A Few Words On Covington

 

I think it's worth spending a few words on Covington, since the real root of the matter seems to be overlooked by a lot of people who I think ought to know better.

Originally, this was labeled by the Left, their trained seals in the media and yes, a lot of faux 'conservative' cucks as a hideous example of Trump inspired racism, with MAGA hats being the symbol of the new Nazi brown shirts.

Basically,what happened was this. Teenage students at the Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky decided to peacefully demonstrate in solidarity with the March For Life near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. They were approached by one Nathan Phillips, described by the media later as an 'Indian tribe elder' and a 'Vietnam War veteran.'

The media's story, led by the habitually fake news Buzzfeed, was that the kids went up to him, mocked him and insulted him racially. And Buzzfeed, the NRO and the rest of the media jackals were quick to pick up on a heavily doctored and edited video that supposedly showed this.

Of course, the real story was revealed later.  Longer versions of the same video showed that it was the activist, and a nearby group of black supremacist activists, who harassed the students while they were waiting for their bus. The black group even hurled racial abuse at the students. You'll notice, of course that  the racist vile black supremacist group was left out of this story. The student's response was to sing school songs to try to drown out the obscenities and remain calm.

The student shown smiling at a professional 'activist' who got in his face and started beating a drum while chanting some Indian gibberish was admirable  in its restraint as far as I'm concerned

Even the so called creds of this Nathan Phillips turned out to be sheer BS.  It turns out that this guy is simply a professional agitator who makes seems to have quite a history of confronting white students and then claiming he was assaulted by these racists. He's pulled this several times, and no real evidence to back up his stories has ever been found. In fact, he's something of a Catholic basher. Phillips led a rally that attempted to disrupt Mass at DC’s National Shrine on January 19th, just a few days before this happened.

He's no 'Vietnam War Veteran' either. After one reporter at the WAPO shrieked in print ad nauseum about how these MAGA Nazi teenagers disrespected a war veteran, the WAPO had to fix it by admitting it was a blatant lie:

 "Correction: Earlier versions of this story incorrectly said that Native American activist Nathan Phillips fought in the Vietnam War. Phillips served in the U.S. Marines from 1972 to 1976 but was never deployed to Vietnam."

He also isn't a tribal Elder as far as I can find out.


But of course, all this was too good to let a little thing like this get in the way. The media creeps piled on, to the point that the kids lives were actually threatened. The Twitter people, who have lied over and over again about their political bias and still mock us by claiming that they are taking great steps to eliminate violence, threats and things like harassment, and what they call 'misinformation.'

Get a load of what ran on Twitter and is still up:

LOCK THE KIDS IN THE SCHOOL AND BURN THAT BITCH TO THE GROUND.

— Uncle Shoes (@HouseShoes) January 19, 2019

But you gotta punch that shit off one of those bitches faces first.

Uncle Shoes ✔ @HouseShoes

Free @STREETCORNERSCM catalog for a red hat.

23

8:12 PM - Jan 20, 2019

Twitter Ads info and privacy

127 people are talking about this

Giving a shit-eating grin to a Native American's face isn't legally violence. But he is smiling *about* the violence. He is saying, "my people hurt you, and you can't touch me even while I gloat about it." It is fascism. And you should punch fascists.

— Jeffrey Grubb (@JeffGrubb) January 19, 2019

 

@AaronSmarter

Punch the little mfs in the face
Pain is an excellent teacher

  Reza Aslan

Honest question. Have you ever seen a more punchable face than this kid’s?

I know he’s like a teen or whatever but I still wanna hit him. Like super hard. Right in that bish ass lookin face. Ya know? https://t.co/sOMjeYVQPy

— TATIANNA (@TATIANNANOW) January 20, 2019

Kathy Griffin ✔ @kathygriffin

Ps. The reply from the school was pathetic and impotent. Name these kids. I want NAMES. Shame them. If you think these fuckers wouldn’t dox you in a heartbeat, think again.

Paul Stothard @paul_stothard

 · Jan 19, 2019

Replying to @4154Life @williamlegate

Is today the day that Twitter hunts down and vilifies school kids? If so, I’m out.

William LeGate ✔ @williamlegate

It is that day. Sorry, you will have to go & defend these kids now. I did shit way less dumb than these kids when I was 16 & got obliterated for it. They deserve everything they’re getting & more

372

10:53 PM - Jan 19, 2019

Twitter Ads info and privacy

Breitbart Jacked It To Eva Braun Scat Porn Li'l ✔ @karengeier

 · Jan 20, 2019

“Let Nazi teens have their privacy” is just the most white supremacist, ahistorical horseshit. Like, there was literally an organization called the Hitler Youth and it served a very deliberate purpose. Fuck off and read a book

Breitbart Jacked It To Eva Braun Scat Porn Li'l ✔ @karengeier

Maybe doxing racist teens is a powerful deterrent against being a racist teen. We all know how much fash love discipline and consequences

67 people are talking about this

 

If I were in a room with the MAGA Kid, Hitler, and Toby and had three bullets, I’d shoot the MAGA Kid three times

— Chad Chamberlain (@ChadChum15) January 20, 2019

I hope all these MAGA kids in the news get cancer and the horrible parents that raised them this way get to suffer alongside them- 🏴 Jez 🌻 Watson🌹 (@jezawatson) January 20, 2019

******************************************************

There's lots more, but the above is stomach turning enough.

So here are a few things to take away from all this.

1) Commentators on the right have been vilified, lost jobs and been pushed off the net for far milder things than this and will continue to be. So this is a war with no rules. Women,families and children are not off limits. There are no standards anymore. The Left hates us, and wants us dead or in the gulags.

2) To the Left, any racist hatred against whites, Jews, Christians,  women, children, Hispanics, Asians or blacks who fail to bow to the new order is legitimate, and any violence and retaliation directed at them  is going to be excused. 

3) A puppy will keep peeing on the floor  if he is sees that there are no consequences for doing so. What we have here is exactly that...puppies  who have learned they can pee on the floor with impunity and even bite people because there's no downside for them, no cost to them whatsoever. If the Left's behavior is going to change, they are going to need real punishment for this sort of thing until they realize that their violence, defamation and and attacks are going to merit similar treatment.

And yes, it has come to that, I'm afraid.

4) These children have been unjustly scarred for life. Their identities have become known, and they will never know if they weren't refused college admission, scholarships, promotions, or a job simply because someone Googled their name and rejected them simply because the people making the decisions were on the Left or afraid to antagonize the Left.

And that was part of the reason this hideous assault on the Covington kids was planned and publicized as it was. It was to give them and everyone else a message. Oppose the Left in any way and you and your loved ones will be ruined for life. Brett Kavanaugh still needs to have private security on his home and his two daughters still need bodyguards in school, simply because some Hillary loving left Wing activist was wiling to lie under oath about a 'sexual assault' that never happened.

