In 1877, President Grant, just out of office, embarked on a world tour. He had been pretty much at the helm of great events since 1861 and he and his wife and long talked of a day when they would just travel the world…this was the fulfillment of what must, at times, have seemed an idle hope. They were in no hurry and stopped at many places along the way so the tour went on into 1879 (and, of course, travel by steamship and train is much slower than modern methods). In the course of this tour they visited the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey (including the Holy Land then under Turkish rule), Egypt, Greece, Scandinavia, Russia, Poland, Austria-Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, India, Burma, Siam, Indochina and Japan. Aside from his wife, he was accompanied by his son, Jesse, a journalist to document the trip and one aide. He was never under any threat of harm, was greeted warmly wherever he went and generally had a splendid time.
This, my friends, was the real world. A sane world. Of course, there were dangers – Lincoln had been assassinated in 1865. The Empress of Austria would be assassinated in 1898. But the world was sane. Safe. Murder was a rare and shocking thing (my grand-uncle Eddie Diggins was murdered in a speakeasy in 1927 and it made the New York Times – back pages, sure; but a murder in LA of someone of no real prominence made the papers in New York; that is how odd murder was). Now, why bring this up?
Because Trump has removed Secret Service protection for a lot of people of late – most notably John Bolton. This is causing quite a lot of outrage in the Ruling Class as these people are allegedly under threat of assassination, especially by agents of Iran. This might well be true – and I respond to this worry by saying that John Bolton and the rest of these people who had a hand in making this insane world should suffer the consequences of their actions. We’re not supposed to be in a world where a former official of the US government is at risk of assassination. We’re supposed to be so powerful and respected that nobody but a sheer madman would dream of killing one of our people. The solution to a threat by the Mullahs in 2025 was to have removed the Mullahs from power in 1979 when they took our Embassy. Our Ruling Class didn’t. And the replacements which have moved in since then never made any real response to the 1979 outrage. Indeed, some of the Ruling Class replacements who have come and gone positively encouraged the Mullahs to remain in power.
So, if a Mullah tries to kill you, I’ve got no sympathy.
We’re not supposed to live in a world of terrorist bombs, assassins, bums sleeping in tents, illegals pouring across borders, grooming gangs in England, sex tourism in Thailand, gangsters running Haiti, Hamas sending in rape/murder squads, 300,000 Americans overdosing on drugs, bridges that can’t be repaired for years, wildfires burning out of control for lack of water…you getting the picture? This world has gone mad and I don’t propose to protect the people who made this world from harm. They should have thought about it while they were destroying everything…I’m not going to hide a guy behind walls and guns where he’s safe from the consequences of his actions. Perhaps this will concentrate some minds going forward? Make some decisions go different ways?
We can only hope – meanwhile, let those who made the mess live in it.
UPDATE: Right around the time I wrote this, Trump ordered the declassification of the JFK, MLK and RFK files. I’m not expecting much – everyone has had plenty of time to carefully sanitize them. OTOH, our Ruling Class has a lot of very stupid people in it so maybe they didn’t? In these cases, I always recall that the Brits are keeping part of their Himmler death documents secret until 2045. I’ve always thought this weird – the “conspiracy theory” about it is that the Brits offed Himmler and faked his suicide because they didn’t want him to spill it about contacts between the UK (especially, perhaps, Royal Family) and Himmler during the war. But, if so, why not just destroy the documents? But, if the documents have been destroyed, why keep them secret until 2045? It is just weird…and maybe someone sifting through, say, the JFK files can shed some light on the sequence of events…like why the FBI didn’t have Oswald under surveillance given he was a known Commie kook and the President was coming to town?
Blogs For Victory 
brennan and company are allies of Iran, not enemies.
A distinction without a difference. They should all be in Leavenworth.
Pretty much – so clearly bought or so incredibly stupid that it makes no matter.
You can be bought and still be smart enough to hide it, so he clearly falls into both categories of bought and incredibly stupid.
You forgot to mention Japan, they’re dying at an enormous rate at nearly a million people per year now.
Who’s reproducing, internationally? Latin America and the Middle East. Domestically, it is Christians.
Yep – while America, as a whole, has a below-replacement fertility rate, the birth rate among the strongest believers remains strong. The future belongs to them.
Well, Hegseth got confirmed. I think he was the biggest speed bump and with that done there is no doubt the Dems will turn themselves inside out to demonize and destroy the remaining nominees but it won’t have the energy and venom of this battle. The Three Stooges voted, predictably, against him. The only one up for reelection in 26 is Collins, of Maine, and she probably does have a lock on the seat. I think a Republican would have a good shot at winning Maine on a campaign of reminding Maine of its history as fiercely independent and the anomaly of it voting for Democrats, whose party stands for the consolidation of power in the hands of elites and governing from the top down, instead of letting the states and the people make their own decisions. But getting past the primary might be tough. I don’t know how the Republicans of Maine feel about Trump or her true identity as a semi-Republican.
