Etymology, Part 3: Common Sayings

Entertainment, History, Mysteries 5 Minutes

TAKES THE CAKE: The phrase “takes the cake” comes from the cake walks that were popular in the late 19th century. Couples would strut around gracefully and well-attired, and the couple with the best walk would win a cake as a prize. Interestingly, cake walk was soon used to describe something that could be done very easily, and it’s very possible that from there we get the phrase “piece of cake.”

PARTING SHOT: A parting shot, which is a final insult tossed out at the end of a fight when you assume it’s over, was originally a Parthian shot. The Parthians, who lived in an ancient kingdom called Parthia, had a strategy whereby they would pretend to retreat, then their archers would fire shots from horseback. Parthian sounds enough like parting, and, coupled with the fact that not a lot of people knew who the Parthians were, the phrase was changed to parting shot.

DEAD AS A DOORNAIL: One could certainly argue that a doornail was never alive, but when a doornail is dead, it has actually been hammered through a door, with the protruding end hammered and flattened into the door so that it can never come loose or be removed or used again. The phrase “dead as a doornail” has actually been around since the 14th century, about as long as the word doornail has officially been in the English language.

DOWN TO BRASS TACKS: “There are many theories about what “down to brass tacks” means, including that brass tacks is rhyming slang for hard facts. But it’s very likely that the brass tacks being mentioned here are actual brass tacks. Merchants used to keep tacks nailed into their counters to use as guides for measuring things, so to get down to brass tacks would be you were finally done deciding what you wanted and were ready to cut some fabric and do some actual business.

IT’S GREEK TO ME: “The phrase “it’s Greek to me” is often attributed to Shakespeare, but it’s been around since well before his time. An earlier version of the phrase can be found written in Medieval Latin translations, saying “Graecum est; non potest legi,” or “it’s Greek. Cannot be read.”

SMART ALEC: “You may have presumed the Alec in “smart Alec” was just a name that sounded good preceded by the word smart, but that’s not necessarily the case. Professor Gerald Cohen suggested in his book”Studies in Slang” that the original smart Alec was Alexander Hoag, a professional thief who lived and robbed in New York City in the 1840s. Hoag was a very clever criminal who worked with his wife and two other policemen to pickpocket and rob people. He was eventually busted when he decided to stop paying the cops.

HEARD IT THRU THE GRAPEVINE: “The grapevine people hear things through is a grapevine telegraph, which was the nickname given to the means of spreading information during the Civil War as a kind of wink at an actual telegraph. The grapevine telegraph is just a person-to-person exchange of information, and much like when you play a game of telephone, it’s best to presume that the information you receive has gone through a few permutations since it was first shared.

CAT’S OUT OF THE BAG: “Farmers used to stick little suckling pigs in bags to take them to market. But if a farmer was trying to rip somebody off, they would put a cat in the bag instead. So, if the cat got out of the bag, everybody was onto their ruse, which is how we use the phrase today, just not quite so literally. (We hope.)

OUT OF WACK: “Today, “out of whack” means not quite right, but it took a long time to get there. Whack appeared in the 18th century as a word that meant to strike a blow when used as a verb. The noun whack was the blow that was whacked on something. But whack also grew to mean portion or share, especially as loot that was being split by criminals. From there, whack grew to mean an agreement, as in the agreed share of loot, but it also meant in good order. If something was behaving as it was intended to, it was “in fine whack.” Eventually the opposite fell into common usage, and something that wasn’t in good shape was “out of whack.”

KIBOSH: “Evidence of kibosh dates the word to only a few years before Charles Dickens used it in an 1836 sketch, but despite kibosh being relatively young in English its source is elusive. Another hypothesis pointed to Irish caidhp bhais, literally, coif (or cap) of death, explained as headgear a judge put on when pronouncing a death sentence, or as a covering pulled over the face of a corpse when a coffin was closed. Today, “to put the kibosh on something” is to shut it down.

BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE: “Some people think that the phrase “between a rock and a hard place” is a kind of sloppy reference to Odysseus. But in 1921, the phrase became a popular means of describing when miners had to choose between dangerous work for little or no money or definite poverty during the Great Bankers’ Panic of 1907.

GOT UP ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BED: “The generally accepted origin of the phrases “get up on the wrong side of the bed” and wake up on the wrong side of the bed is ancient Rome, where superstition was rampant. Ancient philosophers equated the right side of anything as the positive side, and the left side of anything as the sinister or negative side. The story says that Romans always exited the bed on the right side in order to start the day in contact with positive forces. If one rose on the left side of the bed, he started the day in contact with negative forces.

MAD AS A HATTER: “The expression is linked to the hat-making industry and mercury poisoning. In the 18th and 19th centuries, industrial workers used a toxic substance, mercury nitrate, as part of the process of turning the fur of small animals, such as rabbits, into felt for hats. Workplace safety standards often were lax and prolonged exposure to mercury caused employees to develop a variety of physical and mental ailments, including tremors (dubbed “hatter’s shakes”), speech problems, emotional instability and hallucinations.

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Published by NebraskaFilly

Army veteran (1976-1979), retired with entirely too much time on my hands

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144 thoughts on “Etymology, Part 3: Common Sayings”

    1. Good morning, Pat! Brrrrr…..down to 10 degrees this morning!!! But what traces of snow we got yesterday were gone quickly. It’s still dark so I can’t tell whether it’s cloudy or not. Ooops…..I forgot Carl’s Sunday opens and this is on M’s today, too. She just got 2 opens today!

      Liked by 2 people

  3. Liked by 2 people

  5. Liked by 1 person

  8. long long shot…but I would absolutely LAUGH MY ASS OFF…
    FTA
    National File has exclusively obtained a memorandum being circulated among members of the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) that considers alternatives to Kevin McCarthy after the Republican Party’s much anticipated red wave at the 2022 midterm elections fizzled into a pink trickle, potentially leaving Republicans with a single digit advantage over Pelosi’s Democrats.

