Thanksgiving’s upon us, our unique North American Holiday (yes, our Canadian friends celebrate it too, but on a different day a month earlier).
Oh, I almost forgot. It’s also celebrated ( and properly so) as a national holiday in the Caribbean Republic of Grenada, every year on October 25. That’s the day American Marines liberated them from Communist jefecito Maurice Bishop and his Cuban allies back in 1983.
Its direct ancestor was the Hebrew festival of Sukkot, as William Bradford and the Pilgrims were very familiar with the Hebrew Bible, and reading both Greek and Hebrew was not uncommon among educated people who wanted to read the Bible and the New testament in their original languages. The Pilgrims regarded themselves as akin to the Jews of Exodus dwelling in the Wilderness, and William Bradford actually wrote the draft of part of the Mayflower Compact in his own handwriting...in Hebrew.
Below, a real classic; Rush Limbaugh tells the true story of Thanksgiving, one we don't often hear.
On the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims celebrated and thanked G-d for their survival and reportedly gave a feast, inviting the local Indian tribes as guests. The holiday has endured ever since and was made an official holiday by our first President, George Washington. Here's his original Thanksgiving proclamation, from 1789:
Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty G-d, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best. Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.;
Read those words again, slowly. Savor them. One can only imagine President Washington' feelings as he wrote this. Washington, who along with the other patriots had risked his life, his fortune and his sacred honor against all odds to create our Republic and had seen its birth pangs first hand. He understood that out of the depths of despair, against all odds, a miracle had occurred at the hands of the Almighty. It was not for nothing that the Founders chose as our national motto 'In G-d We Trust.' They understood, as did Washington, that our G-d given freedom is not only a gift, but a responsibility, something for ourselves and our posterity to preserve if we wish to keep it.
Over the years, Thanksgiving has acquired a number of traditions here in America..foods like roast turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing and pumpkin pie, football on TV, travel madness for those leaving town to be with their extended families…and a feeling of thankfulness for G-d’s bounty and the closeness to our families, sometimes unexpressed but never absent.
As you celebrate, try something…no matter your circumstances, take a long moment to reflect on your blessings. Be thankful for that bountiful harvest, for your loved ones, for your friends, for the fact that we live as free men and women in a free country. And remember that this is only a reality because other men and women are willing to endure hardship and be away from their own loved ones to keep it so.
Whatever else you do, take a minute to spend some time and enjoy the feeling of being close to the people that have always been there for you, the ones you can’t leave behind, as the song says. It’s important.
And carry with you my best wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving for you and yours.
Former Democrat pollster Pat Caddell has referred to Republicans and Democrats as, respectively, 'the stupid party' and the 'corrupt party.' That labeling gets more appropriate every day, as evidenced by the way the dysfunctional GOP establishment is helping along the persecution of Judge Roy Moore, its Alabama Senate candidate..
As you'll remember, Judge Moore ran in the Alabama Primary against one of Mitch McConnell's swamp creatures, Luther Strange. McConnell and his fellow New Tories spent $30 million dollars on the campaign (an absurdly large amount in Alabama) to get him in, but the people of Alabama knew exactly who Judge Roy Moore was, and weren't impressed. And he won by a substantial percentage.
Moore, a Trump ally, was leading substantially in the polls going up to the election against Leftist Democrat Doug Jones. So the Washington(Com)Post drummed up allegations from forty years ago that Judge Moore, single at the time, had 'initiated an encounter of a sexual nature' with a minor of 14... just after the Post endorsed Doug Jones, of course. Their chief source admitted openly that she had something of a troubled history and credibility issues, with, as she put it, 'three messy divorces, a drug problem and a lot of financial problems.'
Now that she's been so helpful and all, The (Com)Post has likely seen to it that at least the financial problems are alleviated. They also managed to find a couple of other girls (one of them a Democrat operative) who weren't minors at the time but claimed that Judge Roy Moore flirted with them or had a meal with them or something.
BTW, the age of consent in the Magnolia State is sixteen, (believe me, as a single gentleman I had the age of consent in every state of the Union memorized at one time) and even the minor herself admitted that while there was some kissing and fondling, no actual coitus or statutory rape occurred. So even if this actually happened and there's no proof at all it did, we have only this person's word for what occurred. And there's good reason to believe it never did.
Judge Roy Moore has run for five offices successfully over the years in hotly contested campaigns and this never came up in oppo research until now, a couple of weeks away from the election when it's convenient. What are the odds of that, especially in the last primary where all that money was tossed around, and so many attack ads filled with lies were aired?
