

  • “Hey Smith, what the hell happened, BOLO again?”
  • “Hey Sir, on the range today we had 29 qualify and 3 BOLO’s”
  • “Jones, what a major BOLO”

I also found a reference stating that BOLO was a term used in WWII for American trained Philippine guerrilla forces that failed to achieve basic marksmanship proficiency with a rifle. They were issued “bolo” knives instead of firearms to preserve ammunition. Hence, they were perhaps the first “BOLOs.”

In basic training, BOLO was a favorite term among Drill Sergeants for recruits among other words or terms that were not very  pleasant. BOLO was actually one of the kinder words one could be called by a Drill Sergeant for failure. This was back in an era before sensitivity training, Consideration of Others Program (COOP) training or before present day college Safe Spaces.

The 53rd Regiment would like to hear from you about your glory days. Be heard!

#MobRule – Pray for Dallas

(Dateline 8 July 2016) The Ferguson Effect in combination with the poor command climate established by this administration and President Barack Obama has created a toxic environment where police officers are under attack by fellow Americans. How did this happen? How far have we fallen? This administration once again focuses on their agenda and not the lives of our citizens.

The Rule of Law is under assault in every corner of America. Those who protect us day-in-and-day-out are under attack and instead of this president having their back, he has questioned and accused police departments of institutional racism from isolated incidents. This week Secretary Clinton was somehow not indicted for breaking numerous laws, coincidence of a Tarmac meeting between the DoJ Loretta Lynch and President Bill Clinton. The elite are protected and the average citizen would have already been in jail if we did what Clinton did.

Americans are saddened, bewildered and shocked at what is happening to our country. There is no respite  from the liberal-progressive assault on tradional values, respect for law and order and support for those wearing blue.

Pray for our fallen, pray for our country and pray that America finds her way with the silent majority restoring our way of life.

(Dateline April 2016) Arguably the left and the Democratic Party have always excelled at organizing the masses for various causes, some real and many manufactured. During the Obama years, manufactured movements (#MobRule) have been put on hyper drive and the go-to methodology for fabricating issues and enacting policies to control the masses and bring forth more regulation and taxes on businesses. What many people on the left fail to understand, or they are perfectly fine with, is that our government is gradually removing individual freedoms and replacing our freedoms with dictates, oppressive regulations and surveillance instruments to monitor our adherence. Let’s look at a few examples.

The governors of New York and California have recently passed laws to enact a mandatory $15 Minimum Wage law. So much for free market capitalism, supply and demand practices and Adam Smith’s invisible hand. These type laws are not only un-American, they are a reflection of how far a once vibrant US economy has fallen in the last two decades, especially during the Obama years. We are now replacing skilled and manufacturing jobs with $15 dollar fast food restaurant jobs and other entry-level jobs. This is the best the left and Democrats can offer? Think about it, instead of creating the economic conditions for businesses to thrive and prosper through lower regulation and lower taxes, they will inevitably chase employers away with these job-killing policies. These so called “living wage” laws define a lack of understanding in basic economic principles and really serve the Lefts own agenda of manufacturing causes for low information masses to help their own re-election campaigns and make payouts to their special interests.

The Occupy Wall Street movement was another convenient movement for the left and the Democratic Party to manipulate the masses and spew their anti-capitalism message to the low information voters and of course blame American big business, banks and Wall Street for all of America’s woes. When American states and cities led by Democratic Governors and Mayors are imploding with excessive debt, poor services and corruption, America as a whole is left with this carnage while the Demons blame others and assign scapegoats. They fail to ever think about holding themselves accountable for misappropriation of taxpayer funding, poor decision making or failure to maintain and live within a budget. This would be asking too much. Blame the 1%ers, the doers, the job creators; they are to blame for what is wrong with America. It was also very convenient how the Occupy Wall Street Movement coincided with President Obama’s re-election campaign beginning in November 2011. Hmmm. I guess all the 99%er problems must be solved now because Occupy Wall Street is no more and not in the news, they have moved on to the next movement, #BlackLivesMatter. Always a new cause to create, manufacture and give the willing media accomplices something to run with.