    The “Speaker Trump” HFC memo is a bold expression of NO-CONFIDENCE in Kevin McCarthy just days after his disastrous performance at the midterm elections.
    The Trump memorandum sets forth a plan to elect President Donald J. Trump as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
    Importantly, the document clearly articulates the legal and constitutional authority that the House MAY CHOOSE a non-member as House Speaker.
    The memo derides McCarthy for his refusal to move forward with impeachment of Joe Biden.
    The HFC memo sets forth a plan to return the House of Representatives to “regular order.”
    The memo pushes for a commitment from GOP leaders to include the “Motion to Vacate the Chair” in the next rules package.

    The memorandum also addresses the failure of GOP leadership to deliver on five key issues important to the American public during the current congressional session:

    Chinese infiltration into U.S. government, commerce, industry and defense.
    The utter lack of serious investigations into the Nov. 3, 2020 election operation.
    The pervasive infringement of our First Amendment rights to free speech.
    The hesitance to launch a Nuremburg 2.0 style military tribunal to hold those accountable for the millions of deaths during Covid-19 and in the aftermath, with the Pfizer fallout and Moderna Mutilation.
    Congress’s refusal to investigate the truth behind Jan 6 deaths, and the treatment of J-6 political prisoners.

    Addressed to the House GOP Conference, the memo blasts McCarthy for openly stating that he does not plan to impeach Joe Biden during the next congressional session.

    Another main sticking point the memo highlights is the inclusion of the “motion to vacate the chair,” which was recently removed by Nancy Pelosi, after being in place for decades.

    The “motion to vacate” rule formerly served as a check on the Speaker by his conference, in that it required the Speaker to enjoy serving at the pleasure of his conference, given that the motion to remove the Speaker could be brought to the floor by a single member of Congress.

    McCarthy is also being called to the carpet over his apparent unwillingness to commit to returning the House to what is known as “regular order,” which refers to a more ground-up, inclusive legislative process, characterized by a more grassroots approach typical of the “people’s house.”

    In recent years, Republican and Democrat legislative leaders have held the legislative process tightly, refusing to include members who are not in leadership.

    Kevin McCarthy has demonstrated an unwillingness to proceed with the impeachment of President Joe Biden, has refused to stipulate to a return to ‘regular order’, and has shown hesitance to include the Motion to Vacate the Chair in the new Rules Package, in addition to many other failures of leadership.

    https://nationalfile.com/nuke-bombshell-house-freedom-caucus-memo-details-plan-to-elect-donald-trump-speaker-of-the-house/

    Liked by 1 person

  9. “Stanford quietly drops vaccine requirement — Shhhh!!! Do not tell anyone. It sure looks like it isn’t required anymore.”
    Steve Kirsch
    11 hr ago

    “Stanford quietly dropped their vaccination requirements. How did I find out? I just happened to be browsing on their website. There was no announcement as far as I know. Since there is no benefit for community spread, since only 1 in a million kids might die from COVID, and many more reasons, this policy never made any sense.

    I can’t believe they finally dropped it. I didn’t even get a phone call.

    Stanford’s earlier guidance required vaccination. So it’s hard to tell. I’m confused. But it looks like they dropped it.”

    Liked by 2 people

  10. The real State of the Union….!

    Liked by 2 people

    2. Hi, GA! Forgetting my manners again! I see there is confusion at M’s again, thanks to my post. Sunday is just another day for me and, since I wanted my open to post in both places on the same day, I scheduled it w/o paying attention to the day of the week. I checked with M but I think she was on vaca at the time so she probably didn’t realize it was a Sunday, either. Oh, well, M can re-post another day or not, as she chooses.

      Like

  12. H/T Emerald Robinson – EXCERPTS:

    “So it was strange, and a little disconcerting, to see that Laxalt’s opponent got exactly 63% of those remaining 84,000 votes two days later.

    Laxalt’s confidence was gone today — as he realized that Democrats have no problem posting literally unbelievable vote margins in order to win.

    Senate candidate Blake Masters (R-AZ) also seemed to share the view that ultimately he would be victorious in his race against Mark Kelly — because he too believed that the remaining 500,000 votes to be counted there heavily favored him.


    Why would anyone believe such things after living through the 2020 election? Why did the electronic voting machines stop in at least 5 states on Election Day this week? What do they think is really going on?

    It’s almost like they don’t understand how cheating works. Do they think the machines malfunctioned and the vote-counting stopped in Arizona, California, and Nevada by accident or something?

    David Cross already has the receipts for the Warnock-Walker race — just look at the counties and precincts in Georgia breaking 96% and 97% and 98% for Warnock!

    Why do you think Fox News has called the race for Mark Kelly over Blake Masters even though only 85% of the vote has been counted? What’s with the rush now? There’s 400,000 votes left to be counted after all — right?

    Meanwhile, why do you think that nobody has called the race for Lauren Boebert in Colorado — even though 99% of the vote has been counted? That same thing happened a few days ago with Ron Johnson in Wisconsin — he was ahead by 30,000 votes with 99% of the votes already counted and no corporate media outlet would call the race for Johnson.

    It’s almost like you don’t understand how elections work in America now.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. very good opinion piece
    entire thing
    I am amazed at what I am seeing. President Trump goes 174-9 on endorsements and it’s his fault it was a Pink Mist, instead of a Red Wave? Cocaine Mitch is the one who held back the money and support. Was he out campaigning? Nope. Could Mitch ever draw the crowds Trump has? Nope.

    Sorry — that dog will not hunt. In my humble opinion, what you’re now seeing is the establishment hacks, media, and big money globalist hedge fund hooligans like Ken Griffin trying to get rid of Trump and coronate DeSantis, before either has even announced.

    Griffin, the GOP’s $100 million Soros-style donor, has poured a lot of money into DeSantis and the GOP with the expressed goal of “blunting the vein of populism that has complicated the party’s relationship with the corporate world.” In other words, destroy MAGA and get the rubes back in line with the corporate fascists. Sadly, the DeSantis donor list is a who’s who of millionaires and billionaires, who absolutely love Mitt and Jeb and want to go back to offshoring our jobs, gutting the middle class, and losing to Democrats.

