The Postcard

Personal 3 Minutes

My husband and I had only been dating a couple of weeks when THE POSTCARD came.  I was sitting on the sofa when he brought it in with the mail.  A dark look crossed over his face and I was curious.  “Anything wrong?” I asked.

“It’s the family reunion,” he replied.

“Oh,” I said.  “That’s…nice?”

He sighed loudly and sat beside me. “You wouldn’t want to come, would you?”

I couldn’t read the emotions playing out on his face, so I just smiled.  “Sounds like…fun?”

I was wrong.

His family reunion was held every year, the first weekend in August on a quaint family farm.  We drove past cornfields and silos and a huge red barn.  At the end of the drive was a charming farmhouse.  The entire setting was picturesque and perfect and I was completely puzzled about his initial reaction.

To the right of the farmhouse was a large yard with a huge tent set up, covering several long tables of food.  Guests were seated around the tables, eating and chatting and having what seemed to be a grand time!  As we got out of the truck, we saw that several people were starting to clear their plates and cover the remaining food and my future husband (FH) directed our little group (the two of us and our two children) to chairs that were set up on the opposite side of the driveway.

FH ushered us to the very back row and soon his parents and his brother and his family joined us.  As the rows filled in, an adorable young girl passed out…programs? (huh?) I turned to my FH and started to ask about them, when a little boy carrying the American Flag caught my eye.  He stepped to the front of the gathered family and everyone stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. (Okay…?) 

The boy moved off to the side as an older man came to the front of the group and led the family in the Lord’s Prayer.  As we sat back down, I noticed plates being passed among the rows and I turned to FH.  He whispered, “you’ll see,” as he dropped a $20 in the plate and passed it. 

The same man welcomed everyone to the Family reunion and asked that the Secretary rise and read the minutes of the last reunion. (excuse me?) Yup, a sweet looking, older woman rose and read the minutes, which were then approved and she sat back down.  The speaker asked for the Treasurer to rise and give her report.  Another woman rose, and reported how much money had just been collected.  Then she announced the expenses the reunion had incurred over the year: a tent repair, printing of THE POSTCARDS, prizes and items for the games, and, she said, of course the ice cream!  Excited murmurs went through the crowd and many of the children clapped at the prospect of the ice cream!

But alas, the meeting was not over.  We sat through old business and new business and then came the children’s presentations.  Child after child came to the front of the group and sang songs, recited poems or played instruments.  Finally, the “business” portion of the reunion was over and the older man announced the games were being set up and the ice cream would be served! (The ice cream was hand churned and you had a choice of A scoop of chocolate OR A scoop of cherry vanilla—there were no seconds.) 

But before any of that happened, we were all asked to line up for the group family photo.  Apparently this reunion has reunion scrapbooks dating back to the very first one (don’t ask me what year, by now I was numb and wondering what I was dating into).  We dutifully lined up, adults in the back, children in the front and smiled for the camera.

While we ate our ice cream, FH told us that the games were broken down by age group, starting with the youngest and working their way up.  Since we had some time, we walked around, examining the family tree (written down on a window shade—and tracing the family back to the Mayflower—I kid you not), petting the animals and watching the older man from the meeting (the reunion president?) back a tractor out of the barn.  There was going to be a hayride (not having grown up on a farm, I was NOT looking forward to that—would this day never end?)

On the long ride home, FH was quiet and from the corner of my eye, I could see him stealing glances at me.  Finally he found the courage to ask what I thought…was it just too weird to be a part of?  I laughed, told him it was charming in its ways, and reassured him we would be fine.  After all, I said, you’re coming to my family reunion NEXT month…LOL

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Published by pat frederick

Published

171 thoughts on “The Postcard”

  1. Morning All!
    the raccoon wars have officially started again…
    hubby went out on the deck to bring in the hummer feeders and stopped to watch a deer at the salt lick. from the corner of his eye he saw a raccoon come around the corner. it was still very light out, the raccoon was not afraid of him in the least.
    these little suckers have been tearing apart these liquid ant bait traps we have on the deck and apparently sucking them dry!
    so hubby chased it with a broom…came in and got the shotgun. but it ran off somewhere…

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Morning!
        hubby will trap them and then drown them i think…he shot the first one in a trap and it made a mess he had to clean out of the trap…

        Liked by 1 person

      1. Morning CM!
        we’ve never had a problem with food ants in the house–but in the spring, the big ants that seem to like wet wood would be a nuisance on the deck and occasionally in the house. walmart has the traps here and they’re easy to find–but they are tough plastic! the raccoons are ripping them apart so they look like a piece of crumpled wax paper…

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Liked by 2 people

  7. What you just described, Pat, is EXACTLY what my adopted family’s reunions were like. They weren’t every year since I only went to one the whole time I lived with my adopted parents. But for years, my a-Mom participated in a cousins’ reunion which proceeded in much the same way. Most of the older ones are all gone now and the younger crowd just isn’t interested – not surprising.

    Man, is it ever humid! It was already 75 when I got up and they are predicting mid-to high-90’s thru next Wednesday. Yuck!!! Dog days of summer!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. i had never experienced such structured “fun” before…our reunions had music, softball, tug of war, food and beer everywhere and so much laughing…

      Liked by 1 person

          1. I used to play softball when I was in Parochial school – used to pitch until I got hit in the face with a line-drive; didn’t hurt me much but broke my glasses – that was it for me! I moved to the outfield and quit not long after.