This, by the way, is what the Klan used to do to blacks who had the temerity  to register to vote. They'd make life hell for them or even lynch them, which is exactly what the Left did here, using the media instead of a rope. With Democrats, some things never change, I suppose.

Because of our antiquated libel and slander laws, Kavanaugh was unable to sue the pants off this foul woman because he is a public person. But the Covington kids were neither public people or attempting to be public people. Their reaction to this should be to sue every company that collaborated in this attack on them and made them a target. For that matter, so should the Covington Catholic High School, which has been forced to remain closed for safety reasons.

Among other things, this was a violationof their First Amendment rights.  Twitter, Buzzfeed and the National Review should be the first on the list to have their bank accounts drained, followed by the talking heads and celebrities who threatened these kids with violence. I can think of other things that could be done, but I'll leave that to my reader's imagination. Let the Left and their cuck allies see the price for this kind of attack on kids who neither merited it or deserved it.

5)Finally, the worst enemies we have now are not the Left, but the faux so-called 'conservatives.' Cucks like Bill Kristol,  Hugh Hewitt (boy do I hate writing his name here, but so be it), Jen Ruben, Max Boot, the cucks at places like the NRO and the whole disgusting pile of never Trumpers. They all jumped on this likes flies on a fresh dog turd. You think they would at least have said 'let's wait a bit and see, this seems a bit manufactured. It's Buzzfeed, you know, and after all...'

In reality, they very much wanted this to be true. That's why they were so anxious to start virtue signaling and showing their friends on the Left  that they hate what the Left hates....It's their way of saying, ' I want you to really like me. Please keep hiring me to do spots on your networks, write for your newspapers, publish my books and keep inviting me to your parties, OK?'

And of course they lied blatantly (again) once the con was discovered to be just that. Like they didn't know Buzzfeed is not to be trusted? Like didn't know the Left pulls this stuff all the time? Please, spare me. 

They're rather like the Left wing Jews willing to swallow the Jew hatred and anti-Israel rants of their fellow Democrats just to wallow in the illusion that these people actually like them. And they are willing to ignore all the hard evidence they see that they're really not liked at all except for the checks these Jews write and the verbal support and votes they are suicidally willing to cast.

The left, frankly, is quite open about its hatred of us. That's a given, and they prove it every day. The danger of the people I'm talking about here is that even though they betrays us at every turn, they pretend to be our friend and allies. Who needs a bunch of quislings cucks and traitors as allies?

What happened to the Covington kids needs to be a wake up call to all of us. And it deserves a substantial response. The rules of the game the way the Left and their allies play it changed a long time ago. It's time we realized it and responded in kind.

The Fraud Behind The L.A. Teacher's Strike

 

The L.A. teacher’s strike involves over 30,000 unionized  Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) teachers and other school employees have gone out on strike to demand higher pay and ‘smaller class sizes.’ The truth of the matter? The entire strike is an outrageous fraud.
What the teachers and administrators want is a clear indication that this is a lot more than a labor dispute.

The unions want what they call fully staffed schools, meaning more teachers, librarians, nurses, admin staff, and counselors, with limits on class sizes. And of course, a 6.6% raise with back pay for
the 2017-18 school year.

Let's examine this in detail, shall we?

For working 8 months per year, the average pay of LAUSD teachers is -wait for it-$75,504, based on last year's numbers. And that's a median figure, which includes brand new teachers with no experience. Teachers with a few years experience can earn a lot more, and that includes a generous benefits package most workers could only dream of.Principles and administrators earn a lot more:




Even for pricey Los Angeles, these are very good salaries, especially when you add the value of their benefits package and the fact that there's nothing stopping these teachers from taking temporary employment while school's out. Teachers on the low end also have the opportunity to make more money teaching summer school or doing after school tutoring and coaching once their six hour day is over.

But what are the parents of California's public school students getting for all this money?

California spends $9,417 per pupil, with the LAUSD spending $10,000 to educate each student, with additional funding for low-income students, English-learners and foster youth.

That puts the state at number 35 in the nation, but that number includes how much is spent for salaries for teachers, administrators and their oversized benefits. Only 29.2% of fourth graders in the state are proficient in math, and only 27.8% are proficient in reading — each the third lowest share of any state. The 8th grade NAEP proficiency: 27.1% (math) 28.4% (reading).

 In LA Unified, 39.55 percent of students tested proficient in English language arts, a slight increase from 39 percent the year before (LA Unified officials are rounding the increase to 1 percent). In math, 29.86 percent of students were proficient, an increase from 28 percent the year before (which LA Unified has rounded to a 2 percent increase).

Gotta round those figures up, right?

80 per cent graduate from LAUSD's high schools according to their figures, but with those low proficiency numbers, we have to know that social promotion has to account for a decent percentage of those graduates.

And these dismal results are what the teacher's unions want a huge raise for producing!

But wait a minute. What about those overcrowded classrooms? Doesn't that effect things?

Here are a few factoids to play with.

The Education Trust-West, a non-partisan think tank estimates roughly 250,000 undocumented children between the ages of 3 and 17 are enrolled in California schools, with the highest concentration in Los Angeles County. The group estimates 750,000 K-12 students in California have undocumented parents.

Among other reasons, these parents come to California and Los Angeles schools because it's a both a sanctuary state and city, and because of policies that shield them from ICE. And then there's the  vast resources and support provided by the district... and the teachers union.

UTLA has an “Immigrant Rights for Educators Workshop,” for example, to arm union employees with legal information, resources, and “a network of concerned community members and educators who stand up for immigrant students and families.” The union’s Social Justice & Action Resources also shows union members how to “Shield Against Immigrant Detention and Deportation.” And of course, how to vote.

Union members have actively participated in several rallies calling for “Freedom for Immigrants!” and declaring illegal immigrants are “Here to Stay.”

So much for the Union wanting those uncrowded classrooms. In fact, they're actually encouraging classrooms to become even more crowded.

And here's another interesting factoid. LAUSD district enrollment numbers show that the overall number of students uin public schools has actually been declining.

Student enrollment in LAUSD schools has dropped to about 600,000 students this year, and it's obvious why. As the failure of many of the LAUSD's unionized public schools become more and more evident, parents are either going to charter schools, which are mostly non-unionized and have far better stats, or to parochial or private schools which have even better stats.

I can testify to this one myself. I yanked my own kids out of the LAUSD school system as soon as feasible and sent them to a private Jewish day school. Aside from the moral armor and self discipline this provided them with, the school was a totally secure environment with no gangs or problems with theft or acting out. Both religious and secular education were provided by dedicated teachers (non-union) and my children received a first class superior education for a fraction of what the LAUSD spends per pupil. When my kids moved on to high school, they were easily two to three years ahead of what their friends in public schools were studying. I'm certain parents in private schools or parochial schools had similar results.

