What is the West? Been hearing a lot lately from Establishment types – especially Never Trumpers – about how Trump is destroying the West. I opined back at one of the nitwits that if his idea of the West is what we’ve got to save, then I want it to die.
That picture above is my Grandfather. George Childs Noonan, Sr. Born in 1896. Went to war – along with his seven brothers – in World War One. Because his country asked him to. And there was no way his country would ask him to fight except in a good cause and to do good for the world. Unlike about 115,000 of his comrades, he came home. So, too, did all of his brothers; though all had been wounded in the war to one degree or another (the family joke is this is why we’ve had nothing but bad luck…grandpa and his brothers used up the family allotment). My grandfather would be 123 and it is odd that a 55 year old man has a grandfather that old…but he married a little later than usual for men of his generation (1926; he was nearly 30 when he got hitched) and his son, my father, was even later to the marriage game (31 when he married my mom); so, this means a guy born in the 60’s has a grandpa born in the 19th century when most people my age have grandfathers born in the 1910’s and 20’s.
Because of the enormous age gap, I never really got to know my grandfather well. By the time I came along, he was pushing 70…and my earliest memories of him are when he was well past 75. He died in 1981 at 85 years old. Most of what I know I got second hand from my father, plus a bit from a fascinating bit of autobiography he tried in the 1960’s. The man clearly was a character. It was muted by the time I remember him, but in his day he was the life of the party. He knew all sorts of interesting people and tried all sorts of interesting things to make a living.
He was honest and he imparted that to his son, who gave it to his son: DO NOT LIE. I remember one time as a boy I broke that rule and lied directly to my grandmother and though it happened more than 40 years ago and she’s more than 30 years in her grave, I still feel a deep and abiding shame over it. Better to be a bank robber than be a liar. Speak the truth, or don’t speak at all. Keep the secrets: just because you found out something this doesn’t make it right for you to blab about it to every Tom, Dick and Harry out there. Be generous: it is better to have 10% of something than 100% of nothing. Treat everyone with respect – doesn’t matter if they are the sleaziest bum on the street, it won’t cost you to call him “sir” and treat him decently. Work hard. Don’t expect charity. Keep to your own business and only want what you earn. These are the lessons which were transmitted…and though they become attenuated in this modern age of clatter and buzz, gape and gloat, they still come home to me.
That was the West. That was what was worth preserving. That is what we lost – and its been replaced by something else, something I don’t like one bit. It might still fly the same banners and speak the same words, but it isn’t the same thing. We’re expected to lie – in fact, it is demanded that we lie. We’re supposed to envy anyone who has aught that we don’t have, and demand they give it over to us. We’re to treat people with contempt. We’ll send our young men and women off to murky wars with no clear idea of what is to come of it…and then do dirty, backroom deals with cretins that we’re supposed to be fighting.
No more of that for me: what I fight for is what my grandfather actually, in the flesh and with his blood, fought for. A West of truth, of decency, of hard work, of self reliance. What he shipped off to fight for in 1917 is long gone, but I now see my duty: to bring it back.
Blogs For Victory 
I am reminded of the advice my grandfather always gave me which I think is unique to the West. He was born in 1913 in Oregon and like myself he was always entrepreneurial having started and operated two successful business’s in his time. Whenever I would embark on a new venture I would always run it by him and after some discussion he would always say “give ’em both barrels” lol … meaning give it everything you got.
I am amazed more people aren’t furious over this:
In addition to not properly ensuring that the evidence they presented was accurate, the FBI was found to have omitted exculpatory information about Page that could have impacted the judge’s decision in granting the FISA warrant. Included in this was an instance where an attorney was found to have altered an email to say that Page had not been a CIA source, when in fact he had been working with them. That information would have justified Page’s contacts with Russia, and its omission ultimately led to the FBI renewing the FISA warrant against Page……On Sunday, Comey claimed that the FBI did not intentionally commit wrongdoing, but described the FBI’s failures as “real sloppiness.” He said that “in general” he was unaware of “the particulars of the investigation” when it was going on, but said that as the person at the head of the FBI at the time, it still falls on him.
