… keeping faith with patriots and those who have sacrificed in defense of these 50 states and US territories …
One of the more instructive British perspectives on the threat Great Britain faces, as well as the West. This short video is well worth the 6 minutes to watch it. Please look in comments section below for the BREXIT Video link. Where is this critical analysis in the press? Where?!
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Lie #1 … The Video. Disgusting.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/06/23/trump_campaign_releases_first_in_a_series_of_hillarys_legendary_lies_benghazi.html
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The American Platform
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by Airline Pilot
My lead flight attendant came to me and said, “We have an H.R. on this flight.” (H.R. stands for human remains.)
“Are they military?” I asked.
‘Yes’, she said.
‘Is there an escort?’ I asked.
‘Yes, I’ve al ready assigned him a seat’.
‘Would you please tell him to come to the Flight Deck. You can board him early,” I said…
A short while later a young army sergeant entered the flight deck. He was the image of the perfectly dressed soldier. He introduced himself and I asked him about his soldie r.
The escorts of these fallen soldiers talk about them as if they are still alive and still with us. ‘My soldier is on his way back to Virginia ,’ he said. He proceeded to answer my questions, but offered no words.
I asked him if there was anything I could do for him and he said no. I told him that he had the toughest job in the military, and that I appreciated the work that he does for the families of our fallen soldiers. The first officer and I got up out of our seats to shake his hand. He left the Flight Deck to find his seat.
We completed our preflight checks, pushed back and performed an uneventful departure. About 30 minutes into our flight, I received a call from the lead flight attendant in the cabin.
‘I just found out the family of the soldier we are carrying, is also on board’, she said. She then proceeded to tell me that the father, mother, wife and 2-year old daughter were escorting their son, husband, and father home. The family was upset because they were unable to see the container that the soldier was in before we left.
We were on our way to a major hub at which the family was going to wait four hours for the connecting flight home to Virginia . The father of the soldier told the flight attendant that knowing his son was below him in the cargo compartment and being unable to see him was too much for him and the family to bear. He had asked the flight attendant if there was anything that could be done to allow them to see him upon our arrival. The family wanted to be outside by the cargo door to watch the soldier being taken off the airplane.
I could hear the desperation in the flight attendants voice when she asked me if there was anything I could do. ‘I’m on it’, I said. I told her that I would get back to her.
Airborne communication with my company normally occurs in the form of e-mail like messages. I decided to bypass this system and contact my flight dispatcher directly on a secondary radio. There is a radio operator in the operations control center who connects you to the telephone of t he dispatcher. I was in direct contact with the dispatcher. I explained the situation I had on board with the family and what it was the family wanted. He said he understood and that he would get back to me.
Two hours went by and I had not heard from the dispatcher. We were going to get busy soon and I needed to know what to tell the family. I sent a text message asking for an update. I saved the return message from the dispatcher and the following is the text:
‘Captain, sorry it has taken so long to get back to you. There is policy on this now, and I had to check on a few things. Upon your arrival a dedicated escort team will meet the aircraft. The team will escort the family to the ramp and plane side. A van will be used to load the remains with a secondary van for the family.
The family will be taken to their departure area and escorted into the terminal, where the remains can be seen on the ramp. It is a private area for the family only. When the connecting aircraft arrives, the family will be escorted onto the ramp and plane side to watch the remains being loaded for the final leg home.
Captain, most of us here in flight control are veterans. Please pass our condolences on to the family. Thanks.
I sent a message back, telling flight control thanks for a good job. I printed out the message and gave it to the lead flight attendant to pass on to the father. The lead flight attendant was very thankful and told me, ‘You have no idea how much this will mean to them.’
Things started getting busy for the descent, approach and landing . After landing, we cleared the runway and taxied to the ramp area. The ramp is huge with 15 gates on either side of the alleyway. It is always a busy area with aircraft maneuvering every which way to enter and exit. When we entered the ramp and checked in with the ramp controller, we were told that all traffic was being held for us.
