Dirt Cheap

Entertainment 2 Minutes

I love this song by Cody Johnson.  It details a farmer telling a couple of developers that they don’t have enough cash to buy his land. 

Dirt Cheap

They came in thinkin’ top dollar
To that old cotton crop farmer
They knocked on his screen door and he said
“Lord, what you need, boys?” And they said
“You know all the others went and cashed out
We got the subdivision all mapped out
It’ll sit right here on this land
And you can leave town a rich man”
And he said, “Boys, whatever you’re offerin’, it won’t be enough

‘Cause I got a little girl that used to swing right there
I still see her pink bow in her brown hair
She’s in the big city, but she still calls home
What’s she gonna do if she comes back and we’re gone?
And over there, under that white oak tree
Beneath the cross is where my best buddy’s buried
Lasted thirteen huntin’ season runnin’ strong
Keep your money ’cause a man can’t leave his dog
And over there is where I got down on one knee
You can’t buy that kind of dirt cheap”

One man smiled and he kinda looked away
The other said, “Before we go, I gotta know one thing
Between the droughts and the floods through all the years
What in the world got you through?
How the hell’d you get here?” And he said

“That little girl that used to swing right there
I still see her pink bow in her brown hair
Runnin’ up after one of them long days
A big smile makin’ every little worry fade
And over there, under that white oak tree
Beneath the cross, where my best buddy’s buried
All them huntin’ seasons freezin’ in a jon boat
Me and him, double-barrel and a two-stroke
And that woman that said ‘yes’ when I got down on one knee
Yeah, you can’t buy that kind of dirt cheap

No, it ain’t somethin’ you fall into
It’s somethin’ God gives you
And you hold on to

Just like that little girl who used to swing right there
I still see her pink bow in her brown hair
She’s in the big city now, but she still calls home
She’s comin’ back next week and, man, it’s been too long
And over there, under that white oak tree
Beside the cross, where my best buddy’s buried
Lays a puppy posted up in the shade
That woman never could turn away a stray
I guess that’s why she said ‘yes’ when I got down on one knee
Oh, long as all this is here, why the hell would I ever leave?
You can’t buy that kind of dirt cheap”

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Published by pat frederick

Published

84 thoughts on “Dirt Cheap”

  4. JD Rucker
    @JDRucker
    There is far bigger significance than most people realize to Tom Homan saying the Trump administration will investigate other nations involved in the border invasion.

    What he’s unofficially announcing is that the Trump administration is going to try to expose and take down the Globalist Elite Cabal. The powers behind the border invasion are the entities — nations, NGOs, oligarchs, and technocrats — that are actively trying to diminish America’s place in the world so they can usher in their vision of 10 regional powers controlled by a one world government.

    Taking on Open Borders is taking on the Globalist Elite Cabal. I’m down with that.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Harrison

    Harrison

    November 30, 2024 2:44 am

    On the federal side of things – besides the vast sums wasted on illegal aliens and on set piece FeMa camps and foreign escapades, there’s also insane spending at a time when what meager resources remain in the US should instead be marshalled to help those so desperately in need in the Helene damaged areas where temperatures in the teens are arriving and daily highs in the mid 30s.

    I know people are still homeless, jobless, and living in tents in Western North Carolina, wondering where all the money is that has been tax/raised, but they need not fret any longer.

    The government, as part of the National Science Foundation, is set to spend $77.8 million dollars, and bring in five major universities, to study what causes flash flooding.

    Yes you read that correctly, and try to keep your shirt on, but that age old question that’s been plaguing Appalachians for centuries is about to be answered. As far back as I can recall I’ve heard old timers theorize on what could possibly happen to cause rivers in a tight valley to rise quickly, but no one could ever convince us.

    You would think the answer would be easy to find, as if it would just fall out of the sky and hit you in the face, but it’s more complex than that, and we need to spend millions to get our conclusion.

    Unfortunately for Western North Carolina they won’t be getting any part of that $77.8 million, but in four to five years they’ll finally know what caused the flooding that devastated their communities, and that piece of mind is more valuable than surviving a cold winter in the mountains.

    Here is the link to the article:https://t.co/7BljnP8EZz

    — The Appalachian Podcast (@GetOnTap) November 29, 2024

    Liked by 1 person

  8. “Peanut the Squirrel’s owner is suing New York for taking the life of Peanut and his pet raccoon Fred

    I STAND WITH PEANUT AND FRED🧡

    SUE THEM INTO OBLIVION”

    EXCERPT: “…Now the couple wants accountability for those who oversaw this ridiculous operation—and they’re planning to sue:

    Mark Longo and his wife, Daniela, have filed a Notice of Claims against multiple local and state agencies. Not only do they say it’s a case of animal rights violations, but humans too. In the document, the Claimants state that several of their state and federal constitutional rights were violated on the day the animals were seized from their home.

