Tis the season…

FROM:    Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director
TO:         All Employees
DATE:    December 1, 2023
RE:        Gala Christmas Party
I’m happy to inform you that the company Christmas Party will take place on December 23rd, starting at noon in the private function room at the Grill House. There will be a cash bar and plenty of drinks!  We’ll have a small band playing traditional carols… feel free to sing along.  And don’t be surprised if our CEO shows up dressed as Santa Claus! A Christmas tree will be lit at 1:00 PM.   Exchanges of gifts among employees can be done at that time; however, no gift should be over $10.00 to make the giving of gifts easy for everyone’s pockets.  This gathering is only for employees!
Our CEO will make a special announcement at that time!

Merry Christmas to you and your family,
Patty
————————————————————————
FROM:    Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director
TO:         All Employees
DATE:    December 2, 2023
RE:       Gala Holiday Party
In no way was yesterday’s memo intended to exclude our Jewish employees.  We  recognize that  Hanukkah is an important holiday, which often coincides with Christmas, though
unfortunately not this year.  However, from now on,  we’re calling it our ” Holiday Party.”  The same policy applies to any other employees who are not Christians and to those still celebrating Reconciliation Day.  There will be no Christmas tree and no Christmas carols will be sung.  We will have other types of music for your enjoyment.

Happy now?
Happy Holidays to you and your family,
Patty
——————————————————–
FROM:   Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director
TO:        All Employees
DATE:     December 3, 2023
RE:         Holiday Party

Regarding the note I received from a member of Alcoholics Anonymous requesting a non-drinking table, you didn’t sign your name.  I’m happy to accommodate this request, but if I put a sign on a table that  reads, “AA Only”, you wouldn’t be anonymous anymore. How am I supposed to handle this?
Somebody?
And sorry, but forget about the gift exchange, No gifts are allowed since the union members feel that $10.00 is too much money and the executives believe $10.00 is a little chintzy.
REMEMBER: NO GIFTS EXCHANGE WILL BE ALLOWED.

PATTY
——————————————————–
FROM:  Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director
To:        All Employees
DATE:   December 4, 2023
RE:        Generic Holiday Party

What a diverse group we are!  I had no idea that December 20th begins the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which forbids eating and drinking during daylight hours.  There goes the party!  Seriously, we can appreciate how a luncheon at this time of year does not accommodate our Muslim employees’ beliefs.  Perhaps the Grill House can hold off on serving your meal until the end of the party or else package everything for you to take it home in little foil doggy baggy.  Will that work?
Meanwhile, I’ve arranged for members of Weight Watchers to sit farthest from the dessert buffet, and pregnant women will get the table closest to the restrooms.
Gays are allowed to sit with each other. Lesbians do not have to sit with Gay men, each group will have their own table.
Yes, there will be flower arrangement for the Gay men’s table.
To the person asking permission to cross dress, the Grill House asks that no cross-dressing be allowed, apparently because of concerns about confusion in the restrooms.
Sorry.
We will have booster seats for short people. Low-fat food will be available for those on a diet.  I am sorry to report that we cannot control the amount of salt used in the food .  The Grill House suggests that people with high blood pressure taste a bite first. There will be fresh “low sugar” fruits as
dessert for diabetics, but the restaurant cannot supply “no sugar” desserts. Sorry!

Did I miss anything?!?!?
Patty
——————————————————–
FROM:   Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director
TO:         All  #*%^ing Employees
DATE:    December  5, 2023
RE:         The #*%^ing Holiday Party

I’ve had it with you vegetarian pricks!!! We’re going to keep this party at the Grill House whether you like it or not, so you can sit quietly at the table furthest from the “grill of death,” as you so quaintly put it, and you’ll get your f*%^ing salad bar, including organic tomatoes.  But you know, tomatoes have feelings, too.  They scream when you slice them.  I’ve heard them scream.  I’m hearing them    scream right NOW! The rest of you f*%^ing wierdos can kiss my *ss.  I hope you all have a rotten holiday!
Drive drunk and die,
The B*tch from H*ll!!!

PATTY
——————————————————–
FROM:  Joan Bishop, Acting Human Resources Director
DATE:   December  6, 2023
RE:        Patty Lewis and Holiday Party

I’m sure I speak for all of us in wishing Patty Lewis a speedy recovery and I’ll continue to forward your cards to her.
In the meantime, management has decided to cancel our Holiday Party and give everyone the afternoon of the 23rd off with full pay.
Happy Holidays!
Joan

More Fauci fallout???

