Rest in Peace…

Posted on by June 29, 2022

Hershel (Woody) Williams died yesterday.

He was the last WWII Medal of Honor winner.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — World War II hero and Medal of Honor recipient Hershel “Woody” Williams died Wednesday morning at the VA hospital near Huntington named in his honor. Williams was 98.

The Woody Williams Family Foundation posted a message Tuesday indicating the West Virginia native was in his last days. The foundation said he died at 3:15 a.m. Wednesday surrounded by family members.

Full article HERE from WVA Metro News.

A little guy, he was only 5’2″, originally too short to enlist. Later, the Marines took him willingly. Then came Iwo Jima…

A light blue neck ribbon with a gold star shaped medallion hanging from it. The ribbon is similar in shape to a bowtie with 13 white stars in the center of the ribbon.
The President of the United States in the name of The Congress takes pleasure in presenting the
MEDAL OF HONOR
to
CORPORAL HERSHEL W. WILLIAMS
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS RESERVE
for service as set forth in the following CITATION:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as Demolition Sergeant serving with the First Battalion, Twenty-First Marines, Third Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Island, 23 February 1945. Quick to volunteer his services when our tanks were maneuvering vainly to open a lane for the infantry through the network of reinforced concrete pillboxes, buried mines and black, volcanic sands, Corporal Williams daringly went forward alone to attempt the reduction of devastating machine-gun fire from the unyielding positions. Covered only by four riflemen, he fought desperately for four hours under terrific enemy small-arms fire and repeatedly returned to his own lines to prepare demolition charges and obtain serviced flame throwers, struggling back, frequently to the rear of hostile emplacements, to wipe out one position after another. On one occasion he daringly mounted a pillbox to insert the nozzle of his flame thrower through the air vent, kill the occupants and silence the gun; on another he grimly charged enemy riflemen who attempted to stop him with bayonets and destroyed them with a burst of flame from his weapon. His unyielding determination and extraordinary heroism in the face of ruthless enemy resistance were directly instrumental in neutralizing one of the most fanatically defended Japanese strong points encountered by his regiment and aided in enabling his company to reach its’ [sic] objective. Corporal Williams’ aggressive fighting spirit and valiant devotion to duty throughout this fiercely contested action sustain and enhance the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

/S/ HARRY S. TRUMAN
Rest in peace sir! There are many who have stepped up to take the watch for you.

SCOTUS…

Posted on by June 28, 2022

I know it’s been an interesting week and some, but I think the ‘biggest’ verdict is yet to drop. And that is West Virginia vs. the EPA.

West Virginia v. the Environmental Protection Agency has the potential to sharply curtail the power of the EPA.

The case is an unusual one for the court. Instead of looking at a rule that has already been established, this one will set a precedent for future actions, specifically those tied to the EPA’s authority to regulate power plant emissions. Should the court rule against the EPA, that could hamper the Biden administration’s plans to combat climate change, as regulating authority could shift to Congress.

Full article, HERE from Fortune.

This has the potential to gut the EPA’s ability to make these rule changes by unelected bureaucrats, and force Congresscritters to actually do their jobs and LEGISLATE, not dump it off on others. And a benefit would be that we the people would actually KNOW what these programs cost, as they would have to be made public!

Other agencies affected could be BATF, NEA, CDC, and a lot others.

So I’m hoping they overturn and do it quickly!

How about a little humor???

Posted on by June 26, 2022

Tired of the BS on the news? I sure am…

Here are a couple of really bad jokes! 🙂

A farmer is sitting in the neighborhood bar getting hammered.
A man come in and asks the farmer,
“Hey, why are you sitting here on this beautiful day, getting drunk?”
The farmer shook his head and replies, “Some things you just can’t explain.”
“So what happened that’s so horrible?” the man asks
as he sits down next to the farmer.
“Well,’ the farmer says, “today I was sitting by my cow, milking her.
Just as I got the bucket ’bout full,
she lifted her left leg and kicked over the bucket.”
“Okay,” says the man, “but that’s not so bad.”
“Some things you just can’t explain,” the farmer replies.
“So what happened then?” the man asks.
The farmer says, “I took her left leg and tied it to the post on the left.”
And then?” “Well, I sat back down and continued to milk her.
Just as I got the bucket ’bout full,
she took her right leg and kicked over the bucket.”
Man laughed and said, “Again?”
The farmer replies, “Some things you just can’t explain.”
“So, what did you do then?” the man asks.
“I took her right leg this time and tied it to the post on the right.”
“And then?”
“Well, I sat back down and began milking her again.
Just as I got the bucket about full, the stupid cow knocked over the bucket with her tail.”
“Hmmm . . .” the man says and nods his head.
“Some things you just can’t explain,” the farmer says.
“So, what did you do?” the man asks.
“Well,” the farmer says, “I didn’t have anymore rope,
so I took off my belt and tied her tail to the rafter.
In that moment, my pants fell down and my wife walked in . . .
Some things you just can’t explain.”