            Liked by 1 person

          2. Talk about hating baseball! When I first got to Ft. Myer, I hooked up with an MP named Billy. He loved baseball and got tickets to the Orioles/New York game – they hung Reggie Jackson in effigy at that game and I fell asleep in the stands! Tell you anything about me and baseball???

            Liked by 1 person

              1. Oh, Lord – I despise golf even more than baseball! Sheesh! I spent my entire first pregnancy following my hubby around the fricking golf course – he wanted to be a golf pro but wasn’t good enough. He tried to teach me – it did NOT go well. Plus, the golf course/country club crowd was in a different echelon from both my birth and adopted families. We weren’t among the rich crowd and I was not comfortable there.

                Liked by 1 person

  10. Good morning y’all! Friday is upon us and today is all overtime for me…we recently switched to 4-10’s and I am filling in for my vacationi,g co-worker. Liked the reunion story Pat. Do you guys still go? Sounds a little different.

    Liked by 2 people

    2. the family members who owned the family farm have passed away and their son sold the farmhouse. He still farms the land, but they don’t hold the reunions there anymore.
      they stopped having them during the covid craziness and we haven’t received a postacard yet for this year…LOL

      Liked by 2 people

      1. The ones we had in MD were more like pot-lucks with the men mostly drinking beer and playing horseshoes while the kids ran all over and played all day. We used to have them at our cousin’s place on the Eastern Shore, around Greensboro.

        Liked by 2 people

        1. sounds close to ours…usually a keg of beer, a keg of birch beer for the kids, jello shots if my cousin brought them…lol..and all kinds of food! we had to have ours at a park (mom’s one of 17 kids–so the family reunions were HUGE)…and erbody chipped in for the park rental and beers and hot dogs/ hamburgers…other than that erbody brought food to share

          Liked by 2 people

  11. what a mess they’ve made…public health agencies ignoring data making employees puzzled, unhappy
    FTA
    The trouble is that this sweeping recommendation was based on extremely weak, inconclusive data provided by Pfizer and Moderna.

    Start with Pfizer. Using a three-dose vaccine in 992 children between the ages of six months and five years, Pfizer found no statistically significant evidence of vaccine efficacy. In the subgroup of children aged six months to two years, the trial found that the vaccine could result in a 99% lower chance of infection—but that they also could have a 370% increased chance of being infected. In other words, Pfizer reported a range of vaccine efficacy so wide that no conclusion could be inferred. No reputable medical journal would accept such sloppy and incomplete results with such a small sample size. More to the point, these results should have given pause to those who are in charge of public health.

    Referring to Pfizer’s vaccine efficacy in healthy young children, one high-level CDC official—whose expertise is in the evaluation of clinical data—joked: “You can inject them with it or squirt it in their face, and you’ll get the same benefit.”

    Moderna’s results—they conducted a study on 6,388 children with two doses—were not much better. Against asymptomatic infections, they claimed a very weak vaccine efficacy of just 4% in children aged six months to two years. They also claimed an efficacy of 23% in children between two and six years old—but neither result was statistically significant. Against symptomatic infections, Moderna’s vaccine did show efficacy that was statistically significant, but the efficacy was low: 50% in children aged six months to two years, and 42% in children between two and six years old.

    Then there’s the matter of how long a vaccine gives protection. We know from data in adults that it’s generally a matter of months. But we have no such data for young children.

    “It seems criminal that we put out the recommendation to give mRNA Covid vaccines to babies without good data. We really don’t know what the risks are yet. So why push it so hard?” a CDC physician added. A high-level FDA official felt the same way: “The public has no idea how bad this data really is. It would not pass muster for any other authorization.”

    And yet, the FDA and the CDC pushed it through. That slap in the face of science may explain why only 2% of parents of children under age five have chosen to get the Covid vaccine, and 40% of parents in rural areas say their pediatricians did not recommend the Covid vaccine for their child.

    https://www.commonsense.news/p/us-public-health-agencies-arent-following

    Liked by 1 person

  12. EXCERPT: “We live in an era of frauds, con-men, and liars. Truth, beauty, and the good have been corrupted or forgotten and lost. There may exist “a remnant,” for whom another future beckons but it won’t be found in a Jonah Goldberg substack, podcast, or some video game with a captivating title. Besides, the only person listening to that smarmy Goldberg character and nonstop NeverTrumper, is probably his own mother.

    A remnant implies that as one of the last survivors of humanity, you set out alone or alongside other survivors to face down hordes of deadly enemies. The end-goal is to carve a foothold, rebuild, and retake what was lost. The remnant is a recurring theme throughout the Hebrew and Christian Bible. You could describe it as “what is left of a community after it undergoes a catastrophe.” That is where we find ourselves. Yes, it is that bad; that urgent. This is not some managed, gradual decline, a passing fad, or a cavalier WEF reset. It is the end as we know it.

    The only possibility at reformation has to start with vengeance and end in retribution. The motto of my Scottish clan forbearers rings true, in Gaelic, “vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord.” Air an adhbhar sin, mar seo tha an Tighearna ag ràdh, Feuch, tagraidh mise do chùis, agus nì mi dìoghaltas air do shon. Repeat that three times fast, it will get you in the mood. Cue the “Braveheart” music and paint your faces.