And there's no prior history or rumors of this sort of thing concerning Judge Roy Moore. Normally, people involved in this kind of behavior leave a trail of incidents behind them...like Bill Clinton, for instance.
Judge Moore has totally denied the encounter with the 14-year-old ever happened. I suggest you listen to what Judge Moore had to say about it to Sean Hannity.
Another interesting item has surfaced recently. This still counts as a developing story, as Matt Drudge would say, but the OAS Network reportedly just aired a segment that there are recordings that show WAPO reporter Beth Reinhard bribing women with offers of $1,000 to smear Judge Roy Moore. And that the recordings have now been turned over to the Etowah County Sheriff's Department. As I said, this is still not confirmed. But if it's true, The (Com)Post and Ms. Reinhard are in a world of hurt.
All that aside, what's interesting to me most is the GOPe's reaction to all this. Democrats can be guilty of lying, massive corruption and graft, rigging primaries, open bribery and even national security offenses and the reaction of Democrats is always to circle the wagons around them, not matter what. Just ask the Clintons, Rep. Charlie Rangel, Maxine Waters or Al Sharpton.
The New Tories in the Republican Party? They actually try to outdo the Democrats and collaborate with them enthusiastically in killing their own.
Mitch McConnell practically tripped over his own feet in his haste to say that Judge Moore should withdraw. And he also saw to it that the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) pulled all funding from Moore's campaign. And along with his fellow New Tories, he's now trying to talk Luther Strange into running as a write in candidate, in hopes he would get just enough votes to throw the election to Democrat Doug Jones. Anything in order to keep a Trump ally out of the Senate, eh Mitch? And McConnell has been joined by a number of other GOPe New Tories and #NeverTrumpers, including Jeff Flake, Lindsay Graham, and of course, John McCain.
In a fascinating quid pro quo, a joint fundraising committee benefiting Moore and a handful of Republican Party organs filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Friday removing the National Republican Senatorial Committee as one of its beneficiaries. Going forward, the committee’s fundraising will benefit Moore’s Senate campaign, the Alabama Republican Party, and the Republican National Committee but not the NRSC. Here's hoping more such PACs and fundraising groups do the same, and concentrate on funding the candidates who are willing to support President Trump's agenda and our second American revolution.The New Tories of the GOPe are worthy only of contempt and need to be defeated and thrown from power.
The people of Alabama know who Judge Roy Moore is, and that he is a G-dly, honest and principled man. And they're not stupid. This baying of jackals will fail, and Judge Roy Moore will be Alabama's next senator.
"But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.
But the king shall rejoice in G-d; every one that swears by him shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped."
As a 'recognition' of the centennial of the issuing of the Balfour Declaration (November 2nd, 1917) the notoriously anti-Israel UK Guardian decided to give Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas an op-ed entitled "Britain must atone for the Balfour declaration – and 100 years of suffering" (no link,but you can find it if you like). It contains a number of outright lies. And while Abbas, a Soviet trained apparatchnik and agent is pretty good at manufacturing this propaganda, someone from the Guardian obviously helped him concoct this, based on the language, much of it drawn verbatim drawn from past anti-Israel screeds from, of course, The Guardian.
As ludicrous as the thing is, Mahmoud Abbas's lies rates a serious debunking.Walk with me awhile in the Valley of Truth...
For starters, the op-ed refers to Abbas as the 'President of Palestine'. That's a hilarious title, considering that he's an unelected dictator now serving in year 12 of what was supposed to be a 4 year term! But let's continue...
Lord Balfour as having 'signed a letter promising the land of Palestine to the Zionist Federation, a recently established political movement whose goal was the creation of a Jewish state. He promised a land that was not his to promise, disregarding the political rights of those who already lived there.'
What the Balfour declaration actually said was that Britain was in favor of creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine. And contrary to Abbas's nonsense, it specifically mentioned safeguarding the civil and religious rights of non-Jews living there, and of Jews living in other countries. Not only that, but the Balfour declaration meant nothing by itself. It was the League of Nations that created a Palestine Mandate under British control that was designated specifically to create a state that gave rights of sovereign specifically to Jews. And as we'll see, Britain bent over backwards when it came to Arab political rights.