++++++++

It was a sunny morning in the Big Forest and the Bear family is just waking up.

Baby Bear goes downstairs and sits in his small chair at the table. He looks into his small bowl. It is empty! “Who’s been eating my porridge?” he squeaks.

Father Bear arrives at the table and sits in his big chair. He looks into his big bowl. It is also empty! “Who’s been eating my porridge?” he roars.

Mother Bear sticks her head out the kitchen door and yells, “For Pete’s sake, how many times do we have to go through this?”

“It was Mother Bear who go up first.”

“It was Mother Bear who woke everybody else in the house up.”

“It was Mother Bear who unloaded the dishwasher from last night and put everything away.”

“It was Mother Bear who went out into the cold early morning air to fetch the newspaper.”

“It was Mother Bear who set the table.”

“It was Mother Bear who put the cat out, cleaned the litter box and filled the cat’s water and food dish.”

“And now that you’ve decided to come down stairs and grace me with your presence, listen good because I’m only going to say this one more time I haven’t made the damned porridge yet.”

So…

Posted on by June 25, 2022

We did a ‘thang’ yesterday at our American Legion Post…

Competition BBQ! Yes, it was 106 yesterday… But we were on the competition schedule and 15 cooks showed up! We were in at 0530, cooking breakfast burritos for the cooks and members that were helping out, and pulled pork sandwiches for lunch.

There were contests for beans, chicken, ribs, and brisket. And kids got to cook steaks! And volunteers from the public and members got to ‘judge’ the food. OBTW, if you ever get asked to judge, the PROPER way to do it is to cut off ONE BITE of the meat, eat that, throw your knife/fork in the trash bin, grade the meat, then move to the next tray and do that again (x15).

You DON’T pull off a chicken leg and start chowing down… sigh…

And there were some ‘interesting’ cookers…

And yes, for those playing along at home, he served on the USS Augusta, SSN 710. His ‘story’ was that he’d started building from the back, and wanted to add a small grill up front that he could use for ‘little things’. He realized that it kinda looked like a sub, so since he needed a smoke stack, he just fared it in and added the fairwater planes. And since he was a small gun and known for his ribs, it became the USS Shortrib…

Another interesting thing seen was one of our members (retired USAF E-9, Vietnam Vet, Nha Trang, 1969) brought out his K5 Blazer!

An all original 1983 Silverado version, original drivetrain (he admitted the engine was rebuilt at 250,000 miles).

And the interior is original too! He said he’s right at 289,000 miles, and needs to do a ‘little’ work on it, like carpet, new seat cushions, and upgrade the AC to R34, since it’s impossible to find R-12!!!

But as he said, this thing is his ‘baby’, and it’s still a daily driver, 31 years after he bought it!

But when it was all said and done, everybody had fun, the post got some donations, and the cookers that won got points for their BBQ standings with the sponsors. And Dot ‘won’ something at the silent auction…

Roe v. Wade is gone…

Posted on by June 24, 2022

SCOTUS has had a helluva week! School choice, gun rights, and yesterday, Roe v. Wade.

The Supreme Court on Friday issued its long-awaited, and previously leaked opinion, overturning Roe v. Wade — effectively ending recognition of a constitutional right to abortion and giving individual states the power to regulate and restrict the practice.

Full article HERE from Fox.

Pelosi et al are melting down over a supposed ‘Constitutional Right’, which in fact it never was. 50 years ago the court used a sketchy justification around the 14th Amendment, which this court rightfully overturned from an ACTUAL Constitutional view. She actually called Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett “Right wing politicians” not judges! Unbelievable!!!

Xiden has come out against the court’s decision, saying ALL women’s lives are now at risk, as have the DOJ (Merrick Garland gave the comments, which is scary). So much for the other branches ‘honoring’ the decisions of SCOTUS, but I’ve come to expect nothing less from the left. They didn’t get their way, so they threw/are throwing a massive hissy fit.

The left/dems were all “must follow the science” during the WuFlu, and now suddenly science in the case of newborns is no longer relevant… Really?

The more concerning question, at least in my mind, is whether or not there will be a concerted effort to assassinate the conservative justices on the court to ‘pack’ the court with liberals.

Frankly, I would not be surprised, especially as the dem held house is refusing to pass a bill to increase funding to the USMS and the Court to provide additional security to the court members and families…

As was said in a private chat yesterday morning…

A win for the people of NY!!!

Posted on by June 23, 2022

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a 6-3 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, expanding gun rights for the first time in more than a decade.