    Among other claimed violations, Longo says he and his wife were not granted due process throughout the last several months in regard to having Peanut and Fred.

    After the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) came to the Longo residence in October, Mark claims he and Daniela’s house in Pine City was torn apart, their companion animals were killed, and they were treated unfairly by state officials.

    The animals were seized and euthanized on October 30 to test for rabies. Those tests came back negative for both animals.

     Was this little guy harming anyone? Was he a threat to Democracy? No….”

    https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2024/11/29/pnut-the-squirrel-must-be-avenged-couple-takes-action-against-government-overreach-n2182620

    Liked by 1 person

  9. NF: One of my all-time fav movies – I will definitely NOT be watching this one!!!

    “How ‘Gladiator II’ Rejected Masculinity”

    The Federalist, By: Mikale Olson, November 29, 2024

    “In ‘Gladiator,’ Maximus embodied masculinity in the highest order. In ‘Gladiator II,’ masculinity is treated like a bad joke. But now, nearly 25 years later, Ridley Scott is back, and “Gladiator II” just stumbled into theaters like a half-drunk tribute act trying to sing a song they barely remember. Except this time, the answer to Maximus’ iconic question is a resounding no. 

    “Gladiator II” isn’t just a bad sequel. It’s a butchered, modernized reimagining, sacrificing everything that made the first movie great on the altar of Hollywood’s woke checklist. 

    A Masterpiece of Grit and Glory

    The first “Gladiator” was lightning in a bottle. From the opening battle in Germania to Maximus’ final stand in the Colosseum, it was raw, unapologetic, and entirely masculine. It wasn’t perfect, but it didn’t need to be, featuring themes that struck deep: loyalty, sacrifice, manhood, and the power of honor.

    Maximus Decimus Meridius wasn’t just a gladiator — he was a soldier who fought for Rome, a father avenging his family, and a man standing against corruption. His journey was brutal, but it was deeply human. Who can forget his haunting line, “What we do in life echoes in eternity?” 

    The original “Gladiator” showed us men at their best and worst. Maximus’ strength wasn’t just in his sword — it was in his resolve, his integrity, his mission. And Commodus? He was the perfect foil. Cowardly, effeminate, insecure, and consumed by a lust for power. He showed us what happens when masculinity turns on itself. The original “Gladiator” didn’t just celebrate masculinity — it warned against its rejection. 

    Then Came ‘Gladiator II’ 

    From the opening moments, in modern Hollywood fashion, “Gladiator II” makes it clear it wants nothing to do with the legacy of the original. The first live-action scene? Our new protagonist — Lucius — being scolded by his wife for not being “gentle enough.” 

    You read that right. “Gentle enough.”

    This is the man who’s supposed to carry the torch lit by Maximus, the man who defied an emperor and inspired an empire? Instead of a general roaring, “At my signal, unleash hell,” we get a guy apologizing to his wife — who’s also a soldier, and a better one than Lucius (because, of course) — for being slightly too aggressive while plowing the fields. 

    Masculinity? What’s That?

    Maximus embodied masculinity in the highest order. Even his enemies respected him for it. In “Gladiator II,” however, masculinity is treated like a bad joke. Pedro Pascal’s character, General Acacius, is ashamed of winning a battle — because effeminate Hollywood has decided that strength and victory are “problematic.” 

    Even Lucius’ revenge arc is a pale imitation of Maximus’. In the original, Maximus was betrayed by Commodus, who ordered his family’s execution. Every step of his journey — every swing of his sword — was fueled by love and justice.

    In the sequel, Lucius is avenging his wife, who died in battle. She didn’t die at home, defenseless. She wasn’t a victim. No, she died on the battlefield because Lucius inexplicably thought it was a good idea to bring her into combat. Her death isn’t tragic — it’s absurd, and it’s Lucius’ fault.  

    Sand, Blood, and … Dirt?

    One of the most memorable things about the original “Gladiator” was its gritty realism, akin to the famous “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. The battles felt chaotic and brutal, with swords clanging and blood splattering in a way that made you feel the stakes. It wasn’t clean. It wasn’t polished. It was war. 

    In this pathetic sequel, however, the battles are so overproduced and CGI-heavy that they lose all impact (looking at you, Marvel). At one point, a soldier is impaled by a charging rhino, and the resulting explosion of blood looks like something out of a cartoon. Immersion? Dead. To make things worse, CGI super monkeys enter this Ridley Scott spin-off. I found it hard not to audibly laugh in the middle of the theater (I lied — I laughed).  