It doesn’t matter that the Police Officer that shot Michael Brown in self defense, whom was thoroughly investigated and found innocent by several investigations including the FBI, Department of Justice, and a local trial. What matters is the political and media narrative about Black Lives Matter, as if they do not (insulting by the race baiting crowd!). A false narrative that continues to be embraced today drove the riots initiated by mob rule in Ferguson, Missouri. Fact — the white police officer has been found innocent of any wrong doing against the black youth, Michael Brown who physically attacked him. From this false narrative, we have #BlackLivesMatter. Well, the busloads of protesters now being transported from city to city for various causes to include #BlackLivesMatter, I trust that Democratic Party backers are paying them the new $15 minimum wage standard for various manufactured protests? I would hope so as it is difficult to generate false passion about a plurality of causes. However, they have mastered the art of disruption and fabricating causes for the media circus.

My challenge to #BlackLivesMatter, park your asses in Chicago and demand safety and increased police presence for citizen safety. To date for 2016, 110 blacks have been gunned down and murdered in the city of Chicago alone. This is unacceptable! Stop being political stooges for the Democratic Party and put your energy and time into making a real difference. This is insane and outrageous. Every American deserves to live in a crime free environment where safety and security is paramount. Demand it, protest for it, lead it, and do something about it! #MobRule needs to end!

www.the53rdregiment.com/#MobRule

 

Bartolo!!!

It is high, it is far, it is outta here! HR # 1 for Bart after 20+ years in MLB!!!

From NY Post

SAN DIEGO — Leave it to the fan who caught the Bartolo Colon home-run ball to put it all in perspective.

“Bartolo is a true athlete,” Jimmy Zurn, 35, told The Post on Saturday night at Petco Park during the Mets’ 6-3 win over the Padres. “Anyone who can crush a plate of nachos and crush a baseball like that has to be an athlete.”

Zurn knows athletes. He is the baseball coach at La Mirada High School in Southern California, and best of all for Colon and the Mets, he is a Mets fan.

When a trade was offered for the baseball, he told officials: “The only thing I want is for the Mets to win a world championship. Win the World Series and I will be happy.’’

Zurn happily gave the ball to those officials, who sent it to the Mets’ clubhouse and Colon as the game was going on — but not before Zurn got some terrific cell phone shots, including his 5-year-old son, Ryan, with the ball.

In that picture, you can see the love of the game.

Jimmy and his wife, Sarah, are heading to the Subway Series later this season, so you know the Mets will work out some kind of deal, a package is on the way. Zurn is a David Wright fan, and after the game, the family met the Mets, including Wright.

The Amazing Bartolo Colon brings out the best in baseball fans, doesn’t he?

At 42, he is a cult hero.

It’s only fitting Colon’s second-inning blast over the fence in the left-field corner landed in the seat of a Mets fan who was at the game with his wife and their sons, Ryan and Ben, 3.

“My parents are from Buffalo,” Zurn said, explaining how he became a Mets fan.

Colon’s shot off a 1-1 fastball from James Shields was a two-run blast and put the Mets ahead 4-0.

Noted Wright: “You never know what you are going to see at a game … tonight we saw it.”

Said Jacob deGrom of the home run: “It was the greatest thing I ever saw.”

I have been lucky enough to be in the ballpark for the Kirk Gibson home run, the Joe Carter home run — two World Series classics — the Aaron Boone home run against the Red Sox and now the Colon home run.

They all were amazing. This was the most surprising.

Colon had gone 246 plate appearances in the majors without a home run. In his 226th career at-bat, he lined a fastball over the fence at Petco Park.

Colon gave up a three-run home run to Jon Jay, but no big deal, that only made his home run the game-winning shot. And so it goes.

Bart knows excitement. It took him 30.6 seconds to round the bases. When he got to the dugout, the Mets players were up the runway, so Colon arrived at a player-less dugout.

He went along with the joke, went to the far end of the dugout, and soon his teammates were jumping for joy. The old guy brings out the kid in everyone. He called the home run the “biggest moment of my career.”

As for getting the ball back, Colon said of the Zurn family, “It is a beautiful thing they did.”

Colon is a baseball gift. As he came off the field with two outs in the seventh, twice Colon paused and turned his head to look into that left-field corner.

Perhaps he wanted to get one more look at the spot where his home run landed, perhaps he was just checking the scoreboard, but the round mound of baseball was walking off with a lead after hitting a home run for the first time in his career.

Yoenis Cespedes, Colon, Wright and Michael Conforto also homered.

“Put them all in the same sentence,” Terry Collins joked of his home-run hitters.

It was quite the night for all Mets fans — one Colon and the Zurn family will never forget.

An Amazing BartBall night.

‘Nuf said … #40 goes deep!!!