And an increasing number of parents are opting for homeschooling (which California tried and failed to make illegal) or to independent charter schools, which are typically not unionized. Since 2002-03, the number of students attending charter schools increased from less than 50,000 to well over 100,000 for 2018-19, according to the superintendent of school’s final budget.

So in a very real sense, for the teacher's union keeping illegal immigrants in LA schools and encouraging even more to come is important when it comes to keeping dues paying  UTLA members employed, since the overall number of students in LAUSD schools has declined to 600,000 this year, As it has declined every year since 2002-03, when it peaked at 746,831 students.

Those 'crowded classrooms' these self serving teacher's union parasites scream about would be a lot less crowded with less illegal migrants, now wouldn't they? But of course that's not at all what the teachers Union really wants.

In spite of all this, there's no doubt in my mind the teacher's union will eventually get what it wants.

Yesterday, I had business in downtown Los Angeles to attend to. Normally that's not that much of a problem provided you find parking. As it happened it was a rainy day, which always greatly increases the traffic problem. Yet this was the same day the Democrat run city of Los Angeles acceded to the union's demand and closed off whole sections of downtown and blocked off major streets so the union could march with their signs. It caused a major mess beyond even what I've experienced in New York City. Cars were sitting there without even moving more than a foot at a time if they were fortunate. I actually had to cancel my appointment because the area I was headed for and where parking had been reserved for me was simply inaccessible. And I'm sure I wasn't alone.

The media, of course, didn't report much on this, or on the political slant of this march with anti-Trump signs, pussy hats, and pro amnesty signs.

The reason the city of Los Angeles allowed this is simple. Like most public employee unions, the teacher's union contributes money and manpower exclusively to the Democrats at campaign time.

The teacher's union has already rejected an offer by the Los Angeles Unified School District to add nearly 1,200 more educators, counselors, nurses and librarians, with hard limits on class sizes. The district also bumped up its previous offer by $24 million, with a proposed 6 percent raise and back pay for the 2017-18 school year...almost exactly what union wanted, but UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl described LAUSD’s offer as “woefully inadequate.”

A lot of the union's signs had the slogan, 'We're striking for our students.'

 

Now you know what the L.A. Teacher's strike is really all about. And that who they're really striking for isn't the students.

The EU Is At War With Israel

 

It's official. For all intents and purposes, the EU is at war with Israel.Some of the members, particularly in Eastern and central Europe aren't participating, but most of the EU is.

It isn't a shooting war, but an increasing effort to marginalize the Jewish State so it can be destroyed..

The EU supports anti-Israel NGOs financially,and continues to fund the PLO even though it uses much of those funds to pay terrorists for murdering Israeli civilians, even though that financial support frees up funds to be used in what the PLO refers to as 'operations.'

Only Israel has fruits, vegetables and fresh flowers specially labeled as being from 'the Occupied West Bank.'

Led by Angela Merkel and Frances Emanuel Macron, the EU has consistently evaded U.S. sanctions against Iran and continued to observe the farcical Iran 'deal' of Barack Hussein Obama. The EU has done this even though Iran has been quite clear of its genocidal intentions towards Israel.

And it was none other than Germany's Angela Merkel who pressured Eastern and Central European countries with good relationships with Israel not to relocate their embassies in Jerusalem or face her wrath.

The founding director of the European Coalition for Israel in Brussels, Tomas Sandell, reported that  that the  German Chancellor  waged a strenuous campaign to stop central and eastern European countries from moving their capitals to Jerusalem..

 “I have spoken to many Germans these last few days in Brussels,” he said. “They are not aware of this, and all of them would be shocked that all of the countries in the European Union today would want to block an embassy move to Jerusalem, not only for your own country, but for other countries that have the conviction [that] this is the right thing to do, the only country to do would be Germany. This is a big shock.”

According to Sandell, most of  Merkel’s calls to put the squeeze on European leaders happened when “many of the nations were seriously considering moving their embassies.”

This isn't a shock to me at all,but let's continue.

Germany also implemented  the marking of Israeli goods from 'disputed territories' in 2015. Not only did Germany start the labeling, but Merkel used her influence to get other Eu nations to do the same.The idea, of course is to further isolate Israel as an 'occupying power.'

As recently as a few days ago, the EU showed that it had chosen sides against Israel. When American U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley tried to discuss aspects of President Trump's proposed peace plan, they essentially brushed it off. Let's look at their official statement and then dissect what it really means.

After the usual horse manure about a 'just peace 'based on international law, relevant UN resolutions and previous agreements', here's what they said:

  "The EU is truly convinced that the achievement of a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as the capital of both States, that meets Israeli and Palestinian security needs and Palestinian aspirations for statehood and sovereignty, ends the occupation and resolves all final status issues, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2334 and previous agreements, is the only viable and realistic way to end the conflict and to achieve just and lasting peace."

Let's translate this, shall we?

 

Resolution 2334 is the one former President Barack Hussein Obama engineered when the Security Council had a majority of anti-Israel countries on it and then made sure the US abstained so it would pass, his final hateful attack on Israel. Here's what it stipulated, and it's an  'anti-zionist' wet dream.

First of all, it negates every Israeli community as illegal outside the pre-1967 lines and gives East Jerusalem to the PLO. This creates 580,000 homeless Israeli refugees, bars them forever from all their holy sites, and puts all of Israel's central plain and its airports in easy missile and mortar by giving Israel's sworn enemies the high ground.

 

Not only that, it also  takes away any notion of security from what's left of Jerusalem that the resolution is willing to leave to Israel. The Israelis themselves had previous experience with this in 1967, when Jordan's King Hussein announced his entry into the war by shelling civilians and having snipers fire on West Jerusalem

Even worse, there would be nothing to stop Iran from supplying deadlier and deadlier missiles and arms to both the PLO and Hamas. With the Jordan Valley out of Israeli control, there would be nothing to stop Iran from moving troops, missile launchers and armor  to Israel's new borders.

Essentially, what the EU was saying to Ambassador Haley is that they weren't going to support President Trump's plan whatever it was, that Israel should be moved to indefensible borders, and that its enemies should have every strategic advantage so they can finally destroy it.

2334 also  violates the Oslo Accords and the Road Map, agreements the U.S. was a signatory to that stated unequivocally that any settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority could only be achieved through direct negations between the two parties.

And then of course, there's that notion of 'occupation.' That term has always been used to describe one country forcibly invading and taking control of another country's sovereign territory. And sovereign territory means land inside another established country's recognized borders, like Saddam Hussein occupying Kuwait or the US occupying Germany or Japan.

So we have to ask the question...which country's sovereign territory is Israel 'occupying?'

