Etymology of Words and Phrases, Part 4:

Corruption, Entertainment, History, Humor 6 Minutes

No country has a closer association with the language of Olde Englande than the USA. From the days of the first Puritan settlers to recent cross-Atlantic tweetings, the two countries have shared in the development of English.

Many words and phrases used in the USA have retained their Elizabethan English meanings and pronunciations that have long disappeared in England itself. There are many American phrases which are used in the USA but haven’t been adopted anywhere else. Example of this are:

BLUE PLATE SPECIAL: Webster’s Dictionary defines ‘blue plate’ as a restaurant dinner plate divided into compartments for serving several kinds of food as a single order and a main course (as of meat and vegetable) served as a single menu item.

One early citation of the phrase is in this advert for the Young Women’s Christian Association, printed in the Illinois newspaper The Decatur Daily Review, September 1924. However, it is believed that the term blue plate special first appeared on menus of the Fred Harvey chain of restaurants in 1892. These were located at stations along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. The blue plate special was designed to allow passengers to grab a quick bite to eat when the train stopped.

LEAD-PIPE CINCH: The ‘cinch’ that this expression derives from is the Spanish/Mexican word for a horse’s saddle-girth – cincha. The word is recorded in English, as ‘synch’ and later ‘cinch’ in various Canadian and US sources from the 1860s onward. From the 1880s the use was extended into a verb form and things which were tightly secured were said to be ‘cinched’ – for example, this piece from The Manitoba Daily Free Press, December 1882: “The next movement was to throw the bull, and then cinch a lasso and rope tightly around his body.”

The word cinch was also used in the USA as the name of sturdy fixing brackets, which were secure and unlikely to come loose.

The figurative use of cinch, meaning to tie-up or make certain, in non-animal contexts began around the same time. The usage was often in contexts where the rich and powerful used their status to form monopolies or indulge in insider trading in order to cheat the general public. An example of this comes from the Illinois newspaper The Morning Review, December 1889: “The briber and bribed would sit down to a game of poker and a lead-pipe cinch was nothing to the sure thing the legislators had.”

The common usage of ‘cinch’ now, that is, to mean ‘easy’ rather than ‘secure’, comes from this ‘easy money’ association. In October of 1891, The Daily Morning Republican, listed a number of ‘cinch’ superlatives to describe a punter’s certainty that his horse Firenzo would win the next day:

“The track will be heavy tomorrow, and I’ve got a copper riveted, lead pipe, copyrighted, air tight cinch. Firenzo in the mud – she swims in it.”

EIGHTY-SIXED: The term is American and originated in the restaurant trade. Both meanings loosely refer to something that was previously okay becoming not okay. The earliest known example of the expression in print is found in the journal of the American Dialect Society -American Speech, 1936: “Eighty-six, item on the menu not on hand.”

The actual origin is uncertain but is often suggested to be one of these: (1) Chumley’s Bar and restaurant at 86 Bedford Street in Greenwich Village NYC; (2) a reference to article 86 of the New York state liquor code which defines when bar patrons should be refused service; and (3) from Delmonico’s Restaurant in New York City. Item number 86 on their menu, their house steak, was often unavailable during the restaurant’s early years.

PRESTO CHANGO: Presto chango is a variant of the earlier exclamation ‘hey presto,’ which is used primarily in the USA. Before either expression was coined, conjurers and other stage performers simply said ‘presto!’ to draw attention to the culmination of a trick.

Presto is an Italian word meaning ‘quickly’ and it was used in England with that sense from the 13th century. “Hey Presto” began being used in England in the 18th century. The English writer Henry Fielding used it in 1732 in his farce The Lottery.

We go forward to the 19th century and ‘presto chango’ began being used in the USA. It took various spellings – ‘presto change’, ‘presto changeo’ and ‘presto chango’. ‘Presto! change’ is recorded in England in 1824 and it soon migrated to the USA and became ‘presto chango.’ One early US example can be found at the Pensacola Gazette & West Florida Advertiser April, 1824: “A tailor cannot drop his bodkin, a brick mason his trowel, or a grocer his cent per cent on coffee and candles; and become my Lord Coke or Hale by a presto change” Another was in the Ohio newspaper The Huron Reflector, February 1844: “Hey! presto! chango! as the juggler says – Kitty Grimes was not to be married to James Duncan after all.” Although ‘presto change’ was first used in the UK, the ‘presto chango‘ form can be said to be American – in fact, few people outside the USA would know what it meant.