    And how does Lucius earn the love of the Colosseum crowd? Does he win a duel or defeat a champion? Nope. He throws dirt at a rhino. That’s it. And the crowd goes wild. Compare that to Maximus, who earned the title of “General of the Felix Legions” and the respect of Rome through his brave leadership. Lucius — he’s the dirt guy who let his own wife die in battle.  

    How are we, the audience, supposed to empathize with a man like that?  

    The Heart of the Problem

    The biggest failure of “Gladiator II” is that it has no soul — no objective moral backbone. It’s not just the lack of stakes or the over-reliance on CGI; it’s the fact that it doesn’t stand for anything. 

    The original “Gladiator” was about justice, loyalty, and sacrifice. Maximus didn’t fight for power or revenge — he fought for something greater than himself. He fought for Rome, for his family, for the ideals he believed in. In “Gladiator II,” Lucius fights because … well … the plot says so.

    There’s no depth to his character, no purpose to his journey, no moral fortitude in his mission. He’s a hollow shell, and the movie reflects that. This film is a cautionary tale of what happens when Hollywood trades grit, character, and authenticity for leftist political messaging.  

    My advice? Skip this one. Rewatch the original. Let Maximus remind you of what it means to fight for something worth dying for. And the next time Hollywood asks, “Are you not entertained?” you’ll know the answer. 

    No, we’re not.” 

    Liked by 1 person

  10. EXCERPT: “I recently built a coffee table. This was my first foray into woodworking, so the table is far from perfect — with slight asymmetries and an uneven finish. A level would tell me it misses the mark of an IKEA table’s engineered flatness. But if you’ve ever built something with your hands as a hobbyist, you would know my reaction looking at this table in satisfactory triumph — “Who cares?”

    Unfortunately, when it comes to trying your hand at repairing your personal property, certain manufacturers do care, and they’re getting in the way of consumers and hobbyists who just want to get their own electronics, appliances, and vehicles up and running again. This assault on our property rights and agency is at the core of the national push for legislation that secures the “Right to Repair” our personal property and explains why a half dozen states have already codified such a law.

    There are innumerable legal and philosophical arguments that support the right to repair, which the Texas Public Policy Foundation addresses in a recent research paper. But I want to return to the coffee table illustration for a moment and pull on the thread of tinkering.

    In simple terms, tinkering is the playful relative of engineering. This is where children learn firsthand how things work — what tools can do and the properties of different materials. Tinkering usually starts small with LEGO bricks, but in the case of almost every successful inventor and builder — people like Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, etc. — it quickly graduates into taking tech apart and putting it back together, deconstructing a car engine, and other engineering-like activities.

    The problem is that many large corporations simply don’t want us to tinker.

    Your iPhone? You void the warranty the second you crack it open instead of bringing it to the Genius Bar. A John Deere tractor you want to repair with your grandson? You can’t — John Deere requires that customers bring it into the shop on grounds of copyright law. Your dishwasher? Chances are it’s made by one of 86 percent of appliance companies that do not provide service manuals to customers as they do not recommend self-service (which is code for forcing you to work with one of their partnered technicians they get a kickback from)….”

    https://thefederalist.com/2024/11/28/how-corporations-rob-americans-of-the-joys-of-fixing-their-own-property/

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Just The News: “The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday announced the recall of SunFed cucumbers that were distributed in 26 states and parts of Canada, citing potential salmonella contamination.

    The recall affects all sizes of whole, fresh American cucumbers from SunFed, an Arizona produce company, that were sold from Oct. 12 to Nov. 26. None of their other produce was impacted.

    The possibly contaminated cucumbers were packaged in bulk cardboard containers marked with the SunFed label, or in white boxes or black crates that had a sticker of the supplier, the company said.

    “As soon as we learned of this issue, we immediately acted to protect consumers,” SunFed President Craig Slate said in a statement. “We are working closely with authorities and the implicated ranch to determine the possible cause.”

    No incidents of salmonella related to the recall have been reported so far, but salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems, according to NBC News.

    The states affected by the recall are: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

    The items were also sold to stores in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Calgary, Ontario and Saskatchewan. But people from other provinces and states could also be impacted by the recall if they obtained the cucumbers through food service or retail outlets.

    Consumers are encouraged to check whether their cucumbers were purchased through SunFed during the recall dates.”

    Liked by 1 person

  12. “Just How Sweeping Is MAGA’s Mandate? MAGA represents a complete rejection of modern liberalism and a call for its institutional eradication, root and branch.”

    Paul Ingrassia, Nov 30, 2024

    EXCERPT: “On November 5th, the American people gave Donald Trump one of the most resounding and consequential political mandates in generations. By the popular vote count, he won more in total than any – legitimate – presidential candidate in history, eclipsing by 3 million his own record-breaking 74 million votes from 2020.