It can't be Jordan. Yes, Jordan illegally occupied Judea, Samaria (AKA The West Bank) and East Jerusalem in the 1948 war for 19 years after ethnically cleansing the Jewish population in this area,  but the UN never recognized these areas as Jordanian territory, Israel took it back in the Six Day war after Jordan attacked them and Jordan later gave up all claims to this area as part of their peace treaty with Israel. So it isn't Jordan Israel's occupying.

And it can't be 'Palestine' either. It never existed as a sovereign nation with established borders at all. Owning a house in say, Pennsylvania does not make it and maybe your yard a sovereign country, now does it?

So there really is no 'occupation.' According to the San Remo Accords between the League of Nations (the UN of its day) and Britain in 1922, the 22% of the Palestine Mandate that includes Judea and Samaria and what is now Israel was supposed to be the Jewish State, while the 78% of it that's now Jordan was supposed to be the Arab State. It's the only partition of the area both sides ever agreed on, and it was reaffirmed in Article 80 of the UN Charter.

What the EU and their pals at the UN are doing is pretty simple to figure out. They're simply doing what  Mark Twain predicted they would back in 1899 when the  Zionist movement was  beginning. Here's what he had to say  in a famous article on Jews he did in Harper's Magazine:

  I am not objecting; but if that concentration of the cunningest brains in the world were going to be made in a free country (bar Scotland), I think it would be politic to stop it. It will not be well to let the race find out its strength. If the horses knew theirs, we should not ride any more. 

Want further proof of how the EU has it in for Israel? The recent attempt to simply pass a resolution  condemning unprovoked terrorism  by Hamas against Israel in the UN General Assembly failed dismally once Israel's enemies in the UN insisted on a two thirds majority instead of the simple majority Ambassador Haley wanted.

You know what did pass? A resolution sponsored by Ireland calling for 'the achievement, without delay”  of the implementing  of U.N. resolution 2334.

Since 2334 was a series 6 Resolution that has no status as international law,  Israel promptly rejected it, as any country not interested in national suicide would.But thanks to Barack Hussein Obama, it remains a framework for countries that want Israel gone.

And make no mistake,it definitely is about the Jews. Much of what constitutes the EU will never forgive them for Auschwitz. Or for being so successful in a region noted for failed states.

Forum: What Do You Most Like About The Holiday Season?

Every week, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question:What Do You Most Like About The Holiday Season?

Bookworm Room: I like Christmas music. I may be Jewish, but I think Christmas music is one of the great gifts Christians have given to the world or, at least, to America. Whether it's the old classics with their decidedly religious focus or the modern odes to winter, hearing those songs makes me happy. I dread the day when the PC police make all of that music go completely underground. Until then, once Thanksgiving is over and right up until 11:59 p.m. on Christmas day, I revel in those melodies.

Puma By Design :While I do not decorate as much as I used to because everyone are adults with their own families, the grandchildren will come over for a weekend, mid-December to help me decorate.

When they were younger, I used to take them on a day trip to Toys R Us or FAO Schwartz in mid-town Manhattan where they’d have open access to the many games and holiday props. However, since everyone is so politically correct in NYC, we now head over to Barnes and Nobles or one of the malls depending on the events.

The following day, we put up Christmas lights and the tree. Hopefully, this year, Kiki won’t knock down the tree and screw up the decorations before the next morning’s sunrise as she did last year.

After the tree is decorated, we’ll have cookies and hot chocolate or tea (sounds all Norman Rockwell, right?) While decorating, we’ll play Christmas music. They like my choice of Christmas music (thank goodness).

Once settled for the evening, I bully (well, not exactly) them into watching a Christmas movie of my choosing. Hey, I earned it and of course, they’ll moan and groan, “Oh, Grandma….really?” My grandson and granddaughter will fight for the seat closest to me until unable to stand them anymore, I switch seats allowing one to sit on the left of me and the other on the right. Case closed.

Then we’ll hang out again, Christmas Eve until about 10 p.m. at which point, their parents who waited until the final days have completed Christmas shopping take them home.

In between and all around, by the second week of December, I am in the holiday spirit whether I have decorated or not. However, once the mission has been accomplished, there is no holding me back. I often spend late evenings or since I’m such a horrible sleeper awaken to find my favorite spot in the living room where I admire the decorations, tree and lights while enjoying Christmas music preferably old school Christmas music of all genres except Hip-hop. Okay, one or two artists from the Hip-hop era.

I believe that music is God’s gift to us and his way of touching us deep within. There is a reason that it’s called joyful noise and when I’m not listening to music or have lowered it in the background, I’m like a 10-year-old enjoying my Christmas movies.

Life is good and we are blessed.

Jeffrey Avalon Friedberg: love "the prettiest sound" in the world: the call to Prayer.

The sound of goats screaming death cries as they are slaughtered. The cacophony of terrified unbelievers naked and shrieking in cold air. The crisp crackle of animal and snake hides as we unwrap our newest weapons and killing devices.

Yessss---the ssssssong of the sssssands blowing passssst usssss, under a full moon....

Ahhhhhh...nothing better....

Nothing.


Patrick O'Hannigan: I'm not actually sure what I like most about the holiday season, but I appreciate being given the chance to think aloud about it.

If you set aside some of the hymns I like on the grounds that Easter and (in the U.S., at least) the Fourth of July have also inspired music, then the forced pause over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day might be the thing I appreciate most. By then, "holiday prep" of whatever kind is done, and the questions you're left to ponder get simultaneously bigger and smaller. What I mean is that those of us inclined to such pondering are nudged by the calendar to marvel at the fact that God became Man, which leads first to the big, comforting, incredible question of "Why?"

I'm not sure whether my Jewish friends see the ecumenical and fellowship possibilities in Christmas the way that I do, but I also like how the Nativity of Jesus sits squarely on the pivot point between Jewish and Christian scriptures.

That said, nobody can think big thoughts all the time, and so by December 25 we're also playing "small ball" with questions like "Which flannel shirt do I like best?" or "Will this Irish coffee taste as good as Uncle Jim's?," and "Is the soprano soloist at the late Mass going to handle 'O Holy Night' as beautifully as Mary Beth did all those years ago?"

I think "the holidays" as a catchall phrase wrongly conflates observances of unequal rank by putting things like New Year's Eve on equal footing with more significant observances, but it's also true that seeing the confluence of sacred and secular in the month of December provides food for thought.

Rob Miller: People's attitudes. They seem to enjoy life more, to let the little things go. Oh, and using the pool and the jacuzzi in December.


