We Didn’t Start the Fire

Entertainment 2 Minutes

This song, by Billy Joel, was one of my favorites back then.  The lyrics and explanation of the origins of the song are from the GENIUS website. It reminds me that the world has always been in turmoil.

From GENIUS:

This monster hit of a song was created in 1989, when Joel turned 40. The idea spawned from a conversation he had with a friend of Sean Lennon. The friend just turned 21 and was complaining about how crazy it was to be living in his era, therefore undermining any other time before his. This encouraged Joel to write a song that would prove that any time is filled with extremes.

Starting from 1949 (the year in which he was born), he chronicled the major events that occurred during that time in a rapid fire delivery of names, places, and cultural works.

These are his words on the subject:

I started doing that as a mental exercise. I had turned forty. It was 1989, and I said, “Okay, what’s happened in my life? I wrote down the year 1949… It was kind of a mind game. [It’s] one of the few times I’ve written the lyrics first, which should be obvious to why I usually prefer to write the music first, because the melody is horrendous. It’s like a mosquito droning. It’s one of the worst melodies I’ve ever written. I kind of like the lyric though.

Passage taken from the book, In Their Own Words by Bill DeMain (Chapter 14) where he interviewed Joel about his thoughts on the song.

The song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became a radio mainstay.

We Didn’t Start the Fire

Harry Truman, Doris Day
Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific
Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon
Studebaker, Television
North Korea, South Korea
Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H-Bomb
Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, The King And I,
And The Catcher In The Rye
Eisenhower, Vaccine
England’s got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace
Santayana goodbye

[Chorus]
We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No, we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it

Joseph Stalin, Malenkov
Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella
Communist Bloc
Roy Cohn, Juan Peron
Toscanini, Dacron
Dien Bien Phu Falls, “Rock Around the Clock”
Einstein, James Dean
Brooklyn’s got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan
Elvis Presley, Disneyland
Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace, Peyton Place
Trouble in the Suez

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No, we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it

Little Rock, Pasternak
Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Zhou En-lai
Bridge On The River Kwai
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle
California baseball
Starkweather Homicide
Children of Thalidomide
Buddy Holly, Ben-Hur
Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro
Edsel is a no-go
U-2, Syngman Rhee
Payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho
Belgians in the Congo

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No, we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it

Hemingway, Eichmann
Stranger in a Strange Land
Dylan, Berlin
Bay of Pigs invasion
Lawrence of Arabia
British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn
Liston beats Patterson
Pope Paul, Malcolm X
British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away
What else do I have to say?

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No, we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh
Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock
Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine
Terror on the airline
Ayatollahs in Iran
Russians in Afghanistan
Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride
Heavy metal suicide
Foreign debts, homeless Vets
AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores
China’s under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars
I can’t take it anymore

SOURCE: GENIUS

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Published by pat frederick

Published

119 thoughts on “We Didn’t Start the Fire”

      1. I have several CDs of Billy Joel, but they and my players may have all succumbed to our erratic heat and climate. The CD player in my car still works, but I still have Toby Keith in it now, ever since he died. Even then, I don’t spend enough time in the car now to enjoy listening to music.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. I still have a bunch of cassettes…lol. favorites, ones that have special meaning for me. just couldn’t part with them. I have a cd in my player in the car too…forget what it is…lol

          Liked by 2 people

          1. I have cassettes, too, but had to bargain for a tape player in my car in 2003, because they were being disappeared so fast. Old equipment is hard now to get parts for. I had to give up my father’s film camera awhile back because of that.

            Liked by 1 person

            1. oh wow! a film camera?
              my mom has a movie projector and films from my Dad’s family in the 50’s. we promised her we would set up the screen and watch the movies this summer when we can get a bunch of my cousins to come and see them. that should be a hoot

              Liked by 1 person

  3. Good Morning Miss Pat – Thanks for this post!

    In We Didn’t Start the Fire, Billy Joel casts brilliant clear light upon our culture….it’s a history lesson and a commentary on our political, cultural decline.

    Love Billy Joel’s music. He is a genius, like the Beatles, Peter, Paul and Mary, Simon and Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Johnny Cash, and many other music performers and writers, who had a perceptive philosophical edge that made us think.

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Thanks – we are operating on a wing and a prayer! 2025 will be 40 years since her diagnosis….a long journey and learning experience.

