tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post8120168039223978161..comments2023-10-03T07:01:41.144-05:00Comments on Always On Watch: Semper Vigilans: For Memorial Day 2019Always On Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-16180982474903811552019-05-27T19:18:16.341-05:002019-05-27T19:18:16.341-05:00Roger that.Roger that.Ed Bonderenkahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03724552853113809036noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-86969635664260942352019-05-27T18:57:30.147-05:002019-05-27T18:57:30.147-05:00Vice President Pence gave a magnificent speech tod...Vice President Pence gave a magnificent speech today at Arlington National Cemetery. Hand salute; ready, to.Mustanghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06388694472897425202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-36843792282898919742019-05-27T16:33:42.919-05:002019-05-27T16:33:42.919-05:00Watch: 96-Year-Old WWII Vet Goes Viral For Stirrin...<b>Watch: 96-Year-Old WWII Vet Goes Viral For Stirring National Anthem on His Harmonica at Soccer Match</b><br /><br />Mediaite<br /><br /><i>by Joe DePaolo</i> <br /><br />On Sunday, Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ was filled to capacity — with 26,332 fans on hand to watch an exhibition soccer match between the U.S. women’s national team and Mexico. And prior to the start of the contest, each and every one of those fans was rapt listening to a harmonica player.Of course, Pete Dupre isn’t just any harmonica player. The 96-year-old who brought the house down at Red Bull Arena Sunday is a veteran of World War II.According to the U.S. women’s national team (via NJ.com), “During WWII, DuPre served as a medic in the 114th General Hospital Unit in Kidderminster, England. At age 17, . . .Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-73281961723701250632019-05-27T12:20:12.457-05:002019-05-27T12:20:12.457-05:00Pardons for Memorial Day?
New York Sun
by Editor...<br /><b>Pardons for Memorial Day?</b><br /><br />New York Sun<br /><br /><i>by Editorial</i><br /><br />So much hogwash has been written about the President’s pardon power that it’s hard to know where to start. One place, though, would be the New York Times’ editorial on President Trump’s use of pardons in military cases. It ran last week under a headline suggesting Mr. Trump’s general approach to pardons “may be lawful, but it is in no way normal.” In other words — blam! — before the Times even gets down to business it runs off the rails. That’s because there is no “normal” way to pardon. If the Framers had wanted to specify norms for using the pardon, they were perfectly capable of doing so . . .Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-22051182290012026602019-05-27T11:38:53.079-05:002019-05-27T11:38:53.079-05:00__________ REMEMBER _________
Remember me when I ...<b>__________ REMEMBER _________<br /><br /><i>Remember me when I am gone away,<br />Gone far away into the silent land;<br />When you can no more hold me by the hand,<br />Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.<br /><br />Remember me when no more, day by day,<br />You tell me of our future that you plann'd:<br />Only remember me; you understand<br />It will be late to counsel then or pray.<br /><br />Yet if you should forget me for a while<br />And afterwards remember, do not grieve:<br />For if the darkness and corruption leave<br />A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,<br /><br />Better by far you should forget and smile<br />Than that you should remember and be sad.</i></b><br /><br />~ Christina Rossetti (1836-1894)Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-49251232420271468652019-05-27T11:10:39.845-05:002019-05-27T11:10:39.845-05:00Photos: ‘Rolling Thunder’ Rides Through D.C. as Tr...<br /><b>Photos: ‘Rolling Thunder’ Rides Through D.C. as Trump Pledges to Protect Memorial Day Tradition</b><br /><br />Agence France-Press, <br /><br /><i>by Staff</i> <br /><br />Washington – More than 100,000 flag-bearing bikers, many of them Vietnam veterans, throttled their engines Sunday for the annual “Rolling Thunder” ride through the capital as President Donald Trump vowed to keep the Memorial Day spectacle alive. Spectators lined the route from the Pentagon to the National Mall to watch the growling parade of choppers, a leather-clad, red-white-and-blue tribute to American soldiers missing in the Vietnam War. “The Great Patriots of Rolling Thunder WILL be coming back to Washington, D.C. next year, & hopefully for many years to come. It is where they . . .Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-5981095755390227002019-05-27T07:27:44.589-05:002019-05-27T07:27:44.589-05:00From Instapundit:
"If you want to thank a so...From Instapundit:<br /><br /><b><i>"If you want to thank a soldier, be the kind of American worth fighting for."</i></b>Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-14857440683122691092019-05-27T06:24:33.116-05:002019-05-27T06:24:33.116-05:00New Link to video above.<a href="http://politicaltealeaves.blogspot.com/2019/05/borderless.html" rel="nofollow">New Link to video above</a>.Joe Conservativehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02696367580635901992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-15165944046937829572019-05-26T23:31:32.552-05:002019-05-26T23:31:32.552-05:00The book that AOW quoted above? Yep.The book that AOW quoted above? Yep.CIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07261660740601698500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-27104407086346822762019-05-26T22:54:49.899-05:002019-05-26T22:54:49.899-05:00When you sign up, you relinquish your right to lif...When you sign up, you relinquish your right to life and many of your freedoms, the ones you are protecting for others.<br />You give your life. It is not taken.<br />Often, you get it back.Ed Bonderenkahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03724552853113809036noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-62724880310268091092019-05-26T22:51:02.711-05:002019-05-26T22:51:02.711-05:00Are you aware of Tom Cotten's book?Are you aware of Tom Cotten's book?Ed Bonderenkahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03724552853113809036noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-36859563147932933692019-05-26T20:55:00.981-05:002019-05-26T20:55:00.981-05:00__________ MY BUDDY __________
Nights are long si...<b>__________ MY BUDDY __________<br /><br /><i>Nights are long since you went away<br />I think about you all through the day<br />My buddy, my buddy, no buddy quite so true<br />Miss your voice, the touch of your hand<br />Just long to know that you understand<br />My buddy, my buddy, your buddy misses you<br /><br />Miss your voice, the touch of your hand<br />Just long to know that you understand<br />My buddy, my buddy, your buddy misses you</i></b><br /><br />~ Gus Kahn (1922)Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-40623119332855149812019-05-26T16:36:17.979-05:002019-05-26T16:36:17.979-05:00...wisdom + justice + courage + temperance = virt......wisdom + justice + <a href="https://youtu.be/HfufFsnxB_8" rel="nofollow">courage</a> + temperance = virtue. ;)-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16745768408538827278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-91422318088632321432019-05-26T16:23:45.460-05:002019-05-26T16:23:45.460-05:00Calpurnia Dragonheart said
Proof exists that any ...<b>Calpurnia Dragonheart said</b><br /><br />Proof exists that any attempt to rise above commonness is bound to be met with silence bordering on contempt. This is where we are today, adulation for the ordinary, derision for the distinguished. Tragic!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-55975407002257079452019-05-26T16:19:41.284-05:002019-05-26T16:19:41.284-05:00ala Quackery:
How all occasions do inform against...ala Quackery:<br /><br /><i>How all occasions do inform against me,<br />And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,<br />If his chief good and market of his time<br />Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.<br />Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,<br />Looking before and after, gave us not<br />That capability and god-like reason<br />To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be<br />Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple<br />Of thinking too precisely on the event,<br />A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom<br />And ever three parts coward, I do not know<br />Why yet I live to say 'This thing's to do;'<br />Sith I have cause and will and strength and means<br />To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me:<br />Witness this army of such mass and charge<br />Led by a delicate and tender prince,<br />Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd<br />Makes mouths at the invisible event,<br />Exposing what is mortal and unsure<br />To all that fortune, death and danger dare,<br />Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great<br />Is not to stir without great argument,<br />But greatly to find quarrel in a straw<br />When honour's at the stake.</i><br /><br />-Shakespeare, "Hamlet" (Act IV, Sc iv)-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16745768408538827278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-17955493129096531552019-05-26T16:12:31.131-05:002019-05-26T16:12:31.131-05:00Freedom isn't free. It has a cost. This day ...Freedom isn't free. It has a cost. This day reminds us of what the cost has been, and that we should never take freedom for granted... that we owe it to those who have gone before us, to do our part, and pass it on...-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16745768408538827278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-40569549287748965502019-05-26T14:29:14.673-05:002019-05-26T14:29:14.673-05:00__ A MEMORIAL DAY LAMENT __