Laura Rambeau Lee: For me the holiday season is about carrying on family traditions. We always have turkey for Thanksgiving; a standing rib roast for Christmas dinner; and a roast pork with sauerkraut, mashed potatoes and apple sauce on New Year’s Day. We do end up working around everyone’s work schedules and don’t always celebrate on the actual day, but we get together when we all can. And with an extended family it is nice to make the day a special day when no one must run to another dinner and celebration. Since my mom passed away in 2011, I guess I have taken over the matriarch role and try to do the little things she always did. My sisters especially love the shoo-fly pies I order from Lancaster, Pa, which is one thing mom always did after we moved to Florida as we got older. I don't enjoy the shopping, not crazy about the malls and the crowds. My husband loves to shop so he takes on that task. I make the list, he fills it. I still mail out Christmas cards, too, to family and friends near and far.

The holidays can be bittersweet as we remember our loved ones no longer with us. I do love the music and have a Pentatonix CD from a few years ago that I love to play. I especially love their rendition of “Mary Did You Know?”

Now that the grandkids are 13, 11 and 3 this year they are going to help decorate the house and tree. We have a beautiful nine-foot artificial tree and lots of decorations to put up around the house. We hang stockings and after the kids leave we fill them up with fun things, practical things, and candies.

Our traditions keep us bonded through the generations. The holidays are a time to cherish our families and remember our loved ones no longer with us. It's our time to express thanks for how truly blessed we are.

 Well, there it is!

Make sure to drop by every Monday for the WoW! Magazine Forum. And enjoy WoW! Magazine 24-7 with some of the best stuff written in the 'net. Take from me, you won't want to miss it.

Hanukkah, The Festival Of Lights And Freedom

Tonight marks the second night of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights .

While many of you may be familiar with the story of the Miracle of the Oil, the truth is that Hanukkah really celebrates another miracle - the miracle of a group of untrained farmers and tradesman with hardly any arms or experience in war utterly defeating the professional armies of the Seleucid Empire, a victory for freedom that belongs to all of us alike, Jew and Gentile.

Hanukkah celebrates not only one of the important events in Jewish history but is a celebration of the triumph of faith,of light over darkness. It takes place every year,usually in mid to late December, but while its date varies if you go by the western calendar, in the Hebrew calendar Hanukkah always falls on the eve of the 24th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev.

This war for Jewish independence took place in the second century B.C.E. The story is told in the First Book of Maccabees, and retold in the Second Book of Maccabees. An excellent contemporary military history of the war can be found in Battles of the Bible, coauthored by Chaim Herzog and Mordechai Gichon.

After his death, Alexander the Great's empire broke into several parts, and Israel was under the control of the Seleucid Greek empire, based in Syria. Israel had lived peacefully under the Persian Empire and under the Ptolemic empire (of Egypt), both which tolerated Judaism but the Seleucid Emperor Antiochus Epiphanes was an arrogant, bigoted ruler who attempted to force the Jews to abandon their religion and to adopt the Seleucid Greek customs and worship,which included idolatry.

There were those Jews back then whom considered themselves `modern' and `assimilated' who were willing to go along with this, even to the extent of having surgical operations to reverse circumcision.

Others did not, and they were persecuted vigorously and brutalized by the Seleucid Greeks. Even the teaching of Torah,the Jewish Scriptures was forbidden.

Tyrants always overreach and the start of the Maccabee Revolt sprang from a single spontaneous act of resistance. In the foothills village of Modi'in in 167BCE, a Greek army unit set up an altar, and ordered the local Jewish rabbi, Mattathias, to sacrifice a pig and eat it. He refused, as did his five sons. When a Jewish collaborator came forward to offer to perform the sacrifice, a furious Mattathias "ran and killed him on the spot, killed the king's officer who was forcing them to sacrifice, and tore down the altar" (1 Mac. 2:15-25).

Mattathias, his sons and their followers then headed for the Judean hills, to launch a guerrilla war along with a handful of followers. They were farmers who had no military training, facing a war with a well armed professional military. There hadn't been a Jewish army since Babylon had destroyed the Judean kingdom four centuries before. The only weapons they had were farming tools and whatever simple weapons they could construct, such as bows, maces and slings. During this first year, Mattathias died, and his middle son Judah took over command as his successor.

Nicknamed "the hammer" ("Maccabee," in Hebrew), Judah put together a guerrilla army that staged daring nighttime raids on the Greek outposts, then melted back into the countryside. His successes attracted more supporters, and the revolt spread.

The war went on for 25 years, one of the most singular wars for independence in history. It's amazing that it was fought at all, let alone won.

The Seleucids and their King Antiochus were determined to crush the revolt. They sent huge, well equipped armies into Israel to subdue the Jews. They were all defeated, at odds that seem miraculous even today. Judah Maccabee turned out to be a military genius, using unheard of tactics, leading the Greek phalanxes into the hills where they could not maneuver and destroying them in ambushes.

To give you an idea of how essential the Jewish heartland of Judea and Samaria was and is to Israel's survival then and now, the map below shows where the major battles of the war took place.(hat tip, Carl) Click on it to enlarge it:



Judea and Samaria were a natural fortress that completely defied all attempts of the Seleucid armies to take it, a lesson well worth remembering even today. Even their famous war elephants, the heavy tanks of the day were of no use in that terrain.

One thing that is seldom mentioned about the war is the fact that a significant part of it took place against the Hellenized, `modern',`assimilated' Jewish traitors I mentioned earlier, who were more than willing to abandon the Jewish way of life and supported their Seleucid masters against their fellow Jews.

As Ecclesiastes famously said in the Megillot, there's nothing new under the sun.

In 164 BCE, the Jews utterly routed a large force commanded by the Seluecid Viceroy Lysias that had outnumbered them two to one. That battle took place six miles north of Hebron, near the Jewish fortress of Beth-zur. The victory allowed Judah and his army to retake Jerusalem.

When they entered Jerusalem, Judah and his followers entered the Holy Temple on the Temple Mount. The Temple had been wrecked and horribly desecrated, with profanities scrawled on the walls and the Ark by the Seleucids.

So the Maccabees built a new altar. When the time came to light the N'er Tamid, the Eternal Light of the Temple, the Jews could find only one sanctified jar of oil marked with the seal of the High Priest. It was enough to last one evening. On the 25th of Kislev, in the year 164 BCE,the lamp was lit with this small jar of oil and, miraculously, stayed lit for eight days, until more oil suitable for the temple was made. The eight days of Hanukkah celebrate that miracle, as well as the divine intervention that had led the Jews to amazing victories over well-equipped enemies far superior in numbers. "Therefore, carrying ivy-wreathed wands and beautiful branches and also fronds of palm, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to him who had given success to the purifying of his own holy place" (2 Mac. 10:7).

The war itself continued. In 160 BCE, near modern-day Ramallah, Judah was killed, but Judah's brother Jonathan, and then his brother Simon took command of the Jewish army, finally winning complete independence in 142 BCE. At last, "All the people sat under their own vines and fig trees, and there was none to make them afraid" (1 Mac. 14:12).

