The Lighthouse Keepers Vanished

Mysteries 4 Minutes

From the allthatsinteresting.com website:

In December 1900, the keepers of the Flannan Isles Lighthouse off the northwest coast of Scotland mysteriously disappeared — and to this day, no one knows what happened. “A dreadful accident has happened at the Flannans,” reported a ship captain in 1900.

After a lighthouse went dark in the wild islands north of Scotland, a ship traveled to the Flannan Isles to investigate. They discovered that all three lighthouse keepers had vanished The captain added, “On our arrival there this afternoon no sign of life was to be seen on the Island.” What happened to the vanished lighthouse keepers? Was the Flannan Isle mystery an accident, or something darker?

Investigating The Flannan Isle Mystery

Three lighthouse keepers – James Ducat, Thomas Marshall, and William MacArthur – manned the remote outpost on Eilean Mòr, one of the Flannan Isles. Built only a year earlier in 1899, the lighthouse was sturdy and sound.

The men likely disappeared around December 15, 1900, about the time a storm had swept across the North Atlantic.  Near the end of December, the ship Hesperus sailed north to investigate under Captain Jim Harvie. On December 26, 1900, The Hesperus docked at the bottom of a steep cliff. Alone, relief lighthouse keeper Joseph Moore climbed the 160 steps up to the lighthouse. When he opened the door, Moore discovered a scene frozen in time. The clock on the wall stood silent. The table was set, waiting for men who would never return. Moore found only one living creature at the lighthouse – a canary who sat quietly in a cage. “I did not take time to search further, for I only too well knew something serious had occurred,” Moore later reported. “I darted out and made for the landing.”

At the Hesperus, Moore reported what he’d found. Two more sailors joined the search for the missing men. But the investigation only deepened the Flannan Isle mystery.

In the lighthouse, the searchers discovered an oilskin, protection against the rough northern weather, meaning one of the lighthouse keepers must have run from the lighthouse during the storm without his rain gear.

On the western side of the isle, the storm’s power left its mark. Iron railings had bent in the wind. A railway track was torn away from the concrete. An enormous boulder had rolled out of place. And a supply box lay smashed on the ground, with its contents spread across the rocky land.  But there was no sign of the three vanished men. “Poor fellows, they must been blown over the cliffs or drowned trying to secure a crane or something like that,” declared Captain Harvie in his report to the Northern Lighthouse Board. In his telegram report, the captain also noted, “Nothing appears touched at East landing to show that they were taken from there. On West side it is somewhat different. We had an old box halfway up the railway for holding West landing mooring ropes and tackle, and it has gone.”

Was the west landing where the men died? “Now there is nothing to give us an indication that it was there the poor men lost their lives,” the captain warned. Robert Muirhead, the lighthouse board superintendent, had personally recruited the three missing men. He traveled to the Flannan Isles to conduct his own investigation.

The Official Report And Surrounding Rumors

Muirhead declared that the Flannan Isle mystery was merely an accident. In his official report, Muirhead stated that two men had traveled to the west landing around dinner time on December 15. They hoped to secure ropes and the supply box.

“An extra-large sea had rushed up the face of the rock,” Muirhead speculated, “had gone above them, and coming down with immense force, had swept them completely away.” Wind could not have been the cause, Muirhead reasoned, because the direction of the wind would have pushed the men toward the island rather than out to sea.

The official report did not end speculation. Along the windswept islands of the Hebrides, some blamed a sea serpent for devouring the men. Others claimed the keepers had tried to escape the island only to be swept away.  Another theory claimed that a fight had broken out. One of the keepers killed another. While covering up the crime, the survivors were swept out to sea. Or did MacArthur, known for his short temper, kill both men and throw himself off the cliffs?

In the years after their tragic disappearance, the rumors surrounding the lighthouse keepers only intensified. Stories of a logbook containing suspicious entries began to surface. In this supposed logbook, Marshall had written about their despair during the storm, praying for protection before it finally ended on December 15. But if the storm had ended before the men disappeared, it seemed foul play was much more likely than previously thought.