The thought arises on...<b>__ A MEMORIAL DAY LAMENT __<br /><br /><i>The thought arises once again:<br />That our brave men have died in vain<br />If in our now-degraded state<br />We see no more why they were great,––<br />And rattle on belligerently ––<br />Rejecting Thought that made us free ––<br />Embracing now with loud insistence ––<br />Malice threatening our existence ––<br />Tearing at each other's throats ––<br />While a leering Satan gloats ––<br />A sorry spectacle that wrenches<br />My heart thinking of the trenches<br />Filled with anguish, fear and dread<br />As bullets whizzed above each head,<br />And buried in the mud the mines<br />Lurked to shatter limbs and spines,<br />While in the distance cannons boomed<br />Inspiring fear that all were doomed.<br />Then to see a body shattered ––<br /> One a buddy –– now parts scattered ––<br />In the mud with corpses strewn ––<br />Gruesome lit by sun or moon ––<br />More pitiful the wounded lie<br />In agony praying to die.<br />And all around the smell of blood<br />Vomit, –– urine, –– faces, –– crud<br />Defined the hellish atmosphere<br />But few if any shed a tear.<br />They knew they had a job to do ––<br />Protecting our land –– and you ––<br />From Tyranny, –– Brutality ––<br />Poverty –– and Slavery ––<br />Their Sacrifice –– Our Legacy –<br />Now relegated to the Fire ––<br />Ever the Enemy’s Desire ––<br />Because their precious Victory<br />Was neutralized by Sophistry <br />That promised Peace eternally <br />By ceding our Sovereignty<br />As a dumb ovine assembly <br />Always led too easily<br />To the abattoir where brutally<br />They end up slaughtered ruthlessly.<br />And so the Enemy has won ––<br />Not by bayonet, bomb, or gun ––<br />But by an ideology<br />Seductive, to those lazily<br />Imagining there’s an Easy Way<br />To stop becoming Satan’s Prey.<br />Thus lulled into a stupor we<br />Now feel a false Security.<br />Forgetting the we owe a debt<br />To those brave men who fought to get<br />Continued Opportunity <br />To cherish their fine legacy.<br />Because the Left runs Education<br />We’ve lost our great Emancipation ––<br />Betrayed great men through dissipation<br />Made worse by bitter argumentation.</i></b><br /><br />~ FreeThinke <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-8786116558701632492019-05-26T14:13:28.143-05:002019-05-26T14:13:28.143-05:00Some good reading for this Memorial Day 2019:
Ca...Some good reading for this Memorial Day 2019: <br /><br /><a href="https://www.courierpress.com/in-depth/news/2019/05/22/carl-mann-stormed-omaha-beach-hell-buried-arlington-d-day-anniversary/1189250001/" rel="nofollow">Carl Mann stormed Omaha Beach; he'll be buried at Arlington on the D-Day anniversary</a>.<br /><br />A few paragraphs from the above:<br /><br /><i>Sgt. Carl Mann was a hero living among us for 96 years until his death March 30. He was awarded three Purple Hearts and seven Bronze Stars for his service in the 5th Infantry Division of Gen. George S. Patton’s 3rd Army. He was involved in all five major battles of the European Theater – from storming Omaha Beach on D-Day to being Patton’s eyes and ears during the Battle of the Bulge<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />Because Mann was at the front of the offensive line, he also was the first to reach the large, iron gates of two concentration camps. Germans who occupied them knew they were under siege and fled upon opening the gates.<br /><br />The helpless, malnourished prisoners inside came flooding out. Some collapsed to the ground and laid prostrate with their face in the dirt while grabbing Mann’s ankles to tell him, "Thank you.”<br /><br />They were free. Those moments were the manifestation of why Mann and millions of others enlisted.</i>.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-31948612136022147612019-05-26T14:07:36.804-05:002019-05-26T14:07:36.804-05:00I wasn't attempting to REFUTE your point –– or...I wasn't attempting to REFUTE your point –– or even Canardo's ––. I merely sought to AMPLIFY what both of you said. Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-33224894334247451112019-05-26T12:35:37.500-05:002019-05-26T12:35:37.500-05:00Thanks for the post. I Enjoyed reading about this...Thanks for the post. I Enjoyed reading about this.Kidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05287399775879832602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-3883502789583655332019-05-26T08:40:18.451-05:002019-05-26T08:40:18.451-05:00That doesn't refute my point, but I agree none...That doesn't refute my point, but I agree nonetheless. Especially the linked domino effect from WWI to present.CIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07261660740601698500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-43226808881692672202019-05-26T06:56:03.171-05:002019-05-26T06:56:03.171-05:00Dead is DEAD no matter how you slice it. Even the ...Dead is DEAD no matter how you slice it. Even the NAZIS killed in WWII deserve to be remembered by THEIR loved ones with AFFECTION, RESPECT, and even HONOR <i>simply for doing their DUTY</i>, as they understood it. <br /><br />Most of tHEM couldn't possibly have been aware of how desperately wicked, and inestimably vile their LEADERSHIP was. <br /><br />That's why I believe that once a war is over, the VICTORS should formally FORGIVE the VANQUISHED, and then do their best to help those defeated to bind up ther wounds, and REBUILD their lives –– as WE did with the AXIS POWers after we'd won a decisive victory for the Allies in WWII.<br /><br />Rubbing the Enemys face in the mess he made, treating him with contempt, and continuing to punish him, –– as we did with Germanyafter WWI ––, was not only WRONG, it made the even-worse horrors of WWII INEVITABLE.Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-6792156255511975202019-05-26T06:37:54.799-05:002019-05-26T06:37:54.799-05:00Yes, sure, but I prefer what General Patton is sup...Yes, sure, but I prefer what General Patton is supposed to have said on the subject when talking to his men:<br /><br /><b><i>"You're not here to die for your country, you're here to make sure some other poor son-of-a-bitch dies for his."</i></b><br /><br />If that is not an exact quotation, it is certainly close enough to the <i>spirit</i> of General Patton's unequivocal, straight-from-the-shoulder advice.<br /><br />To imagine that war ishould be about ethical considerations and finelly nuanced moral distinctions makes no sense at all.. War is –– or certainly <i>should </i> be –– about WINNING –– <i>no matter what it takes</i>.<br /><br />As Lord Acton said, <b>"MODErATIIN IN WAR IS IMBECILItY."</b><br /><br />The pompous, priggish, latter-day limp-wrested piffle about fighting a "FAIR war," a "DECENT war," s "CONSIDERATE war," an "EThICAL war, etc. gravely endangers the lives of OUR men at arms, as it undermines what-should be the purpose of any military mission which, of course ought to be VICTORY for OUR side, and UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER by the ENEMY.Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-75059622431517849382019-05-26T06:19:46.717-05:002019-05-26T06:19:46.717-05:00Certainly succinct, and very much to the point.Certainly succinct, and very much to the point.Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-74088187943979832832019-05-26T06:17:54.627-05:002019-05-26T06:17:54.627-05:00
__________THE END _________
Not every man knows ...<br />__________THE END _________<br /><br />Not every man knows <br />––– what he shall sing at the end,<br />Watching the pier <br />––– as the ship sails away, <br />_____ ___ or what it will seem like<br />When he’s held <br />___ by the sea’s roar, motionless, <br />________ there at the end,<br />Or what he shall hope for <br />___ once it is clear <br />________ that he’ll never go back.<br /><br />When the time has passed <br />___ to prune the rose <br />________ or caress the cat,<br />When the sunset torching the lawn <br />___ and the full moon <br />________ icing it down<br />No longer appear, <br />___ not every man knows <br />________ what he’ll discover instead.<br />When the weight of the past <br />___ leans against nothing, <br />________ and the sky<br /><br />Is no more than remembered light, <br />_____ and the stories of cirrus<br />And cumulus come to a close, <br />___ and all the birds <br />________ are suspended in flight,<br />Not every man knows<br />___ what is waiting for him, <br />________ or what he shall sing<br />When the ship he is on <br />___ slips into darkness, <br />________ there at the end.<br /><br />~ Mark Strand (1934-2014)Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.com