Towards the end of the war, Antiochus and the Seleucids became so obsessed with defeating the Israelites that they sacked their own cities and sold their own citizens into slavery to get money to pursue the war against the Jews.

That verse from the first Book Of Maccabee, by the way, was quoted by America's first president George Washington in his famous letter to the Jewish community in Providence, Rhode Island in 1790, telling them they were welcome in America. Being obviously familiar with the story of the Maccabees,General Washington may well have taken comfort in the dark days of our own struggle for independence and freedom from tyranny from it.

The War of the Maccabees was the first war ever fought for religious freedom. Somehow, a group of farmers who refused to bow to their oppressors defeated a mighty empire and its immense standing armies. There seems to be no plausible explanation for the victory of the Jews except that it was a miracle.

Hanukkah reminds us that with G-d's help, victory over evil is assured, that light triumphs over darkness and no miracle is impossible. Modern Israel and the survival of the Jewish people against all odds are proof of that.


Symbols in Hanukkah

Aside from the Hanukkiah (candlesticks), the other great symbol of Hanukkah are those small spinning tops known as dreidels.













The four letters which appear on the four corners of a dreidel allude to the miracle of Hanukkah. They spell out: Nes (N-miracle), Gadol (G-great), Haya (H-happened) and Sham (S-there, meaning in Israel). Or, `a great miracle happened there.'

Indeed it did.

And this is also a time for Jews to light the menorah, to 'make public the miracle and shed light on the world, and to celebrate and to sing this ancient hymn, 'Maoz Tzur', (Rock of Ages). This version, fittingly, was cooked up by students at the Technion, one of the most advanced scientific seats of learning in the entire world and a symbol of Israel's rebirth:



חנוכה - בפקולטה לכימיה בטכניון יצרו גירסה מיוחדת באמצעות כלי מעבדה
ר מעוז צו

Chag Hanukkah Sameach! Happy Hanukkah!

The Real Story on Merkel And Macron's Call For A New EU Army

 

By now, many Americans are aware of France’s Socialist President Emanuel Macron’s acid comments to U.S. President Donald Trump about how a new EU Army was needed for protection from, “China, Russia and even the United States of America.”

This was particularly insulting since Macron made his remarks on an occasion when President Trump was in France to commemorate the end of WWI and to honor the American soldiers who fell in places like Belleau Wood and the Argonne Forest and literally saved France from defeat at the hands of the German Army. Without the heroic efforts of those American soldiers,that  last German offensive in 1918 would almost certainly have broken through the exhausted French troops, many of whom had mutinied against their own officers just months ago.

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel was quick to second Macron's remarks at a speech the very next day to the European Parliament, saying, "we have to work on the vision of one day creating a real European army.”

 

This is quite interesting. Germany's Bundeswehr is an under equipped, under manned and under financed joke, and Germany refuses to even meet their NATO commitments financially. As for France, most of their army is stationed within France itself, trying to maintain a semblance of order in France's cities, and France's economy is in a dismal recession. To do what Macron and Merkel are planning would cost billions that neither country would likely be able to afford, especially if, as Merkel said, they plan on staying part of NATO.

So what's behind this call for a new EU Army is actually easy to see if we look at the similarities between Merkel and Macron.

Both are by nature, totalitarians. Macron is a lifelong socialist and EU functionary who was part of the Hollande regime. Angela Merkel was a member of East Germany's notorious secret police, the STASI. And it's certainly easy to see these tendencies at work at when you look at how the EU and their individual countries are being run.

 

Both are seeing their grip on power severely threatened. Macron's popularity has plummeted severely, now that the French have begun to realize how badly they were conned and lied to in the last election.  The French are increasingly pessimistic about their future.  And Angela Merkel,while still  Bundeskanzlerin of Germany has seen her own Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party reject her, along with their historic coalition partners, the Bavarian-based Christian Social Union (CSU). Both parties are now at record lows in approval ratings, and Merkel will probably not even finish her term unless something drastic happens.  

While Macron's mishandling of France's economy contributed to his unpopularity, both he and Angela Merkel are deeply unpopular because of the problems caused by Merkel's decision to open the EU's borders to Muslim migrants and Macron's eager acquiescence to that policy for France. For all the efforts of most of the press in these countries, the sexual assaults, violence, vandalism and crime that have occurred are no secret any more to the average German or French citizen.

Both leaders are also childless by choice. People with that mindset  tend to have a very different view of the future than those who have children.

So, let's put the pieces together, shall we? 

 The original bright idea Merkel and and other EU leaders had was to solve a growing problem: their native populations were simply not having children and rapidly graying. This tends to happen in socialist countries, and it was particularly true in Germany. And that meant fewer taxpayers to keep the socialist welfare state these countries had created solvent and running. Merkel hit on the idea of importing thousands of Muslim migrants to Germany, most of them young men of military age. She stupidly thought they would assimilate, adopt German culture and become taxpayers to keep Germany's social welfare system afloat.

What actually happened in both France,Germany and other countries stupid enough to try this is that the vast  majority of these young Muslim men didn't assimilate at all. After all, their own religion and culture was the best, wasn't it? Why imitate the kuffars? Nor did they particularly want to work, not when living on the dole gave them a lifestyle far better than they had back home, with free housing, medical care, and a generous cash stipend. And for amusement, there was crime, gang rapes, rioting, gay bashing, attacking Jews and simply behaving overall like the conquerors Mohammed and the Qur'an told them they were.  

Merkel and Macron's new idea is simply a variation on their former one. If they can't get these migrants off the dole and working, why not conscript them! Which is exactly how the new EU army is going to be created. While they probably wouldn't be too much use against the Russians, the new EU army could be used to threaten or even to attack EU nations like Hungary, Italy, Austria, Poland, and the Czech Republic who aren't abiding by the EU's diktats and bring them to heel. And of course, to discipline any dissidents in their own countries who need to be taught a lesson about co-operating with the New Order. It could also be used to deal with those uppity Jews in Israel who won't do as they're told by the EU. And of course, it would get a lot of these migrants off the dole. Given their inherent nature, making them into horde-like shock troops shouldn't be too hard, should it?

If it works the way they see it working, the entire populist movement in the EU nations can be crushed. And it's a great way for leaders like Merkel and Macron to stay in power, nicht wahr? 

Of course, in reality this would backfire in a hideous way. Armed and trained Muslim migrants aren't going to obey the orders of their infidel masters for very long.  They will simply use the opportunity they have been given to take over whatever they can manage to conquer and turn it into Dar Islam, which of course they will rule under shariah.

You would think Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron would be smart enough to see how badly their last experiment with Muslim Migrants turned out and avoid this sort of thing. But remember, they were dumb enough to do it  in the first place, and to insist on  bringing more migrants in,  even when it became obvious what a huge mistake it was. 