Considering the debacle of an election we just experienced, I thought the following words were appropriate!!!!

CHEAT: Under medieval law a title to real estate could lapse in many ways. Property affected by such a lapse was called an “escheat” and became forfeit to the king. These cases were so numerous that some rulers employed escheators to look after their interests. Usually working on a commission basis, these fellows seized property at every opportunity. If they didn’t violate laws, they certainly trifled with justice. Because of the questionable practices of these royal agents, it became customary to call any dishonest person a cheat.”

Cheater Leader in the House

CON MAN: Hard times following the Civil War forced criminals to resort to all sorts of tricks to gain relatively small amounts of money. One of the most common was the sale of fraudulent mining stock. Investors were reluctant to advance funds without examining property, so swindlers adopted the practice of asking a victim to make a small deposit “just as a gesture of confidence.” The full amount was to be paid only after a trip to the West on the part of the purchaser.

Con-Man in the Senate

A swindler would take the money advanced and decamp. This type of trick became known as the “confidence game” because it worked only if the victim had confidence in the proposal. Anyone who practiced confidence games came to be called a con man. This title was applied to many types of swindlers and is now used to describe a shrewd thief who finds suckers [voters] by means of the Internet or e-mail.

FEET OF CLAY: Nebuchadnezzar II was the Babylonian king who captured Jerusalem in 587 BD, destroyed the city, and took the Hebrew people into captivity, ending the Judean kingdom. The book of Daniel tells how the young Hebrew captive explained one of the king’s strange dreams. Nebuchadnezzar had seen a giant image with a golden head, silver arms and breast, brass thighs, and iron legs. Every part was metal except the feet, which were compounded partly of iron and partly of potter’s clay.

Daniel said that his feet made the metal figure vulnerable, meaning that Babylon would be broken into pieces. Impressed by this dramatic story, English readers of the Bible seized upon the weak spot of the strange figure as a symbol of weakness in general. Today, any noted person with a vulnerable point is still said to have feet of clay.

Feet of Clay Crenshaw

KANGAROO COURT: When the English explorer Capt. James Cook returned from Australia in 1771, he was branded a liar. People disbelieved his reports of a strange animal that hopped about on two legs and stood as high as a man, which he reported the natives called a “kangaroo.” Many who heard his accounts doubted their truth and there was great joking about kangaroos.

When a few specimens were brought to Europe, they created a sensation. Anything marvelous or unusual was likely to be termed “kangaroo.” For example, an 1835 issue of the Gentleman’s Magazine described an eccentric horseman as holding his reins with “kangaroo attitude.” Settlers in the New World used the word to stand for any type of irregular gathering. During Reconstruction following the Civil War, a “kangaroo convention” held in Virginia made national headlines.

Criminals who adopted the odd word applied it to a “court” held by inmates of prisons. In such a proceeding, old-timers charged newcomers with such offenses as breaking into jail or being lousy and trying to scratch. Influenced by the prominence of irregular political gatherings, any extra-legal sham hearing came to be known as a kangaroo court.

SMARMY: “Smarmy,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary, dates back to 1909 as an adjectival form of the word “smarm” or “smalm” which had been around for 100 years. Originally just a verb for smoothing, especially of hair, its meaning gradually moved to include the implication of a real smoothie. If you describe someone as smarmy, you dislike them because they are unpleasantly polite and flattering, usually because they want you to like them or to do something for them.

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Published by NebraskaFilly

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

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189 thoughts on “Etymology of Words and Phrases, Part 4:”

  4. Also posted at Marica’s…

    Fascinating open – Miss Filly! I learned a lot!

    Love word studies! When the left started redefining words, I bought a big OLD table model Oxford Dictionary. It is so big it is a table model – you wouldn’t want to tote it from room to room. I also bought an old Oxford Dictionary of Etymology. I’d love to get a big older Thesaurus too.

    When I was in school and went to the university library a lot, I loved to peruse the multi-volume Unabridged Oxford Dictionary (UOD). Wish I could afford or had the room for one of those old discarded sets. If the liberal Oxford people, like the Merriam-Webster folks, have revised the newer versions to be ‘inclusive’ – then the online version of the UOD is likely to be tainted with their propaganda definitions.