Justice Thomas for the majority-

“The constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense is not ‘a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees,’” Thomas wrote in the opinion. “The exercise of other constitutional rights does not require individuals to demonstrate to government officers some special need. The Second Amendment right to carry arms in public for self-defense is no different. New York’s proper-cause requirement violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their right to keep and bear arms in public.”

Full article, HERE.

The ‘best’ reaction this far, other that Oberman’s meltdown, was Geraldo Rivera’s total BS response to the question of why, if shall issue is so bad, why hasn’t Florida and the other states had problems. His answer- “They don’t have subways.”

WTH??? Really???

Oh well, score one for the good folks that can now actually get a CCW in NY without having to have a ‘friend in high places’ or a large donation. I do wonder how NY is going to react and what kind of BS they are going to pull to stop this.

LOL…

Posted on by June 22, 2022

I can’t believe these things are still around, but they are…

I wonder how long the grandkids will play this before they get bored/go to sleep… I wonder how many people would have played this game over the years?

Did you???

Goose/Gander…

Posted on by June 21, 2022

Rapinoe didn’t have to battle trans persons for any of her slots/scholarships, or anything else when she was coming up through the soccer world. Now that she’s out of it, she’s making some interesting statements…

Megan Rapinoe Discusses Historic Equal Pay Agreement, Title IX Anniversary and Transgender Sports Bans

“Show me the evidence that trans women are taking everyone’s scholarships, are dominating in every sport, are winning every title. I’m sorry, it’s just not happening. So we need to start from inclusion, period. And as things arise, I have confidence that we can figure it out. But we can’t start at the opposite. That is cruel. And frankly, it’s just disgusting.”

Full article, HERE from Time.

Of course she ‘conveniently’ forgot about the whole Lia Thomas controversy… As played out at Penn, HERE.

Back in 2017, they played the FC Dallas under 15 boys squad in a scrimmage. And got beat! Of course the usual excuses were given, but the more interesting part were some of the pictures…

Article, HERE from CBS. Scroll down to the pictures of the 14 year old boy with the Team USA females and note the size difference.

I don’t know where this is going to end, but I think it’s going to be ugly as hell…

Sigh…

LibertyCon AAR…

Posted on by June 20, 2022

It’s been three years since we were able to gather…

So there was some ‘rust’ to be dusted off. Having said that, it was great to see everyone who made it, and I’m not going to try to list everyone, because sure as hell I’d miss somebody! And if I missed you, I’m sorry!

And we had to remember how to ‘people’ again! Kudos to Brandy and the staff for pulling everything together and get the show back on the road, so to speak. The hotel was coming out of the last two years too, and the restaurant had a limited menu, but the City Cafe was great as always (and the waits were sometimes a ‘bit’ long)!

Sadly, some folks didn’t make it in at all, or got there late due to over 1700 flights being cancelled over the weekend, and getting out yesterday was ‘interesting’ on some counts. Rich, Tish, et al shifted folks and made things work as they always do!

But…

It was a damn good con! We were all running around like chickens with our heads cut off, between trying to catch up with folks, going to or being on panels, and it didn’t seem like it was three days long. Maybe a day and a half…

The convention center was hosting multiple events all weekend, so there were our con, a bodybuilding contest (the ladies were loving that), an actual Indian wedding, and an MMA fight. So there was an ‘interesting’ mix of folks flowing through the hotel.

As always, the elevators were FULL, requiring the ‘dance’ anytime you got on one! LOL…

I was on six panels, and I think they all went well, or at least I didn’t get cussed out, so I’m calling that a win! All of the GOHs were outstanding, the mass signings went well, and there were surprisingly few bitches at the end.

As always, there is a charity chosen and this year it was Lana’s Love (Children’s cancer). Thanks to those who contributed/bid/etc., right at $13,000 was donated to support this outstanding cause! And Wendell FINALLY got a new home (and went for $700)! Thanks to Tully and everyone else who’d passed him around and took pictures of his travel!

Now it’s back to reality, wading through four days of emails, and writing (short story due in 10 days)… And sleep in my own bed! Yay!

And I ‘should’ be back to regular commenting tomorrow.

LibertyCon day 3…

Posted on by June 19, 2022

Stick a fork in it, we’re done!!! Kudos to the convention staff for the literally thousands of hours of work to pull this together, could not have asked for better support and coordination, and from my perspective as a Loli panelist it went very well! Everyone seem to enjoy the panels, the con suite, and the folks that were supporting behind the scenes.

People left yesterday afternoon yesterday evening and a bunch of us were leaving this morning going back to the reality of the real world. It’s been great to have a weekend where we didn’t worry about the Internet or the TV or anything else other than enjoying the time with our friends. I’ll be back to regular blogging and commenting on Tuesday.