It's also worth mentioning that Lord Balfour didn't create this on his own. It was the British cabinet that signed off on this. And they did it to reward the Jews for their help in WWI. Without Chaim Weismann, a skilled chemist discovering a process to enable fixing nitrogen out of the air, British troops would almost certainly have run out of ammo and artillery shells on the Western Front because of the success of German U-Boat attacks. Jews living in Palestine aided General Allenby's conquest of the Levant considerably with espionage and sabotage against the Ottomans at considerable personal risk, and an entire unit of British Jews fought alongside the Anzacs at the debacle in Gallipolli, something Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull pointed out in his visit to Jerusalem last week.
While most of the Arabs fought for their Ottoman masters, the few who didn't as part of the desultory Arab Revolt by the Sharif of Mecca received almost the entire Arabian Peninsula and ultimately 78% of the Palestine Mandate as their reward for taking a weak garrison in Aqaba well behind the fighting lines and sabotaging Turkish railways. Certainly the League of Nations rewarding the Jews with rights of sovereignty in their ancient homeland where a number of them already lived should have been no problem, since the land in the Palestine Mandate didn't belong to the Arabs either. It belonged to the Ottomans, who ceded it to the Allies under the Treaty of Sevres. So 'Palestine' like the rest of the ceded Ottoman lands belonged to the victorious allies, to do whatever they wished with it. 'British policy, to support Jewish immigration into Palestine while negating the Arab-Palestinian rights created severe tensions between European Jewish immigrants and the native Palestinian population.'
Oh boy.
Chaim Weismann, representing the Zionist movement and Emir Faisal, the third son of the Sharif of Mecca met and made an agreement to accede to a Jewish State in part of the Palestine Mandate. Faisel and Hussein were more than willing, since the British promised as a sweetener to create an Arab state out of most of the Mandate for his second son, Abdullah and give his first son Ali what became Iraq. So on 23 March 1918, in Al Qibla, the daily newspaper of Mecca, Feisel urged the Arabs to to welcome the Jews as brethren and cooperate with them for the common welfare.
The British then went back to the League of Nations to negotiate borders for an Arab state in Palestine, thus fulfilling their agreement with Emir Feisal. In the 1923 San Remo Accords, an agreement the Arabs were happy to sign off on, the Arabs received 78% of the Palestine Mandate for a state governed by Abdullah. It was called Trans-Jordan, later Jordan. The border the Arabs agreed to accept was the Jordan River. And accordingly, British removed a number of Jewish families who had settled east of the Jordan River to the other side, although no Arabs were removed from the 22% promised to the Jews.
The proof of this is the fact that so many of the 'settlements' like Ariel and the Gush Etzion bloc were first built in the 1920's after San Remo, on land legally purchased from the local Arab Muktars.
The tension was caused by the Arabs, led by the British appointed Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini. The British did little to stop it, and Arab violence became endemic.
The British also responded by repeatedly limiting or even cutting off Jewish migration entirely to what was supposed to be the Jewish part of the Mandate while allowing in unlimited Arab migration. The worst example of this was the White Paper of 1939, which cut off all Jewish migration and denied Jews desperate for a haven from the coming Holocaust a refuge.That was something the League of Nations planned to take up as a violation of the conditions of the Mandate, until WWII erupted and made the League irrelevant. The death toll of the Holocaust was vastly increased as a result.
'Palestine (the last item on the decolonisation agenda) led to our greatest catastrophe – in Arabic the Nakba.'
In 1948 Zionist militias forcibly expelled more than 800,000 men, women and children from their homeland, perpetrating horrific massacres and destroying hundreds of villages in the process. I was 13 years old at the time of our expulsion from Safad.
Let's compare this with what Abbas has said on other occasions, shall we?
The Wall Street Journal on June 5th, 2003 made reference to an article penned by Abbas (AKA Abu Mazen) in an article entitled “Abu Mazen Charges that the Arab States are the Cause of the Palestinian Refugee Problem" ( emphasis mine) :
"Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) wrote an article in March 1976 in Falastin al-Thawra, the official journal of the PLO in Beirut: ‘The Arab armies entered Palestine to protect the Palestinians from the Zionist tyranny, but instead they abandoned them, forced them to emigrate and to leave their homeland, imposed upon them a political and ideological blockade and threw them into prisons similar to the ghettos in which the Jews used to live in Eastern Europe.’”
But wait, there's more. Here's Mahmoud Abbas's own version of his family's 'expulsion' in 1948.