This Is On You!

by Echo Zulu 21

U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class, Charles Keating, was recently Killed in Action in Northern Iraq. It’s on you, Commander in Chief. Our forces on the ground are under manned, under resourced and under appreciated by a White House staff of “leaders” who are incapable of making sound tactical and strategic decisions, because they are clouded by politics. An agenda that has failed miserably and puts politics before troop welfare. An agenda that dictated a timed and broadcasted troop withdrawal that created this current state of volatility and derailed a decade of progress within Iraq.

Our service members are deployed on a garbage advisory mission, that has them “advising” an incompetent and corrupt Iraqi Military. A mission that would have taken years to properly execute, but over inflated numbers on their operational effectiveness were reported by agenda driven White House “leaders” that use talking points as principles of war.

Charles Keating is on you, Commander In Chief. You tied the Pentagon’s hands limiting their military options and put US Forces in a situation that was destined for failure; your garbage policies are catastrophically useless to US Forces on the ground. We kicked the enemies  asses in 2007 – 2008 that stabilized the country paying the the price, only for Obama to give it all away in 2011 with his dereliction of duty withdrawing all US Forces. Now, it’s lost and those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice … they are on you Mr. Obama. Your failed leadership have endangered US Forces and the United States of America. God help us.

Tough Mudder

 

The stage is almost set; this year’s Presidential election is going to be one Tough Mudder! Trump vs. the Clinton Machine. The political outsider vs. the ultimate insider. Ali vs. Frazier. This 50 state mud slinging obstacle course is going to drag discourse down to a new low. In 2012, Team Obama perfected the art of labeling and striking early slinging mud all over Romney that he could never get off. The label of rich, unsympathetic corporate executive that screwed the little guy and fired workers stuck. Team Romney really never knew how to respond, failed to rally his base of supporters and the candidate was not willing to throw mud back. In the end, Romney got “schlonged.”

Trump, the political neophyte, made mincemeat of 16 competitors in the Republican primary that consisted of Governors, Senators and other accomplished citizens and politicians. He did so with minimal advertising, street fighter talk to Americans that at times sounded like a barroom conversation and the ability to blow through political correctness telling others exactly how he felt. Clinton on the other hand, had a preordained weak field of four competitors who for the most part got the memo that this was a coronation for Hillary to the presidency. A few stooges were needed to make it look like a campaign. However, Bernie Sanders never got the memo and although the super delegates are all lined up for Hillary and were pre-staged, who knew the Democratic Socialist would give Hillary a deep fight into the spring garnishing bigger crowds, greater grassroots fundraising and winning states like Michigan, Indiana and Kansas along with another dozen plus or so (and Americans are voting for socialism – how far have we fallen?). Clinton is really feeling the Bern as Sanders has her burning through her campaign war chest of dollars and making the democratic elite nervous. It seems to this citizen, I’d be more worried about the pending indictment. Perhaps Sanders will be in place to pick up the pieces when Humpty Dumpty falls.

Word is Hillary is having the Clinton machine PMCS’d and undergoing final checks for the general election. Trump, on the other hand is unpredictable. He’ll bring an untraditional approach to this election. Unlike his peer group, he’ll meet his competition in the mud pit and thrive there. Trump likely does his best work in the mud pit. Strategically, Clinton is probably making a big mistake attacking Trump out of the gate and firing up the Clinton Machine. Trump will thrive when cornered like a wounded animal. While the Clinton Machine is digging up dirt and will work the robo calls and TV adds targeting Trump, unlike his peer group, Trump is not intimidated. As a matter of fact, he is likely looking forward to it. Trump will return fire in full measure with all phasers and photon torpedoes aimed at the Clinton death star.

Joe & Jane citizen, what should you do? It is time to secure a MOPP suit from your local military thrift store or online through your local Doomsday Preppers group. This campaign will absolutely lack class and dignity and more resemble the worst of politics. Get ready – Tough Mudder is coming your way!