    On the electoral college side, Donald Trump amassed more of such votes than any Republican president since George H.W. Bush, nearly forty years ago, who at that point was just one election removed from Ronald Reagan’s 49-state landslide and rode the momentum of his predecessor.

    By 2024’s standards, Donald Trump’s 2024 victory – both in terms of electoral and popular vote – was a landslide. Not only were the sheer numbers unexpectedly staggering – 312 electoral votes plus 77 million popular votes. But the context in which this victory came: multiple assassination attempts, countless phony charges and indictments, and a barrage of fake news hit jobs, makes the victory, in a word, miraculous.

    Every single noteworthy institution, political and cultural, from Hollywood to the mainstream press to the Academy, was aligned against Donald Trump unlike any candidate in American history. It is clear, especially in the aftermath of the election, why precisely they were so aligned against Donald Trump: he and his movement represented the old American nation, the remaining vestiges of the one still beholden to constitutional government and self-rule.

    The countermovement, embodied by Kamala Harris, was the ideology of globalism, open-borders, and institutionalized Marxism made flesh. It represented everything that was opposed to what America long stood for: from its focus on wasteful overseas wars while ignoring the mounting problems at home (an affront to a longstanding and venerable policy of non-interventionism whose origins lay in George Washington’s Farewell Address), to its ravenously godless attacks on morality, biological sex, and the way technology can be manipulated to control and tyrannize a collective people. Thus, there was much at stake this election cycle.

    The only outstanding question really was how much of the old America still remained – how much did the American people recognize their ancestral duties to throw off the shackles of tyranny at the moment of greatest urgency. Blessedly, Americans, though late at the arrival, did indeed rise to the task.

    For the first time in a generation, Republicans (at least nominally) have control of both chambers of Congress, plus the presidency, plus the Supreme Court – with an historic popular mandate to boot to help realize their agenda. That this popular mandate was almost certainty diminished by fraud and corruption, the result of Democratic Party machinery in big cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York, that actively work each election cycle to erode the Republicans’ due share of the overall vote through unlawful vote grabbing and illegal ballot dumps, only serves to underscore just how significant the mandate was.

    Donald Trump won, not because he eradicated the systemic cheating that barred him from a second term four years ago, but despite that Herculean contingency. That he did so proverbially chained for weeks on end to multiple courtrooms, itself a heinous form of election interference, is yet further testimony of just how enormous the scope of the electoral mandate he was given….”

    https://paulingrassia.substack.com/p/just-how-sweeping-is-magas-mandate

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Biden-Harris admin weaponized DOE, targeted Christian, career colleges with nearly 70% of enforcement: report

    “The average fine against a Christian school for a Clery Act violation was $815,000, compared to $228,571 against public and private institutions,” according to the report.

    Biden-Harris admin weaponized DOE, targeted Christian, career colleges with nearly 70% of enforcement: report

    The Post Millennial, Katie Daviscourt, Nov 29, 2024

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: The Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Education issued 70 percent of its enforcement actions on Christian universities and career schools, despite the fact that these faith-based institutions account for less than 10 percent of the US student population, a new report shows. 

    The report from the American Principles Project (APP) found that “at least 12 Christian colleges have been the target of excessive penalties or banned from receiving federal student aid; by comparison, no Ivy League school has been the recipient of punitive action by the Office of Enforcement.” Among the colleges most heavily targeted include Grand Canyon University (GCU) and Liberty University (LU).

    “The average fine against a Christian school for a Clery Act violation was $815,000, compared to $228,571 against public and private institutions,” according to the report.

    Jon Schweppe, APP’s policy director, claimed Democrats under Biden have been “weaponizing every part of the federal government to target their opponents.”

    “While major assaults from agencies like the Department of Justice have taken most of the headlines, we should not ignore similarly corrupt efforts in other agencies as well,” Schweppe told Fox News. “As our report details, the Biden-Harris Department of Education has been engaged in a long-running scheme to punish Christian colleges that are ideologically opposed to the left’s agenda. The unfair targeting of these institutions has been egregious, and it needs to stop immediately.”

    The report noted that Grand Canyon University and Liberty University received record fines totaling more than “all penalties imposed over the past seven years combined.” In Nov. 2023, the DoE fined GCU $37.7 million for allegedly misleading students about the price of its doctoral programs. The Arizona-based university has filed an appeal. Biden’s Education Secretary Miguel Cardona vowed to shut down the institution in April during a congressional hearing.

    The Education Department rejected GCU’s nonprofit designation after the state authorized it. The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed the decision. The case has been returned to the ED, which told Fox News in a statement that a “school’s religious affiliation or non-profit status has absolutely no bearing on our oversight and enforcement actions.”