There was ZERO basis for the 2+ years Mueller and the media drug this country through crap and they are still doing it. Some one needs to shut these people up, shut this shit down and hold these people accountable.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/comey-defends-fbis-fisa-process-after-scathing-ig-report
…an attorney was found to have altered an email to say that Page had not been a CIA source, when in fact he had been working with them. That information would have justified Page’s contacts with Russia, and its omission ultimately led to the FBI renewing the FISA warrant against Page
I’ve been wondering why so little attention had been paid to the fact that Page was a U.S. (CIA) asset while the FBI was claiming he was a Russian asset. I didn’t know if it was just more of that Gorelick “wall” keeping intelligence agencies from sharing information, or what. Changing an email to hide that fact is such an egregious violation of every possible standard of ethics and legality, this guy should be prosecuted quite vigorously and I hope Page has an attorney ready to go after him in civil court as well.
BUT….why was a single email the only communication between the agencies about this? Do the two agencies really operate parallel to each other in many ways without one knowing what the other is doing? Is that the standard of intelligence gathering and analysis in the United States “intelligence community” these days? No one at the FBI knew Page was a CIA asset, no one at the CIA knew the FBI was investigating him AS A FOREIGN ASSET? I could see a lack of communication if the FBI had been looking at Page for some alleged domestic crime, but it seems that once they got into the area of international intrigue the two agencies should have at the very least checked in with each other.
In addition to the impression of corruption and abuse of power at the tops of these agencies there is the impression of clueless incompetence, as they seem to have bumbled into each other in the dark. It’s as if we had Curley, Moe and Larry running our intelligence agencies.
It looks as if the criminal courts are going to address some of this, at least regarding the Russia collusion/Mueller debacle. I wonder who is going to tackle the impeachment debacle and unwind it for the public. Offhand I would say this would require that Vindman be court-martialed and stripped of rank and pension, Ciaramella be fired and lose his pension and possibly be prosecuted for lying under oath and violations of his oath of confidentiality, his “bro” at the very least be fired though I don’t know what was his level of security so don’t know which of those rules he broke, Atkinson be fired and of course whatever could be done about Schiff. I think the real reason for wanting Schiff to testify is to be able to charge him with lying to Congress, because he would have to lie under oath. Lying is what he does.
A law without a penalty is the same thing as no law at all. Why have laws regarding security clearances, protection of classified information and so on if people can break them at will with no consequences?
Speaking of which—what are the chances Hillary is going to announce her candidacy as protection against prosecution for her crimes? If the Left is claiming that being a Dem candidate means immunity from investigation and/or prosecution, she is smart enough to jump on that and sign up.
Mark, our grandfathers had many parallels, born a couple decades apart and died a couple decades apart. My grandfather was born on a southern Ohio farm in 1874 and died in 1959 when I was 15. He was the only one of 9 siblings who lived to adulthood,and, as a result, didn’t serve in . the Spanish American War. I did get to know him growing up, and spent many weekends at his and my grandmother’s house. He was an avid outdoorsman — loved to fish and hunt, but failed to impart those interests in my dad. I inherited all his fishing tackle and his Browning 5 shot semi-automatic 12 guage shotgun. I eventually sold the shotgun when I quit hunting back in the mid-80’s, but I still use his old fishing tacklebox. He instilled in me the exact same values that your grandfather did in you, and I still feel the same way about them today as you do. No wonder I gravitated to this blog nearly 16 years ago.