    Compare that list to Trump’s. His donors are a majority of grassroots, small-dollar donations from we the people.

    As much as I love DeSantis, the best governor I’ve seen, running for president is an entirely different animal. Or monster, as the case may be. And if you’ve been paying attention, you’ve seen that the monster is already fired up for Ron. Starting with his absence and long silence after the Mar-a-Lago raid and followed by the national ad campaign and the cringy “And God Made a Warrior” ad.

    I feel horrible that he’s decided to be controlled by these anti-American millionaires and billionaires. Taking all that money comes with a political price. That price, small as it is, will be a lost vote from me, in the primaries.

    Regardless how good a governor he is, how can I, in good conscience, vote for a man that is controlled by the people that we’ve been trying to get rid of since 2009?

    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/11/so_trump_lost_the_midterms.html

    Liked by 3 people

        1. Exactly! He owes it to them to serve his full term! The changes he made are too new – they would be tossed promptly were he to quit mid-term and Floridians are so pissed they elect a dem! Buh-bye, secure elections! Not to mention…..well, you know!

          Liked by 1 person

          1. yup the globalists would get florida BACK…I said it yesterday–I think this is why nanzi bought a mansion there…they lure ron away…the dems throw their $$ behind nanzi and she becomes governor

            Liked by 2 people


  14. Entire Article: “When something is so obvious, if the outcome makes no sense, if the outcome is literally impossible, then it is what it is. Forget “proof.” You know it. You saw it. You felt it. You experienced it. It happened. It’s real.

    The 2022 midterm was just stolen. Just like 2020. If you disagree, you’re either delusional, or terribly naïve, or brain dead. Or you’re in on the fix. It’s time to admit we’re all part of a massive experiment in fraud, theft, brainwashing, and gaslighting to a degree never seen in world history.

    Think of all the times in just the past few years you’ve been gaslighted. They lied to you about open borders…they lied about Hillary’s 30,000 deleted emails…they lied about spying on Trump…they lied about Russian Collusion…they lied about a perfectly fine Ukrainian phone call…they lied about massive Biden corruption in Ukraine and China… they lied about the Hunter Biden laptop…they lied about the origins of Covid…they lied about the need for lockdowns and masks…they lied about the need for Covid vaccines…they lied about the vaccines being “safe and effective”…they lied and covered up all the deaths and injuries from the vaccine…they lied about the success of miracle drugs Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin…they lied about the stolen 2020 election…

    You’ve been the victims of nonstop severe gaslighting for a decade now. You’re all part of a human psychology experiment in the limits that government and media can go in propaganda and brainwashing…while you can see they’re lying right in front of your eyes. And these are the exact same people now telling you Democrats just over-performed, and stopped a GOP red landslide, against all odds, without cheating and stealing the midterm election.

    Historically, every president in history facing his first midterm experiences a tough day with automatically 20 to 30 House seats lost…and 4 or more Senate seats lost…but this terribly unpopular President Biden is brain dead with severe dementia, and can’t put 3 coherent sentences together…Yet Biden defied history?

    While also facing the worst economy in modern history…and the worst inflation in America’s history…and out of control crime…and open borders…and failing schools…and polls showing 75% of Americans believe the country is going in the wrong direction…Yet Biden beat all of that? If you believe Democrats made a miracle happen, without cheating, rigging and stealing…I have a bridge to sell you, over the Atlantic Ocean, in the Vegas desert.

    First, every poll in the country showed a gigantic GOP landslide victory- ranging from red wave, to red tsunami. Polls even showed women moved 32 points from September to October in favor of the GOP. But in the end they all moved back to Biden and Democrats? Does that make sense to you?

    Second, every poll in the country showed the top two issues, by a mile, were inflation and the economy. And crime was in second place, along with open borders. And they all voted for Biden and the Democrats? Does that make sense to you?

    CNN’s own exit polls showed the GOP made massive gains among almost every voting group- men, women, white men, white women, blacks, Hispanics, young people. Everyone. And they all voted for Biden and the Democrats? Does that make sense to you?

    In this environment where Americans can’t afford gas…or groceries…or rent…with the economy failing…inflation raging…scared to death of losing their jobs…living in cities plagued by violent crime, mass shoplifting, homeless everywhere, streets lined with poop, pee, drug needles…and failing schools intent on teaching your children to become masked transgenders…In this environment, they all voted for Biden and the Democrats? Does that make sense to you?

    That they looked around at the disaster one man has created in only two years, and they defied a century of historic midterm defeats for the party in power…and voted for Democrats? Folks, you’ve been gaslighted.

    But the real proof the midterm was rigged and stolen is…FLORIDA. In Florida the GOP won a landslide. DeSantis and Rubio and everyone else in the Florida GOP won in a red tsunami. The same one the polls showed was happening in the entire country.

    Guess what Florida has? Florida has strict Voter ID, strict laws against voter fraud, severe prison terms for anyone caught trying to commit voter fraud, no mail-in ballots sent to every voter, no ballot drop boxes, no ballot harvesting, no ballots accepted for days after Election Day, no counting for days until the desired result is achieved by the Democrat Party.

    Isn’t it a funny and strange coincidence that in that state, with all of those strict rules against cheating, the GOP red tsunami happened as predicted? But everywhere else, where there are no strict laws against voter fraud, and they allow all that cheating, the red tsunami fizzled.

    And that under-performance is being blamed on Trump? And on conservative MAGA candidates? Yet in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis is the most Trump-like, MAGA, America First, anti-woke, anti-trannie, in-your-face, ultra conservative politician in all of America. And with that ultra MAGA message, plus strict voting fraud laws…the GOP swept to a landslide victory. And in most other places, they didn’t. Coincidence?