However, no evidence of these logbook entries has ever surfaced. Official reports at the time show the final entry in the lighthouse log being made on December 13, with small notes about the weather being made on the morning of December 15.

The Unsolved Mystery of the Flannan Isles

The bodies of the missing lighthouse keepers were never found. For over 120 years, the mystery has remained unsolved. Whether an accident or something worse, the disappearance was a tragedy. The men left behind families who never learned the truth. Muirhead also found himself reeling after the deaths.  “I visited Flannan Islands when the relief was made so lately as 7th December, and have the melancholy recollection that I was the last person to shake hands with them and bid them adieu,” Muirhead recalled.

Did a storm or a large wave kill the missing lighthouse keepers? Or did violence claim their lives? Over a century later, we may never learn the true story.

SOURCE: ALLTHATSINTERESTING.COM

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Published by pat frederick

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81 thoughts on “The Lighthouse Keepers Vanished”

  1. Good morning, Pat! Still well above freezing this morning – Wheezer was sleeping on the chair when I got up and is now gobbling down his tuna.

    Just The News: “President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that the U.S. had launched Christmas night airstrikes in northwest Nigeria targeting ISIS militants he accused of “viciously killing” innocent Christians. He said there will be “many more if the slaughter of Christians continues.” 

    “Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!,” the post reads. 

    “I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was. The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing. Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper. May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Good Morning Filly!

      I had a terrible night –couldn’t get comfortable and fall asleep. I finally fell asleep after 3! sigh

      I normally sleep like a rock. shrug

      hubby says snow starts around lunchtime…we’ll see.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Bummer! I rarely have trouble falling asleep these days but when I used to, I’d lay in bed and pretend someone was watching me and that I had to convince them that I was sleeping. IKR, weird! Whatever – it worked better than getting up and doing jumping jacks! LOL – hope the snow passes you by.

        Liked by 1 person

  4. TheseTruths

    TheseTruths(@thesetruths)

    Offline

    Wolf

    December 26, 2025 01:05

    Treniss J. Evans III:

    “When Tina Peters asked me to step in, I knew this was not a case you ‘litigate’ — it was a constitutional war that needed an architect. I brought in Peter Ticktin for his intellect and the firepower of his firm, and together with John Case and Pat McSweeney, we executed a long-form supremacy strategy that anticipated Colorado’s every move before they made it. They walked straight into it — on paper, in writing, exactly as planned. This was designed to force a head-on collision between state defiance and federal authority, just like Norma Jean Anderson et al., and Colorado is now trapped by its own admissions. We didn’t react — we engineered. We didn’t chase — we set the board. Colorado has been played like a drum, and we are now positioned to hammer them and free Tina Peters. This is the kind of constitutional confrontation that law schools will be teaching for the next two hundred years — because it proves how federal supremacy is enforced when a state thinks it’s untouchable.”

    — Treniss Evans

    @realtinapeters, @laralogan, @Joeoltmann , @annvandersteel, @DavidJHarrisJr, @JuanOSavin107

    Like

  5. drone strike this little pissant

    Like

  7. Just The News: “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his Christmas Eve message that many Ukrainians would like to see Russian President Vladimir Putin dead. This comes a day after Zelensky showed a willingness to remove troops from an area in Donetsk, as long as Russia would as well, and create a “free economic zone.” In other words, a territorial compromise. It raised hopes that an end to the war may be in sight. 

    “There are two options: either the war continues, or something will have to be decided regarding all potential economic zones,” Zelensky said on Tuesday. “We have significantly brought most of the positions closer together. In principle, all other consensus in this agreement has been found between us and them.”

    But in his Christmas Eve broadcast message, he said, “‘May he perish,’ each of us may think to ourselves,” referring to Putin, adding, “But when we turn to God, of course, we ask for something greater. We ask for peace for Ukraine. We fight for it. And we pray for it. And we deserve it, so that every Ukrainian family lives in harmony.”