My maternal grandmother came to the United States when she was about 10, from Czechoslovakia, and though she honored her Czech heritage, spoke Czech with her friends and cooked Czech foods for us she was proudly an American, spoke perfect English and was my role model. Like your grandfathers, she was independent and self-sufficient. As a spinster lady of 28 or so, she had a thriving tailor business in Nebraska, employing several people, when her younger brother came home with the idea of her selling her business, buying some wagons and mules, and going with him to eastern Colorado to homestead. They each claimed a section (a square mile) of land, and to be given title to it had to improve it with fencing, a house and a well. Her brother decided it was too much work and took off, so she improved both sections. When my grandfather, a widower with children, found her—-a strong woman with land—he married her and they had five children of their own. This was at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th—my mother was their youngest, born in 1920. My grandmother’s life spanned covered wagons to watching a man land on the moon and encompassed living through the Depression in a sod house on the northeastern Colorado prairie during the Dust Bowl wiring castoff evergreen branches onto a broomstick to make a Christmas tree for her children.
Well into her 70s and 80s she grew vegetables for the neighborhood and when she wanted a new chicken house she built a miniature Victorian-looking building with gables and cupolas.
To this day I regret not spending more time with her as I got into my teens and 20s, but I think I inherited a lot of her characteristics, and to this day she is my hero. She represents to me what our country is, has been and should be—–a haven for those who want freedom to build productive lives and who love and respect that country.
The discussion I just watched on MSNBC between Joy Reid and Ilhan Omar exemplifies the level of stupidity that party and that channel has devolved to. Neither of those women have two respectable brain cells to rub together and both of the have been elevated way above their level of competence. And not surprisingly, both are still pushing the Russia collusion lie.
I think it’s time we started bluntly identifying such nonsense as what it is—stupidity.
Ignorance is lack of information: Stupidity is the lack of ability to process information. The problem is not really the stupid people, or even the ignorant people, who have status and positions like Reid and Omar, but those who put them in those positions. They qualify solely on the basis of their race, which is a terrible reason for advancement as well as discrimination.
I guess Joy wasn’t done …..
Reid asked her panelists, “in all seriousness,” what happens if President Trump refuses to leave office? Sadly, rather than trying to talk poor Joy down, the panelists to a person fed her fevered fantasies. …. MSNBC analyst and MoveOn.org spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said that Trump’s base would “go into the street” to support his right to a third term, adding, “we’re in a dangerous, dangerous place with our democracy.”
After lying to their viewers for 3 years … they’re now worried about Trump. Self awareness is not one of their strong suits either.
https://blogsforvictory.com/2019/12/14/rebuild-the-west/comment-page-1/#comment-101021
This was a theme pushed by the Left when George W Bush was in office. Same old same old. People on the Left were feverishly speculating that he was going to cancel the 2008 elections, that he would refuse to leave office, etc. Then, of course, he did nothing at all except leave the White House with dignity and grace, welcoming the Obamas and wishing them well. (Not at all like the welcome he got when he was first elected, to a White House raided by the avaricious Clintons and vandalized, with offices trashed and the letter “W” removed from keyboards.)
These silly, unserious people are desperate for some “danger” supposedly posed by Trump that they are projecting to 2024 with their bizarre fantasies. What they consistently miss is that Trump supporters are people who defend and respect the Constitution, and it is the howling rioting mobs of the Left who “go to the street”.
And Trump will leave the White House, and the office, with dignity and grace, just as Bush did—hopefully handing the keys over to another Republican president.
This is one possible change that we could see in the weeks / months to come. Though I don’t see mass exodus and certainly wouldn’t want most of the current batch of Democrats in the Republican / Conservative party, defection of a few individuals would sting the current Dem party.
Did you see Schiff’s town hall in CA? It didn’t go well
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bethbaumann/2019/12/15/watch-chaos-erupts-when-constituents-confront-schiff-over-impeachment-during-a-town-hall-n2558033
Advice to GOP – don’t let the democrats and the media off the Russia hoax. All they did was switch gears literally the day after Mueller testimony on July 24 and since that narrative fell apart, it’s primarily Ukraine that you hear now. Well they need to first answer and be held accountable for propagating a lie that divided this country for 3 years and only after that will we address other issues. One destructive lie at a time please.