    Many on the Right dream up strategies to reverse the “long march” preached by Marxists such as Rudi Dutschke and Antonio Gramsci as a way to restore our fallen institutions. Many millions are raised to fund yet more in-depth research at meaningless think tanks or named chairs at ruined universities. Still more is devoted to weak-kneed candidates without balls who are conservatives in name only. They go along to get along and accomplish nothing.

    When will we ever learn?

    This is war. We need to go on the offensive. It starts by describing the four corners of deceit, exposing them, and actually taking them back. It is late, but never too late.

    https://amgreatness.com/2022/07/13/spoiler-alert-its-all-a-scam/

    Liked by 1 person

  13. EXCERPT: “Using weekly data on excess mortality in New Zealand, a study published last week set out to analyse the impacts of rolling out booster doses of Covid injections. It found that age groups most likely to have had booster Covid injections had 7-10% more excess mortality than the age groups most likely not to have taken up a booster dose.

    “The results suggest 16 (95% CI: 5 to 27) excess deaths per 100,000 booster doses, amounting to over 400 excess deaths in New Zealand given the booster doses administered to date. If this rate of excess deaths is extrapolated to other countries, it amounts to over 300,000 excess deaths worldwide,” Professor John Gibson, the study’s author, wrote.

    The study was published in EconPapers, the world’s largest collection of on-line economics working papers, journal articles and software, and authored by John Gibson, Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.

    In his paper, ‘The Rollout of COVID-19 Booster Vaccines is Associated with Rising Excess Mortality in New Zealand’, Prof. Gibson stated: “The ratio of vaccine risk to benefits likely has swung more towards risk than during the original randomised trials, due to dose-dependent adverse events and to fixation of immune responses on a variant no longer circulating.

    “In light of an unsatisfactory risk-evidence situation, aggregate weekly data on excess mortality in New Zealand are used here to study the impacts of rolling out booster doses. The age groups most likely to use boosters had 7-10 percentage point rises in excess mortality rates as boosters were rolled out while the age group that is mostly too young for boosters saw no rise in excess mortality.”

    Excess mortality is the number of deaths from all causes during a crisis above and beyond what we would have expected to see under “normal” conditions. In other words, Prof. Gibson found more people who had, likely, received a booster injection died than normally expected.

    In September 2021 an advisory panel of experts outside of the US Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) voted 16-2 against the widespread use of Covid injection boosters due to a lack of safety data and doubts about the benefits of mass boosting over targeted approaches, Gibson noted.

    After this vote was ignored and the FDA approved boosters for the general population, the top two officials in the FDA’s Office of Vaccines Research and Review resigned and criticised decision-making about the mass rollout of boosters.

    This critique noted that if unnecessary boosting causes significant adverse reactions it may increase vaccine hesitancy more generally; a concern raised elsewhere that the potentially low benefits of Covid-19 vaccines relative to the costs borne by vaccinees (such as exposure to breakthrough infections and to vaccine adverse events) may undermine public confidence in other vaccination efforts (Godlee, 2020; Gibson, 2022a). Even the World Health Organisation argue that a vaccination strategy based on repeated booster doses of the original vaccine composition is unlikely to be appropriate or sustainable (WHO, 2022).

    Several European countries have already restricted some mRNA vaccines to only those aged over 30 years due to these safety concerns. Given this shift in the risk-benefit ratio, stronger evidence should underpin mass use of boosters but the opposite holds.

    The primary Covid “vaccine” used in New Zealand is Pfizer. Weekly data on all deaths in New Zealand, from 2011 through the end of March 2022, was used to calculate excess mortality during the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines.”

    https://www.globalresearch.ca/new-zealand-study-finds-10-rise-excess-mortality-age-groups-have-had-booster-covid-injections/5786648

    Liked by 2 people

  14. since when does an agency get to withhold information from congress who has oversight? and congress HAS to obtain privacy releases from ILLEGALS about TERRORISTIC plots? WHAT THE HELL?????
    FTA
    Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee want answers about a new Department of Homeland Security policy that lawmakers say requires them to get privacy release waivers from criminal non-citizens accused of terror and assassination plots, in order for DHS to give them information about the threats.

    In a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, obtained by Fox News Digital, Republicans on the committee say the agency “has implemented a new policy requiring Members of Congress to obtain signed privacy release waivers from criminal non-U.S. citizens, including those illegally in the United States, and submit that waiver to the Department before the Department will provide the Committee with general information about the threats posed by such individuals.”

    They say the policy was communicated to them after they requested briefings about two alleged plots. The first was an alleged ISIS-inspired plot to assassinate former President George W. Bush, and the second an alleged July 4 mass shooting plot by two illegal immigrants.

    “It is unconscionable that DHS would implement or maintain any policy or practice to directly or indirectly inhibit Congress’s ability to conduct timely, highly relevant oversight that may require legislative action,” the letter by Reps. John Katko, R-NY, August Pfluger, R-Texas, and Mayra Flores, R-Texas, says.

    https://therightscoop.com/biden-dhs-refuses-to-brief-congress-on-terror-plots-unless-they-agree-to-absurd-policy/

    Liked by 1 person

  16. when you’re losing, change the rules…CDC emails suggest they changed the definition of vaccine and vaccination to fit their narrative because the real definitions were problematic
    FTA

    CDC officials changed definition of “vaccine” and “vaccination” to manipulate public

    Before the covid-19 scandal, a vaccine was defined as “a product that stimulates a person’s immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease.” In September 2021, the CDC changed the definition because the mRNA jabs were not stopping infection, were not conveying immunity and therefore did not align with the traditional definition of a vaccine.