    Russia responded through Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, calling it “uncultured, embittered, and coming from a seemingly unhinged person.” He questioned if “he’s capable of making any rational decisions,” according to The Hill. 

    Also on Christmas Eve, Zelensky wrote that it was the “fourth wartime Christmas for the Ukrainian people during the full-scale war, the largest in Europe since World War II,” in a post on X.

    “Moscow has not only rejected the request to end the killing at least for this Holy Day; instead, Russia launched a massive missile and drone strike against Ukraine’s energy grid, causing power outages, and continues frontline assaults. Regrettably, Russia continues to reject real ceasefire proposals, as it has done throughout the year. Instead, it is clearly seeking ways to prolong the war and continue attacks.”

    Peskov added in his Christmas Day response that the Kremlin was considering the peace proposals presented to Moscow after their recent meetings in Miami, Reuters reported.”

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Just The News: “The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has handed Texas another win in a lawsuit brought by Chinese nationals challenging a state law banning foreign adversaries from purchasing land in Texas. The law, which went into effect, Sept. 1, remains in effect.

    Earlier this year, Gov. Greg Abbott signed SB 17, filed by state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham. It prohibits the purchase of certain private property in Texas by governmental entities, companies and individuals that are domiciled in a country named in three recent Annual Threat Assessment reports published by the Director of National Security. It applies to agricultural, commercial, industrial and residential properties as well as mines, quarries, minerals and standing timber; it includes civil and criminal penalties.

    The bill took several years to pass after multiple hearings and a Chinese Communist Party campaign against it, in which reporting by The Center Square was highlighted.

    This year, under House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, the bill not only passed but additional measures were included targeting countries of foreign concern and their operatives as well members of transnational criminal organizations like Tren de Aragua and other organizations the Trump administration designated as foreign terrorist organizations this year.

    “This is very simple. Hostile foreign adversaries like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, as well as foreign terrorist organizations like Tren de Aragua, must not be allowed to own land in Texas,” Abbott said when signing the bill, The Center Square reported.

    Two Chinese nationals, Peng Wang and Quinlin Li, backed by the New Jersey-based Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance, sued in July to stop the law from going into effect. They sued in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas arguing the law is unconstitutional and discriminatory. In response, Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. In August, Judge Charles Eskridge agreed, dismissing their case without prejudice.

    Wang and Li next appealed to the Fifth Circuit. In September, the Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance also filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas Austin Division, also arguing the law is unconstitutional.

    This month, a Fifth Circuit panel of three judges affirmed Judge Eskridge’s dismissal, arguing that Wang and Li lacked standing and “did not demonstrate a credible threat of enforcement of the law.”

    In response to the ruling, state Rep. Cole Heffner, R-Mount Pleasant, who cosponsored SB 17 in the Texas House, said the Fifth Circuit judges “delivered a major win for the people of Texas.” The goal of the law is “to ensure foreign adversaries like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea cannot buy up Texas land – and this decision keeps those protections firmly in place.”

    An issue that arose in the lawsuit stemmed from the F-1 student visa program. Wang has lived in Texas for 16 years and is pursuing a Masters of Divinity degree at a seminary in Fort Worth through an F-1 student visa. Li, who entered the U.S. on an F-1 student visa, recently graduated from Texas A&M with an engineering degree. She then applied for an H-1B visa, lives in Austin and works as a water/wastewater treatment plant design engineer for a private company, according to court records.

    Wastewater plants in Texas have been the target of cyberhackers. This year, Abbott signed cybercrime and counter-espionage bills into law to address threats posed by the CCP, The Center Square reported.

    Wang argued that the student visa program requires him to leave the U.S. when it expires, meaning he could return to China and be banned from buying property under the law. The Fifth Circuit judges replied that when his visa expires he could leave the U.S. and “move to Bolivia,” “Botswana,” or “Berlin” and his claim that the law discriminated against him was unsubstantiated.