        Liked by 1 person

            1. you remind me so much of my brother in law–in terms of care giving, patience and love. my sister developed MS the year after they were married. the doctor told them to get pregnant as son as they could before it would be impossible to have a child. the disease wasn’t debilitating for a while–she could walk short distances at first. then he carried her. he carried her everywhere. and he helped her in and out of the tub. he even remodeled the kitchen for her (by himself) so she could reach things and continue to cook and so forth.
              when our aunt passed away, she left her van to my sister (she also was in wheelchair) which was a blessing because my BIL was starting to age–and carrying her everywhere was getting hard for him–not that he ever complained one bit.
              he was her rock…just like you seem to be with Sally. never questioning, just always there for whatever is needed. thinking of her first before yourself.
              one of the last times he and i spoke i told him mow much i admired him and he was quite humble (like you) saying he just did whatever he could for her because he loved her so much.

              Liked by 1 person

  4. Had an email from Senator Ron Johnson this morning – I pray he will be Senate Majority Leader under the 47th POTUS Donald Trump and help to undo all the evil that Mitch McConnell perpetrated upon our nation and its citizens.

    Remember – Senator Ron Johnson DID NOT fall for the planned-demic crap – but sponsored the Second Opinion seminar and allowed the Front Line Doctors and others to tell the TRUTH about treatment for the engineered CV19 SARS II virus!!!!

    Sen. Johnson stood with Dr. Malone, Dr. Peter McCullough, Dr. Pierre Kory –

    “Crony Capitalism, Big Pharma and Vaccines” https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/crony-capitalism-big-pharma-and-vaccines

    12/6/21 – Senator Ron Johnson Says Many Americans Died From Covid Because Fauci ‘Sabotaged Early Treatment Using Cheap, Available, Generic Drugs’
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/12/senator-ron-johnson-says-many-americans-died-covid-fauci-sabotaged-early-treatment-using-cheap-available-generic-drugs/

    TIMELINE and Live Links – for Senator Ron Johnson’s forums, roundtables, hearings, interviews, statements, letters, actions on CV19 – https://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/covid

    Senator Johnson worked tirelessly to bring truth, transparency and accountability into the coronavirus situation.

    Liked by 2 people

  5. Morning All
    a chilly 49* this morning!!
    the hummers are at the feeders, but the orioles must be sleeping in! they’re not out there scolding me for not having the feeders out already…lol

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Good morning! I enjoyed Billy Joel’s music but not enough to have any of his CD’s. I have a six-disk CD changer in my truck – I only have 5 in it at the moment – 2 of Garth’s, Lee Greenwood, Josh Groban, and Josh Wilson (Piper and I used to sing together to some of his songs – he is a Christian singer). The Groban CD is all love songs, with one in Italian and one in French. That particular CD included the song that HB and SIL used for their wedding song. I was working at the shoe repair shop one week-end and didn’t think anyone else was there so I had the Groban CD blasting in my player.

      The VP of the company came in unbeknownst to me and came up behind me – scared the crap out of me! The song that was currently playing was the Italian song and, of course, there were only a few words here and there than I could recognize but it was still a gorgeous song – Groban’s voice just sends shivers up my spine! Edwin asked if I knew what language that was – I said yes and he asked if I could understand it. He asked why I listened when I said no – beautiful music/singing can be just as enjoyable w/o knowing the words.

      Liked by 1 person

        1. I can listen to ANYTHING Josh Groban sings!!! That voice is incredible! And no, it wasn’t a CD that I bought – it was HB who bought it and I just borrowed it. During that time, when we all lived in the Blue Ridge, SIL and I used to ride to work together occasionally – he and I would sing together – he actually had a pretty good voice.

          Liked by 1 person

  7. Clandestine

    @WarClandestine

    Methinks De Niro doth protest too much. With all the rats in Hollywood being exposed, De Niro also has some skeletons in his closet he does not want out. Perhaps it has something to do with his connection to the high-end international child prostitution ring, in Paris 1998. De Niro was detained and questioned by French authorities in 1998, after he was found in the “little black book” and list of customers of Jean-Pierre Bourgeois, the leader of an international human/child trafficking operation. De Niro admitted to fornicating with the women Bourgeois introduced him to, but claimed there was no money transactions. “The case involved nearly 90 young women, including 14 minors, and a network that allegedly spread from Paris to the Riviera, and covered Morocco, the United States, Portugal, Switzerland and Britain.” -BBC Meanwhile, Trump passed multiple executive orders and dedicated his presidency to stopping international human sex trafficking operations. This is the reason De Niro hates Trump so much. This is the reason De Niro is so vocal against stopping Trump. Because Trump is trying to expose what De Niro is desperately trying to hide. Here is De Niro two months ago, claiming that if Trump wins he will “come looking for me”.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Mark R. Levin