    After the CDC definition change, a vaccine is referred to as “a preparation that is used to stimulate the body’s immune response.” Many things can stimulate some form of immune response, especially when those substances are injected, but this artificial augmentation does not automatically demonstrate that an experimental product confers immunity or is a safe and effective immunization.

    The CDC also dumbed down the definition of vaccination. Since 2011, the CDC defined “vaccination” as “an injection that prevents a disease.” After the change, the CDC claimed a vaccination is “the act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce protection from a specific disease.“ Alex Berenson was one of the first investigative reporters to call out the CDC’s Orwellian definition change for “vaccine” and “vaccination.”

    Mockingly, CDC officials defended the change of definition, claiming the “slight changes haven’t impacted the overall definition” of vaccines. They claimed the new definition was simpler for the public to understand. This twist of words could more accurately be described as deception and fraud.
    CDC officials try to make covid jabs appear safe and effective, but lose public’s trust

    CDC official Alycia Downs warned her colleagues on August 25, 2021 that the American people were starting to notice that the experimental mRNA jabs do not meet the CDC’s definition of a vaccine. This internal email was sent out one month before the CDC officially changed the definition of vaccine and vaccination. Downs said the longstanding definition of “vaccine” was “problematic.” She told her colleagues that “people are using it to claim the COVID-19 vaccines [are] not a vaccine based on our own definition.” After the memo was sent, Alycia Downs worked with Allison Michelle Fisher, Cynthia Jorgensen, Valerie Morelli, and Andrew (unnamed) to come up with a new definition for “vaccine” and “vaccination.”

    During the discussion, the CDC accepted comments from people who were worried that their friends and relatives wouldn’t take the shots. Downs opened up the discussion by asking, “Do you all have recommended updates for the content?” One of the public commenters provided the CDC with a basis to change the definition of “vaccine.”

    “Right-wing covid-19 pandemic deniers are using your ‘vaccine’ definition to argue that mRNA vaccines are not vaccines…” the commenter suggested. “This was twisted to claim that the existing covid-19 vaccines were not vaccines because they only prevented severe illness. I think it would be more accurate to say that a vaccine function is “to stimulate an immune response” to be clear that perfect immunity is not what defines a vaccine.”

    It only took one month for the CDC to change the definition and re-establish authority on the topic of vaccination. In this process of fraud and deceit, the CDC lost the public’s trust and revealed the façade of their own perceived authority.

    https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-07-14-emails-confirm-cdc-officials-changed-definition-of-vaccine.html

    Liked by 2 people

    1. oooooops!

      windmills, like the sun, are hit and miss…
      and if “they” control the weather–they can make it rain or not– then they control the energy as well…

      Liked by 1 person

  18. “Former President Donald Trump says he has made a decision about running for President in 2024; the announcement of the decision will be at a later date. Trump told New York magazine that the “big decision” is whether to announce before or after November’s midterm elections.

    “Well, in my own mind, I’ve already made that decision, so nothing factors in anymore. In my own mind, I’ve already made that decision … Do I go before or after? That will be my big decision.”

    Trump added that most of the people vying for a 2024 run have no chance in the primary, according to the polls.

    “Let people know. I think a lot of people would not even run if I did that because, if you look at the polls, they don’t even register. Most of these people … And I think that you would actually have a backlash against them if they ran. People want me to run.”

    Trump also said he is not worried about other 2024 GOP candidates and does not consider Florida Governor Ron DeSantis a rival.

    Although polls have shown DeSantis winning in states like New Hampshire and Florida, overall, Trump seems to have the edge in the primaries. One (unscientific) Twitter poll in April had DeSantis with 70.7 percent of the vote and Trump with 29.3 percent of the vote; a total of 172,815 people voted.”

    https://redstate.com/levon/2022/07/14/donald-trump-says-he-has-made-up-his-mind-about-2024-big-decision-on-announcement-timing-might-come-soon-n594841

    Liked by 1 person

  21. EXCERPTS: “What was once the Current Thing has become a massive liability. Europe is staring down the potential for a continental “Dark Winter,” and as each month passes, fewer countries aligned with the Biden Administration seem willing to maintain the appetite for perpetual warfare over who gets to control Ukraine.

    This ruling class squabble has devastated the lives of hundreds of millions of ordinary citizens, but that didn’t change the trajectory of the conflict. It was only when the war effort became deeply unpopular did this consensus change. Poll-testing politicians are keenly aware that in both America and Europe, there is no longer a steady support for delegating untold billions in taxpayer funds and rhetorical support to this campaign.

    What does this mean for the war in Ukraine? Don’t be surprised for a conclusion to the Russia-Ukraine conflict sooner rather than later. Two realities that are worth paying attention to moving forward:

    1. Ukraine is losing, and there are no signs that they can turn the tide of the war
    2. The U.S.-led sanctions regime is collapsing
    ————————-

    ————————-
    Ukraine is in the polar opposite situation. Kiev is becoming a massive financial liability for the West. Even as Western powers have already allocated over 100 billions dollars in weapons and aid to Ukraine, the Zelensky-led government continues to demand incredible sums to sustain the war effort.
    ————————–
    In some underreported signal that surfaced over the weekend: Germany (which largely controls the EU’s finances) has reportedly been blocking a $9 billion dollar tranche to the Zelensky regime, concerned over the country’s ability to remain solvent.

    https://dossier.substack.com/p/current-thing-chaos-biden-sanctions

    Liked by 1 person

    1. FTA
      Jeffrey A. Tucker spotted some interesting writing from Dr. Deborah Birx, presumably from her recently-published book Silent Invasion, that admits she sabotaged the Covid policies of President Donald Trump.