    We need to hold on to the real meanings of words and hold our ground against the puerile propaganda propounders and cancel culture cretins.

    Especially love how you wove in the Kangaroo Court and Smarmy with a current day illustration.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Oh, wouldn’t that be fun to have one of those? I watched an episode of Mysteries of the Unknown last night that explored the very FIRST English dictionary way back when – 1800’s, I think. I may do an open about it. Really interesting! Super happy you enjoyed it! I have more in the pipeline.

      Liked by 2 people

  5. Good Morning, QTreepers, Maricans, Crow’s Nesters, Pat’s Crafters!

    I’m posting this to all the blogs where I hang to people I love.

    Back in May 2021, I posted a method I use for comfort and peace…
    – when I can’t sleep,
    – am overwhelmed, overwrought, hurt, sad, angry
    – when things get rough, jobs seem too tough
    – when relationships go wrong
    – when problems get magnified and seem bigger than I can handle
    – when I need peace
    – need to repent, return,
    – need to get mind, heart, inner settings reconciled, realigned and refocused, recalibrated to GOD.

    The method is to say my ABCs – !

    I have listed alphabetically the Bible’s descriptions, attributes,and names of GOD and JESUS our LORD in a little book that I can carry when I travel, when I stay with my disabled daughter, when she is in the hospital, when I’m have a long waiting time in the ER or a doctor’s office, etc.

    When I recite them in my mind or say them out loud….it settles and calms my soul, heart and mind.

    Highlander asked me to post the whole alphabet, but I never got around to it.

    So – since it’s Advent Season – I’ll post them one by one until Christmas – as a kind of ALPHABET ADVENT CALENDAR – in gratitude to all of you, whom I have come to know and love through your great research and comments and our years of coping together with leftist and RINOs, corruption in our government, the pandemic atrocities and crimes against humanity, and ongoing election fraud.

    Be warned, while most of the ABCs come directly from Scripture, when I got to X, Y and Z – I had to get creative, inventive, personal and though they are, hopefully, Biblically aligned, they may not be directly from Scripture.

    Some of my ABCs came from the book, – The Wonderful Names of our Wonderful Lord, which lists 365 names of God from Genesis to Revelation in the Bible.
    The book is still available on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Wonderful-Names-Our-Lord/dp/1620291517) and probably used from Abebooks and other sources.

    Someday, I hope to put the Bible verse notations to all of the ABCs.

    PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD TO THE LIST other Biblical Names for our LORD in your comments – and also please feel free to challenge any of them as far as Scriptural integrity is concerned. I’ll welcome both. Also feel free to share with grandchildren and others – it’s yours to do with as you need.

    So – Here goes !

    ALPHABET ADVENT CALENDAR

    A – Adonai, Almighty, Alpha, Ancient of Days, Advocate, Able, Avenger, Abba, Authority, Anointed, All-knowing, All-powerful, All-seeing, Author and Finisher of our Faith, Abiding, All in All, Apostle, Altogether Lovely, Anchor for our souls.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Liked by 2 people

  17. tcth

    Citizen817
    Citizen817
    November 29, 2022 12:21 am

    @realDonaldTrump

    22h
    Massive numbers of “BROKEN” voting machines in Republican Districts on Election Day. Mechanics sent in to “FIX” them made them worse. Kari had to be taken to a Democrat area, which was working perfectly, to vote. Her opponent ran the Election. This is yet another criminal voting operation – SO OBVIOUS. Kari Lake should be installed Governor of Arizona. This is almost as bad as the 2020 Presidential Election, which the Unselect Committee refuses to touch because they know it was Fraudulent!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. a reply to that comment

      nimrodman
      nimrodman
      November 29, 2022 2:58 am
      Reply to Citizen817

      One article I read – authored by an election judge – said that technicians arrived at one location to fix the machins BETWEEN 3 AND 4 pm

      Problem: Arizona polling centers open at 6am

      That’s 9 or 10 hours that voters couldn’t vote

      No one waited around that long

      Many didn’t vote

      Some were told to go to other polling stations (which is illegal)

      Many ballots were tossed in the “folder #3” bags — some mixed in with already-voted ballots, making it difficult to impossible to separate and count them later

      Liked by 1 person

  18. EXCERPT: “Dr. Francis Boyle tells Mike Adams: WHO Pandemic Treaty is a totalitarian, medical and scientific dictatorship”
    Monday, November 28, 2022 by: Kevin Hughes

    “For international law professor and author Dr. Francis Boyle, the World Health Organization (WHO) Pandemic Treaty is a totalitarian, medical and scientific dictatorship.