    @marklevinshow

    HERE’S HOW PRESIDENT TRUMP MIGHT SEEK A DIRECT APPEAL TO THE SUPREME COURT DEPENDING ON THE MANHATTAN JURY’S DECISION I asked my friend of nearly 45-years, Arthur Fergenson, who served as a law clerk to the late chief justice, Warren Burger, and one of the smartest lawyers I know, if he represented President Trump how he might seek a direct appeal to the Supreme Court if necessary. This was his reply: “The US Supreme Court can act by its statutory writs of certiorari to take a case from a lower appellate court, and the Court also has a host of other processes, often called common law writs. I became acquainted with these common law writs (actually authorized as a general matter by the Judiciary Act of 1789: https://law.justia.com/constitution/us/article-3/13-power-to-issue-writs-the-act-of-1789.html ), when IBM sought review of a discovery order by a vindictive federal judge when I was clerking for Chief Justice Warren Burger. A total of six petitions were filed; all were denied, and rarely are any common law writs ever issued by the Supreme Court, but there are, nonetheless, multiple ways to offer the Supreme Court an opportunity to forthwith review a conviction by a rogue court, as would be the case here. “The principle ground I would rely upon is the denial of due process by not informing Donald Trump of the underlying federal crime he was alleged to have committed—the predicate crime that NY law requires to prove the NY crime. That is a kangaroo court: to try someone for a crime that they are not informed of is as serious a breach of due process rights as we can possibly imagine. See, e.g., the Stalin show trials—Darkness at Noon. The timing of the trial and the blatant denial of fundamental rights can only be explained by an effort to interfere with the fair conduct of a presidential election, thereby, in effect, denying the American people the right to a Republican Government.” “The Supreme Court warned that Bush v. Gore not be relied on as a precedent—on the merits. But it can and should be relied upon as the Supreme Court acting to preserve American democracy from an imminent threat. Consistent with that is the refusal of the Supreme Court to grant expedited review to the immunity controversy at the request of federal prosecutor Jack Smith. The NY trial court represents an imminent danger to the fair and untrammeled conduct of a federal election for the most powerful position in America and the world. The Supreme Court has the power to act to protect our democracy. And it should. If a guilty verdict is returned, it should act right away.”

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Lara Logan

    @laralogan

    You do realize that when Chechens are surveilling the home and family of a senior Special Operations officer right next to one of the most significant training bases of the most elite forces this country has…..that the shit has hit the fan. They are here, they are operational & they will not stop. How did they know who he was? And where he lived? They possibly had help from the inside. The snakes have come in from the garden and they are in the house. So much for Memorial Day. Some in uniform are dead men walking already unless we wake up and do something.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Elise Stefanik

    @EliseStefanik

    🚨🚨🚨 I just filed an official misconduct complaint with the New York State Unified Court System related to the “random” assignment of Acting Manhattan Justice Juan Merchan, a Biden donor whose daughter is fundraising millions off his unprecedented work, to criminal cases against President Donald J. Trump, his companies, and his allies. Read my full judicial complaint below.

    Elise Stefanik Post Office Box 500 Glens Falls, New York 12801 (518) 336-5232 May 28, 2024

    Kay-Ann Porter Campbell Inspector General, New York State Unified Court System Office of Court Administration 25 Beaver Street New York, NY 10004

    Members of the Commission, and Madam Inspector General, I am writing to alert you to potential misconduct by Justices and employees of the Supreme Court, Criminal Term, New York County. The potential misconduct pertains to the repeated assignment of Acting Justice Juan Merchan, a Democrat Party donor, to criminal cases related to President Donald J. Trump and his allies. Acting Justice Merchan currently presides over the criminal case against President Trump brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Acting Justice Merchan also presided over the criminal trial against the Trump Organization and will be presiding over the criminal trial of Steve Bannon, a senior advisor in President Trump’s White House and a prominent advocate for President Trump.1

    The website for the Supreme Court, Criminal Term, New York County does not provide a comprehensive list of every justice and acting justice sitting in the courthouse, but based on the courtroom directory there are at least 24 sitting justices on the court.2 Acting Justice Merchan is not even listed among them, one assumes, because of his status as an acting justice.