Murkowski is the one who needs to go away. Trump won Alaska by a large margin so those voters are probably not real happy their Senator is obstructing his nominees. Collin’s will probably win again in 26 as Maine seems to like “Democrat lite” candidates, and the Turtle is gone anyway so good riddance to him.
Democrats are using every parliamentary procedure to delay these hearings which is maddening but completely expected, I just hope Thune keeps the process moving as quickly as possible. Can’t wait for Kash Patel and his hearings.
How/why can Dems game the ranked voting system but Republicans can’t?
Takes a level of dishonesty we don’t have plus the MSM flies cover for them on it.
In a ranked-choice system (just as in a jungle primary system) the Democrats fund sufficient GOP candidates to make sure the real GOP candidates can’t get over the top. The MSM pretends this isn’t happening. If we tried to do it, the word would be broadcast endlessly by the MSM that the GOP is trying to game the system. The false Dem candidates would be carefully identified by name and torn to pieces.
In other words, it’s doable.
(1) make it clear to any GOP wannabe contender that this time around, there is an informal primary running only one Republican candidate and anyone else in the race will never get a dime from the state or national GOP and be politically dead to the party.
(2) Get a few more Dems to run. Surely there are some big egos who could be persuaded that they are the party’s great hope.
Probably should – and, yes, she should be frozen out. She’s already voting against us so this would just make the Senate majority 52 which it already de-facto is. And if she does feel a lot of heat, it will be instructive to the rest. Even Tillis and Cormyn are behaving.
Murk knows she’s done – so she’s just spitting on us one last time.
The repeal of ranked-choice failed narrowly last year, probably via voter fraud. But it is almost certain to be on the ballot again in 2026 which, being a mid-term year, will have a more GOP-friendly electorate in Alaska. Also, they learned – the pro-ranked-choice people outspent repeal by 100-1 so the next effort will have more money to back it up.
Yeah, but she’s got four more years to be the turd in the punchbowl. There has got to be a way for the Senate to neuter people like this—no committee positions, no social interaction, no smiles in the hallway, etc.
Maybe we could have Nate rip her ears off (Private Amazona/Spook joke)
Great idea. BTW, did you know that according to Hollywood Nate is really short and stocky and black?
I did not know that, but it doesn’t surprise me. Probably the same people (or the same kind of people) who cast 5’6″, 150 lb. Tom Cruise as the 6’5″, 240 lb. Jack Reacher.
I know. Arrrgghhhh
Get ready for a bunch of non-essential 4-Stars to retire.
IMO, we shouldn’t even have an actual peace-time 4 star.
The highest paid peacetime rank should be Major General/Rear Admiral. Brevet to Lt General/Vice Admiral for Army and Fleet commands (we have 5 active Armies and 7 active Fleets – there are 20 active Air Forces but methinks this is USAF making lots of billets for 4 star generals…probably consolidate that down to 5 or 6; for heaven’s sake we’ve got an Air Force just for Alaska…can you say “pork barrel spending”, kids?). CNO, Army/Air Force chiefs of staff and JCS can be brevet to 4 star (so, 4 of them – but none of them paid for it and they retire as 2 stars).
Gabbard and RFK are considered the remaining two more vulnerables but I think they all get through – anyone who is the GOP vote to actually kill a Trump nominee is going to draw a well-funded GOP primary challenger. McConnell is already drawing them and he was likely on his way out anyway…but they’re firing shots across his bow to let him know its coming; in theory, he’s still got a lot of pull in DC but his vote yesterday ruined his pull in Kentucky where it matters. The reality is there is no upside to fighting Trump here…you’re not even going to get a lot of positive MSM coverage because they know it really doesn’t matter and, at the end of the day, Thune really will go into recess and allow Trump to appoint if necessary. Trump is playing hardball and holds all the cards right now – he’s popular, people are hopeful and nobody wants trench warfare over nominees.
Trump’s round table with California Democrats was a thing of beauty yesterday. At one point, Trump told Rep Brad Sherman that “people who think like him will never get anything done” LOL, and so true. During that discussion, it was obvious Trump was representing the people, while Democrats are protecting the regulatory State. The divisions are clear. MAGA = The People. Democrats = The State.
Trump is just really good at these kinds of events. It’s a natural talent.
He’s human. As I pointed out a long while ago: he’s the normal man. His opponents are the crazy weirdos.
He’s brash, loud, larger than life…bit of an egoist. Clearly dallied with the ladies a bit when he was younger. He’s on his third marriage (which seems to be a very successful one with lots of love and – very importantly – mutual respect). He’s a talker. He’s a deal-maker. He’s American. He’s one of us. The billionaire who can hang out with the guys and enjoy it.