    Liked by 1 person

  14. “Florida Man is America’s punching bag, and the State itself exports as many jokes as it does oranges. It’s prone to hurricanes and presidential hopefuls – at least six in the last 50 years – and now will be Donald Trump’s power center and the ideological wellspring for his administration.

    There’s his chief of staff Susie Wiles, Pam Bondi as Trump’s attorney general pick, Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of State, and Rep. Mike Waltz for national security adviser. No other state will have that level of concentrated influence in the next administration.

    What they do bring to Washington is a kinda ‘Fuck you, we’re doing it our way’ attitude that works down here, and will hopefully turn that meme factory of a federal government on it’s ear.”

    Liked by 1 person

  15. “This is Pigeon Key. It’s midway just south of Marathon on the Seven Mile Bridge. The closest liquor store is next to the Publix store up on Marathon Key. I could handle that. I could live there.“

    NF: I checked – it’s true! Really stupid move to try to grab it w/o a thick glove!

    “A California art teacher has died from rabies after she was bitten by a bat inside her school classroom. Leah Seneng, a 60-year-old teacher at Bryant Middle School in Dos Palos, Merced County, had spotted the wild bat in her classroom sometime in mid-October. When she tried to pick it up and take it outside, the bat bit her. 

    In the days that followed, Seneng reportedly showed no signs or symptoms of rabies. But around a month later, the 60-year-old mother became unwell. She went to a doctor, who sent her to the hospital where, upon diagnosis, she was induced in to a coma, and died four days later. Jeez…”

    Liked by 1 person

  18. “Which Foreign Policy Play for the USA? Republicanism, Empire and New Global Alliances”

    Matthew Ehret, Nov 30, 2024

    Photo by Michael Afonso via Unsplash

    EXCERPT: “Compared to the great initiatives taken on behalf of freedom and anti colonialism throughout the past 260 years, the United States of America of the past several decades appears to be a strange and foolish creature running roughshod over the dignity of people and nations in a race for mass nuclear extermination.

    A renewed Cold War hysteria has been stirred up, which exhibits a rabid anti-Chinese/Russian paranoia despite the fact that both nations have repeatedly called for cooperation and friendship with the USA for years.

    From escalating military maneuvers on Russia’s border, to belligerent military expansion in China’s backyard, to radical Zionists pushing for war with the entire Arab world, it seems that everywhere one looks, we find the same lemming-like commitment to playing a nuclear game of chicken in the hopes of psychologically breaking the Multipolar Alliance led by Russia, China and a growing array of nations taking part in the ever-growing Belt and Road Initiative.

    Trump is the first president in decades that has invoked the prospect of restoring the American System tariff policy last seen over a century ago, with a focus on economic development and win-win cooperation abroad. But is Trump powerful enough to get these objectives enacted? Are the monetarist Wall Street cultists, Soros regime change acolytes and Zionist warmongers too much for Trump, or might their insane agenda to light the world on fire be overcome by patriots today?

    China’s former Ambassador to Washington Cui Tiankai recently acknowledged this threat of a world war between China and the USA, but took the high road calling for reasonable dialogue, saying, “China and the USA need to recapture the spirit of cooperation from WWII and join hands to confront our common enemies in the new era.”

    In the same speech, it is ironic that the Chinese Ambassador echoed Trump’s references to Abraham Lincoln by quoting America’s martyred president, saying, “the best way to predict the future is to create it”. 

    With these words in mind, let us revisit the two opposing global policy options the USA had available to it at the turn of the last century while the Civil War hero William McKinley still presided in the office of the presidency in 1901.

    At this crucial moment in world history, it was still undetermined whether America would hold on to its anti-imperial traditions or embrace a new imperial identity….”

    “….Today’s Belt and Road Initiative, and strategic friendship established between Russia and China has re-awoken the forgotten vision of William Gilpin for a world of cooperating sovereign nation states.

    Does President Trump have the moral and intellectual fortitude to keep his nation from disintegrating long enough to accept a Russia-U.S.-China alliance needed to revive McKinley’s American System, or will we slip into a new World War?”

    Long but very informative historically: https://badlands.substack.com/p/which-foreign-policy-play-for-the

    Liked by 1 person

  26. Clarion

    November 30, 2024 1:57 pm

    I hope Jack Smith finds a good lawyer. Releasing a report after you dismissed a case makes you look like a bitter loser and a highly partisan hack.

    Go after Mueller first. He had no basis for his investigation. Yet, he spent $40 million and let the country tear itself apart for two years. This is not merely an opinion. There is an airtight case that the Mueller inquiry was invalid from the outset. More on this soon. https://t.co/EjAyxaZ6Km

    — Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) November 29, 2024

    Liked by 1 person

  27. “Big Picture Comes Full Circle: NATO Membership for Ukraine

    ANALYSIS: On an expedited timeline within a 2-week period of intense escalations, Zelensky goes full circle on Ukraine’s NATO membership as a war trigger.”