And the U.S.? Since most of the nations of Western Europe now regard America as  dangerous, would we get involved? It depends. 

I've seen others write about what a great  thing a new EU army would be, because we could simply take our troops out of Europe and forget about it. They forget that France has nuclear weapons and even some ICBMs and that Germany's Kiel shipyards are fully capable of building nuclear capable submarines. Would it really be such a great idea to let the Muslims get their hands on them?  So yes we probably would pull at least France out of the fire again, unless we simply decided to bomb the French nuclear facilities and Germany shipyards and have done with it.

  Also, in spite of what Angela Merkel had to say, as soon as they have their new EU army in place, NATO will largely be history. But that isn't going to apply to Eastern Europe, Italy, and quite possibly the UK if someone like Boris Johnson, David Davis or Dominic Raab takes over from Theresa May, which is very likely. And yes, if they're attacked, we might see US forces involved. 

Let's hope Merkel and Macron's idea of an EU army turns out to be just trial balloon with a hole in it. 

These leaders consider America a greater threat to them than an aggressive Islamist Iran, to the point where they appease the Ayatollahs at every turn and put their hopes in a bogus 'deal' Iran never even signed.
 
Based on that, I wouldn't count on a new EU Army being on our side in the event things hit the fan.










Rob Miller writes for Joshuapundit. His articles have appeared in The Jerusalem Post, The Washington Examiner, American Thinker, The Los Angeles Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The San Francisco Chronicle, Real Clear Politics, The Times Of Israel, Breitbart.Com, Yediot and other publications.
Follow him on Twitter here and on Facebook here.
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Forum: What Historical Figure Would You Like To Be?

Every week, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: What Historical Figure Would You Like To Be?

Don Surber: Wilt Chamberlain. 30,000 points, 2,000 women.

Jeffrey Avalon Friedberg:If I could I would want to be the first guy who decided to have a city and be king of it. He would also have figured out that to be, and remain, king he would need a constituency of dedicated rabble.

He would have been the guy who came up with the first idea of telling the rabble what they needed to hear to keep himself in power. Lies would be okay, because the only thing that mattered would be direction and reward or punishment of my masses.

You know, let those who defy me be fired, ruined socially, or destroyed—prevented from breeding independent thinkers like themselves.

And then I’d reward those who backed up me and my special, private, social System. My backers would be the ones to get the big farming and gathering contracts, become rich and famous, get the lucrative cuneiform and symbols contracts, rock dragging endorsements, and be allowed to breed more subjects for me, exactly like themselves.

I would then also be the guy who comes up with the idea of Enforcers, to keep my special societal System running. These would be my police and special State prosecutors, or whatever I might choose to call them.

The Guy—this guy—he would have a way to harness the powers of Marketing, State rituals, and the Social Deliverers—or town news criers.

Thus, the guy, he would have his very of special political System, its purveyors, and Enforcers. He would be the Rock-con Valley and yuge Social Media guy—King.

And if I could go back in time, and be that guy, and be in charge of everything around me and mold the rabble to my Will, and keep them in line, and purvey and enforce my very special Social System: I would go back to being just a fricking goat herder and spare the world from Liberalism forever.

Rob Miller: Hmmm! Joshua, of course! Or maybe Puccini.

Fausta Rodríguez Wertz: Rosalind Russell: Beautiful, talented and smart.

David Schuler: Sir Richard Francis Burton. Explorer, geographer, diplomat, spy, scholar, poet, swordsman, linguist. Tall, dark, and handsome. One of the founders of modern anthropology. Spoke, read, and wrote dozens of languages well.

Laura Rambeau Lee:Maybe it’s my age, but thinking about this question I really can’t come up with anyone in history I would want to be. I honor those from the past who have advanced humankind and sought to better our lives. From the ancient philosophers and through the enlightenment; from our founding fathers and those who fought for the human rights of all individuals; their place in history is and should be acknowledged and their ideas and ideals taught to our children and grandchildren.

When I think back to the past I can’t imagine dealing with the hardship of everyday life of previous generations; having to hunt and raise our own food, simple things like communication, medical care, even bathing, cooking and doing laundry. The technological advancements that have happened in my lifetime alone are an incredible testament to human ingenuity. We live in amazing times. I feel a responsibility, as I am sure many of us do who have been drawn to the blogosphere, to be today’s pamphleteers and town criers, to touch as many people as possible and expose the evil forces and people in the world working to destroy our culture and our country. I feel the importance and urgency of the work we do and am happy to be living in the here and now. Whether we win or lose this fight, at least we can look back and say we were not silent.


Patrick O'Hannigan: I have the same problem Laura does -- I don't want to be anyone else.

But I'd like to have a beer with Benjamin Franklin, Thomas ("The king's good servant, but God's first") Moore, and beach volleyball legend Kerri Walsh-Jennings.


 Well, there it is!

Make sure to drop by every Monday for the WoW! Magazine Forum. And enjoy WoW! Magazine 24-7 with some of the best stuff written in the 'net. Take from me, you won't want to miss it.

Forum: What Will Be The Midterm Results?

Every week, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: What Will Be The Midterm Results?

Rob Miller: I see the Republicans increasing their lead in the Senate to at least 54-46. They will have pickups in Florida, Missouri, N. Dakota in the least, and quite possibly Montana and Indiana. They'll retain Arizona and Tennessee, and possibly Nevada, depending on how many illegal migrants in Clark County (Las Vegas) the Dems manufacture votes for. So the lead could be as high as  55-45 or even 56-44.

Beto O'rourke, a 'Kennedy' even when it comes to his drunk driving record and history of leaving the scene of an accident he caused will be embarrassingly defeated. Another long shot I'd love to see come in is in Michigan, where the disgusting Debbie Stabenow's lead is decreasing against John James, a black Republican conservative businessman and war hero. A long shot, but not impossible.

Californians have a wonderful choice for Senate. They can pick the ethics challenged Difi, who employed a Chinese spy for years while her husband made millions in China through his connections with the government there...OR MeCha and La Raza's poster boy Kevin De Leon, who believes it's perfectly OK for illegal migrants to use fake ids and engage in identity theft. Both Democrats, of course.

The House I see as ending up with a smaller majority for the Republicans but still a majority. The Dems will end up in the low 200's at best because they will pick up some seats in California and similar Crazyvilles they already control. The GOP will end up with something like 220-225, I think.

Governors? Scott Walker will likely just eke out another term. Commies Stacy Abrams and Andrew Gillum will be defeated in Georgia and Florida, with Brian Kemp and DeSantis winning (in the case of Desantis, by a nose). My guess is 28-22, favoring the GOP.

Ignore the polls, since they include ridiculously bogus polls from CNN that are hysterically funny, but serve the purpose of cooking the averages at places like RCP.