    Section 200.11(c) of the Uniform Rules for New York State Trial Courts requires that criminal actions be assigned to a judge “pursuant to a method of random selection authorized by the Chief Administrator.” If justices were indeed being randomly assigned in the Criminal Term, the probability of two specific criminal cases being assigned to the same justice is quite low, and the probability of three specific criminal cases being assigned to the same justice is infinitesimally small. And yet, we see Acting Justice Merchan on all three cases.

    This is the same Acting Justice Merchan who, in violation of New York State Code of Judicial Conduct 100.5(h), donated to President Biden’s 2020 campaign, along with the Progressive Turnout Project and its “Stop Republicans” subsidiary.3 It’s also the same Acting Justice whose daughter is a political consultant working for prominent Democrats, whose firm stands to profit greatly if Donald Trump is convicted.4

    One cannot help but suspect that the “random selection” at work in the assignment of Acting Justice Merchan, a Democrat Party donor, to these cases involving prominent Republicans, is in fact not random at all. The simple answer to why Acting Justice Merchan has been assigned to these cases would seem to be that whoever made the assignment intentionally selected Acting Justice Merchan to handle them to increase the chance that Donald Trump, the Trump Organization, and Steven Bannon would ultimately be convicted.

    I request that both the Commission and the Inspector General investigate this anomaly to determine whether the required random selection process was in fact followed in the assignment of these criminal cases to Acting Justice Merchan. If Acting Justice Merchan or any other Justices of the Court are found to have violated these rules, I would hope that the Commission would subject them to the required discipline. And if any non-judicial employees of the Court are involved in such a scheme, I would hope that the Inspector General subject them to the appropriate sanction. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

    Sincerely, Elise M. Stefanik

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Bubby
    Bubby
    May 29, 2024 8:02 am

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/05/newly-unsealed-motion-confirms-someone-trumps-world-attorney

    Just unsealed filing in classified docs case appears to confirm someone in Trump world (perhaps an attorney) agreed to become a cooperating witness for the government. Keep in mind DOJ tried every trick in the book to try to get Nauta to flip, too. pic.twitter.com/TeQUewdWEq

    — Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) May 28, 2024

    FTA “A newly unsealed motion confirms that someone in Trump’s world, likely an attorney, agreed to become a cooperating witness for the US government in Jack Smith’s classified documents case against President Trump. A reference to a cooperation agreement with the government was mentioned in a motion filed by Trump’s co-defendant Walt Nauta.

    According to the motion filed earlier this month, a lawyer for Trump was enlisted to act as an undercover informant/source in Jack Smith’s classified documents case. “The affiants hid information about [redacted] who were acting as political enemies of President Trump, including one attorney who had an attorney-client privilege relationship with President Trump and then proposed to act in an undercover parallel role to [redacted].”

    Hopefully we’ll find out who the weasel was and what they were offered to flip on President Trump! Godspeed President Trump!

    dutchman
    dutchman
    May 29, 2024 8:12 am
    Reply to Bubby

    This revelation coming out of the sealed court filings is far more relevent and important than the much ballyhooed “hit job” authorisation.

    There are very limited exceptions, for piercing Attorney Client priviledge.

    Cannon is going to make Smith regret that she didn’t dismiss at the outset as she exposes the rot of Smiths case, and the MAL raid.

    Liked by 1 person

  15. GGGGGggggrrrrrrrrrrr
    May 29, 2024 8:23 am

    Thousands of North Koreans stole Americans’ identities and took remote-work tech jobs at Fortune 500 companies, DOJ says
    May 16, 2024

    “The Justice Department on Thursday announced the arrests of three people in a complex stolen identity scheme that officials say generates enormous proceeds for the North Korean government, including for its weapons program.

    The scheme involves thousands of North Korean information technology workers who prosecutors say are dispatched by the government to live abroad and who rely on the stolen identities of Americans to obtain remote employment at U.S.-based Fortune 500 companies, jobs that give them access to sensitive corporate data and lucrative paychecks.

    The fraud is a way for heavily sanctioned North Korea, which is cut off from the U.S. financial system, to take advantage of a “toxic brew” of converging factors, including high-tech labor shortage in the U.S. and the proliferation of remote telework, Marshall Miller, the Justice Department’s principal associate deputy attorney general, said in an interview…”

    Archived link (Forbes is subscriber only):

    https://archive.is/5JqzB

    Liked by 1 person

  16. relentless lawfare! if PA says a mail in ballot must have a date and be signed to count it, then that’s the LAW. if you forget to sign it or date it, it doesn’t get counted. you want the privilege of voting? then you follow the law. if you don’t complete the ballot as DIRECTED, it doesn’t get counted.

    like if a cop sees you run a stop sign, you get a ticket. you don’t follow the law, you get penalized. but dems don’t want to follow laws apparently.