      But even worse, she claims she did so with the tacit approval of then-VP Mike Pence, who was appointed as the point man for the federal government’s Covid efforts.

      https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/07/mike_pence_has_got_some_splainin_to_do.html

      Liked by 1 person

  23. EXCERPT: “In a letter this week that was signed by almost 50 democrat members of Congress, the politicians pressed the Biden Administration to infuse the IMF with $650 billion worth of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), bringing the international institution an enormous amount of capital to increase its lending and borrowing capacity.

    Last year, citing the economic pain caused by their own COVID policies, Congress passed a bill resulting in the IMF approving a $650 billion SDR package. Now, it is being rebranded to “help Ukraine.” According to the letter, Biden can approve an additional $650 billion in liquidity without any new legislation from Congress. With the stroke of a pen, Joe Biden can instruct the Treasury to send $650 billion into a black hole.

    The legislators describe the proposed money creation as “a simple, rapid, and cost-free way to enable Ukraine, its neighboring allies, and developing countries to respond to, and build back better from, these combined international crises.”

    Yes, they labeled it cost-free.

    The below IMF infographic provides the “official” explanation for what an SDR is, and what it is based upon. In short, it empowers the IMF’s largest stakeholders with a centralized reserve token with which to lend and borrow money as it sees fit. As the infographic explains, new SDRs are allocated to member countries in proportion to their relative share in the IMF, bringing more credit power to already powerful states.

    Of course, there is no benefit to the average citizen, as SDRs are controlled by the people in charge, and it can potentially increase monetary debasement.

    Moreover, there is a much more nefarious agenda in play here. The real purpose of an SDR, as outlined in IMF literature, is the continuing centralization of fiat currency systems, to the point that the SDR becomes the only game in town.

    As the Mises Institute explains: “The short-term plan, therefore, is to remove any remaining checks on fiat inflation at an international level, and to allow the deficits of sovereign debtors to soar. The long-term plan … is to make SDR the global paper money.”

    In the words of the late Austrian economist Murray Rothbard, the plan amounts to this reality: “An internationally coordinated and controlled world-wide, paper-money inflation, a fine-tuned inflation that would proceed unchecked upon its merry way until, whoops!, it landed the entire world smack into the middle of the untold horrors of global runaway hyperinflation.”

    This extra liquidity would allow select IMF member states to move around hundreds of billions of dollars with no oversight. The creation of more SDRs makes for an even more centralized monetary environment, in which allocations of capital are made not according to market forces, but based on the whims of unaccountable bureaucrats.

    The Soros machine and the International Chamber of Commerce, which would be some of the biggest beneficiaries of the funding, are leveraging their enormous wealth and influence to make a big push to convince Biden to sign off on the new disbursement.”

    https://dossier.substack.com/p/cost-free-biden-admin-may-soon-infuse

    Liked by 1 person

  25. Liked by 1 person

  27. EXCERPT: “EXCLUSIVE: Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee want answers about a new Department of Homeland Security policy that lawmakers say requires them to get privacy release waivers from criminal non-citizens accused of terror and assassination plots, in order for DHS to give them information about the threats.

    In a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, obtained by Fox News Digital, Republicans on the committee say the agency “has implemented a new policy requiring Members of Congress to obtain signed privacy release waivers from criminal non-U.S. citizens, including those illegally in the United States, and submit that waiver to the Department before the Department will provide the Committee with general information about the threats posed by such individuals.”

    They say the policy was communicated to them after they requested briefings about two alleged plots. The first was an alleged ISIS-inspired plot to assassinate former President George W. Bush, and the second an alleged July 4 mass shooting plot by two illegal immigrants.

    “It is unconscionable that DHS would implement or maintain any policy or practice to directly or indirectly inhibit Congress’s ability to conduct timely, highly relevant oversight that may require legislative action,” the letter by Reps. John Katko, R-NY, August Pfluger, R-Texas, and Mayra Flores, R-Texas, says.
    —————-
    Reps. Katko, Pfluger and Flores argue that they cannot fulfill their constitutional role if they are not given timely information from the department.

    “Further, requiring Congress to get permission from accused terrorists and criminals, who are not U.S. citizens, as a prerequisite to receiving information on homeland security threats is both unprecedented and absurd,” they say.”

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dhs-provide-info-terror-plots-congress-waivers-accused-non-citizens-republicans-say

    Liked by 1 person

    1. agreed–i posted that above–who the hell do they think they are requiring another branch of gov’t who has oversight to seek privacy release BEFORE they comply…that’s BULLSHIT

      Liked by 1 person

  28. Finally, some real proof!!!

    Entire Article (video @ link): “A Toronto-area casket manufacturer has seen a dramatic rise in orders for smaller-sized coffins since the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. Children are dying. Ultimately, everything in life comes down to death. We are raised to believe that there’s a time for living and a time for dying. The time for dying comes with illness, accidents, and old age. Except it doesn’t anymore.