In an interview with Al-Palestinia TV in 2009, Abbas admitted that his family was not expelled or driven out, but rather left voluntarily out of fear that the Jews might take revenge for the slaughter of 20 Jews in the city during the Arab pogroms of 19 years earlier:
“I am among those who were born in the city of Tzfat (Safed). We were a family of means. I studied in elementary school, and then came the naqba [calamity, namely, the founding of the State of Israel – ed.]. At night, we left by foot from Tzfat, to the Jordan River, where we remained for a month. Then we went to Damascus, and then to our relatives in Jordan, and then we settled in Damascus.
“My father had money, and he spent his money systematically, and after a year, the money ran out and we began to work.
So embarrassing when one's lies are contradicted from one's own mouth isn't it...and Abbas and his family aren't the only ones who left voluntarily.
Haj Amin al-Husseini, who was allowed back into mandatory Palestine in spite of his work for Hitler and the Nazis during WWII is on record as actively encouraging Arabs to leave what became Israel so that the Arab armies could massacre the Jews. The idea was that afterwards, these Arabs could return home again and have the pick of the dead Jew's wealth, property and women. Al-Husseini was joined in that by that by other Arab media. Which is exactly why the Arabs who left took those house keys with them. And at this link, you'll find a number of quotations from the Arab press admitting it.
You see, the 'Nakba' Abbas is talking about was actually a failed attempt at genocide, only three years after Auschwitz was liberated.To Abbas (and apparently his morally delinquent pals at the Guardian) the fact that it failed is cause for mourning and sorrow.The Arabs knew that genocide was their goal. And so did the British, who armed, trained and in the case of Jordan officered that attempt. If the Brits need to atone for anything, it's not the Balfour Declaration but their collaboration in trapping desperate Jews in Europe seeking refuge in what was supposed to be their land on the eve of the Holocaust to appease the Arabs. And collaborating actively with the next attempt by the Arabs in 1948 to massacre the Jews of Israel.
Oh, and those numbers Abbas cites? According to the last British census in 1947, there were 700,000 or so Arabs in the part of Palestine west of the Jordan. The ones who lived in Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem were never expelled by anyone, because the Jordanian Arab Legion illegally occupied those areas and ethnically cleansed every Jew living there. Only about 600,000 Arabs or less lived in what became Israel. This included Druse, Bedouin and Christians. We also know that 120,000 Arabs stayed in Israel and later became Israeli citizens with full rights. Now the last time I checked, that would mean that about 480,000 or so Arabs left Israewl when the Arabs attacked, not '800,000.'
I'm not suggesting that some of these Arabs weren't forcibly driven out by the exigencies of what was, after all, a war of survival. But th elarge number who stayed shows that there were obviously many instances where those Arabs who wanted to simply stayed put, and decided not too listen to what Haj Amin al-Husseini and the Arab countries were telling them to do.
Now, if you want to see real ethnic cleansing in action, all you need do is examine the behavior of the Arab world after 1948. Almost a million Jews were thrown out of Arab countries they had lived in for decades forcibly simply because they were Jews, after everything they owned was plundered. Israel took in most of them, and the property, bank accounts and businesses stolen from them in today's money is conservatively estimated at a trillion dollars U.S.
There's a bit more nonsense about 'occupation' that's too ridiculous to even need a rejoinder. (Fun Question...which country's territory is Israel supposedly 'occupying?' It can't be 'Palestine,' which doesn't exist as a country. Even the UN hasn't signed off on that one just yet. And it can't be Jordan, since Jordan relinquished all claim to Judea and Samaria as part of the peace deal with Israel.)
But one thing that bears looking at who's writing this and what he and the PLO have created. Here we have Soviet trained dictator who actively supports terrorism, pays convicted murderers out of donor aid based on how many Jews they've murdered, and holds them up as heroes and 'holy martyrs.'
And human rights? Here's what someone who formerly lived under Abbas and Fatah's rule had to say about them:
And speaking of human rights, do you notice that the regimes shown here attacking Israel have a little something in common in terms of their own human rights situation?
I could also mention that 'honor killings' still occur in Abbasistan with distressing regularity, that journalists dare not voice any criticism of the regime and that homosexuals are persecuted and even killed there. I could also get into how Abbas became a billionaire and why he and his Fatah cronies live so well while his people struggle, but I digress.
You see, there's no reason, really, to expect anything better from Abbas. Like his former boss Yasser Arafat, he is always going to lie, cheat, and steal. He's always going to foment violence and murder. It's what he was trained to do by the Soviets, it pays really well and at this point, his main objective is to keep the status quo going, since actual peace would get a lot of people thinking about why they need parasites like Abbas and Fatah any more. They might even start asking awkward questions about where all that donor aid money went and try to do something about it.