‘There is a team in place to meet the aircraft’, we were told. It looked like it was all coming together, then I realized that once we turned the seat belt sign off, everyone would stand up at once and delay the family from getting off the airplane. As we approached our gate, I a sked the copilot to tell the ramp controller, we were going to stop short of the gate to make an announcement to the passengers. He did that and the ramp controller said, ‘Take your time.’
I stopped the aircraft and set the parking brake. I pushed the public address button and said: ‘Ladies and gentleman, this is your Captain speaking: I have stopped short of our gate to make a special announcement. We have a passenger on board who deserves our honor and respect. His name is Private XXXXXX, a soldier who recently lost his life. Private XXXXXX s under your feet in the cargo hold. Escorting him today is A rmy Sergeant XXXXXX. Also, on board are his father, mother, wife, and daughter. Your entire flight crew is asking for all passengers to remain in their seats to allow the family to exit the aircraft first. Thank you.’
We continued the turn to the gate, came to a stop and started our shutdown procedures. A couple of minutes later I opened the cockpit door. I found the two forward flight attendants crying, something you just do not see. I was told that after we came to a stop, every passenger on the aircraft stayed in their seats, waiting for the family to exit the aircraft.
When the family got up and gathered their things, a passenger slowly started to clap his hands. Moments later, more passengers joined in and soon the entire aircraft was clapping. Words of ‘God Bless You’, I’m sorry, thank you, be proud, and other kind words were uttered to the family as they made their way down the aisle and out of the airplane. They were escorted down to the ramp to finally be with their loved one.
Many of the passengers disembarking thanked me for the announcement I had made. They were just words, I told them, I could say them over and over again, but nothing I say will bring back that brave soldier.
I respectfully ask that all of you reflect on this event and the sacrifices that millions of our men and women have made to ensure our freedom and safety in these United States of AMERICA .
Foot note:
I know everyone who reads this will have tears in their eyes, including me.
They die for me and mine and you and yours and deserve our honor and respect.
Prayer Request:
When you receive this, please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our troops around the world… Share with others. Do not let it stop with you. Of all the gifts you could give a Marine, Soldier, Sailor, Airman, and others deployed in harm’s way, prayer is the very best one.
GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS!!!
Thank you all who have served, or are serving. We Will not forget!!!!
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By PMWalt2
Yesteday, I had a bunch of Marines who served with me years ago contact me via Facebook.
These were guys I led in the very early 80s and called me Lieutenant. I was a tank platoon commander and they were my Marines. They were a great group of young men, Marines who like me were probably not as mature as we would be after our “float” across the pond, a float which would take us to Grenada and Beirut. Chatting with a few of them recently brought back memories of how proud I was of each and every one of them … then, as now. We entered the crucible of combat and experienced pretty much everything that went with it.
Those chats reminded me of the importance of something I remember each year at this time of year, one particular event from decades ago.
One late afternoon on a non-descript January afternoon in 1984, things began to heat up and I took a section of tanks from our maintenance area to our firing positions east of the Beirut airport. I recall rounding a curve and making a quick decision to head to the right firing position which would mean the trailing tank led by Lance Corporal Rich Delgado to take the position to my left.
As we were turning into our positions, we drove into a barrage of either 122 or 152 mm rockets. Both of us were heads up out of the turret as all hell broke loose.
As we settled into our firing positions I got the call on the radio, “Delgado is hit, we need doc”. A piece of shrapnel nailed him in the neck as we were getting into firing position.
I made a medevac call and my doc (corpsman) and one of his buddies (another doc) ran from an adjacent bunker about 125 yards away to Delgado’s tank. Both got knocked down at least once with more incoming rockets, but both got to his tank unscathed. The docs got him stable and were able to medevac out of there in an Amtrak. Later that night we heard Rich was stable on the USS Tripoli. The next day I got the word he was evacuated to Germany.
I saw Rich Delgado once more when we got back and were all at Camp Lejeune. He was still hurting and was going to be discharged. I was so happy to see him and glad to see him. He was a Lance Corporal, an E-3, who was given a tank and three other Marines to lead … he was a solid leader, great Marine, and a great person.