    Folks, we’ve been robbed. Again. This was a repeat of 2020. They’ve fixed, rigged and stolen the election. First, they robbed us of the Presidency. Now they’ve robbed us of a red Republican landslide. And now they’re trying to blame it on Trump. This is gaslighting. And we’ve had our election stolen – again.”

    Liked by 2 people

  15. From WCPO Cincinnatti: [BOX CUTTERS????? SERIOUSLY????]

    CINCINNATI — A man on a Frontier Airlines flight out of CVG on Friday was arrested after it emergency landed in Atlanta when it was discovered he snuck two box cutters onboard, said the airline and TSA. Before diverting to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport around 9:30 p.m. Friday, Flight 1761 was headed to Tampa International Airport in Florida.

    In a statement sent to WFTS, WCPO’s sister station in Tampa, Frontier said that no passengers or crew were reported injured. TSA said that after a search of the suspect and his belongings, agents found a second box cutter in his carry-on. Alisza Dixon, a passenger on the plane, said it was a normal flight until there was a little more than an hour left until Tampa. She said that panic and gossip began among the other passengers.

    Dixon said the passenger with the box cutter was seated four rows behind her. After deplaning, she said another passenger near him told her that he was mumbling to himself that he was going to stab people. Ben Mutz, another passenger on the plane that spoke with ABC News, said he spoke with the person seated in the window spot next to the man after they deplaned. That passenger told Mutz that the man “flashed a box knife at me and said, ‘I want to kill or I want to stab people,'” Mutz told ABC News.

    According to ABC News, eyewitnesses said several passengers — including military veterans and a former law enforcement officer — helped crew members subdue the man. Larry Cumberbatch, a Navy veteran, told ABC News he was seated in the third row when a woman who was initially in the aisle seat next to the man reported seeing “some kind of knife” and was afraid for her safety. Flight attendants then asked those with any military or police background to switch seats with her or go to the back of the plane, and Cumberbatch said he volunteered.

    Cumberbatch said the man went to the bathroom and when he returned, he confronted Cumberbatch in the aisle. Cumberbatch described it as a “showdown.” “People back there, you could literally see they’re afraid,” Cumberbatch told ABC News. “So that’s why I stood there, to give them a calming presence and let this guy know there’s somebody watching, someone who you will have to deal with if you take it to the next level.” Cumberbatch said that a former law enforcement officer calmly talked to the man during the emergency landing.

    After they landed, Dixon said all of the passengers were instructed to leave their belongings and deboard the plane. She said they also had zero idea they were in Atlanta instead of Tampa, and she alongside others figured that out when they checked their phones. “I don’t even know how to describe this,” Dixon said. “We just randomly landed in another state.”

    Cumberbatch and an Army veteran remained on the plane while the former officer escorted the man with the box cutter down the aisle, Cumberbatch said. He also said when police officers arrived, the man with the box cutter “got agitated” and was given a warning before the former officer tackled him.

    “In my mind, he was really the hero right at that moment,” Cumberbatch said. Cumberbatch also said he spoke to FBI agents following police taking the man into custody. Frontier said the other passengers on the flight were given hotel accommodations and all were rebooked on a flight that landed in Tampa on Saturday morning.

    Police nor TSA have released the identity of the passenger. TSA confirmed that blades are prohibited in the cabin, but they are allowed in checked luggage. “TSA takes its role in transportation security very seriously,” said Patricia Mancha, a TSA spokesperson. “The situation with the Frontier flight is under investigation with the US Attorney’s Office, as they are the lead federal agency in this matter.”

    TSA also said it began an internal review by viewing CCTV as well as airport security operations and processes.”

    Liked by 1 person

  16. John Solomon needs to get his head out of his ass and recognize the rampant fraud that is taking place!!!! SMDH

    EXCERPT: “After an underwhelming midterm election, the Republican Party and its enigmatic leader Donald Trump find themselves in a political wilderness, much like Ronald Reagan did after losing the 1976 nomination.

    The Biden Democrats with hiding Kathy Hochul and hobbled John Fetterman seemed as beatable as bumbling Gerald Ford, and yet somehow the Reagan and 2022 GOP teams lost the process even though polling data showed they had won the hearts of the faithful. And the despair of knowing a far left regime (Jimmy Carter and Joe Biden) might rule for another election cycle led many to throw hands up and point fingers.
    ——————
    Like Reagan, the 2022 GOP lost the process in the key battleground states where Democrats once again ran up a massive pre-election advantage with no-excuse absentee early voting, one that could not be overcome by day-of vote in places like Pennsylvania, and Arizona. Pre-election voting is now a fact of life and one Republicans will have to learn to win with.
    ——————-
    So like Reagan, a few dials need to be adjusted on candidate selection and messaging and appeal to independents, women and young voters. But the environment for GOP wins is target rich.”

    https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/gipper-strategy-six-bold-ideas-trump-republicans-rebound-2022-midterms

    Liked by 1 person

  18. “Roger Stones Escapes Death In Memphis, Praises God For Miracle #5 — Stone walked away when his Ford Expedition was t-boned by a truck that he says failed to stop at a red light near Memphis.”

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “Roger Stone gives new meaning to the phrase, ‘the show must go on’ since he barely escaped death just one day after the 2022 midterm elections while traveling to Mike Lindell’s studios in Memphis, Tennesee to record his daily program, The Stone Zone, on the Lindell network.

    Stone walked away when his Ford Expedition was t-boned by a truck that he says failed to stop at a red light near Memphis. Stone was reporting on location in the area to broadcast special election coverage with a group of other pundits when he was nearly killed by a driver who rammed through a red light and smashed into the car Stone was traveling in at the time.

    The good news is he made it to the studio unharmed in time for his regular show. That is really something. “Just five feet and the pickup would’ve hit my door!’ a Grateful Roger Stone told The Daily Mail, adding, “it’s a miracle.”

    Stone talked to National File and said is actually miracle #5 that he survived. “I thank Jesus Christ for his protection! All praise and glory to Him for protecting my life yet again It really is miracle number 5,” Stone told National File, adding: “My daily show can be seen at StoneZONE.live at 5 PM Eastern on FrankSpeech.com.”