    Earlier this year, the Trump administration announced changes to the F-1 visa system arguing foreign nationals have taken advantage of the system becoming “forever students.” Changes include limiting the program to the duration of academic studies not to exceed four years, implementing additional vetting measures, and enforcing removal of those who overstay their visas.

    So far this year, the State Department has revoked 8,000 student visas, it told The Center Square, more than twice the number revoked in 2024.”

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Harrison

    December 26, 2025 12:51 am

    Remember all those IRS agents that the Dims hired during the reign of the AutoPen? Well, they aren’t going to like it, but DHS have found the perfect job for them…

    Operation IRS: Immigration Revenue Service: 

    Remember when the blood-sucking Democrats hired 87,000 IRS agents to hunt down the American taxpayer?

    It’s official:

    Internal Revenue Service agents are now detailed to the Department of Homeland Security under an agreement between DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The purpose is to provide additional immigration enforcement manpower. These agents have been deputized—under Title 8 of the U.S. Code to hunt down and apprehend criminal illegal aliens for civil violations of immigration law.

    The Secretary of Homeland Security, “Instead of using Biden’s 87,000 IRS agents to take more money from Americans, I’ve directed them to help taxpayers save money — by assisting ICE in rounding up criminal illegal aliens for deportation.

    About 5,000 of them can go sort out that sordid mess in Minnesota and 20,000 of them can do the same in California.

    https://xcancel.com/Real_RobN/status/2003903995631620577#m

    Like

  10. weird thing to say

    Like

  16. Leah Hoopes
    @hoopes_leah
    💣 BOMBSHELL: The Delaware County, PA 2020 Election Videos Have NEVER Been Adjudicated on the Merits . Our Whistleblower footage shows election officials openly discussing and destroying poll tapes, return sheets, and other required records while admitting it’s potentially a felony and joking about a “little campfire.”These videos (from our 2021 sting operation) were submitted as key evidence in multiple lawsuits alleging massive fraud, illegal records destruction, and cover-up in Delaware County.Yet, as of December 2025:Cases dismissed/quashed on procedural grounds (standing, timeliness, mootness).

    Appeals denied without opinion or deep evidentiary review.

    PA Supreme Court petitions rejected per curiam.

    Defamation countersuits dropped (we won pro se using “truth as defense”) but NO court ever ruled on the videos’ authenticity or what they prove.

    Ongoing lawfare (like the $1M Dragonetti retaliation suit) drags on, but the core merits did this constitute illegal destruction proving fraud?—remain unresolved.

    No full trial. No fact-finding hearing. Courts have dodged the substance for 5 years.This isn’t “debunked” it’s avoided.If elections are truly secure, why won’t any court examine this evidence head-on?Demand justice. Demand http://transparency.Watch the videos yourself: http://parallelelection.com ElectionIntegrity #DelcoFraud #2020Election #NeverAdjudicated #ParallelElection @realDonaldTrump

    Liked by 1 person

  19. “The most damning photo yet of Trump has emerged from the Epstein files…

    Investigators this past week released this photo of Trump and an unidentified child that was discovered in an un-named file during their search of the over one million documents related to that purported baby-raping scumbag Epstein. In the photo, it appears the much older Trump was telling the youngster where to go. There is speculation from those same investigators that there may actually also be video evidence somewhere of this illicit encounter…”

    “Immigrants at Ellis Island enjoying their first Christmas dinner after being welcomed in to the United States in New York City in 1920. Calling today’s illegal aliens ‘undocumented immigrants’ is an insult to anyone – including all of my grandparents – who were welcomed here, who entered the country in the proper, legal way.”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. soon as I’m done with the laundry, I gotta share some of these!!!

      my grandparents came thru Ellis Island and we have at least a copy my grandfather’s swearing in ceremony program. he was so proud of that!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. My great-great grands came over from Germany & England in the early to mid 1800’s, before Ellis Island was transitioned into a federal immigration facility.