Make College Great Again

The Next Bubble …

College costs have become luxurious for the average American family. Something has to give. It is time to Make College Great Again by making it affordable. First, a few facts:

  • In the most recent survey of college pricing, the College Board reports that a “moderate” college budget for an in-state public college for the 2015–2016 academic year averaged $24,061. A moderate budget at a private college averaged $47,831.
  • The graduating student from the class of 2015 averaged a little more than $35,000 in debt from their four year college
  • You’ll need books and other course materials. The yearly books-and-supplies estimate for the average full-time undergraduate student at a four-year public college is about $1,200
  • Salaries for Professors — By rank, the average was $98,974 for professors, $69,911 for associate professors, $58,662 for assistant professors
  • The average public college president earned just over $428,000 in 2014, up 7% from a year earlier, according to an analysis of 238 chief executives at 220 public universities from the Chronicle of Higher Education. That’s 3.8 times more than what the average full-time professor makes.
  • After four years of college education, the average graduating student in 2015 that could find work, about 6 in 10 of them, had a starting salary of $45,478

The Bubble …

  • The U.S. Census Bureau reported in September 2014 that: U.S. real (inflation adjusted) median household income was $51,939 in 2013 versus $51,759 in 2012, statistically unchanged. In 2013, real median household income was 8.0 percent lower than in 2007, the year before the latest recession
  • Very hard for families to save for college with wages being what they are today. The loss of higher paying manufacturing jobs have dragged down wages along with bad trade deals and middle class jobs moving overseas
  • According to The College Board, the average 2014-2015-tuition increase was 7 percent at private colleges, and 2.9 percent at public universities. However, looking back at the last decade, the 10-year historical rate of increase is approximately 5 percent
  • The average annual wage increase for American workers last year was 2.1%, well below the rising costs of college
  • Perhaps the bubble is on a slow build up … Last October, just 65.9 percent of people who had graduated from high school the previous spring had enrolled in college, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said this week. That was down from 66.2 percent the previous year and was the lowest figure in a decade. The high point came in 2009, when 70.1 percent of new graduates had gone on to college

College, what is in a name?

            Apparently, quite a bit … colleges have successfully changed the terms of the deal teaching their student base it is OK to go into debt, cheer for their college sports teams and “don’t worry, be happy.” Colleges are in the business of the here and now and student debt is not their problem … it’s the students problem, and their parents problem that co-signed the loans. They won’t send us the student’s grades but they have no problem sending us the semester bills. They are adults and have a right to privacy except when it comes to paying their debt.

Where is this heading?

Well, Bernie Sanders would have American taxpayers paying for college making it free for all. Well, with the US already $18 Trillion in debt with Obama doubling the national debt in seven years time, we’ve already reached Margaret Thatcher’s famous quote, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”

Do the math. Average household income vs. annual cost of college is a train wreck already. College attendance has begun to drop. College today is for the top 65%ers and dropping. How low will it go? What school is going to drop the current price model and use market forces to reduce the cost of school? Some online schools have begun this effort but cost is still high. Competitive forces are needed along with families and students pushing back by walking away from routine college tuition and charges. Find alternative, innovative approaches. This is coming.

Scholarships are part of the equation but what is really needed is market forces to help reduce cost. When students stop applying in sizable numbers, rates will drop, universities will be forced to reduce costs. This bubble is coming … do the math! Make College Great Again!

Baltic Blunder

By CDR (R) United States Navy

Russian SU-24 Fighters recently buzzed a U.S. Navy Guided Missile Destroyer in Baltic Sea – coming within 30 feet of the Ship’s bridge with the wing on an attack profile – USN ship was 70 nautical miles from the nearest Russian Naval Base and made no attempt to respond in kind. We sent an intelligence collection plane where we were again humiliated when Russian fighters did barrel rolls around our brave men and women and we again had no response.

We will keep this article short and to the point. We should have immediately sent a Carrier Strike Group to the Baltic and launched 24/7 fighter sorties that flew continuously along Russia’s 12 Nautical Mile Territorial limit – and they should have been armed and ready to fight. Nobody wants war, but the key to keeping us safe is peace through strength and the will to fight when necessary. Our military gets it! Weakness invites war when we demonstrate a lack of will to stand up to the Law of the Sea. I am hopeful the upcoming election will give us the change to get our dignity back. Vote!

Clearly, the Rules of Engagement the US Navy is operating under these days has been neutered by a feckless Administration.

T’was the Night Before Cleveland Brown’s Christmas

By PMWALT2

Thoughts on Being a Brown’s Fan during Draft Week

Being a Cleveland Brown’s fan at this time of year brings back memories to those snowy Cleveland Decembers in the late 1960s right before Christmas.

At the time, well before I entered my teenage years, there was something magical about those few weeks before Christmas. You’d make your list and you knew that Mom and Dad (or Santa) were busily scurrying about Halle’s, Woolworths or the local stores searching to find the gift which would make all of us happy early on Christmas morning.   There was the tremendous anticipation only a ten year old young child could experience at that time of the year.