    FTA

    A lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania aims to force counties to count thousands of mail-in ballots that have voter-errors.

    The lawsuit challenges a provision in the law that voters, must write the date, on the envelope of their mail-in ballot. https://d-35564955551375513818.ampproject.net/2405160547000/frame.html

    The lawsuit claims that the provision violates the Pennsylvania constitution, and that several courts believe that the “written date” does not help determine if the ballot arrived on time.

    Nearly 8,000 mail-in ballots from last year’s November election were rejected for errors with dates, and signatures.

    “When something buts up against the Constitution, the Constitution wins,” said ACLU attorney Steve Loney. “So here we have a requirement that people have to sign and date. And include a handwritten date that means nothing. Right, everybody agrees that we’re talking about tens of thousands of ballots that were received on time. They complied with every other step in the process. And this one step means nothing”.

    https://phl17.com/phl17-news/lawsuit-filed-to-force-pennsylvania-counties-to-count-incorrectly-dated-mail-ballots/amp/

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Just The News: “The mother of first son Hunter Biden’s daughter is scheduled to release a “tell-all” memoir during the Democratic National Convention in August, where President Joe Biden is expected to receive the party’s nomination.

    Lunden Roberts, a former stripper that had an affair with the younger Biden, is the mother of Hunter Biden’s estranged daughter Navy Joan Roberts. A DNA test has confirmed the relation, and Joe Biden formally acknowledged his seventh grandchild last year, when Navy Roberts was four years old.

    Roberts’ memoir, titled “Out of the Shadows: My Life Inside the Wild World of Hunter Biden,” will be released on Aug. 20, while the DNC convention will take place in Chicago from Aug. 19-22. The book details her relationship with the first son, including their meeting, and is published by Skyhorse Publishing, according to the Daily Wire.

    “Lunden is finally ready to step into the light and tell her story,” a description from Skyhorse Publishing said. “In her brave and honest memoir, she recounts the chaos, the broken trust, and ultimately the incredible love she found mothering and protecting the long-unacknowledged grandchild of the sitting President of the United States.”

    The book will also include dozens of stories about her life with Hunter Biden, including stories about his time as a drug user and her experiences working in a strip club. Hunter Biden claimed in his own memoir that he did not have any memories of Roberts, or any girl he had flings with during his time on crack cocaine. The pair had sexual encounters in 2017, according to the Daily Mail.

    “He was sitting there wearing nothing but parrot boxer briefs, organizing his pipes on his Rosemont Seneca desk,” Roberts wrote of their meeting in the memoir. “I was sitting in Barack Obama’s actual chair from the Senate floor. I took another look at Hunter — this kind, intense, and startlingly transparent man — and thought, ‘this is definitely a guy I want to get to know better.’”

    Hunter Biden and Roberts agreed to a settlement last year in order to care for their daughter, where the first son agreed to give Navy Roberts some of his paintings, and reimburse Roberts for the cost of the child’s health insurance. They also agreed that Navy Roberts will not take the Biden last name.

    “Our son Hunter and Navy’s mother, Lunden, are working together to foster a relationship that is in the best interests of their daughter, preserving her privacy as much as possible going forward,” the president said when recognizing Navy. “This is not a political issue, it’s a family matter… Jill and I only want what is best for all of our grandchildren, including Navy.”

    It is not clear whether Joe Biden has ever met his granddaughter.”

    Liked by 1 person

  19. Just The News: “Federal judges on Tuesday rejected an argument from lawyers for Jan. 6 defendants that their clients cannot get a fair jury trial in Washington, D.C., because of the city’s strong liberal bias. 

    The defendant in the case is former New York City Police Department Officer Thomas Webster, who is charged with five felonies in connection with the Jan.6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capital. His attorneys are seeking a change of venue for the trial based on their bias argument.

    The 3-0 ruling was made by judges for the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. 

    Webster allegedly attended the Stop the Steal rally in full body armor before the riot, then marched to the Capitol where he struck an officer with a flag pole he was carrying and breached a police barricade. Among the charges are assault and use of a dangerous weapon. 