Three or four years later, it doesn’t matter, I was a tank company commander at 29 Palms California and I ran into to my tank mechanic, Pollard, from that float years before. I was now a Captain and my Pollard now a sergeant. He asked me if I heard about “Delgado”. Not knowing, I asked what he knew.
Sgt Pollard told me that Rich had passed a few years previously when undergoing surgery to repair the damage to his neck that January day in 1984. Not knowing what to say, I recall feeling very sad and a bit hollow.
This Memorial Day, lift a glass and say a prayer for all of the Rich Delgado out there. I know I will, just as I have these past 30 plus years.
By the way, the event I recall from decades ago wasn’t the firefight in January ’84, it was learning of Rich Delgado’s passing.
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by Marine1948
It’s 0447 hours here in Northwestern Massachusetts and as I look across the street I see the lights on in the dwelling of a silent hero.
Don is an old “China Marine”. He enlisted in the Corps in 1937 with duty on the Asian Mainland.
His enlistment should have been up in December of 1941 and then Pearl Harbor. All were told that their enlistments would be extended indefinitely.
Throughout the next 4 years Don slugged through campaigns in the Pacific on islands with the infamous names recorded in the annals of the Corps: Bougainville, Guam and Iwo Jima all with the 3rd Marine Division.
Don returned to his hometown in 1945 and went to work immediately. Met a woman and married her and raised his children. Still ever the duty bound man, he served with the town’s volunteer fire department and forest wardens until time caught up.
I came to know him probably at some point in the 70s. And as fate would have it, I moved in across the street from him the early 80s. Strange that 34 years have passed so quickly.
To say that I have been in awe of this man seems so inadequate. I have observed him through this many years do things that a man half his age couldn’t accomplish.
You see, Don will be 96 next month. Here is someone who has cut his grass, shoveled snow and so many tasks I can’t recall. And he still does! When the humidity is so high that even nature’s creatures don’t stir, he cuts the grass fully clothed. When the wind chill would scare an Eskimo, the snow is removed. And not uncommon for him to use his snow blower to help much younger neighbors.
He stands tall and straight. His hearing and eyesight remain intact. Ah, he still has a full set of his own teeth. Amazing!
There is the common denominator that we possess, that being MARINE. It is a bond that never leaves us. No matter the era from which we rose.
A common greeting is, “Do ya think we still could make it through Parris Island?” And the chuckles come.
I look at him and think that he is 5 years my dad’s senior, also a WWII man.
Don gave up his driver’s license a few months ago, as he said, “It’s time.” Now I observe him after he cuts his grass sitting in the backyard in a chair looking at the sky. I can only imagine the thoughts.
Don doesn’t ask much, but every now and then I bring him a package of Oreos, an enjoyment of his. It seems so small and insignificant for someone of his stature. But it brings a smile and a thank you.
On the holidays that are appropriate for the display, I put out my Marine Corps flag and then watch across the street, sure enough, Don follows suit.
Someday Don will enter Valhalla and the Valkyries will bring him the nightly feast joined by and in brotherhood by all other warriors.
I salute you, Don. Semper Fi! And God bless you and America.
“marine1948” Bishop, HG Jr
Sgt., USMC, 2322500 1967-forever
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By Silent Warrior 6
As they came of age between 1940 and 1943, the five Smith brothers left their town in Indiana for places that most had never heard of. They volunteered to jump out of planes, crouch in machine gun nests and ride in plywood gliders. They survived diphtheria and gunshot wounds, burrowing into the earth or under trucks at night so they could sleep through the shelling. Their family had nothing but hope and prayers to bring them home. And one by one, the five Smith brothers, dozens of war decorations among them, came home – exhausted but whole. All five brothers lived long into retirement and all but one is living today today. A 4th brother, Kenneth “Kenny” Ray Smith, died on 1 April 2016 in Washington, Indiana at the age of 92.