The really interesting question is why so many people seem interested in being his enablers and collaborators. Especially people who claim to care about human rights, democracy and justice.
Could it be, just maybe, that it's because helping a thug like Abbas and his friends is a fashionable and acceptable 'Anti-Zionist' cover up for the real agenda... attacking Israel, the only Jewish State?
Plus ça change plus c'est la même chose...the more things change...you know the rest I assume.
Every week on Monday, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher's Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: Is America In A Civil War?
Laura Rambeau Lee, Right Reason :America is not in a civil war. It goes much deeper than that. One the one side we have those who understand the exceptional circumstances surrounding the founding of America. We believe that Providence, our Creator, brought the greatest minds of the time together to put words on paper and affirm to the world what we believe are the fundamental truths of human existence; that the essence of humankind is freedom and liberty. We believe this truth predates any laws or civilizations. We are inherently free and our freedom and basic rights cannot be limited by another person or government. But the Founding Fathers also understood the necessity of government to protect these basic rights and created a government template which limited the power of government over our lives and our freedoms. A government’s primary obligation is to protect its citizens so they are able to live their lives without fear while they pursue whatever they choose to do that makes them happy. We proudly believe in a country where the rule of law applies equally to everyone; rich or poor, black, brown, or white.
However, today we are a country in chaos. We can no longer say we are a country where the rule of law applies equally to everyone. We have seen our elected “trusted servants” work not for their constituents but for themselves. Our representative government no longer represents us. They create separate laws for us and exempt themselves from them. They have tasted power and will do anything to stay in power. This applies to both parties as very few of our representatives are truly working for the people.
Over the past century an evil has pervaded America through government, media, entertainment, and education. The war we are in is between good and evil. This evil has many names; communism, Marxism, socialism, globalism, progressivism. Those who espouse and advance this evil know very well how to destroy our country. It has been done before throughout history. The only thing standing between America and this evil are we Conservatives who understand at the elemental level what is at stake. We know what they are doing by creating divisions within our population. They use diversity and moral relativism as weapons. Social justice warriors carry the flag of the cause du jour while screaming about the intolerance of the right. Our youth and young adults are being flooded with incredible disinformation and extremely violent movies and video games desensitizing them against any real injustices in the world. The uncertainty they are being exposed to is dangerous and abusive. It is psychological warfare being practiced on them at their most vulnerable ages. Certainty is healthy, uncertainty is debilitating and destructive.
In order to win this battle we have to restore certainty and morality into our American culture. There are basic truths we can and must hold on to and only those who share these beliefs should be allowed to immigrate to this country. This is the real war in and against America and I fear we are losing it as our voices are being shouted down or ridiculed in the media as intolerant or racist. We must not let them silence us. There is too much at stake.
Rob Miller: Those of you kind enough to read me regularly know that I've always thought of it more as a second American revolution rather than a civil war. That belief of mine goes back to the 2016 campaign.
Contrary to what many people believe, America's Revolution was not exactly universally popular or supported. There were lots of people who supported the status quo, felt that the rebels were traitors to the King of England and acted on those beliefs. Many of them even fought on the British side and took great pleasure and yes, profit in helping the British and their Hessian mercenaries (ach, those Germans!) to commit a number of atrocities, especially in the mid-Atlantic colonies and the South. Just like today, the Tories felt that no violence and abuse was beyond the pale for the Revolutionaries, not even inciting, arming and unleashinghostile Indians on unprotected women and children, just as the French did during Queen Anne's War.
It's hardly surprising that many of these Tories relocated after our independence was won.
There are a number of parallels today if you think about it. We too have an entrenched elite living off excessive taxation and laws they passed to benefit themselves that are plundering our country for their pleasure and enrichment. And they likewise think it is right and proper to demonize anyone trying to end the game. They believe that no violence or hatred directed at those and their families whom obstruct them and their self-appointed privilege is out of line. They even employ bringing what amounts to foreign mercenaries to America, many of whom have no loyalty to our country, laugh at our laws, steal our wealth and likewise often commit atrocities these new 'Tories' are more than willing to defend and excuse...because like the Hessians, these new mercenaries support their evil purpose.
And as before, many of these new 'Tories' like their 18th century counterparts have no real loyalty to America, its founding principles and especially not to our democracy when you come right down to it. Their loyalties lie elsewhere. Some even openly boast of being 'citizens of the world' and 'globalists' rather than being loyal to the land of their birth.