    The decision was made by two former President Donald Trump appointees and an appointee of former President Barack Obama.

    “The political inclinations of a populace writ large say nothing about an individual’s ability to serve impartially in adjudicating the criminal conduct of an individual,” wrote Obama appointee Patricia Millett in the decision joined by Trump appointees Greg Katsas and Neomi Rao.”

    Liked by 1 person

  20. OK, this just pisses me off…..traitor for sure!!!

    Just The News: “Former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis on Tuesday agreed to have her law license in Colorado suspended for three years for her role in the alleged effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

    Ellis agreed to plead guilty to one count of one aiding and abetting false statements and writings in October. The plea deal was agreed to and arranged by prosecutors in Georgia as part of the Georgia 2020 election interference case. 

    A presiding disciplinary judge approved the settlement agreement between Ellis and Colorado’s Attorney Counsel, and said that if Ellis wanted to return to law in the state before the three year punishment was up, she would need to file a petition to reinstate the license.

    “The evidence surrounding her plea reflects that she aided and abetted the false statements at issue through her presence at the Georgia Senate Subcommittee meeting but did not otherwise contribute to drafting or preparing the false statements,” the settlement said. “She has also expressed remorse and has recognized the harm caused by her misconduct … and has taken significant, concrete steps to mitigate the harm her misconduct has caused.”

    The suspension will go into effect on July 2, 2024, and comes after Colorado’s Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel censured Ellis for making “misrepresentations on national television and on Twitter regarding the 2020 presidential election,” in March of last year.

    Ellis apologized last week for her role in the efforts to overturn the results of the election, stating that she would accept the suspension and encourage others who still believe the election was stolen to reconsider their position.

    “I do not do this as a political calculation, out of anger toward my former client, or for any other ways some may try to undermine or discredit my statement here, which is simply this: I am choosing to take responsibility for my actions and my association with the harm caused to this nation by the post-election activities of 2020 on behalf of then-President Donald Trump,” Ellis wrote, according to The Hill. “I was wrong to be involved … and I will continue to stand up for the truth, even when it requires admitting I was wrong.”

    Liked by 1 person

  23. I’m back

    weird thing…there’s a doe that seems to hang around with a hen turkey–see them together all the time at the house. This morning I saw them together on the road. weird

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Sometimes you do see odd partnerships in the wild but they are almost always because of whatever each one brings to the party – perhaps the hen notices things going on before the doe and inadvertently warns her that there is danger or vice versa. It is always mutually beneficial in some way. Maybe the hen eats insects that sting or bite the doe. There is also the rare case of wild animals “meeting” each other when they were very young, when imprinting is still happening.

      Liked by 1 person

  24. gees

    Justice Alito’s Neighbors Erected ‘F*ck Trump’ Signs, Called His Wife a ‘C*nt,’ But Had ‘Good Intent,’ According to Their PBS-Exec Mother.

    The mother of the woman at the center of the so-called “flag controversies” surrounding Justice Samuel Alito has admitted that her daughter and son-in-law harassed Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, but insisted their sustained harassment campaign against the Alitos was done “with good intent.” New details of the alleged campaign against the Supreme Court Justice and wife were revealed in a piece by The New York Times, in which the paper attempts to make excuses for the behavior, which included a male in the household calling Mrs. Alito a “c*nt.”

    “Ms. Baden’s mother, Barbara Baden, a 75-year-old former executive at the Public Broadcasting Service and longtime resident, said she hesitated over the sign at her home because she feared it looked ‘tacky.’ But she left it up because she did not want to interfere with what she saw as the couple’s expression of political concern. ‘They made the signs with good intent,’ she said.”

    Those signs in question read “Bye Don” and “Fuck Trump.” Other signs the couple erected — following the January 6 riots — included ones reading “Trump Is a Fascist” and “You Are Complicit.” They also personally protested outside of the home of the Supreme Court justice following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, holding signs reading “Abort SCOTUS,” “Alito was @ Jan 6,” and “Fascist Alito.”

    After this months-long harassment campaign, Mrs. Alito finally broke. Per the Times: “Mrs. Alito addressed the pair by name, used an expletive and called them ‘fascists,’ the couple told The Times and said in texts at the time.” Astonishingly, and despite having personally tormented the Alitos for months, Ms. Baden suddenly felt attacked. “She does not remember her precise words, but recalls something like this: How dare you behave this way. You’ve been harassing us, over signs. You represent the highest court in the land. Shame on you.”
    FLY THE FLAGS.