        Liked by 1 person

  21. The SCIF
    @TheSCIF
    SMARTMATIC & DOMINION voting machines are the foreign puppet masters of the global election fraud cartel.

    Dominion Voting Systems—purportedly a U.S.-based company with ties to Venezuela operating with its true “center of gravity” in Serbia, backed by Chinese influence.

    Venezuelan, Chinese, and Serbian engineers hold admin keys to manipulate US elections.

    There is a pattern of deception with around 15 different cheating methods, but this backdoor exploit stands out for its stealth, scale, and capability to be accessed from almost anywhere.

    Smartmatic’s election-rigging source code, owned by Venezuela’s narco-regime (Cartel del Sol), powers Dominion systems and is designed to flip votes completely undetected.

    The key ties lay within the Serbian Hub. Dominion’s Belgrade office houses swing-state voter data on Huawei servers – directly linked to CCP-controlled Huawei in Hong Kong.

    CCP fingerprints are all over this and the shadow player. The hardware is built in Beijing and snuck through Taiwan in violation of US law. Huawei flagged as natsec threat by the FCC.

    The “Glitch Trap” is one of the easiest and most common methods of election fraud. Pre-election “glitches” in Dominion machines are no accident. These prompt emergency patches that conveniently open backdoors, allowing remote access from Dominion’s Serbian offices.

    Now, it’s on to the foreign side of the actual election manipulation. Far from mere R&D, the Serbian hub is described as the operational core, running on Huawei servers—Chinese technology at the heart of U.S. elections. Chinese nationals, funneled through a military institute, log in during elections to manipulate results.

    Virtual manipulation is crucial to the facade until the completion of the manipulation occurs. Using virtual machines software-based servers created invisibly within county election systems—intruders reportedly alter databases at will. Once done, they collapse the virtual setup, leaving no trace unless a deep forensic audit uncovers the digital footprints.

    This isn’t just fraud it’s a national security threat. It’s foreign interference by Maduro’s cartel, China’s CCP, and the globalist deep state cabal to steal democracies in the U.S. and in 100+ other countries worldwide.

    Liked by 1 person

  22. Just The News: “President Donald Trump will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Florida on Sunday, according to the Ukrainian president. The two world leaders are expected to discuss peace talks in the Russia-Ukraine war at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Zelensky told reporters the meeting was designed to finalize as many details as possible.

    The United States has provided $187 billion in taxpayer dollars to Ukraine since 2022, according to the special inspector general responsible for Ukraine oversight. Zelensky recently met with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about a proposed 20-point peace plan to end the war.

    “We are truly working 24/7 to bring closer the end of this brutal Russian war against Ukraine and to ensure that all documents and steps are realistic, effective, and reliable,” Zelensky wrote on social media.

    “Together with the American team, we understand how to put all of this in place,” Zelensky said. “I thank everyone who continues to put pressure on Russia so that they fully understand that prolonging the war will have severe consequences.”

    Liked by 1 person

  26. just talked with Mom abut her day out yesterday. she enjoyed it but doubts she would do it again. the ‘improvements’ they made to their house last year make it near impossible to get into the house without they physically carrying her in there. she doesn’t like feeling like that. sigh.

    Liked by 1 person

  30. “Friday Funnies: You are Bigger Than That and other Xmas stories”

    Dr. Robert W. Malone, Dec 26, 2025

    “The biggest news in the nation this week, received almost no coverage…

    Livelihoods were destroyed. Patriots were unjustly imprisoned, fined millions, disbarred, and labeled “insurrectionists” for protesting what is now acknowledged as the truth: that the 2020 election was indeed stolen.”

    Liked by 1 person

  36. Acorn Project Update:

    every year, in the fall, I try to pick up a dozen uneaten acorns. I plant them in a flower pot and keep them warm and watered.

    The first year I attempted this with, 12 out of 12 acorns sprouted. I separated them in spring, I planted them in pots and put them outside in the spring. I would bring them in at night. One evening, I went out to bring them in and a squirrel was eating the last of the remaining acorns in the pots! the tops remained, but the beginning roots and acorns were gone.