    The Ford he was traveling in was totaled based on a video snippet sent to National File:

    The photos were painful to look at:

    and

    The Daily Mail reported on the accident:

    – The GOP operative’s Ford Expedition was struck on the passenger side by a pick-up truck he claims ran a red light

    – Stone was riding in the back of the car on his way to host his daily politics show, The Stone Zone, when the crash happened shortly after 3.30pm

    – His wife, Nydia Stone, shared photos of the car wreckage on social media and confirmed Stone was unharmed. ‘He walked away from it shaken but without a scratch,’ Nydia said in a post.

    – Stone said surviving the crash was one of ‘five miracles’ in his life: ‘Another second and just five feet, and the pickup truck would’ve hit my door’

    Mrs. Stone was not in the car but reported on her Instagram account a few details:

    “The benefits of our prayers are so profound that it protects us and our loved ones. This is the car that my husband, Roger Stone, was a passenger yesterday. He walked away from it shaken but without a scratch,” Nydia Bertran Stone wrote.

    The Daily Mail reported that two bodyguards were in the car with Stone, Donald Trump’s political consultant and confidante, suffering minor cuts from flying glass. But neither they nor Stone was taken to the hospital after they were checked out by ambulance crews dispatched to the scene. The accident occurred shortly after 3:30 p.m. in Germantown, Tenn., a suburb of Memphis.

    Stone said he was lucky the pickup truck hit the Ford on the front of the passenger’s side instead of the back. “Another second and just five feet, and the pickup truck would’ve hit my door,” he said. “It’s a miracle. It’s one of five miracles in my life. The first was when the president (Trump) commuted my sentence; the second was when the president granted me an unconditional pardon at Christmas 2020; the third is that my wife is cancer free 18 months after undergoing treatment for Stage 4 cancer, and the fourth is that I never left my hotel room during the January 6 events,” he said. “This crash was my fifth miracle. I don’t know how many I’ve got left.”

    Liked by 1 person

  19. never heard about this…

    Joe Meek
    November 13, 2022 8:37 am

    Well, well, well. Kari Lake trails in Arizona (MSNBC)

    MSNBC is right. Lake went from front runner favorite to behind 1%. Business as usual. The leading R is slowly reduced to trailing the D as vote counting Communists take days and weeks to fabricate enough fake ballots to make their guy the “winner” and the R the “loser”. And Americans do everything to stop it except try to stop it.

    In 1947 Americans in Athens, TN faced the exact same situation. Democrat “counters” removed the ballot boxes from City Hall to the police station across the street. They locked the doors and commenced “counting”. WWII veterans, who were also on the ballot for local offices, took rifles and carbines, ammunition and dynamite, from the armory. They shot it out with the criminal counters. It ended when they tossed dynamite at the police station. It failed to go through the window and flipped a car instead. That was enough for the Democrat vote thieves. They surrendered.

    When the ballots were all counted in front of the entire town, the GI’s overwhelmingly won all their races.

    America has few if any of brave men like that today. Most have become soft with comforts and distractions. They now fear having their comfortable lives replaced by prison or execution. They’d rather live as subjects in an ever incremental prison-like world, hoping to make it to old age before America becomes totally like China.

    Many will post “Freedom is not free” and “Come and take it”. Few if any will make the sacrifices the Founders made of lost fortunes, lost station in life, prison, dying a pauper. But their sacrifices, their losses, their sufferings, their deaths gave me the right to say what I am; and you the right to say what you say. And us the right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.

    So what about it? Will you sacrifice temporary conveniences and comforts to ensure life, liberty, and happiness for your children, your neighbor, your country? Or will you feed on the crumbs of irregular “vote drops” and false promises “We will win” by candidates who don’t know what a fight to the death is really like?

    “Choose ye this day whom you will serve. If Baal be god, serve him. If God be God, serve Him. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
    Last edited 50 seconds ago by Joe Meek

    Liked by 1 person

    2. Huh….funny how that works….

      “Safety and convenience, that’s how they’ll finally imprison us forever,” Brand said.”

      Because monopolistic tech companies control social media, they already have the power to police speech. As Taibbi put it, “An authoritarian structure already exists, just with different billionaires at the helm.”

      Will Musk’s takeover of Twitter create the change free speech advocates hope for? — Brand asks.”

      https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/elon-musk-acquisition-twitter-takeover/

      Liked by 1 person

  20. EXCERPTS: “From the day Donald Trump became a force to reckon with in the GOP, the D.C establishment has relentlessly worked to ruin Trump politically.
    —
    In 2017, the Democrats concocted and amplified the Trump-Russia collusion hoax that caused the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller.
    —
    When the Trump-Russia collusion hoax failed, they impeached Trump, baselessly claiming that he was soliciting foreign interference in U.S. elections during a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

    When they were not fabricating hoaxes, they engaged in other baseless claims. On some days they claimed Trump was a sinister dictator, on others he was a criminal genius. On all days, they called Trump imbecilic and bigoted.

    All through these scandalous violations and phony charges, the GOP leadership were spectators when they should have been fighters. When the powerful become spectators in response to baseless attacks on any ally, it means they are supporting the attackers.

    For the 2020 presidential elections, big media and big tech suppressed the biggest story of the election cycle regarding Hunter Biden’s shady business dealings enabled by then-Vice President Joe Biden. A poll showed that nearly four of five Americans believe that “truthful” coverage would have changed the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
    —
    Once again, the GOP establishment showed no support for Trump or the mandate of the people. The Democrats branded him and his supporters election deniers for merely asking obvious questions.
    —
    Mitch McConnell conceded defeat in the Senate months before the elections by attacking MAGA candidates.

    The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade — this could have been overturned in January 2023, but instead, it was done in August, a few months before the elections. The Democrats suddenly had an issue upon which they could peddle fear and paranoia. Was this done upon consultation with the GOP establishment?