    Political Moonshine, Nov 30, 2024

    “The past two weeks have represented an intense escalation in the incremental march to a thermonuclear world war. In the aggregate analysis, we have examined the ‘war v. threat of war’ dynamic as a driver of policy, diplomacy and profit making on several occasions including these: War or Threat of War? Either Way It’s a Massive Money and Weapons Laundering Operation and “Big Boy” Biden Rekindles War or Threat of War Position.

    Within that examination is the longstanding and reciprocal position in the analysis relative to Ukraine’s highly sought after membership in NATO as a mechanism to further encroach on Russia’s national security and sovereignty.

    In effect, Ukraine is already a de facto NATO member with over 40 installations throughout Ukraine that include US Department of Defense biolabs. These reasons and more account for Putin’s initial “special security operation” in Ukraine beginning in February 2022 and where it has since escalated to the present situation.

    Therein, President Trump had maintained normalized diplomatic relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his first term and Joe Biden turned the tables on Russia before he was even inaugurated: From 2020 Foreign Policy Shift to WWIII in 2024 Biden Marches Us to War.

    All of this is underpinned by history drawing back to late-1991 and the break-up of the USSR into Russia and its former satellite states that were made sovereign. By treaty, Ukraine then denuclearized in 1994 agreeing to forfeit its nuclear arsenal in exchange for guaranteed security.

    Guaranteed security is a function of NATO and here we are full circle to the genesis of it all: NATO’s generational encroachment on Russia’s national security and sovereignty. A primary component to NATO’s Russian encroachment is the drive for Ukraine’s NATO membership.

    Overlaying that history is this new development: Zelenskyy Offers To End ‘Hot Phase’ Of War In Exchange For NATO Membership…..”

    https://politicalmoonshine.substack.com/p/big-picture-comes-full-circle-nato

    Liked by 1 person

  28. SALLY Q UPDATE!

    Sally may not be going home today – she has developed a rattly wet cough and is sneezing mucus. She isn’t feeling as well as she did last night – just asked for one of those heated blankets. Her Dad wants the hospitalist to listen to her chest and she may need medication. Hope she has not been exposed to any Covid variants.

    Thanks for all prayers!

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Just The News: “Popular podcaster Joe Rogan said that the media engaged in a years-long “psy-op” to convince the American people that President-elect Donald Trump was evil.

    “What you’re seeing with Trump, regardless of his flaws, is a massive concentrated psy-op,” Rogan said, according to the New York Post. “They’ve distorted who he is to the point where most people think that way. Most people think that way. They’ve had narratives.”

    “What we saw is the greatest media psy-op in history.”

    Rogan explained that a “psy-op” is a psychological operation that alters people’s perceptions. “Where they’ve decided to distort people’s perceptions of things,” he said. Rogan is known for having a variety of guests on his shows, including presidential candidates such as Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT.

    Rogan endorsed Sanders in 2020 for president and endorsed Trump in 2024. He stated that the most recent election showed that the media is losing its power. “They had control of the media up until now,” Rogan said. “This election was the first time they didn’t really have control of the media anymore.”

    Rogan’s nearly three-hour interview with Trump drew an audience of about 40 million views on YouTube.”

    Liked by 1 person

  32. Just The News: “President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s father Charles Kushner would be the Ambassador to France in his new administration.

    “I am pleased to nominate Charles Kushner, of New Jersey, to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to France,” Trump wrote on TRUTH Social. “He is a tremendous business leader, philanthropist, & dealmaker, who will be a strong advocate representing our Country & its interests.”

    Trump praised Kushner as being a great entrepreneur who served on prominent boards such as New York University.

    “Congratulations to Charlie, his wonderful wife Seryl, their 4 children, & 14 grandchildren. His son, Jared, worked closely with me in the White House, in particular on Operation Warp Speed, Criminal Justice Reform, & the Abraham Accords,” Trump wrote.

    Kushner was pardoned by Trump in 2020 after serving time in prison following a 2005 conviction on multiple federal charges, according to CNN.”

    Liked by 1 person

  33. “Not Lawfare. Justice. The estimated half a billion tax dollars spent by the DOJ over the past four years to pursue Donald Trump and his supporters demands accountability. And consequences.”

    Julie Kelly, Nov 30, 2024

    EXCERPT: “After enduring nearly a decade of torment at the hands of hyperpartisan, unaccountable prosecutors and judges, President-elect Donald Trump appears poised to make good on his promise to hold government officials responsible for destroying public trust in the country’s once-revered legal and judicial system. Trump repeatedly pledged on the campaign trail that he would seek payback for the costly pursuits of his family, his businesses, his closest aides, and his supporters if elected president.