The biggest difference is the weapons being used. No cannons, bayonets, muskets and sabres this time. Nowadays, the weapons are a crooked, biased media spouting propaganda, 'educators' with no sense of intellectual honesty or responsibility, judges who rule on cases based on their political beliefs rather than the law, disrespect and obstruction by what seems to be 95% of the Democrats in congress (aided by not a few Republicans), rent-a-mobs, 'resistance' and the Antifa and #blacklivesmatter thugs, the Left's brownshirts. And of course, the new Tories's entrenched minions hiding in government.
No one should be surprised at this. It's been a long time coming, and the rot even reached into our highest office, giving us a quarter century of dysfunction and decline. But thank G-d, at least the war is out in the open now.
One of the things I've always liked about Steve Bannon aside from his innate decency was that like Andrew (Z"L) he understands that this is a war, not just mere political fisticuffs. And in war, victory is what counts.
2016 was the first major victory, and an insane counterattack was to be expected. So were some strategic setbacks and errors. But I see our side getting stronger and the New Tories getting weaker as time passes. 2018 will be the next great battle to be fought, and that doesn't just come down to the usual jackass versus elephants nonsense. It's about solidifying real gains to make the 2016 victory not just a momentary triumph but a lasting one that will give us our beloved Republic back, and getting rid of the obstructionists in both parties to the point where even the Tories who manage to survive the carnage are rendered powerless. That's how I see this ending up...provided we want it bad enough and are willing to keep going no matter how difficult. We owe that to both ourselves and our posterity.
Again, we have been here before:
THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. {...}
'Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through a country. All nations and ages have been subject to them. Britain has trembled like an ague at the report of a French fleet of flat-bottomed boats; and in the fourteenth [fifteenth] century the whole English army, after ravaging the kingdom of France, was driven back like men petrified with fear; and this brave exploit was performed by a few broken forces collected and headed by a woman, Joan of Arc. Would that heaven might inspire some Jersey maid to spirit up her countrymen, and save her fair fellow sufferers from ravage and ravishment! Yet panics, in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is always short; the mind soon grows through them, and acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might otherwise have lain forever undiscovered. In fact, they have the same effect on secret traitors, which an imaginary apparition would have upon a private murderer. They sift out the hidden thoughts of man, and hold them up in public to the world. Many a disguised Tory has lately shown his head, that shall penitentially solemnize with curses the day on which Howe arrived upon the Delaware. {...}
...Why is it that the enemy have left the New England provinces, and made these middle ones the seat of war? The answer is easy: New England is not infested with Tories, and we are. I have been tender in raising the cry against these men, and used numberless arguments to show them their danger, but it will not do to sacrifice a world either to their folly or their baseness. The period is now arrived, in which either they or we must change our sentiments, or one or both must fall. And what is a Tory? Good G-d! What is he? I should not be afraid to go with a hundred Whigs against a thousand Tories, were they to attempt to get into arms. Every Tory is a coward; for servile, slavish, self-interested fear is the foundation of Toryism; and a man under such influence, though he may be cruel, never can be brave. {...}
I thank G-d, that I fear not. I see no real cause for fear. I know our situation well, and can see the way out of it. While our army was collected, Howe dared not risk a battle; and it is no credit to him that he decamped from the White Plains, and waited a mean opportunity to ravage the defenceless Jerseys; but it is great credit to us, that, with a handful of men, we sustained an orderly retreat for near an hundred miles, brought off our ammunition, all our field pieces, the greatest part of our stores, and had four rivers to pass. None can say that our retreat was precipitate, for we were near three weeks in performing it, that the country might have time to come in. Twice we marched back to meet the enemy, and remained out till dark. The sign of fear was not seen in our camp, and had not some of the cowardly and disaffected inhabitants spread false alarms through the country, the Jerseys had never been ravaged. Once more we are again collected and collecting; our new army at both ends of the continent is recruiting fast, and we shall be able to open the next campaign with sixty thousand men, well armed and clothed. This is our situation, and who will may know it. By perseverance and fortitude we have the prospect of a glorious issue; by cowardice and submission, the sad choice of a variety of evils - a ravaged country - a depopulated city - habitations without safety, and slavery without hope - our homes turned into barracks and bawdy-houses for Hessians, and a future race to provide for, whose fathers we shall doubt of. Look on this picture and weep over it! and if there yet remains one thoughtless wretch who believes it not, let him suffer it unlamented.
As King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, "There is nothing new under the sun."
Wise man, that King Solomon. Human nature doesn't change, only the names of the players.
Selah.
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Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty G-d, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:" Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best. Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.;