    In an exclusive interview with RAIR Foundation USA, Mick Haddock, a manufacturer of caskets in northern Toronto, says things have changed markedly in the industry in the last nine months. “Small people are passing away,” he says. “It’s noticeable in our industry. For the first time in over 30 years, we are receiving bulk orders for smaller-sized caskets.”

    Typically, the casket industry remains pretty stable, and an unusually big casket order usually indicates a traumatic event, but recent sales indicate that this has changed. “Not only are all sales up, but in the past, for every five full-sized caskets we sold, we sold one youth size. Now, for every five, it’s two youth sized.”

    According to Haddock, he and his colleagues in the industry thought they would see an uptick in 2020 when we were being told that covid was lethal and killing people indiscriminately, in their many thousands. But that didn’t happen. “It wasn’t until the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 that we saw sales increase. We didn’t see any increase in sales before vaccines were introduced, and people started traveling again,” says Haddock. “And I don’t want to blame it on the travel that’s been killing everybody because, in truth, most of these places around the world are still light on what travelers can do. Even accidental deaths are still limited.”

    In fact, in 2020, Haddock saw a 60 percent drop in sales. “It was only once the vaccines were pushed to younger and younger demographics that we started seeing the uptick,” he says. “It was just senior citizens and the very frail at first. Within two months of the approval of the vaccine for the 11- to 15-year-olds, we noticed more demand for smaller units.”

    Overall sales have increased by 30 and 40 percent compared to 2019. “It’s staggering how much more there is,” says Haddock. “It started to climb by mid-2021; by 2022, growth was measurable.”

    Haddock’s experience mirrors that of British funeral director John O’Looney of Milton Keynes Family Funeral Services, who went public in September 2021 to explain a similar pattern of death. O’Looney remarked that there was no surge in deaths during the initial covid wave, and if anything, fewer deaths. But after the vaccine was introduced in January 2021, O’Looney said that calls soared, going up 300 percent. “I’ve never seen a death rate like it in 15 years,” he said. “Initially, [the deaths were] all exclusively care homes,” O’Looney said. But after the rollout of the mRNA injection, the deaths were no longer exclusively from nursing homes, and the ages of the dead varied significantly.

    O’Looney described a woman in her fifties, fit, a runner, and without health issues, who was given a booster and died of liver failure the following week. Haddock confirms that this measurable increase has all happened in Canada in the last six to seven months, “(Initially) it wasn’t at the rate it is now, but by the time we hit the round of boosters was when we started noticing multiple calls a week from the same (casket) distributors. All casket sales are dramatically up,” he says. It’s just that youth-sized sales are up more than any other category.

    While Haddock and his colleagues have seen the greatest increase in sales in the mid-sized category, “everyone is at risk with these vaccines,” he says. “It’s hard to deny. What can it be blamed on? What has changed? Why is the death rate exceeding that of before the vaccines?” he ponders.

    Children aged six to 12 are robust human beings. “Now, these are the sizes we are selling,” says Haddock. “Children don’t just die. It doesn’t happen. Never in history.”

    https://rairfoundation.com/coffins-for-children-ordered-in-bulk-first-time-in-over-30-years-exclusive-interview/

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Entire Article from NotTheBee: “In the coincidence of all coincidences a woman in West Virginia gave birth at a 7-Eleven convenience store, of all days, on July 11th. From the local news:

    Mother of three Allie Sayers was scheduled for a C-section on July 13 but felt the baby coming early Monday morning. Allie’s fiance, Chase Bush, pulled over into a 7-Eleven parking lot as they were on their way to WVU Medicine United Hospital Center in Bridgeport and delivered the baby without having any form of medical training.

    The baby just could not wait. I know 7-Eleven is a convenience store, but it probably is not the most convenient place to have a delivery. Allie’s sister-in-law, Ambra Bush, said Allie’s other two children were in the car with their parents when the baby was being delivered.

    “She woke my brother-in-law up in the middle of the night and said she had to go to the hospital. So they were on their way, they came from Wallace and they made it to Shinnston, and Allie said ‘We have to pull over,’ and my brother pulled over and called 911, and the baby just… he wasn’t waiting,” Bush said.

    Dad and mom have to pull over and deliver this baby while their two other kids are in the car for all of it. That is a crazy experience. The infant Waylon is doing well Bush said, and weighed in at 6 lbs 8 oz. If only the baby had been 7 lbs 11 oz!”

    Liked by 1 person

  30. I’m catching up on the last 2 Tucker shows and he showed a portion of an interview with a Father whose son died from taking what he thought was Percocet but was really Fentanyl. Now, of course, one can understand how distraught his Father would be and rightfully so. But here’s the deal – his son went on-line and ordered it ILLEGALLY! Percocet requires a script.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. oh man…
      i saw a story–I didn’t bring it–a woman picked up a dollar on the floor at a mcd’s and her whole body went numb…they are coating (?) the bills with fentanyl…

      Liked by 1 person

        1. scary…
          i used to find money all the time…once when we took the kids to Williamsburg, I found a bunch of “colonial money”…tried to turn it in, they wouldn’t take it…
          so i kept it…
          I found disney dollars–have those too

          Liked by 1 person

      2. Don’t get me wrong – I have a ton of sympathy for his family but they MUST acknowledge that, had he not broken the law in the first place, this most likely wouldn’t have happened.