    But ever since Trump’s decisive victory, many anti-Trump pundits who either endorsed or turned a blind eye to the vengeful weaponization of Joe Biden’s Department of Justice now are predictably demanding a “lawfare” ceasefire on the baseless assumption that the American people want to move on.

    Fox News and National Review legal analyst Andrew McCarthy just posted a myopic column tsk-tsking plans to investigate wrongdoing not only related to the criminal cases against the incoming president but by members of the January 6 select committee and the Department of Justice’s ongoing prosecution of January 6 protesters.

    “Winning was his retribution,” McCarthy declared. “Against the odds and thanks to the Supreme Court, he was able to make an effective electoral case against lawfare because, at a gut level, Americans reject the rigged, punitive exploitation of law enforcement. Neither the public nor the courts are going to tolerate retributive lawfare.”

    McCarthy was particularly offended at comments made by Steve Bannon during his November 26 “War Room” show. (I was a guest that day to discuss Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request to dismiss the January 6 case in Washington.) Bannon, who was imprisoned this year by the Biden DOJ for defying a subpoena from the illicit J6 committee, again warned that judges, prosecutors, and others would face investigation for “destroying lives.”

    (Video)

    Despite ample evidence to support Bannon’s claims, McCarthy claimed it was “disturbing…that the actual president-elect would amplify Bannon’s battle cry for lawfare of the worm-turns variety.”

    Instead, McCarthy offered, the task should fall to Congress and the DOJ inspector general. (Michael Horowitz has a mixed record of success and still has not issued his findings of an internal investigation into the DOJ’s involvement in January 6 including the use of FBI informants.)

    “[In] the absence of bribery, evidence tampering, subornation of perjury, or a similar, patent crime, the Justice Department has no business investigating federal judges, the House January 6 committee, Jack Smith, Alvin Bragg, or Trump’s other tormentors — not regarding judgment calls in carrying out their undoubted official duties.”

    Says who?

    The Absentee Analyst…..

    The Half-Billion Dollar Men…..

    “….How does “ending lawfare” get back the half a billion in tax dollars blown by the Biden/Garland DOJ to prosecute enemies of the Democratic Party?

    Trump and Congressional Republicans would be well advised to ignore entreaties by McCarthy and his ilk to turn the other cheek. The crusade or terror inflicted by this DOJ—resulting in the suicide of at least four January 6 defendants—cannot end without consequences for those responsible.”

    https://www.declassified.live/p/not-lawfare-justice

    Liked by 1 person

  35. Wealth, stacked high. That’ll keep the herd alive over the winter.

    Avalanche on the ESE side of Green Butte, Shasta, near 7900 feet

    Liked by 1 person

  38. EXCERPT: “Denver’s far-left mayor has walked back his threat to use his city’s police department to stop federal immigration law enforcement. As RedState previously reported, Mayor Mike Johnston told a local news outlet that there would be a “Tiananmen Square” moment if the incoming Trump administration moved into the city to deport illegal immigrants. He even went so far as to say he’d use Denver PD to set up checkpoints at “the county line,” something I’m sure not too many officers were keen on being a part of. 

    “More than us having DPD stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there,” Johnston said. “It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right?” You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them.”

    Notably, after those statements, new border czar Tom Homan didn’t hold back, noting that Johnston would be arrested if he broke the law to interfere with federal authorities. 

    HOMAN: He’s willing to go to jail. I’m willing to put him in jail.

    It seems that Johnston got the message because he’s now singing a different tune. In a more recent interview, he had this to say.

    REPORTER: It sounds like you’re walking back the comments from a couple days ago saying that you would be willing to send Denver police officers. Do you regret making those comments and now getting questions like this?

    JOHNSTON: Yeah.

    REPORTER: Me asking you about that, and I’m sure Denver police officers are now going home to their families and saying, “Hey, I hear the mayor is telling you that you might be deployed to face off against federal forces.” Do you regret making those comments? 

    JOHNSTON: Yeah. What I wanted people to understand was the scale of what could be coming if we take the president at his word, which is I don’t think anyone envisioned U.S. military troops being deployed to American streets to gather up women and children.

    (Tweet)

    He keeps backtracking, but I want to note the false framing being presented by Johnston. While Trump has put the use of military troops deployed under a state of emergency to help with immigration enforcement on the table, he has not definitively said that will happen. Furthermore, the idea that it would be “women and children” gathered up is emotional manipulation that ignores two things….”

    “…. Continuing with the mayor’s comments, he then goes further, outright saying he’d take back what he originally said about Tiananmen Square.