    The Times reported Justice Alito‘s statement that the upside-down flag “was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”

    Clearly, Mrs. Alito flew an upside-down American flag, not because it is “a symbol of the ‘Stop the Steal’ campaign,” as the Times would have its readers believe, but because it’s a widely recognized symbol of “in distress,” originating with the U.S. Navy. Also originating in U.S. Naval tradition is the Revolutionary-War-era Pine Tree Flag, also flown by the Alitos. The Times claims that this flag is “associated with the Jan. 6 riot, as well as with a Christian nationalist movement,” but as The National Pulse recently reported, that is not accurate.

    https://thenationalpulse.com/2024/05/29/justice-alitos-neighbors-erected-fck-trump-signs-called-his-wife-a-cnt-but-had-good-intent-according-to-their-pbs-exec-mother/

    Liked by 1 person

  25. Liked by 1 person

  30. Jonathan Turley

    @JonathanTurley

    3h• 16 tweets • 4 min read •

    Read on X

    I am back in the courtroom for the instructions.

    …This judge has stated that he wants to stay close to the standard instructions. The problem is that this case is anything but standard. We will be looking for some of the outstanding issues, particularly on the standard of proof for key elements like “unlawful means.” …

    …Yesterday was chilling as the judge allowed the prosecutors to engage in what some of us view as highly improper arguments. That included effectively testifying on facts not in the record. Merchan’s view of “argument” was considerably broader for the prosecution than the defense. For the prosecutors making objections, the strike zone seemed like it stretched from dugout to dugout. For the defense, it seemed the size of a postage stamp…

    …Judge Merchan is now instructing the jury…

    …He has ruled that the jury will not be given copies of the instructions but can ask for them to be read to them again.

    …Judge Merchan is giving the standard instruction that they can reach inferences based on facts such as inferring that it rained from seeing people in raincoats. It is a rather quaint instruction after Merchan allowed the prosecutors to state as a “fact” that federal election violations occurred in this case. There is no such violation in this case, but Merchan did nothing to correct the erroneous impression. To carry forward the analogy, Steinglass was just yelling at the jury that there was a virtual hurricane on a perfectly sunny day but the judge remained entirely silent.

    ……Merchan is telling them that they can only consider Cohen’s plea to a federal election violation was only allowed to judge his credibility and offer “context.” That is mere meek after the prosecutors said repeatedly that such violations were committed as an indisputable fact and that Trump ordered them to be committed…

    ……Judge Merchan just said that if they find that any witness has testified with regard to any material fact, they can disregard the entirety of his or her testimony. It could be called the Michael Cohen charge. It seems clear to some of us that Cohen clearly lied about the key call that he cited for telling Trump about the completion of the Daniels deal and his ridiculous claim that he secretly taped Trump for his own benefit…

    ……Merchan also instructed that they may consider the interests of the witness in the outcome of the case. One of the least convincing parts of the closing argument of the prosecution was the claim that Michael Cohen was attacking Trump and selling merchandise to feed his family. Steinglass portrayed Cohen as struggling in his luxury multimillion dollar condo while making millions. It was a far cry from pushing a food cart down Broadway to support his family…

    …Merchan instructed that Cohen is an accomplice and, as such, there is a special concern over such testimony particularly when there are benefits for testimony. There must be corroborating evidence. In other words, you may not convict the defendant solely on the basis of the testimony of Cohen.

    …Merchan has instructed that the first count of falsifying business records in the first degree must show that Trump made or causes a false entry to be made. Intent means conscious or purpose to defraud. Intent does not require an intent to defraud any particular person or entry but a general intent to defraud.

    …Merchan just delivered the coup de grace instruction. He said that there is no need to agree on what occurred. They can disagree on what the crime was among the three choices.  Thus, this means that they could split 4-4-4 and he will still treat them as unanimous…

    …Merchan just noted that, if the money would have been paid regardless of the campaign, it is not a contribution.

    …After the federal election violation, Merchan says that the second crime is falsifying other documents. This creates a redundancy with the NY election violation on the falsifying documents. It allows the government to allege the falsification of documents as a felony and then allows such falsification to be also the unlawful means for certain documents. The third is the violation of tax laws.