    “It literally is a totalitarian, medical, scientific dictatorship for the entire world that will be set up under the auspices of the WHO which is really a front organization for the American CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), Bill Gates, the drug industry, Big Pharma, the biological weapons industry and the Chinese Communist government,” Boyle told host Mike Adams during a recent episode of the “Health Ranger Report.”

    Boyle, the draft author of the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, pointed out that Dr. Anthony Fauci and his cohorts have tried to do an end run around the United States Constitution. Boyle warned that the passage of the WHO Pandemic Treaty will make it the supreme law of the land under Article Six of the U.S. Constitution, and it will be binding in America. If that happens, all state and local health authorities will have to take orders from the WHO through the CDC.

    According to Boyle, WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus and his friends from Big Pharma will be the ones determining the people’s personal health care.”

    https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-11-28-who-pandemic-treaty-totalitarian-medical-scientific-dictatorship.html

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Considering that Merrick Garland doesn’t know the meaning of the word “impartial,” to him? Yeah, Smith will be THEIR version of “impartial!” Which has no connection to the real meaning of the word….

      Liked by 1 person

  20. Issue: November 28, 2022
    “Tax filing services caught sending data to Facebook — Whether people have a Facebook account or not.”
    By Ken Macon
    Posted 3:36 pm

    ENTIRE ARTICLE @ ReclaimTheNet: “Major tax filing services have been found using a simple piece of code called Meta Pixel, which covertly sends sensitive financial information to Facebook, according to The Markup. The tax filing services include TaxSlayer, TaxAct, and H&R Block.

    The information sent to Facebook includes name, email, income, college scholarship information, filing status, and refund amounts. Facebook then uses the information to “improve its advertising algorithms.” The information is sent whether or not someone has a Facebook account.

    According to The Markup, TaxAct asks for personal information to calculate a taxpayer’s returns. The information includes a taxpayer’s income and their investments. Meta’s Pixel code on the TaxAct website sends some of that information, including filing status, refunds, and gross income, to Facebook. The pixel code also sends dependents’ names in an obfuscated form, which, according to The Markup, can be reversed to reveal the true identity. TaxAct also sends anonymized taxpayers’ data to Google, through the analytics tool.

    TaxSlayer, which completed the returns of 10 million taxpayers in 2021, sent Facebook taxpayers’ names and the names of dependents. Facebook uses that data for its “advanced matching” system that’s designed to link internet users’ information to Facebook accounts. The pixel code on H&R Block’s website collects information on a taxpayer’s expense, usage of health savings accounts, and dependents’ college tuition grants.

    Speaking to The Markup, tax filing service Ramsey Solutions said that it “implemented the Meta Pixel to deliver a more personalized customer experience,” but they “did NOT know and were never notified that personal tax information was being collected by Facebook from the Pixel.”

    “As soon as we found out, we immediately informed TaxSlayer to deactivate the Pixel from Ramsey SmartTax.” TurboTax, owned by Intuit, uses Meta Pixel. However, it did not send personal financial information, only names and the last time a device logged in. That’s because it does not use Meta Pixel past the sign in page.”

    Liked by 1 person

  22. Citizen817
    Citizen817
    November 29, 2022 12:23 am

    @realDonaldTrump

    8h
    This fully weaponized monster, Jack Smith, shouldn’t be let anywhere near the political persecution of “President Donald J. Trump.” I did nothing wrong on January 6th, and nothing wrong with the Democrats’ fix on the Document Hoax, that is, unless the six previous Presidents did something wrong also….

    …When will you invade Bill and Hillary’s home in search of the 33,000 emails she deleted AFTER receiving a subpoena from the U.S. Congress? When will you invade the other Presidents’ homes in search of documents, which are voluminous, which they took with them, but not nearly so openly and transparently as I did?