This one is interesting for what wasn’t done!

HHS Office of the Inspector General did an audit on the NIH and their foreign grants, and the results were NOT good…

NIH did not ensure that NIH foreign grant recipients completed and submitted required annual audit reports. NIH did not receive 81 of the 109 annual audit reports for foreign grant recipients that met the requirements for an audit and for which NIH provided the majority of HHS funding. As a result, NIH did not have information needed from the 81 annual audit reports to effectively monitor these foreign grant recipients for potential findings or recommendations noted in the audit reports. Of the 28 audit reports received by NIH, 18 did not contain any information that indicated a need for further NIH monitoring or corrective action on the part of the foreign grant recipient, and 10 contained findings that required follow-up actions by NIH and the foreign grant recipient. However, for 7 of the 10 audit reports that required follow-up actions, NIH did not follow up with a management decision letter or did not timely issue the letter.

Full article, HERE from HHS.

Of note, there is no list of either the grantees or the type of research being done… Just that they were ‘foreign’…

One wonders if they will ever get the answers…

Another ‘coalition’…

Sigh…

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the creation of a new maritime task force Monday with the aim of safeguarding commercial ships operating in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. 

Operation Prosperity Guardian will include the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain. 

Full article, HERE.

I really wonder who is in control up there these days… The ‘simple’ answer is ‘counterbattery’ fire from the ships already there to turn the firing points into exploding clouds of…stuff…

But no, apparently the appeasement of Iran continues as the Iranian proxies cause major international problems, shipping delays, and impact the global balance of oil shipments.

Lemme see…who would possibly benefit??? Iran? Russia? My oh my…

Grrr…

A ‘little’ win???

For now, the Reconciliation Monument at Arlington National Cemetery still stands!

A federal judge temporarily halted the removal of a Confederate monument at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday after a group called Defend Arlington filed a lawsuit.

The memorial’s removal was planned for this week. A court hearing is now scheduled for Wednesday, and the injunction will expire at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 20. While work had begun on removing the monument, the temporary restraining order issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Rossie Alston allows the memorial to remain in place for now.

Full article HERE from the Washington Examiner.

This is what the area looks like.

This is one I’ve never understood the desire to remove. It is, according to what I was told years ago, a tribute to returning home, reconciliation, and peace in the US, NOT a memorial purely to the Confederacy.

Your thoughts???

Greenies and $$$

As always, follow the money…

Several blue states have deprived rural counties of the ability to reject the massive green energy projects that corporations want to site in their communities, while green industrial interests and environmentalist groups have poured money into state capitals.

Michigan, California, New York and Illinois have all passed legislation that consolidates authority over land use issues and rules with state-level bureaucrats at the expense of local governments that could have altered their own zoning codes to stem the tide of industrial green projects like solar and wind farms. These policies deprive rural residents in these states of their freedom and local autonomy, while also benefiting the corporate interests that line the pockets of the states’ Democratic governors, state policy experts and lawmakers told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Full article, HERE.

Can’t have those pesky locals getting in the way of those in ‘control’ making the big bucks one way or the other…

We’ve been having issues with pushes for more wind farms out here, even with the military protesting due to the fact that we have a major pilot training base here. The ‘proponents’ ignore (conveniently, IMHO) the fact that wind turbines, with their large rotating blades, can create radar interference and can reflect radar signals, leading to false radar returns, or even complete radar shadows in the regions behind the turbines.

For training bases, that is a MAJOR issue and could lead to base closure in another round of BRAC, which is probably coming in the next four years if the dems retain control… sigh…

And the last big winter storm we had, ALL of the turbines were shut down due to icing, so they contributed ZERO to the power generation…

All good things…

Must come to an end…

Much like the ‘sunsetting’ of the shuttles, now it’s the ISS.

The International Space Station is celebrating its 25th birthday — even as NASA prepares to put it out to pasture.

In a live-streamed talk pegged to the quarter-century anniversary of the ISS, the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the floating habitat took questions about a variety of topics, including the detritus that’s accumulated in the station’s Unity Module, the look of lightning from above the Earth, and the spirit of international cooperation.

Full article HERE, from the BYTE.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been up there for 25 years, it seems like ‘yesterday’ that it was launched to much fanfare!