This is a summary of the rabid Left:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GiKZUJFWEAA0jJO?format=png&name=small
Gavin Newsom Doesn’t Want You to Know About This Disastrous Emergency Services Decision
Yet another case of government getting in the way of a win-win situation to the detriment of the very people it’s supposed to be helping.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration shut down a highly trained, all-volunteer team of certified firefighters in early 2024—
Launched in 2020, Team Blaze was an on-call strike force staffed entirely with certified firefighters of the California State Guard, a volunteer militia force that reports directly to Gov. Gavin Newsom. Former State Guard commanding general Jay Coggan said its members attended regular trainings at their own expense, and an outside charity procured much of the team’s firefighting equipment at no cost to the state. California was obligated to pay Team Blaze only when the unit was activated to fight a wildfire, and by 2023 Coggan had plans to expand its ranks to 1,000 certified volunteer firefighters on standby all across the state.
But in January 2024, the Newsom administration disbanded Team Blaze after barring its charitable benefactor from providing free firefighting equipment to its volunteers.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2025/01/25/gavin-newsom-torpedoed-a-volunteer-wildfire-rapid-response-force-n2651119?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&bcid=52ce413f6fb58c7873c6b911b92d704d389047e1deec5d09abd903754eeb0b1f&lctg=26664402
Looks like time to start arresting officials who block legal orders.
Vance continues to show his value.
In relation to the senate vote for Hegseth;
When asked whether he was concerned about any other nominees coming “really close to” a tie vote, Vance humorously used a football analogy.
“As I learned with the Buckeyes just a week ago when you win the championship, you don’t give a damn what the score was,” he said, drawing laughter from the crowd. “We won the championship on this one. We’ve got a great Secretary of Defense, we’re proud of him, and he’s going to do a great job.”
He was also excellent on I think it was Face the Nation (or one of those MSM drivel shows); because he’s Catholic he was naturally asked about the Bishops complaining about the deportations and he – because he’s Vance – rejected the premise and threw it right back at her: pointing out that Church charities have taken in huge amounts of taxpayer dollars to transport the illegals to the USA. As a Catholic, I am dismayed by this. To be fair, a lot of this is sincere Catholics being played by bad actors…but there are definitely bad actors in the Church and the the Catholic charitable organizations. As Vance pointed out, why didn’t the Bishops raise their voices about the illegals being abused in transit? This speaks to the massive conspiracy of silence by the Establishment about what, exactly, is happening. We are invited to get weepy-eyed about those being deported but we’re not supposed to notice all the people robbed, beaten, raped and murdered by the traffickers…to say nothing of the way the illegals get abused once in country.
I saw a post on X by Tara Bull where she shared a picture of the snow on the beach, and she captioned it “where the snow meets the Gulf of America”
Hilarious 🤣
I wish Trump, et al, were all more aware of the actual meaning of the 14th Amendment, but he and now Vance seem to think that being here “lawfully and permanently” qualifies offspring born here will be citizens. The thing is, someone can be here “lawfully and permanently” as a foreign national with permanent residency status (“green card”) and still be under the jurisdiction of her native country, and therefore not under the jurisdiction of the United States.
A friend who was a foreign national here legally, with permanent residency status, and planning to apply for citizenship, died and immediately his embassy was involved, helping his family back home deal with the issues created when a citizen dies in another country. That is, he was still under the jurisdiction of his own country, in spite of permanent residency status here.
This is one of the misunderstandings of the Amendment that has caused problems and will no doubt cause more.
You can see why they wrote it as they did – if they had said “all persons born of an American citizen” then the unreconstructed rebels would have asserted that the former slaves were not citizens and thus their children were not persons born of an American citizen. It was a very particular amendment to address a very particular issue: the Dred Scott decision which held that black people cannot be citizens. But the bottom line is that the 14th proceeds from the assertion that black people always were citizens. It was understood in that sense at the time. So, yes, Vance was getting it wrong in that – but I can also see the politics of what he is doing. Go too far too fast and you get a reaction. Most Americans are going to agree that the child of an illegal isn’t a citizen…it would be another step and probably too far to get them to agree that the child of a legal resident is not a citizen.
I understand, but then you have to walk back that statement when it is time to explain why the children of people here legally are not citizens—and more to the point, why the Amendment was mischaracterized for political purposes.
Just rip the bandaid off, instead of this incremental mousing around which will leave many people feeling betrayed and give ammunition to the opposition for being dishonest and inconsistent.
Just boil it down to this: If you are a citizen, then your children are citizens. If not, then no–but they ARE citizens of their home country because it is parentage that conveys citizenship, not geography.