    Every year since I have tried this with little success. My son in law told me the acorns were probably “rotten” in the first place and that’s why the squirrels and deer left them on the ground untouched.

    A few years ago, I had success with one acorn and it remains inside in a pot warm and safe and it continues to grow albeit slowly.

    This past fall , I found 6 good looking acorns and potted them. I have three sprouts growing!! I am excited.

    Liked by 1 person

  47. EXCERPT: “It’s that time of year. A time for Christmas carols, honey-glazed ham, and a rant from Vivek Ramaswamy that infuriates the American right. 

    In the 12 months since the last such outburst, Ramaswamy, an anti-woke Republican and son of Indian immigrants, has managed to regain clout on the right. He’s running for Ohio governor and seems a lock for the GOP nomination, and last Friday he received a prime-time speaking slot at AmericaFest 2025, a conference organized by the conservative group Turning Point USA.

    The speakers’ list for that event was a Who’s Who of American conservatism, but the absence of three prominent right-wingers—the late TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk, white-nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes, and President Donald Trump—set the event’s context and engendered its unexpected gravity. 

    Despite the fog machines and fireworks, this was no mere pep rally, but an arena of real political contestation. The speakers jockeyed for influence in the wake of Kirk’s assassination this September and ahead of Trump’s exit from the political stage three years hence. Several positioned themselves between Fuentes and the radical left as moderate, yet principled, conservative voices. By the end, a fundamental debate had emerged, a debate about the nature of America itself.

    On Sunday night, Vice President J.D. Vance put forward a vision of American identity that was both unifying and authentically conservative. “Americans are hungry for identity,” Vance said. He blamed economic globalization, left-wing elites, and censorious “tech overlords” for accelerating the destruction of community and tradition. And he promoted a revival of Christianity as “America’s creed” and the historic “anchor of the United States of America.” 

    The speech should be interpreted in light of the vice president’s other recent reflections, including his July 2024 nomination speech. “America is not just an idea,” Vance said then. “It is a group of people with a shared history and a common future. It is, in short, a nation.” And this February, during a speech at the Munich Security Conference, Vance presented America as being part of a cultural bloc that also encompasses Europe, referring to “our shared civilization.”

    That’s a very different view of America than Ramaswamy’s, which is alien to the conservative moral imagination. 

    While Ramaswamy articulated his views at AmericaFest 2025 (and in a recent New York Times op-ed), many right-wingers first became aware of them a year ago, when he delivered a Boxing Day sermon on X that amounted to a defense of U.S. corporations that favor foreigners over Americans in hiring. Americans aren’t inherently dumber and lazier than foreigners, Ramaswamy explained, but their circumstances have made them that way: “Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long.” 

    In reaction, conservatives fumed, objecting not only to Ramaswamy’s implicit contention that Americans, on average, can’t excel at high-skill labor, but also to his use of scare quotes around “native” in the phrase “native Americans.” That term normally refers to American Indians, but right-wingers have used it to describe Old Stock Americans descended from the country’s original settlers, a usage with racial connotations in our era of mass migration. It was this conception that Ramaswamy plainly had in mind. 

    Ramaswamy’s implicit dismissal of the idea suggested he rejected any vision of American identity connected to ancestry, kinship, and heritage, the traditional ingredients of nationhood and natural objects of patriotic attachment. That vision is a conservative alternative to the liberal one of Americans being brought into a merely artificial relation by chance proximity, liberal ideology, and government-issued documents.

    During this year’s rant, delivered on-stage to young right-wingers fed up with squishy Boomer conservativism, the audience didn’t need to imagine Ramaswamy wagging his slender finger, nor to infer that he adhered to liberal dogmas on the question of nationality. Again he mocked a term that has gained purchase with right-wingers, in this case, “heritage Americans.” But unlike last year, Ramaswamy also elaborated his own ideas about American identity. 