Kenny’s story is unique. With the advent of World War II, he volunteered to serve the Army and our Nation. He was a 75mm Howitzer Sergeant assigned to the 681st Glider Field Artillery Battalion and attached to 82nd Airborne Division. He fought and survived behind the front lines in Sicily, Normandy and Holland. He served also in North Africa, Italy, France, Bulgaria and Germany. He earned six European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medals with six bronze stars and one bronze arrowhead. After returning home from the war he married and raised four sons in Southern Indiana.
Kenny fought at Normandy, one of the bloodiest battles of the 20th century. Just before D-Day, he sent a telegram to his mom, saying, “Mother, pray for us boys, we need God now.” Later, Kenny described his task on D-Day as a “suicide mission”. Remarkably, Kenny’s plywood-and-canvas glider (AKA flying coffin) landed “successfully” by crashing into a tree, ripping through the branches as the nose hit the dirt. Unconscious for the next several hours and separated from his crew, Kenny linked up positively with his team later the next day.
Surviving six campaigns in WWII and earning a bronze arrowhead for a combat glider landing requires trust in God and discipline. I visited with Kenny last summer and asked him simply, “how did you survive?” Without hesitation, the old Soldier responded, “I always dug a foxhole.” Standing tall at 6 feet, 8 inches – digging a foxhole to standard was not a quick easy task for Kenny. He jokingly added, “one or two Soldiers always ended up in my foxhole with me because they lacked the discipline to dig their own day after day in combat”. Kenny’s “foxhole” message is both simple and genius. “Always improve your foxhole” is one of the first orders I received as an Infantry enlisted Soldier in training. It was my honor to share Kenny’s message with the Soldiers assigned to my Battalion a few weeks ago, his message was received well by the entire formation. The key task assigned to the Nation’s current generation of Soldiers is simple —– improve your foxhole and deliver RESULTS that benefit the Nation, our Army’s Mission, our Soldiers and their Families.
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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!!!
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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.
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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!
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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:
The Bubble …
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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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by Echo Zulu 21 Household 6
One party supposedly wages a war on women over their reproductive rights (Republicans) and another party wages the real war on women over equal pay and choosing to be a stay at home Mom (Democrats). For example, women that work in the White House today make 23% less than their male counterparts in similar positions. Or women that work in the Clinton Foundation make 36% less then their male counterparts. But yet it is the evil Republicans waging a war against women, at least this is the Democratic narrative conveniently supported by the media. A few days ago CNN was blasting it out – bad news for women concerning equal pay. This past Thursday CNN reported that 14 April was “Equal Pay Day for Women” and that women make 79 cents for every dollar a man does.
These kind of numbers and articles only hit the surface. Data shows that the pay gap increases dramatically when women hit age 35 and older. That begs the question – what typically happens at this time in a woman’s life? Underneath the complaint of unequal pay is a celebration of motherhood and all that comes with it as women put their families over their jobs. Motherhood includes the joys of:
Taxi Driver, Nurse, Counselor, Tutor, Coach, Cheerleader, Cook,
Sanitation Technician (diapers), Teacher, etc. just to name a few.
The list goes on and on. These responsibilities come with zero pay and often takes a woman’s focus away from her work as she puts the family first. Many proponents of equal pay are asking the wrong question about pay. Work and motherhood can be balanced but in many woman’s lives when they begin to clash, motherhood should win, and candidly, it is in the best interest of the child. We should celebrate women who prioritize motherhood and children over their careers. Women should not be persecuted or pressured by the feminist movement and the leftist extreme in putting their family first.
In the end it is all about work-life balance. Women are making decisions every day to take on a career that supports work-life balance with hundreds of variables in play. While equal pay for the same job should be standard as it is in the military, we could focus on enabling women that want to work and flexibility for Moms that want more opportunity to slow down work. Why not focus on working with corporations on longer maternity leaves, part-time positions, and working from home? Complaining of unequal pay is one thing, but let’s celebrate the fact that money is not the only measure of success and no one knows that better than a woman who has chosen her family over her career and reaps the rewards of hugs, kisses and children being raised with the values she has helped instill in them.
=542 =433