    JOHNSTON: If that happens, I think it’ll be a much more dramatic scene than people anticpated. That’s what I was trying to establish. Would I have taken it back if I could? Yes. I probably wouldn’t have used that image because that’s an image I hope we can avoid. What I was trying to say is this an outcome I hope we can avoid in this country. I think none of us want that. 

    There is no North High School grad who signed up to be an Army Ranger who wants to come back to his home town and round up his former high school students. No one wants to do that. So I think our purpose was to make the case that’s what we want to avoid, but I certainly did not meant to stoke fear on either side of the line…..”

    https://redstate.com/bonchie/2024/11/30/denver-mayor-who-threatened-to-stop-deportations-folds-like-a-lawn-chair-after-tom-homan-threat-n2182642

    Liked by 1 person

  39. Red State: “Mainstream media is not dealing well with the rise of independent media and the loss of control they have over X since Elon Musk took over. 

    We reported earlier on Catherine Herridge dropping the receipts on why X was rising and reaching more people than the regular network media. She noted the far greater reach that you could have for stories on X with all manner of audiences. 

    Podcaster Joe Rogan also went to town during an interview with Mike Rowe. He spoke about the giant resistance (from the media) to the idea that X was now the “news source of the world.” 

    Warning for graphic language: 

    https://x.com/TheJRECompanion/status/1862535231196066002

    He chastised the media types who were losing “authority,” yelling, “No, you’re not!” at X being the news. “You guys f**ked us too many times,” he scolded. 

    And we don’t believe you anymore! And so, the only way to find out what’s real and what’s not real is someone posts it online and then everyone looks at it. And then you get the Community Note. And that’s way better than The NY Times telling me that the Fruit Loops in Canada are exactly the same as the Fruit Loops in America, except for a bunch of sh** that’s banned, and that’s the point…Meanwhile they’re factchecking RFK Jr, so now I don’t trust you any more either.

    “You can’t gloss over the Community Notes,” Rowe said in agreement. Rowe explained how the media had “abdicated on skepticism” and  “become something else.” 

    https://twitter.com/i/status/1862109244838826411

    So, you can’t really blame people for considering what we used to dismiss as conspiracy theories when those theories start to be borne out, and when there’s such a level of eroded trust in once-credible institutions.

    Rogan explained that this was about them wanting to hold onto being the “experts,” and people questioning or spouting “conspiracy theories” were challenging that. “But then when they’re wrong, there’s no repercussion,” he said they never want to admit they are wrong. They don’t want to admit they were wrong about masking, wrong about social distancing when it came to COVID. 

    “Where’s the humility?” Rowe asked. And that’s the problem. 

    There is none. We’ll never see an apology for all the lies, like the Russia collusion lie–all the harm that did, how that divided the country, and how much that cost us. 

    Because all they seem to be about is wanting to hold onto control and attacking anyone who might question that, from Rogan to Elon Musk to President-elect Donald Trump. But because of X and independent media, that’s a door opened they cannot close and they will continue to implode.”

    https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2024/11/30/joe-rogan-and-mike-rowe-talk-about-how-x-is-news-source-of-world-now-n2182644

    Liked by 1 person

  40. EXCERPT: “Iran may not be finished paying for its massive miscalculation against Israel. Of the two proxy armies that have been decimated if not destroyed in the war launched by Hamas and Hezbollah in October 2023, the latter is by far the most significant to Iran’s geopolitical ambitions. Hezbollah didn’t just turn Lebanon into a puppet state for Tehran, but it also propped up Bashar al-Assad against Sunni Islamist rebels over the last thirteen years.

    Now, with Iranian puppet Bashar al-Assad reportedly out of the country, rumors of a coup have followed on the news that Aleppo has fallen to a coalition of rebels:

    Local sources said Brigadier General Hassam Louka, chief of the regime’s general security directorate was attempting to oust President Bashar al-Assad, who was out of the country on Saturday.

    The sounds of gunfire were heard in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Saturday night as speculation grew that an attempted coup d’etat was under way.

    The official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) state television network was off the air Saturday night, and the news outlet’s Arabic and English language websites were unreachable as well.

    Explosions and gunfire were heard near the general staff and state media building in the capital.

    “Coup in Damascus is confirmed. Hassam Louka Chief of the general security directorate of the Syrian regime is trying oust Bashar Al Assad.”

    https://twitter.com/ScharoMaroof/status/1862919792857878918

    “….Another report claims a flight from Moscow landed in Damascus a short while ago. Did Assad return? That seems unlikely under the circumstances, especially if there is unrest in the capital. Events are clearly fluid at the moment, but it appears that Iran has either lost control of its puppets in the region, or is very close to doing so….”

    https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2024/11/30/is-syria-about-to-fall-n3797481

    Liked by 1 person

  42. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

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