    …So a dead misdemeanor for falsifying business records was zapped back into life by alleging that under NY election law 17-152 it was done to influence the election by the unlawful means of falsification of business records. It is so circular as to produce vertigo. So the jury finds some documents were falsified to use the unlawful means of falsifying other documents. That is only one of three possible crimes and the jury does not have to agree on which was the basis for their conviction.

    …The absence of a witness on media practices is becoming more and more significant. Such a witness could have discussed how stories are often killed or planted by campaigns in light of the press exception for common practices by the media. Instead, the prosecutor was allowed to state as a fact what the common practices of the media are in a campaign.

    Liked by 1 person

  33. Just The News: “Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday told congressional Democrats that he will not comply with their request for him recuse himself from cases related to Donald Trump, amid a flag flying controversy. Alito informed the members in a letter sent to both chambers.

    Flying a U.S. flag upside down is considered by some opposition to the outcome of the 2020 presidential election that Trump lost. Such a flag was reportedly flown on one such occasions.

    In the letter, Alito said he had nothing to do with the flying of the flags, and that nothing about the incidents merited recusal under the high court’s code of conduct, according to CBS News.

    He also said  neither he nor his wife knew of the meanings that are now being ascribed to the flags. “My wife and I own our Virginia home jointly,” Alito wrote. “She therefore has the legal right to use the property as she sees fit, and there were no additional steps that I could have taken to have the flag taken down more promptly.”

    Democrats had seized on news reports that an upside-down U.S. flag had flown outside the Alitos’ northern Virginia home and a separate “Appeal to Heaven” flag had flown outside a family vacation home.

    They argued the incidents create an appearance of impropriety that require Alito recuse himself from any matters related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot or the 2020 election.”

    Liked by 1 person

  34. “Tedros Must Face Reality” By Dr. David Bell

    ROBERT W MALONE MD, MS, MAY 29, 2024

    EXCERPT: “It would be easier to ignore the World Health Assembly’s (WHA) deliberations in Geneva this week, but the opening address of the Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, deserves a response. Both the WHO and its director are completely divorcing themselves from reality, illustrating how dangerous and unfit for purpose the WHO has become. There is clearly no way that any vote should proceed on anything of importance that the WHO may be required to implement in the coming week of WHA deliberations.

    Tedros’s emphasis was on pandemics, and the faltering agreements intended to address their risk, the new Pandemic Agreement, and amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR). While these are watered down and the Pandemic Agreement may not even get to a vote, his continued justification for centering greater coordination and power at the WHO speaks volumes about the problem we face.

    The Covid-19 period has resulted, as Tedros notes in his address, in up to 20 million additional deaths. WHO-supported policies achieved this, for a virus whose mortality mostly occurred in chronically sick people over 75 years of age. The WHO notes that a little over 7 million are directly attributable to the virus. Many of these other 13 million occurred in low- and middle-income countries, in populations where less than 1% of people are over 75 years old and half are under twenty, such as those of sub-Saharan Africa.

    This is a staggering, appalling, incompetent, and entirely predictable achievement. However, it is going to get much worse. The policies the WHO promoted closed supply lines, shut down the workplaces of tens of millions of day laborers, stopped travel and tourism income on which millions of low-income people rely, closed markets, and pushed over hundreds of millions into severe poverty. They increased the indebtedness of nations globally, with direct effects on child mortality and the ability to grow future economies…..”

    https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/tedros-must-face-reality

    Liked by 1 person

  46. “On May 28th, a band of green light crossed the Milky Way over rural Paonia, Colorado. This was no northern lights but a sky/space phenomenon called airglow:”

    “Airglow appears on dark nights when oxygen atoms (O) and oxygen molecules (O2) bump together in Earth’s upper atmosphere. Collisions between the two species create green photons. This happens every night, but usually the glow is too dim to see with the naked eye. Solar activity boosts airglow by heating the upper atmosphere. Warmer air causes more collisions and, thus, more green light to emerge. May 2024 has been the most active month on the sun in decades. This means *now* is the time to look for airglow…”

    Aaron Watson on May 28, 2024 @ Paonia, Colorado; https://www.facebook.com/SkiesAlivePhotography

    Liked by 1 person

  47. Oh, my! Yummy! Sauté some ‘shrooms to eat with the steak!

    ‘I understand one of Mack’s chief engineers carved this out of wood one evening, presented it to the company, and the rest is history.”

    Liked by 1 person

  50. Vernal Falls, Yosemite

    Silver cross, part of the Galloway Hoard, a Viking age treasure hoard uncovered near Balmaghie, Scotland, dated circa 900 AD

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