    The speech was an explicit meditation on “what it means to be an American.” The answer provided: to “believe in ideals,” especially color-blind meritocracy. Ramaswamy scolded the far right for believing that a citizen could be more American or less American depending on how deeply rooted in the country they are. In the speech’s most quotable line, he rejected their ancestral pride: “No, I’m sorry, our lineage is not our strength.”

    In Ramaswamy’s telling, Americans are unique in comprising not so much a nation as a liberal ideological project. Of course, he didn’t put the point in quite that way, but it’s the clear inference one draws from several passages, including this:

    You could go to Italy, but you would never be an Italian. You can move to Germany, but you would never be a German. You could pack your bags and live the rest of your life in China or Japan; you would never be Chinese or Japanese. But you can come from any one of those countries to the United States of America and you can still be an American.

    Where to begin?

    First, one thing America conspicuously has in common with Italy and Germany—but not with China or Japan—is that its political elites have betrayed its people, flooding the country with young men from alien lands, maligning any American who bemoans this unprecedented calamity, and perverting the country’s history to depict it as belonging to whichever foreigners manage to penetrate its borders.

    The entire Western world faces this crisis, an extinction-level event for the nations affected. Yet Ramaswamy attempted to differentiate the U.S. from its civilizational partners by treating this development as a long-standing, salutary fixture of American life arising from the nation’s very identity.

    Ramaswamy’s speech, in addition to being fundamentally liberal, was incoherent. He condemned the “online right” for offering a non-binary conception of American identity according to which Old Stock Americans were more American than newcomers. Yet his own standard of nationality—belief in certain “ideals”—suggests that U.S. citizens who reject those ideals are less American than those, like Ramaswamy, who affirm them…..”

    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/vances-and-viveks-dueling-visions-of-america/

    Liked by 1 person

  49. “The Evolution Of The Candy Cane

    by Tyler Durden, Thursday, Dec 25, 2025 (Authored by Dean George via The Epoch Times“

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “Candy canes have been associated with Christmas for centuries, but their origins and early history are shrouded in legend, folklore and fantasy.

    The sweet and sticky candy first became associated with Christmas in Germany in the 17th century, though the name, color and flavor were markedly different from contemporary candy canes. Originally, they were called sugar sticks. They were pure white in color, had no peppermint flavor, and weren’t “J” shaped. 

    The popularity of sugar sticks eventually spread to other European countries like France and England. Because sugar was often unavailable, sugar sticks were often flavored with sweet essences from plants. Sugar sticks were handmade in small batches and given as seasonal gifts to children, family, and friends. 

    European immigrants coming to America in the 19th century brought their old-world recipes with them. Eventually, sugar sticks became part of this country’s Christmas celebrations.

    European Folklore and Religious Symbolism

    A common but unsubstantiated legend says that around 1670, a German choirmaster in Cologne gave children performing in Nativity reenactments sugar sticks to keep them quiet and attentive. A similar tale says that when some church members objected to children eating candy in church, the choirmaster commissioned a confectioner to shape the sugar sticks like shepherd’s crooks to symbolize the Biblical shepherds tending their flocks near Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. 

    Modern day legends attributed more to religious symbolism. Some tales say that when turned upside down, the candy crook is shaped like a “J” and stands for Jesus. Another tale implies the candied crook represents a shepherd’s crook and is symbolic of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.

    One popular myth is that an Indiana candy maker crafted the Christmas candy cane to symbolize the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ. The white color represents the purity of the Virgin Mary and Christ’s perfection. The thin red stripes denote Jesus’ scourging before he was crucified, and the large red stripe symbolizes the blood Christ shed on the cross. 

    These anecdotes are intriguing but lack any historical documentation to prove their veracity. More likely is the idea that German families used the hook in the original candy stick to facilitate using it as a Christmas ornament alongside fruit, nuts, candies, cookies, and paper decorations.