        Liked by 1 person

  31. SMDH – here we go again – more fake news! This is NOT true!!!!

    https://bestnewshere.com/the-supreme-court-in-the-us-has-ruled-that-the-covid-pathogen-is-not-a-vaccine-is-unsafe-and-must-be-avoided-at-all-costs-supreme-court-has-canceled-universal-vax-3/

    From 2018: “Del Bigtree, founder of Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), teamed up with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to take on the U.S. government by filing suit against the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for vaccine safety violations — and they won. This is big news for all concerned with the topic of vaccine safety. It turns out the federal agency has been neglecting their vaccine safety obligations for over 30 years. The lawsuit brought by RFK Jr. is evidence that “vaccine safety” as we know it is nothing more than a sham.

    Government agencies charged with protecting the public are not doing their part to ensure and improve the safety of immunizations, but will they be held accountable?

    As sources explain, a clause in the The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 (NVICA) compels DHHS to take responsibility for improving vaccine safety and efficacy, and charges the agency with constant monitoring and improving of adverse event reporting. The Mandate for Safer Childhood Vaccines clause also tasks DHHS with providing a report on improvements made in these areas to Congress every two years.

    RKF Jr. and ICAN reportedly suspected that DHHS was failing to meet this responsibility, and filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain the records of these biennial reports. For eight months, DHHS tried to blockade their request and refused to provide information. Ultimately, a lawsuit had to be filed.”

    https://prepareforchange.net/2018/11/21/robert-f-kennedy-jr-wins-case-against-u-s-government-for-vaccine-safety-violations/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. what am i misreading here Filly?
      this is from 2018 and states they won a lawsuit about universal vaccines and kennedy sounds the alarm about the newest vaxes…

      Like

      1. That lawsuit wasn’t about universal vaccines – it was about the lack of transparency and for their failure in the form of “vaccine safety violations” and didn’t mention universal vaxes.

        “As ICAN states further:

        Regrettably, HHS has chosen to focus on its obligation to increase vaccine uptake and defend against any claim vaccines cause harm in the National Injury Vaccine Compensation Program (aka, the Vaccine Court) to such a degree that it has abandoned its vaccine safety responsibilities. If HHS is not, as confirmed in Court this week, even fulfilling the simple task of filing a biennial report on vaccine safety improvements, there is little hope that HHS is actually tackling the much harder job of actually improving vaccine safety.”

        Like

  32. copied from tcth…interesting theory

    listingstarboard
    July 15, 2022 11:13 am
    Reply to SunnyFlower5

    Manchin is going to be the Dem candidate IMO. Biden et al are implementing all of the global strategies at breakneck pace , knowing the people do not approve–and they will pull out the “moderate” Dem to save the day in 2024. Meanwhile the damage is done, people will be desperate for a return to “center” , Manchin will step in with someone like Gabbard as running mate and probably win.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. FofBW
      July 15, 2022 11:36 am
      Reply to Fillemup01

      I am think more Kamala will resign, be replaced by Gavin, then Biden will be declared brain dead and removed, moving Gavin into the top slot.

      Like

      1. Manchin? or Governor Hairdo?

        they can’t run ultra maggot…seriously…I don’t know that even THEY could cheat enough to get his sorry ass across the finish line

        Liked by 1 person

    1. oh no! no! no! NO! cats do not belong ON or NEAR the dinner table…
      neither do dogs, but they seem content to sit on the side and look at you pleadingly…

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I agree – my parents poodle, Peechee, would beg at the table all the time so Dad started bringing a handful of her food and putting it on the table; he would give it to her one piece at a time – she thought she was eating what we were eating! LOL

        Liked by 1 person

        1. i remember my mom freaking out when we visited my Grandmother once…the cat was on her table, eating tuna off her plate …she was sharing her sandwich

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Well, that was your Grandma’s choice – up to her. That was an issue for me the month I stayed with my Sis after moving back to NE. She had at least 3 dogs in the house – may have been 4 then – and who knows how many cats. She ate on a TV tray and the dogs would sit right next to it, with their faces almost in the plate. I couldn’t deal with it and ate in my room with the door closed.

            Liked by 1 person

  37. “AOC..after only a few years on the squad..

    Net Worth 29 MILLION
    Investment watch ^ | 7-14-22 | Steve Bennet
    Alexandria Ocasio Cortez Net Worth (AOC) Net Worth $29 Million Assets $20 Million
    Investments $8 Million Annual Salary $155,000 Business Income $4 Million
    Donations Received $2 Million

    https://caknowledge.com/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-net-worth-aoc/

    Alexandria Ocasio (AOC) owns over 6 real estate properties, 5 Cars, 2 Luxury
    Yachts. Alexandria Ocasio’s Assets also includes Cash reserves of over
    $3 Million. Alexandria Ocasio (AOC) also owns an investment portfolio of
    11 stocks that is valued at $15 Million.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Does she??? I can’t believe that!!! Holy cow!!! She’s got that much in cash and still owed on them!!!! From 2019:

        Entire Article @ NYP: “Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a student loan payment on Tuesday — and also revealed how much she still owes — while attending a congressional hearing on college debt.

        “I literally made a student loan payment while I was sitting here at this chair, and I looked at my balance, and it was $20,237.16,” said the New York lawmaker. “I just made a payment that took me down to $19,000 so I feel really accomplished right now.”