From very humble beginnings, but bigger than MIR, it has grown over the years into an international success, allowing multiple countries to put astronauts in space to do many scientific experiments, and given the world a new perspective on what really happens in long term space flight to the human body.

No one seems to know what is actually coming next as far as space habitats, but the ‘leaning’ is toward ‘private’ industry…

Ho, ho, ho…

For versions…

HO HO HO!
T’was the night before Christmas – Old Santa was pissed
He cussed out the elves and threw down his list
Miserable little brats, ungrateful little jerks
I have a good mind to scrap the whole works

I’ve busted my ass for damn near a year
Instead of “Thanks Santa” – what do I hear
The old lady bitches cause I work late at night
The elves want more money – The reindeer all fight

Rudolph got drunk and goosed all the maids
Donner is pregnant and Vixen has AIDS
And just when I thought that things would get better
Those assholes from IRS sent me a letter

They say I owe taxes – if that ain’t damn funny
Who the hell ever sent Santa Clause any money
And the kids these days – they all are the pits
They want the impossible …Those mean little shits

I spent a whole year making wagons and sleds Assembling dolls…Their arms,
legs and heads I made tons of yo yo’s

No request for them They want
computers and robots…they think I’m IBM!

If you think that’s bad…just picture this
Try holding those brats…with their pants full of piss
They pull on my nose – they grab at my beard
And if I don’t smile…their moms think I’m weird

Flying through the air…dodging the trees
Falling down chimneys and skinning my knees
I’m quitting this job…there’s just no enjoyment
I’ll sit on my fat ass and draw unemployment

There’s no Christmas this year…now you know the reason
I found me a blonde.. I’m going SOUTH for the season!!
——–
I think Santa Claus is a woman….

I hate to be the one to defy sacred myth, but I believe he’s a she.

Think about it. Christmas is a big, organized, warm, fuzzy, nurturing social deal, and I have a tough time believing a guy could  possibly pull it all off!

For starters, the vast majority of men don’t even think about selecting gifts until Christmas Eve. Once at the mall, they always seem surprised to find only Ronco products, socket wrench sets, and mood rings left on the shelves.  On this count alone, I’m convinced Santa is a woman.

Surely, if he were a man, everyone in the universe would wake up Christmas morning to find a rotating musical Chia Pet under the tree, still in the bag.

Another problem for a he-Santa would be getting there.  First of all, there would be no reindeer because they would all be dead, gutted  and strapped on to the rear bumper of the sleigh amid wide-eyed, desperate claims that buck season had been extended. Blitzen’s rack would already
be on the way to the taxidermist.  Even if the male Santa DID have reindeer, he’d still have  transportation problems because he would inevitably get lost up there in the snow and clouds and then refuse to stop and ask for directions.

Other reasons why Santa can’t possibly be a man:
– Men can’t pack a bag.
– Men would rather be dead than caught wearing red velvet.
– Men would feel their masculinity is threatened…having to be seen with all those elves.
– Men don’t answer their mail.
– Men would refuse to allow their physique to be described even in jest as anything remotely resembling a “bowlful of jelly.”
– Men aren’t interested in stockings unless somebody’s wearing them.
– Having to do the Ho Ho Ho thing would seriously inhibit their ability to pick up women.
– Finally, being responsible for Christmas would require a commitment.

I can buy the fact that other mythical holiday characters are men………Father Time shows up once a year unshaven and looking ominous.  Definite guy.
Cupid flies around carrying weapons. Uncle Sam is a politician who likes to point fingers.  Any one of these individuals could pass the testosterone screening test.

But not St. Nick.  Not a chance.
———

Twas the Night Before Christmas in Yonkers

‘Twas the night before Christmas,
Da whole house was mella,
Not a creature was stirrin’,
Cuz I had a gun unda da pilla.

When up on da roof
I heard somethin’ pound,
I sprung to da window,
To scream, “YO! Keep it down!”

When what to my
Wanderin’ eyes should appear,
But da Don of all elfs,
And eight friggin’ reindeer!

Wit’ slicked back black hair,
And a silk red suit,
Don Christopher wuz here,
And he brought da loot!

Wit’ a slap to dare snouts,
And a yank on dare manes,
He cursed and he shouted,
And he called dem by name.

“Yo Tony, Yo Frankie,
Yo Vinny, Yo Vito,
Ay Joey, Ay Paulie,
Ay Pepe, Ay Guido!”

As I drew out my gun
And hid by da bed,
He flew troo da winda
And slapped me up side da head.