    Liked by 1 person

  24. This comment does not apply to ALL cops, clearly, but these days, with what I see in the news and the shows I watch on ID, IMO the majority have turned into absolute cowards these days!!!! Not to mention FAR too fat to chase a perp any day of the week!!!! They need to bring back the strength and ability standards of old! Yes, yes, I know – the media will pile on and the lunatic crowd – but enough is enough! For me, being a policeman is no different that enlisting in the military – you pledge your life. If you can’t do that willingly, then don’t sign up for it! Period!

    EXCERPT: “A proposed policy that will be presented to the Board of Supervisors this week would allow the San Francisco police to use robots to kill suspects. The policy covers how the police are allowed to use military-style weapons. It has been scrutinized by the three members of the Board of Supervisors Rules Committee.

    Aaron Peskin, the chairman of the rules committee, made an effort to limit the police’s use of robots by including the statement: “Robots shall not be used as a Use of Force against any person.”

    The department, which drafted the proposed policy, rejected Peskin’s suggestion. It was replaced with: “Robots will only be used as a deadly force option when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers are imminent and outweigh any other force option available to SFPD.”

    “The original policy they submitted was actually silent on whether robots could deploy lethal force,” Peskin said. He explained that he approved the proposed policy because the police argued that “there could be scenarios where deployment of lethal force was the only option.”

    https://reclaimthenet.org/san-francisco-police-want-killer-robots/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. nope…the laziness factor is rising!!
      I see it with my kids. we had a discussion about smart tvs–my son wants one he can just say…turn on and it goes on. I looked him square in the face and asked–how LAZY do you have to be to not just click the dang remote? he said what’s the difference? I said you are abdicating your body to a machine… sure it’s not much–but finding the remote and clicking uses calories–and every calorie you burn is GOOD–it’s what your body was meant to do! Be active!
      then I lectured him about his video game playing. When he was in college, he played paintball with his dorm friends. now he plays war on the screen.
      he’s role playing INSTEAD of living…sigh

      Liked by 1 person

      1. It’s really depressing to see, Pat – living in the real world is hard, whereas living thru a screen – well, you know…..oh, and yes, shall we look at who’s talking here? Me, who chooses to live my entire life on-line…..well, dang it, I put in my years in real life – I earned it!!! LOL

        Liked by 1 person

        1. it is his recreation time…I get that. he works different shifts–a month of days, then a month of nights–it’s screwing with his body rhythm and he’s gaining weight. then he does a lot of wood working and creating so the game playing is how he relaxes. but he relies on “smart” things everywhere–scares me he does not see the darker side of that

          Liked by 1 person

  25. “CNN Blames Pets for Climate Change, Demands Owners Feed Them Insects”
    BY BEN BARTEE 12:55 PM ON NOVEMBER 27, 2022
    Entire Article @ PJMedia: “The corporate technocracy has man’s best friend in its crosshairs, fingering pets as the latest villains in the climate change narrative — more useless eaters that Schwab and Co. at the World Economic Forum can target for eventual destruction.

    In the meantime, until their ultimate depopulation objective is feasible, the corporate media will simply humiliate and demoralize them, as they do their human owners, with ritual shaming campaigns.

    Via the liberal sadists at CNN: “Researchers have showed that pets play a significant role in the climate crisis… Their meat-heavy diet is the biggest contributor to their carbon pawprints, which requires an abundance of energy, land and water to produce. And the production of pet food emits huge amounts of planet-warming gases.”

    How dare mammals, human or nonhuman, breathe air and eat their natural diets! Doing basic stuff to survive is what domestic terrorists do. Responsible pet owners should trade in their best friend for a turtle for the planet. “Snakes, turtles and reptiles can have a really low impact,” CNN suggests.

    Your kitty kat and pooch, CNN explains, are going to have to eat bugs just like you, assuming you’re allowed to keep them at all in the future: “Insect-based pet foods can be nutritionally complete and are starting to come onto the market around the world,” Frimberger said. “They can also be a solution for some pets that have food allergies to traditional protein sources.”

    Over the past several years, we’ve seen a trend of militant vegans attempting to force-feed their cats (who are biologically hardwired to eat meat and only meat) kale salads, with disastrous results. Via news.com.au: “Vegans are again being warned not to feed their pets cruel and “dangerous” plant-based diets, with vets warning they could cause chronic illness, blindness and even death.