    Regardless of their varied origin stories, striped candy canes are now ubiquitous in the Christmas season. Anrie/CC BY-SA 2.0

    When Sugar Sticks Became Candy Canes

    German-Swedish immigrant August Imgard is the first documented case in North America of using the sweet treat as a tree ornament. On Christmas Day, 1847 he introduced this interesting “twist” on sugar sticks when he decorated a blue spruce tree in Wooster, Ohio as part of his family’s Christmas celebration. 

    By the 1860s, the term “candy canes” was appearing in publications like Ballou’s Monthly Magazine. They were described as being hung up next to stockings. In 1871, German immigrant Claus Doscher founded Doscher’s Candies, America’s oldest candy cane maker, which was featured in American Essence magazine. Remarkably, the Doscher’s candy canes are still handmade. 

    Each candy cane at Doscher’s Candies is hooked by hand. Courtesy of Greg Clark

    The candy cane’s famous red stripes and peppermint flavoring were believed to be added sometime around the turn of the 20th century, according to the National Confectioners Association. 

    In 1919, entrepreneur Bob McCormack founded the Famous Candy Company in Albany, Georgia. Within a few years, the company was producing thousands of handmade candy canes annually under the name Bob’s Candy Company (later changed to Bobs Candies). Later, in the 1950s, the Georgia company became the largest maker of candy canes and the first to wrap their candies in cellophane and mass distribute them.

    In the 1950s, Gregory Keller, a Roman Catholic priest and McCormack’s brother-in-law, invented a machine that automated candy cane production, greatly reducing production time and labor costs. A patent request for the “Keller Machine” was submitted in 1957 and approved in 1960; it allowed Bobs Candies to produce millions of candy canes annually. Bobs candy canes are still made today, though the McCormack family sold the company to larger candy conglomerates in 2005.

    Contemporary Candy Cane Options

    The traditional red and white peppermint-flavored candy canes still dominate the market, but novel options in recent years have included fruit-based flavors and odder flavor choices for candies, like bacon, pickle and jalapeño. New textural options include chewy and liquid-filled canes with a juice-infused center.

    Candy canes are now seen at other holidays also. There are heart-shaped candy canes for Valentine’s Day and orange and black candy canes at Halloween.

    Traditionalists need not worry, though. The National Confectioners Association notes that 90 percent of candy canes are sold between Thanksgiving and Christmas; the second week of December is the biggest single week for candy cane sales annually; 1.76 billion candy canes are sold annually in the United States; candy canes are the number one-selling non-chocolate candy in December, and December 26th is National Candy Cane Day.” 

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  50. Just The News: “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that he is prepared to reach a framework peace deal with Russia when he meets with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago this weekend, which he hopes to bring up for a referendum in Ukraine.

    Sunday’s meeting between the two world leaders comes after Zelensky indicated a willingness to remove troops from an area in Donetsk, as long as Russia would as well, and create a “free economic zone.” 

    Zelensky told Axios that he’s willing to bring the possible peace plan up for a referendum if Russia agrees to a ceasefire of at least 60 days, stating that 60 days is the “minimum” he would need for his legislature to approve the proposal. “I think now we are at the next level, and that’s why we need to negotiate with presidents,” he said. “We want to finish it as quickly as possible. That’s why I count on this meeting.”

    Zelensky said he also hopes the meeting will use all the momentum that the previous team meetings have had to set a framework for ending the war, including a timeline for when the war would end. The European leader also noted that Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are prepared to visit Ukraine to help promote the agreement, but also suggested that perhaps Trump himself should visit to make the case.

    Zelensky additionally said that it was not clear if Russian President Vladimir Putin would sign off on the agreement. “I have some intelligence,” Zelensky said. “But I’m at the moment when I want to believe only the words of leaders.” 

    Trump appeared optimistic that both sides would agree to the peace deal, telling the New York Post Friday that he believes the three countries have a “good shot” at securing the deal with Ukraine on Sunday.

    “I think they want to do it now, and I think that Russia wants to do it. But every time one wants to do it, the other doesn’t,” Trump said. “I settled eight wars, and this is the most difficult of them all. But I think we’ll get it done.”

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