Would Mom and Dad find the perfect model kit or G.I. Joe that I had in mind? Would they really go all out and get a nifty HO train set or Hot Wheels set which I could spend hours with my boyhood friends playing? Who knew, but the anticipation was tremendous. Leaving oh so subtle hints was an art and science – never perfected, but nonetheless practiced.

So what? What does this have to do with the Cleveland Browns?

Well this is draft week. As a Cleveland Brown’s fan, this is equivalent to the days leading up to Christmas as a ten year old. You’ve dropped the hints, you’ve let your feelings be known on various sports forums. All you have left right now is the anticipation of what awaits this Thursday night in Chicago – this Cleveland Brown’s fan version of Christmas.

The problem is the same, you have no idea what Santa (Mom and Dad) have in mind for you or what you might find under the Christmas tree.

Sweetening the pot, this year we’ve learned we’re not opening our Christmas presents early, but we’ll have to wait a bit longer. Not too bad, considering we get more presents this year than last.

So, what should a Cleveland Brown’s fan expect this Draft Christmas Season?

If I knew that, I’d be writing for ESPN.

For what it’s worth, sometimes, just like at Christmas, experiencing the anxious anticipation leading up to the big event – Christmas or the Draft – is equally joyous and wondrous — because in both circumstances we haven’t gotten the tremendous “Red Rider BB gun” nor have we received the sensible clothes. We Brown’s fans don’t know if there’s a quarterback, defense end, offensive tackle … never mind, our list is too long.

Regardless, Thursday night this Brown’s fan walks up to the Christmas tree to see what the “Money Ball” crew has placed under the tree. Hopefully, Brown’s fans will be happy. My guess is, we’ll be someplace between “huh?” and “wow” … just like it was on those cold Christmas morning’s in Cleveland opening up the presents. The good news (as a Cleveland fan), we’ll have more presents to open this year than we thought we would a week ago.

 

Winterberry

Winterberry will always be home for my wife and her siblings. She was born into this home, raised in this home and learned to love and grow in this home. Winterberry is where she left each day to go to school; made lifelong friends; where she grabbed her bike and rode through the neighborhood; played sports in the court in front of her house; walked to the corner store to buy a hot pretzel; went to church from Winterberry each week. Most importantly, Winterberry is the home where she left and returned to her Mom and Dad after each day’s activity. Winterberry is home and although she has not lived in the Winterberry house for nearly 30 years, Winterberry will always be her childhood home where lifelong memories forever live on, in her heart and in her mind.

After over 51 years of being the home to the V&E family, Winterberry will become the home to a new family in the coming months. Winterberry has been well cared for by her owners. Like their children, my wife’s parents have loved their home creating a loving, positive environment to raise their family. From the outside, it is just another house. From the inside, there are countless stories and acts of love that developed and nurtured beautiful people that make up the fabric of our country, whom have gone on to establish their own families and the Dreams of Winterberry live on through them. The holidays — Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Halloween, even snow days, and the list goes on. Joy, happiness and love.

Joy, happiness and love does not happen without the Mom & Dad that created Winterberry. The house is a house, but the home V & E created, and the success of their children all being faithful servants of the Lord is their greatest achievement. They loved, they gave and they gave some more. Their time at Winterberry is coming to an end. Blessed with longevity in life, V&E are in a position to pass this beautiful home to the next family, memories and all. Truly, it is too bad the walls cannot talk. There are thousands of stories to tell, all good stories too. The walls are forever smiling.

There is sadness that comes with this move out of Winterberry. For Mom & Dad, I can only imagine. Much of their life long memories are here. One house, 51 years of living, celebrating, and working. The friendships and memories are too abundant to even begin to list, if one even knew them all. Preparing to move from their home must be sad, very sad but it falls into the category of the necessary, a price to pay for living a wonderfully long life. For my beautiful wife, five days of being back home at Winterberry helping them prepare for the next stage of life and leaving Winterberry behind brings this to the forefront. Hard for the children, hard for my wife, and doubly hard for Mom & Dad (although they won’t say so).

If a house has karma, this house is worth another $500K in value. The new owners will inherit a home with excellent karma. Perhaps the realtor should list great karma? Why not, some people are fearful of buying a haunted house, why not list outstanding karma as an attribute along with no ghosts? The walls will forever be smiling.