    Next was the elevation of Ron DeSantis – When Hurricane Ian hit Florida, the media coverage of it was surprisingly less critical than how it usually is when a natural disaster strikes a GOP state.

    It has to be remembered that any hurricane, irrespective of how well it is managed, will leave devastation. There will always be irate and dissatisfied citizens who think the government hasn’t done enough. Yet the Democrat media did[n’t] look for these stories to make headlines out of them. They overall allowed the narrative that DeSantis had managed the hurricane well, and even Joe Biden praised him. There was footage of the two men working together, which many hailed.

    DeSantis’s Democrat opponent, Charlie Crist, supported the hugely unpopular Biden. Crist claimed he would bring mask mandates back to Florida and supported vaccine mandates. Crist favored banning assault weapons and other gun control measures. Crist suspended political ads as Hurricane Ian neared Florida. It almost seemed like Crist was either ordered to lose or was chosen because he was certain to lose.

    Then the results were declared. DeSantis won by nearly 20 points; it was an emphatic victory. ‘Experts’ compared this to Trump’s victory in 2020 by 3.4 points. The implication being that DeSantis has outdone Trump by myriad times. The overlooked the fact that in 2020, Trump received 5.6 million votes in Florida in 2020 while DeSantis received 4.6 million votes in 2022.
    —
    So who is supporting DeSantis? David Frum, Chuck Todd, the WaPo, CNN, Maggie Haberman, Bill Maher, the Never Trumpers, Karl Rove and Piers Morgan are fond of DeSantis. Fox News and the New York Post also have moved on to DeSantis.

    Surprisingly few are blaming the real culprits, the individuals in charge, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy and Ronna McDaniel. It certainly seem very suspicious that Trump is blamed for the losses in an electoral contest where his name wasn’t on the ballot, he held no official post in the party and he has a 95 percent success rate with his endorsements.

    Perhaps this another strategy by the GOP establishment, backed by the D.C establishment, to force Trump out, they have been trying this for seven years. There are two open questions here.

    Did the GOP deliberately allow a lapse in standards in order that some losses would occur which they could use as a reason to force Trump out?

    Did they lose despite trying and are now using this loss to force Trump out?”

    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/11/were_the_midterm_elections_the_establishments_latest_trap_for_trump.html

    Liked by 1 person

  22. this is from wolf’s…great points

    Aubergine
    AubergineOnline
    Coyote
    November 13, 2022 09:12

    Forgive me, but after reading all the Ron DeSantis rah-rah this morning, I gotta rant.

    We all like Ron, no doubt. But what is it exactly that we like about him? I made a short list:

    1) Covid policy – STATE issue

    2) Sending illegals to another state – STATE issue

    3) Taking Disney’s tax breaks away – STATE issue

    4) Handles hurricanes well – STATE issue

    What experience does Ron bring to the table to enable him to represent America on the WORLD stage? Talking to the likes of Putin, Xi, and Little Rocket Man?

    The answer is, NONE, as far as I can tell.

    The reason why Trump is and was so great as President was his international experiences. The President of the United States is meant, Constitutionally, to deal with WORLD affairs, not STATE affairs. And Trump understood that. He delegated state issues to the states.

    We have lost our way in the U.S. Governors of individual states are meant to be the ones handling the “small ball” issues of their own people. The President needs to understand international politics and global economics.

    Trump does. Ron has shown me nothing to make me think he does. He’s a GREAT governor of Florida. But what does he bring to the table to be President?

    Liked by 3 people

  25. Whoa! This is eye-opening, to be sure! And he makes tons of sense!!! W posted this last night.

    EXCERPT: “The Path Forward: Balkanize and Build

    Voting harder isn’t going to cut it. We have to build. The existing system will collapse. It’s not a matter of if, but when. When that happens we need to have Christian infrastructure in place to fill the power vacuum. The Amish have had it right this entire time. Their communities are growing and thriving. They will continue to do well. We must become a form of neoamish, building sovereign communities and families away from Babylon. Technology is okay and a good tool. It’s something we can use to our advantage to communicate, build, and engage in commerce with one another.

    We are the new pilgrims. We must move to deep red states, push them further right, build, and secure a future for our families. Forget politics at the national level. That rigged game is over. Focus on state and local elections, not what is going on in DC.

    Conservatism has failed. It has been trying to conserve a country and a culture that is never coming back and has long been gone. The future of the West depends on those of us who are going to build. Build our own infrastructure, our own families, our own communities, our own parallel economy, and our own strongholds of deep red states. We’ll build a wall around the borders of those states if that’s what it comes to. We need to accept exile from Babylon and get to work.

    Imagine if you took all the energy you wasted focusing on the midterm election circus for the last six months and started a business, learned a new skill, built something with your hands, or grew a ton of food in a garden. Shift your focus and energy to building wealth, sovereignty, and security for your family. Many people on Gab did this and are doing this right now.

    As someone who has been building for six years now, I’m not going to tell you this is easy. I myself got caught up in the midterms despite knowing that the deck was stacked against us. I won’t make that same mistake again.

    Thousands of families are starting and growing businesses in the Parallel Economy on Gab. You can view many of them here. I encourage you to support them and I encourage you to support us on our journey to build a parallel economy and the free speech infrastructure to support and maintain it. You can do so by upgrading to GabPRO, buying merchandise from our shop, or running ads on Gab to grow your business.

    Finally I want to remind you not to despair. Jesus Christ is on the throne. We are His people, the actual Chosen People–of every race, nation, and creed. We have and will continue to overcome the challenges of history in the face of evil and his Kingdom will continue to advance as we disciple all nations.”

    Andrew Torba
    CEO, Gab.com
    Jesus Christ is King of kings

    https://news.gab.com/2022/11/the-path-forward-build-and-balkanize/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. This is really good….

      “Millions of people are waking up to the reality that a small percentage of the population controls 98% of the flow of information and news to the people. This is incredibly important. No other political issue matters more. He who controls the media controls the minds of the masses. It’s that simple.