        Ocasio-Cortez, a Boston University graduate, was attending a House Financial Services Committee hearing on the estimated $1.5 trillion in student debt in the country. Consumer advocates, experts and public figures testified on different ways to bring the number down.

        Ocasio-Cortez is one of nearly 70 members of Congress who are still paying off student loans for themselves or a dependent — with an average debt burden of $37,000. Eight lawmakers are said to have more than $100,000 in debt.

        “I’m hearing people on this committee say it’s not our job,” Ocasio-Cortez said, referring to testimony from Republicans during the hearing. “This is our job.”

        Liked by 1 person

        1. OMG…there was an article about this…the 8 or more dems screaming for college debt relief owe more than A MILLION BUCKS among them…
          conflict of interest much???

          Liked by 1 person

  38. Well, that will be a relief, if it happens – rain coming on Saturday and lower temps, calling for a high of only 86. But then it shoots up to 93, 98, 98, 99……too fricking hot!!!!

    Liked by 1 person

  39. colored wristbands? illegals wearing them

    FTA
    In short, the colored wristbands represent their debt to the cartels which they are forced to pay back, either by working for the cartel if you are a male or being forced into sex slavery if you are female. Cruz says this happens in every city in America.

    Here’s more that Cruz had to say:

    “This is not compassion. This is not humane. This is barbaric. And Joe Biden could stop it.

    We’re a year and a half into the Biden presidency and Joe Biden cannot be bothered to drag his ass down here to the border. Kamala Harris cannot be bothered – she’s supposedly the border czar – to come to the Rio Grande Valley. They can’t even look at the lives they are destroying. This chaos is horrific. It’s wrong.”

    https://therightscoop.com/this-is-barbaric-ted-cruz-reveals-why-illegals-coming-to-the-border-wear-colored-wristbands/

    Liked by 1 person

  43. what a crock of shit…that abortionist in indiana did report the rape–only she listed the rapist as an approximately 17 year old MINOR
    FTA
    The Guatemalan illegal immigrant charged with raping and impregnating an Ohio 10-year-old who traveled to Indiana for an abortion was listed as a minor in the report the Indiana-based abortionist sent to authorities.

    Dr. Caitlin Bernard reported that the alleged rapist was approximately 17-years-old in an official filing to the Indiana Department of Health obtained Thursday by Fox News Digital. On Wednesday, Ohio authorities charged 27-year-old Gerson Fuentes, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, with rape of a minor under 13 years old in the case.

    snip

    In addition, after Fuentes was charged Wednesday, Republican Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita announced he would investigate Bernard for failing to report the abortion, saying “failure to do so constitutes a crime in Indiana.” But the documents obtained Thursday by Fox News Digital show Bernard successfully filed the proper report with the state on July 2.

    “My client, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, took every appropriate and proper action in accordance with the law and both her medical and ethical training as a physician,” Bernard’s lawyer Kathleen DeLaney said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “She followed all relevant policies, procedures and regulations in this case, just as she does every day to provide the best possible care for her patients.”

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ohio-10-year-old-alleged-illegal-immigrant-rapist-27-listed-minor-abortionists-report-state

    Liked by 1 person

  45. Hi Pat …

    Not an unusual “Family Reunion” at all … one member held the annual reunion for my Dad’s branch at her farm until about a five years ago… when she grew too old to host . That’s where O gathered a lot of genealogy info… Dad’s line goes back to 1640’s here in US, an then into Europe (mostly Britain) …

    My maternal aunt’s husband’s family in Charleston held same type annually…

    Enjoyed your Open!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. wow! ours were more spirited, less structured. drinking, singing, and if there was drinking and singing–there’d be dancing..LOL
      great food–erbody catching up with erbody else…
      we didn’t have minutes, presentations, and so on…
      but there weren’t arrests or citations either…lol

      Like

        1. 4 or 5 times as large…LOL
          my mom comes from one of 17 children–and erbody had kids at the time…add in aunts and uncles of my mom’s…wow–we had people–needed a park to have it…

          Like

              2. i did…many have sadly passed–I mean the “babies” of my aunts and uncles are 55 and up…
                sigh…and when we all get together now–we’re still as rowdy and fun–we just call it an afternoon instead of a night…we all need our naps…LOL

                Liked by 1 person

  47. Hi Filly.

    I thought I was being proactive by replacing the entire unit (gas-pak) as there’s such a shortage of parts. but dealer is having a problem finding a unit!

    Appears this will not be resolved quickly … heat pumps are just as scarce!

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Yes … kids are upstairs w/ heat pump, but the hot air from downstairs rises of course and it is really hot upstairs!

        Liked by 2 people

        1. we have a/c but use a ceiling fan int he great room in the early evenings to draw the hotter air downstairs so we can sleep upstairs at night. we still use a small fan.

          Like

  48. interesting differences…copied from tcth

    Jenevive
    July 15, 2022 3:06 pm

    Don’t know the significance,, though I am sure there is one, just watched
    when President Trump arrived in Saudi Arabia they rolled out the
    RED Carpet.. For Biden he get PURPLE.. I am sure the color has
    significance..

    POTUS got red carpet with gold trim.. Biden get boring plain old purple..
    POTUS get welcomed by the king ..Biden get the lackeys..

    Like

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