    While dogs, like humans, are omnivores and could “in theory” survive on a plant-based diet, cats are “obligate carnivores, which means they are dependent on a meat diet and cannot be healthy or survive without it”, said RSPCA scientific officer Dr Sarah Zito.”

    Dogs also thrive on meat. They’ll hoover up almost anything with calories in it like concentration camp inmates, but that doesn’t mean pasta and lentil beans are their ideal diet. And optimal canine nutrition is certainly not insects or whatever soy-based abomination is in the Bill Gates-recommended Frankenstein Impossible Burger™.

    If the technocrats get their way, Gates and the other industrialists perverting and monopolizing the food supply will make lots of money, and scores of helpless pets will die in the wake. But hey, if you wanna make a green revolution omelet, you gotta break some Impossible™ eggs.

    Anyway, why should the peasants be allowed pet companionship in the looming dystopia as a way to cope with the soul-sucking hopelessness and alienation? That’s what “ineffective and potentially harmful” psychiatric antidepressants are for, silly.

    Swallow your pills, choke down your soy, starve your cat, and shut your mouth, peasant.”

    Liked by 1 person

          1. Oh, I know. Watching Yukon Vet last night – it’s ridiculous the lengths these people go to when it is really cruel to keep their pet hanging on while they suffer. That is the difference between human beings and animals – it is up to US to make those correct decisions.

            Liked by 1 person

  27. –@Ye says dinner with @realDonaldTrump was scheduled before “death con” tweet, postponed after midterms
    –@Ye says Milo reached out to him after the tweet
    -Milo says he brought Fuentes into the conversation
    –@Ye confirms Trump had no idea who Fuentes is

    — Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) November 29, 2022

    Liked by 1 person

  34. “In 23 Words, Elon Musk Defines the Battle of Our Lifetimes — Twitter is known for allowing brevity, but Elon Musk didn’t even need all 280-characters to make an important point.”
    JD Rucker
    25 min ago
    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “It is not hyperbole to state the loss of free speech in America would be the end of society as we know it. It’s the linchpin that keeps tyranny from engulfing the world. If it is removed, all of the wheels come flying off.

    Elon Musk has been fighting to maintain digital free speech since before he purchased Twitter. Even those of us who are concerned about his other interests such as transhumanism and artificial intelligence must admit that his free speech fight is worthwhile. While the vast majority of billionaires are busy spreading globalism, increasing their riches, or both, Musk seems uniquely poised to take on our enemies with his financial power.

    His latest declaration on Twitter is spot on and encapsulates the importance of free speech in America in 23 words:

    This is a battle for the future of civilization. If free speech is lost even in America, tyranny is all that lies ahead. Free speech is more than just an avenue of expression. It allows accountability that isn’t unique to the United States. This is why the Chinese Communist Party and other entities desperately police speech and do whatever they can to subvert it as a freedom in the United States. It’s also why their proxies among American leftists are so adamant to oppose Musk in his quest.

    As biologist Colin Wright noted on Twitter:

    The massive immune response we are seeing from Left-wing media and Big Tech to @elonmusk’s commitment to free speech on Twitter should frighten you. It has revealed their rabid obsession for complete narrative control. This is a battle they cannot be allowed to win.

    Like Musk, Wright is 100% correct. Suppressing legal speech is tantamount to quashing the foundation of all rights. No freedoms can be protected if speech is filtered through ideological lenses that only benefit tyrants. This is why opponents of free speech are the world’s most dangerous villains.”

    Liked by 1 person

  36. Wow! On Fox: Severe storm threat – hail, wind, tornadoes – for pretty much the entire SE!!! Jackson, Greensville, Tuscaloosa “significant threat.” From Atlanta on the east, to Texarkana and Shreveport!

    Liked by 1 person

  46. sliding down…round 2 of baking Christmas cookies done. kitchen cleaned up! I made buttons (also called thumbprints). they look somewhat like this picture–only my nuts are chopped finer and I only make apricot.

    i made nut tassies. the picture below does not resemble mine at all…first I use a flower cookie cutter so mine have scalloped edges and my walnuts are crushed fine and stay delicate looking…

    and then I made another half a recipe of kiffles because my mom told me she’s looking forward to lekvar (prune butter) ones and I didn’t make any in the first go round…SIGH

    Liked by 1 person

            1. Oh, not every one! LOL – um, the apricot ones look especially delish, and I do love walnuts, especially ground fine like you do…..mmmm….any cherry? Maybe if you sent them frozen…..? With bubble wrap? Let me know and I’ll cover expenses any day of the week!!!😁😁😁😁

              Liked by 1 person

  47. Destashjan
    Destashjan
    November 29, 2022 11:49 am

    President Biden’s rented Secret Service vehicles burst into flames in a parking lot Monday, just one day after he left his Nantucket vacation.