      Gab community member @PaxChristus made a post that demonstrates this reality well.

      ‘In Russia, where gay propaganda is banned, 70% of people oppose gay marriage and that number has been increasing in recent years. In America, where opposition to LGBT is heavily censored, 70% of people support gay marriage and that number has been increasing in recent years. Democracy is purely about information control.’

      As the top commenter on this post pointed out, German conservative revolutionaries like Oswald Spengler realized this in the early 1900’s.

      ‘Democracy has become a weapon of moneyed interests. It uses the media to create the illusion that there is consent from the governed. The press today is an army with carefully organized weapons, the journalists its officers, the readers its soldiers. The reader neither knows nor is supposed to know the purposes for which he is used and the role he is to play. The notion of democracy is often no different than living under a plutocracy or government by wealthy elites.’ -Oswald Spengler

      Democracy also appears to be when the Godless unmarried whores of Babylon select your leaders so they can continue to slaughter their children. 66% of Democratic voters answered “never ” when asked how often they attend religious services. 68% of unmarried women voted Democrat in this election and broke Democrat by a whopping 37 points.”

      Liked by 1 person

  27. Holy shit! Pat, you should take a few minutes and look at this – in Brazil….this is all so deja vu for me….I was all set to travel to DC, joining up with other patriots from CA eastward, for Operation American Spring in 2014 – finally, I hoped, the American people would sacrifice a little bit to save our Republic. I made arrangements for HB and SIL to take care of my house (I didn’t have Jake then), made arrangements to meet up with others travelling and arrangements with a friend to stay with him. He was also going to let people set up campers in his yard. I had it all planned out – I would take my weapon but leave it in VA at Eric’s when we went to DC, etc., etc. Finally, taking some REAL action! – and then the SHTF with HB and I couldn’t go. It all ended up to be a bust anyway…..and, in retrospect, a pipe dream. That is all being born out now. All this time, I’ve been fighting and fighting and fighting…..it’s so very tiresome!

    [video src="https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/120/241/219/original/4d8c02b9b693fdc3.mp4" /]

    Liked by 1 person

  29. WeThePeople2016
    WeThePeople2016
    November 13, 2022 10:22 am

    Donald J. Trump
    @realDonaldTrump
    ·
    52s
    It’s Mitch McConnell’s fault. Spending money to defeat great Republican candidates instead of backing Blake Masters and others was a big mistake. Giving 4 Trillion Dollars to the Radical Left for the Green New Deal, not Infrastructure, was an even bigger mistake. He blew the Midterms, and everyone despises him and his otherwise lovely wife, Coco Chow!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Gina.IsHere
      November 13, 2022 10:21 am

      Lou Dobbs
      @LouDobbs

      .
      McConnell
      has got to go! Here is the breakdown of money spent in some battleground senate seats: AZ – Masters $9m vs Kelly $73m GA – Walker $32m vs Warnock $76m NV – Laxalt $12m vs Cortes $47m NH – Bolduc $2m vs Hassan $36m

      Like

  30. WeThePeople2016
    WeThePeople2016
    November 13, 2022 10:15 am

    Harmeet K. Dhillon

    @pnjaban
    Lot of armchair scapegoating around. I’m still in the field working for candidates, filing lawsuits where appropriate & working for free as a grassroots volunteer. Once all votes are counted, I’ll share my views on what we need to do to change outcomes. Till then keep fighting!

    By the way if you didn’t help any candidate get elected by making phone calls, walking precincts, writing checks, helping to GOTV; or you confused shitposting with activism, kindly sit down, I’m not interested in your opinion right now.

    Liked by 1 person

  32. I did NOT know this!!!! No wonder DeSanctimonious was able to accomplish so much in FL!!!! Holy cow!

    From para59r: “As you get out and about today, please to remind our DeSantis loving friends that he had a Republican House and Republican Senate, in Florida with both of those being GOPe Free! Like Trump said, a third rate Gov should be able to capitalize on that. Glad he did, but what’s he going to do with divided Congress, many GOPe occupiers and a host of deep state villains hunting him down?”

    Liked by 1 person

  38. I just said something along these lines yesterday but I don’t recall where exactly but – I think it was a comment to you, Pat!

    Aubergine – AubergineOnline – Coyote

    “I just read this article by John Solomon at Just the News, and I had a revelation. This is the last part of what he wrote:

    “Do the unthinkable — form a Trump-DeSantis super ticket.

    No one ever thought Steinbrenner would rehire Billy Martin after a tumultuous firing in the 1970s — but the Yankees boss did and kept winning.

    A Trump-DeSantis ticket seems nearly as outrageous to suggest. But nearly every expert interviewed for this story — including Democrats — suggested it had the chance to create a generational alliance under the America First brand with a decade or more of winning consequences for Republicans.”

    https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/gipper-strategy-six-bold-ideas-trump-republicans-rebound-2022-midterms?utm_source=justthenews.com&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=external-news-aggregators

    The whole article is good, but when I hit this part, I thought “what if all this infighting between Don and Ron is FOR SHOW?

    Can you IMAGINE the splodey heads of liberals all over the place if they showed up together to campaign for Herschel Walker in Georgia? And then have Trump ask Ron to run with him?

    My God, the BOOM would be heard in China.

    Maybe I’m nuts to hope for it, but that would just make my whole year.”

    Liked by 1 person

  39. You know, these people….SMDH – they come across as being so very knowledgeable and wise, yet not ONCE do they mention the voter fraud! Without that, it would be Republicans in charge of fricking EVERYTHING! But they don’t fricking WANT to really govern….they don’t fricking WANT to give up the swag and the cocktail parties and their everlasting costume party pretending to be responsible representatives of the People!!! DAMN IT, I’M PISSED WITH THESE AUTHORS!!!! Not that he’s wrong about the substandard voters but even that wouldn’t really matter in the end without the fraud!