“What da hell you doin’
Pullin’ a gun on da Don?
Now all you’re gettin’ is coal,
You friggin’ moron!”

Den pointin’ a fat finga
Right unda my nose,
He twisted his pinky ring,
And up da chimney he rose.

He sprang to his sleigh,
Obscenities screamin’,
Away dey all flew,
Before he troo dem a beatin’.

Den I heard him yell out,
Two, tree times, I expect
“Merry Friggin’ Christmas to all,
And you’s better show some respect!

ROTFLMAO!!!

Virginia put one over on DC…

Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) and other Virginia leaders proudly touted a plan alongside Washington Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis to bring both teams to a new arena in Alexandria, Virginia, leaving Washington, D.C., leaders scrambling to prevent the move.

The Wednesday announcement of a proposed $2 billion sports and entertainment district being built in the Potomac Yard neighborhood of Alexandria required months of behind-the-scenes maneuvering, even as Leonsis negotiated with Washington for renovations to the current home of the Capitals and Wizards, according to a report from Axios.

Full article HERE from the Washington Examiner.

Snort…this is just too funny! Apparently DC powers that be ‘thought’ Leonsis was stuck with DC, whatever happened.

Guess Bowser et al thought wrong!

Snicker…snort… I wonder if she’ll get coal in her stocking in a couple of weeks?

Quelle surprise!!!

Discrimination is alive and well in the northeast…

And has been for well over 50 years, except today it is acceptable!

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s office reportedly mistakenly sent an email invite Tuesday to white officials on City Council for an event intended exclusively for “electeds of color,” a.k.a. non-white representatives. The event coordinator in the Wu administration, who had made the mistake, has since clarified that the inclusion of City Hall’s white councilors was an “accident.”

Full article, HERE.

Anybody wanna bet there will be a separate event for the white representatives?

IMHO, it is truly sad to see everything Martin Luther King was trying to overcome being purposefully dismantled…

From his 1963 I have a Dream speech-

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon of hope to millions of slaves, who had been seared in the flames of whithering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the colored America is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the colored American is still sadly crippled by the manacle of segregation and the chains of discrimination.

One hundred years later, the colored American lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the colored American is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our Nation’s Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our great republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.

This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given its colored people a bad check, a check that has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice.

We have also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is not time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy.

Now it the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.

Now it the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

Now is the time to make justice a reality to all of God’s children.

I would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of it’s colored citizens. This sweltering summer of the colored people’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end but a beginning. Those who hope that the colored Americans needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.

There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the colored citizen is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.

We cannot be satisfied as long as the colored person’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.

We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “for white only.”

We cannot be satisfied as long as a colored person in Mississippi cannot vote and a colored person in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.

No, no we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of your trials and tribulations. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by storms of persecutions and staggered by the winds of police brutality.

You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our modern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you, my friends, we have the difficulties of today and tomorrow.

I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.

I have a dream that one day out in the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; that one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be engulfed, every hill shall be exalted and every mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I will go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.

With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.

With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to climb up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning “My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father’s died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!”

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that, let freedom, ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi and every mountainside.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old spiritual, “Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”

Now, today, everything is about racism or denigrating one group or another (Jewish/Israelis down, Hamass up)…

Granted I’m an old man, who grew up in the South, but I also spent over 20 years in the military where skin color didn’t matter, just your work ethic and ability to do your job and another 23 years working as a government contractor. Bottom line, there are good and bad in ANY ethnic group anywhere in the world.

I have always treated anyone I met with respect and expected to be met the same way. Guess I’m an odd ball…

Pushback…

May get somebody’s attention…

Or they simply may not care, in the case of Harvard!

Influential Harvard alum Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, has been vocal in calling for the resignations of the three heads of Harvard, UPenn, and MIT over their disastrous testimonies on Capitol Hill last week. The House hearing came after their abysmal responses to antisemitic attacks on their respective campuses since the Israel-Hamas war began Oct. 7.

Full article, HERE.

While McGill resigned at UPenn (but remains as a law professor), Gay’s plagiarism was swept under the rug by the Harvard Board today and they are keeping her.

While the money Ackman is talking about is large to folks like us, Harvard apparently has an endowment of somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 BILLION! So even $100 million is a drop in the bucket to them.

But I do find this X feed rather interesting, since this is the lady that Gay plagiarised…

Interesting, to put it mildly…

I can’t help but wonder if these people protesting realize what they are really protesting for or about…