I’m hoping someone has kept track of the hours and dollars wasted on Dem foolishness.
In the meantime I understand the White House and Trump Tower housekeeping staff are being subpoenaed to testify about the newest impeachment effort—Trump has torn tags off mattresses. This is clearly another existential threat to…….well, something.
Poor babies. I think the latest nail in their coffin, the trade deal with China coming right before new tariffs were going to be put in place, has them peeing down their legs in panic. Farmers are going to be selling corn, soybeans and meat to China in record amounts, no new wars, terrorists are being called out, and changing the “catch and release” system at the border (and what a bizarre and utterly stupid idea that was in the first place!) has slowed down efforts to cross and reduced pressure on border patrol at the same time removing the CHILDREN IN CAGES !!!! howl from the playlist of the Left. Embedded agents of the Left are trembling, wondering when the hammer is going to come down on them, and a bunch of beltway bureaucrats are either looking for work or packing to move to Western Colorado.
Ahh, good times……..
Sara Carter has an interesting piece on the abuse of the FISA process WRT to FBI surveillance of the Trump campaign/transition team/Presidency. She observes correctly that the Court itself is MIA WRT feedback and/or input into the discussion about what went wrong, and how to prevent it from happening again. I submit that there is something else that is missing from the whole discussion, and it’s a very significant piece. How many levels deep from Page did the warrant authorize? If it even went as little as one or two levels removed from Page (people he talked to and people those people talked to), there could have been dozens of connected people surveiled. Three or four levels and the number increases exponentially. I’ve read a number of articles about the subject, and none have mentioned this aspect of a surveillance warrant.
All doors lead to Clinton and by extension Obama with Lynch as a co conspirator. And I think Bill was behind this because I don’t think Hillary is this smart. The layering involved of the Clinton campaign hiring the law firm who hired Fusion GPS who then hired Steele and back channeled to the FBI via Nellie Ohr to her husband Bruce has Bill’s finger prints all over it.
I also think that once the Mueller charade ended on July 24, the Dems needed something quick to throw onto the impeachment train which was full speed hence the Ukraine phone call on July 25. No matter how weak it was, they had to go all in …. and they did. It’s transparent and a real shame. We currently have a media knowingly engaged in broadcasting lies and tearing this country apart … and there is no shame and more importantly no one is stopping it.
I don’t put a lot of stock into polls thinking they are designed to shape opinion more so than reflect it, but the following results are interesting. Keep in mind these polls are conducted during the time the President is being impeached by an over zealous Congress and is facing unprecedented negative coverage from nearly every media outlet:
President Donald Trump, the first modern president to face impeachment during his first term in the White House, now leads his top Democratic rivals in his bid for a second, a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds.
The national survey, taken as the House of Representatives planned an impeachment vote and the Senate a trial, showed Trump defeating former Vice President Joe Biden by 3 percentage points, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by 5 points, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren by 8 points.
In hypothetical head-to-head contests, Trump also led South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg by 10 points and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg by 9.
Just imagine if Trump received even just normal media coverage … he would be up by double digits. It’s a shame what the media is doing to this country. And now of course that the Russia collusion narrative was proven to built on lies, the media rarely mentions it anymore. I pray these people are held accountable.
The VERY SAME PEOPLE who willfully lied to destroy two innocent men’s lives, Carter Page and Brett Kavanaugh, are now wanting us to believe them that Trump is the danger to America:
FBI agents and officials failed to disclose exculpatory information regarding Page in the applications, which asserted that the Trump aide was a Russian agent. The IG report said that the FBI relied heavily on the infamous Steele dossier in the applications, but had failed to verify any of the allegations in the document.
And these are the same people who allow other people to defecate on public streets …. and yet Trump is the danger to America. I despise them with every fiber of my being and I await the reckoning.
https://dailycaller.com/2019/12/16/james-baker-fbi-fisa-report-terrible/