    “If it’s any consolation to the party, this election showed us that the country is so deeply divided that the GOP probably couldn’t have done much better. About half the country cannot be expected to vote rationally under any circumstances. Republicans should give up any illusion of convincing them and focus on delivering for their base.”

    https://amgreatness.com/2022/11/12/third-world-electorate/

    Like

  40. this is disgusting…and I am sooooo sick of this crap!!!!!!!!!!
    entire article

    No matter what the results of the midterm elections are in Arizona, Maricopa County is yet again at the center of controversy, and for a good reason.

    Election judge Michele Swinick has come forward to report what she experienced in Maricopa County on Election Day. She worked Election Day as a judge at the Islamic Voting Center in Scottsdale, AZ. She reports that the center is heavily Republican, with “no party” designated voters as the second most populous demographic, followed by very few democrat voters, evidenced by the fact that she checked in very few of them on Election Day. She reports she spent the entire day checking in voters.

    Swinick says that the tabulators all worked “perfectly” during the test the night before the election. The problem with scanning began immediately with the first ballots. Voters scanned their ballots between 4 and 12 times with very minimal success. Poll workers estimated about 1 in 10 ballots were being read for the first three hours of voting.

    Voters were given options to either spoil their ballots and try again or drop them into a different section called “Door 3.” As per Swinick, their inspector had to empty the ballots from “Door 3” three times throughout the early afternoon because of the volume of ballots. Typically, ballots aren’t supposed to be removed from that box until polls close, but they made an exception because the box was jamming and became too full.

    Swinick reports that the technician came to the center between 3:30 pm and 4:00 pm MT and rebooted the machines. After this, there were no further issues with ballots being run through tabulators. She reported that one of the poll workers told her, “Everything is now going smoothly with the tabulators.”

    Per Swinick’s inspector, an offsite supervisor had advised “Because of the situation” to put all “door 3” ballots that had not been scanned through a tabulator into a separate black bag and to label them “misreads.” As a judge, Michele told UncoverDC that she personally signed the sticker placed over the bag’s zipper, and then these bags were sent to the tabulation center to be counted. Michele informed us that the normal process for a ballot that is “unread” is for poll workers to run the ballots through the tabulators one more time before sending them to the center. As per Swinick, this was not done.

    The County had set up a website to give voters the ability to check that their vote was counted. The problem is Michele has proven that the website isn’t correct and seems to be using a voter’s “check in” as evidence their vote was tabulated rather than the actual tabulation of the vote. Michele offered her first-hand proof of this.

    “My roommate ran his ballot through the tabulators 15 times as one of the 1st voters at the Islamic Center. It did not read the ballot. He was forced to drop it in door #3.

    About an hour after I arrived home at 9 pm MT, my roommate checked the website to see if his vote had been counted. The website reported it was. It is mathematically impossible for his vote to have been counted by then since only an hour before, I left the center, and the ballots had not been taken from the center to the meeting point where the ballots are hand exchanged to another transport team, which takes them to the tabulation center. For his ballot to have been counted, it would have also needed to be sorted and hand-counted by a team at that center and reported into the website —all within that hour.

    In the case of In Person/Day of Voting, this proves the reporting of his ballot being received & counted is actually based on his being checked into the Voting Center and him receiving a ballot to be cast—NOT his ballot being scanned and read through the tabulator or hand counted at the tabulation center.”

    Michele has also been threatened by her supervisor (first name Timothy) for speaking out about what she has witnessed. He called her and said they “have been scouring social media and saw posts (that Michele) would be going on several podcasts to report information about the election.” Michele told UncoverDC that she was questioned about her podcast, what it’s about, and that they accused her of already appearing on other podcasts earlier in the day, even though, at the time, that was untrue. As per Swinick, her supervisor told her, “if I find out you have gone on any podcasts, I will terminate you.”

    UncoverDC asked Michele for her opinion of what was going on, given her experience. She said:

    “In my opinion, the machines were programmed to do this, and it was all planned. The process and narrative, both machines and people. It was brilliantly done. They isolated the ballots to replace or not count them in 223 bags. The hard part for them in 2020 and during the primary was getting the ballots to match their manufactured machine count. This way, they have everything isolated in the bags.”

    Michele will be appearing today at 5 pm ET on the Zelenko Report. You can watch it by clicking this link.

    https://www.uncoverdc.com/2022/11/10/maricopa-county-election-judge-speaks-out/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I read/posted that yesterday, I think. IKR? It just makes you feel so exhausted….when it is soooo fricking blatant and no-one does a damned thing about it! Where are those Constitutional Sheriff’s they were spouting about??!!??

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Watch and see!!! NOT A DAMNED THING WILL HAPPEN!!! Oh, they’ll round up all the lower level junior employees. The young punk who is the face of this will most likely end up safely in Dubai with $1B to throw around! Granted, that’s not a lot of money in Dubai but still….

      Liked by 1 person

  45. i hope he makes it on Monday instead and ruin the left’s chance to spoil it

    WeThePeople2016
    November 13, 2022 11:37 am

    Kash Patel on 45’s big announcement Tuesday:

    “I think you’ll see a pretty resounding announcement on Tuesday that will probably set the mainstream media ablaze & the political universe ablaze, in only the fashion that Donald Trump can do.”

    https://t.me/TheStormHasArrived17/11830

    Liked by 1 person

  49. how’s this for hopium???

    Patience
    November 13, 2022 12:05 pm

    WHAT IF:

    President Trump’s announcement is not (just) that he is officially running for the 2024 election?

    WHAT if:
    President Trumps announces some pertinent information
    ~ with undisputable facts and evidence;
    naming names, dates,,,,,, ~very specific crimes

    and then
    officially announces he’s running for president?
    Last edited 21 minutes ago by Patience
    6

    Like

  50. SunnyFlower5
    November 13, 2022 12:13 pm

    Right On, Lou!
    TRUTH

    Lou Dobbs@loudobbs
    I don’t know anyone who denies elections–obviously we had elections. It’s the Dems who’re the deniers. They deny the elections are crooked. They’re crooked deniers.

    Liked by 1 person

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