    Footage shows firefighters spraying down the smoldering remains of one vehicle’s engine block. The five vehicles included a Chevy Suburban, Ford Explorer, Infiniti QX80, Ford Expedition, and a Jeep Gladiator.

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bidens-secret-service-rental-vehicles-burst-flames-left-nantucket-vacation
    0
    Reply
    SunnyFlower5
    SunnyFlower5
    November 29, 2022 11:56 am
    Reply to Destashjan

    DNA and evidence destroyed.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. When I did a search to see if I could find out if they are EV’s, this obscure site had this comment but with no evidence – pretty much everything else just mirrors the Fox article, where it isn’t even discussed:

      “A day after they left them at the airport. Something like that sounds like an electric car and with the love Biden has for the earth, you would have thought they would be electric cars but no they were big gas guzzlers.”

      https://texags.com/forums/16/topics/3346061

      Liked by 1 person

  49. EXCERPT: “A senior European official, who remained anonymous, said to Politico that the Biden regime is using the Ukraine war to enrich American defense contractors while ignoring European requests for economic aid in this sensitive economic moment.

    “The fact is, if you look at it soberly, the country that is most profiting from this war is the U.S. because they are selling more gas and at higher prices, and because they are selling more weapons,” the European official proclaimed.

    The official picked up on this growing rift between Europe and the US, which is largely being driven by the Biden regime’s uncompromising “win in Ukraine at all costs” stance.

    “We are really at a historic juncture,” the senior EU official declared. “America needs to realize that public opinion is shifting in many EU countries.”

    Indeed, the Russo-Ukrainian conflict has a cynical geopolitical dimension to it. Russia has largely viewed Ukraine, especially its eastern regions, as part of its civilization sphere. Moreover, detaching Ukraine from Russia would deal a major economic and security blow to Russia.”

    https://bigleaguepolitics.com/eu-accuses-washington-of-making-a-fortune-from-ukraine-war/

    Liked by 1 person

  50. OMG! This is just awful! I’m not posting the Tweets – you can decide if you want to watch the videos.

    “Public Anger Heightens In China After ‘Zero-Covid’ Policy Traps And Kills At Least 10 Instead Burning Apartment Building”
    Bo Banks | Nov 28, 2022

    EXCERPT: “China’s potential leader for life, Xi Jinping, is facing a wave of public anger over his “zero-COVID” strategy. Surfaced video footage shows CCP forces welding apartment exits shut during lockdowns. Trapping desperate Chinese families inside.
    —————-
    Public anger is at its highest in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region, after a faulty power strip in a bedroom on the 15th floor of an apartment building caught fire. Firefighters attempted to put out the fire, but because people were locked inside the building thanks to China’s draconian Covid measures, at least 10 died.
    —————-
    From The New York Times: “[The Xinjiang region] has unleashed the most defiant eruption of public anger against the ruling Communist Party in years. In cities across China this weekend, thousands gathered with candles and flowers to mourn the fire’s victims. On campuses, students staged vigils, many holding up pieces of blank white paper in mute protest. In Shanghai, some residents even called for the Communist Party and its leader, Xi Jinping, to step down, a rare and bold challenge.”

    These calls for Jinping to step down and the end of the CCP are monumental because they could be deemed sedition, which is punishable by prison. CCP critics outside China casted blame for these needless deaths onto Jinping too. While blasting Westerners like Dr. Anthony Fauci who has made comments in the past claiming the country’s Covid policy should be seen as a “model” for the rest of the world.

    These critics, like angered Chinese protests, criticized the country’s restrictions as neither scientific nor effective. Despite these horrendous videos now circulating the internet, some woke journalists in the West are still defending China’s policies.”

    https://bigleaguepolitics.com/public-anger-heightens-in-china-after-zero-covid-policy-traps-and-kills-at-least-10-instead-burning-building/

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