Jeffrey Avalon Friedberg: It will be Republicans by a landslide all around.

I predict utter disgrace for the evil, open borders, one world democrats, who will of course then explode and declare both some sort of “war” and a “stolen” election.

I don’t have specific numbers.

My state of New Mexico, (USA), is blood blue, and the rubber-stamp, sycophant dems will sweep it.

Steve Pearce will not be elected Governor.

Democrats should not push this further. Enough is enough.

Don Surber: Democrats must defend 26 Senate seats (including independents Bernard Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine) while Republicans have nine seats on the line.

To take the Senate Democrats must win at least 28 of those 35 Senate seats (both senators will be elected in Minnesota and Mississippi).

At present, Real Clear Politics has Republicans gaining three seats. If that holds, Democrats will win 23 of the 35 seats and still not get the Senate.

Now for my prediction. Republicans will keep the Senate. Democrats will then whine about winning the popular vote but not winning the Senate. Democrats should easily have more votes than Republicans even if Republicans take more seats because California's Senate race is between two Democrats.

Vote early, then on the night of November 6 watch the returns not because the Senate will change but because the Left will react the same way they did rwo years ago. They have not learned.

Doug Hagin: Well, not a blue wave. The GOP will gain in the Senate, and will keep the House. In large part because the GOP has, finally discovered spines, and the economy, and yes, because the Dems have far overplayed their rhetoric.

Laura Rambeau Lee:Listening to the mainstream media pundits (someone has to do it) the Democrats anticipate a Blue Wave and fully expect to take the House and Senate. Watching the rallies around the country, President Trump draws tens of thousands of excited and engaged supporters while former Vice President Joe Biden can’t seem to draw 1/1024th as many to a Democratic rally in Las Vegas. However, we can’t discount the widespread voter fraud. Being involved in cleaning voter rolls in our county in Florida a few years ago I know voter fraud is a very real issue and getting worse.

I am seriously concerned with the governor’s race in my state. Democrat Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum (spell check keeps changing his name to Gollum) is supported monetarily by George Soros and Tom Steyer, while Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis is supported by conservative Republicans but not so much by establishment Republicans. DeSantis should be a shoo-in in our Red State following a successful Republican Governor Rick Scott, who is running for Senate and I hope beats out Democrat Senator Bill Nelson. Gillum is embroiled in scandals involving the FBI and illegal activities in development dealings in Tallahassee and has seen an increase in crime in the city during his term as mayor. And he promises to raise our taxes by one billion dollars! That’s a winning platform, right? DeSantis and Gillum are on complete opposite sides of the political spectrum. What worries me is after Hurricane Michael pretty much decimated the Florida panhandle area, and many are still without power and their homes destroyed, will they be able or want to get to the polls and vote?

 Fortunately Governor Scott signed an executive order Thursday easing voting restrictions in eight counties in the Panhandle since several election offices and polling places were damaged or destroyed. The order gives these counties the ability to extend early voting and designate more early voting locations even though the deadline to do so has passed. There are about 200,000 voters in the area which usually has above average turnouts in mid-term elections and reliably vote Republican. The Panhandle voters won the state for Trump in 2016.

The evening of November 6th I believe we will see a Red Wave and Republicans retaining control of the House and Senate, along with a major meltdown by the arrogant main stream media, who still don’t understand why we fight. It’s must see TV!

David Schuler: I've been writing about this for some time. I think the Republicans will hold the Senate, maybe even picking up a seat or two. I think the likelihood is that they will lose the House but the Democrats will only hold the majority by the narrowest of margins.

Another IMO less likely alternative is that the Republicans continue to hold the House but by a narrower margin than presently.

Much less likely outcomes: the Democrats win the House and end up with as many seats as the Republicans hold now or more or the Republicans gain seats in the House.

 Well, there it is!

Make sure to drop by every Monday for the WoW! Magazine Forum. And enjoy WoW! Magazine 24-7 with some of the best stuff written in the 'net. Take from me, you won't want to miss it.

A Former CIA Officer’s Tips for Avoiding Death, Prison, and Hospital While You Travel

There is something very appealing about packing a bag and hopping on the first flight out of town—maybe because we never quite grow out of our childhood desire to run away. However, taking the time to do some research and plan a little before you go will help make even the most experienced traveler safer. Here are a few tips from my time as a CIA officer that will help you avoid death, prison, and hospital on your travels.
Before you go…
1. Leave copies of your travel information with someone you trust. Print out a copy of your passport and forward your flight itinerary and hotel information to them. Having someone who can verify your identity and travel plans will give police a place to start if something happens to you. Also, scammers targeting your family will sometimes claim that they have taken you hostage and demand a ransom. Knowing where you are staying and when you are traveling will help your friends and family avoid these scams.
Take the time to memorize your own travel information, too, because you cannot always count on a working or fully charged phone, or reliable internet.
2. Don’t rule out the possibility of a medical emergency. We never anticipate having a health crisis while we are traveling, but it happens. Do your research on the quality of medical care in the country you are visiting, but also have a backup plan in case of sickness or an accident, such as Medjet, a medical transport and travel safety membership program. Most companies will only take you to the nearest adequate medical center, but for a reasonable annual fee starting at $99 for short-term coverage and $270 for year-round, Medjet will transport you to your hospital of choice if you wind up needing continuing medical care. It does not discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions.
3. Research potential threats. As you prepare for your trip, knowing about potential threats or frequent crimes in the country you are visiting will help you remain alert while you are there. The Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security publishes important information on every country in the world, such as crime and safety reports and security warnings, and updates them regularly. The reports may be a little overwhelming to read because they include all potential risks, but they are accurate and will give you a good sense of what you should prepare for.
4. Get cash out to exchange once you arrive at your destination. You may find when you arrive that the airport ATMs are not working or they do not accept debit cards from your country of origin. Perhaps their taxis do not take credit cards. Suddenly, you have no way to pay to get out of the airport. Having even a little cash on you will give you enough time to figure out your next steps.

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5. Take emergency phone numbers with you. Make sure you know the local equivalent of 9-1-1 in case of emergency. Look up your in-country embassy’s phone number and address before you leave and call them if you lose your passport while traveling or if you are the victim of a crime. If there is a natural disaster or a terrorist attack during your trip and you cannot get a hold of your family or friends, you can check in with the embassy.
6. Don’t bring anything you can’t stand to lose. It is easy to lose things when you are traveling, either because you misplace them or because they get stolen while you are on the move. Traveling is not the time to bring priceless heirlooms or anything that is one of a kind.
7. Learn phrases in the host language. Being able to communicate in the language of the country you are visiting will help you better navigate your surroundings if you find yourself in trouble, especially phrases like “Where is the nearest hospital?” or “I need help.” On the flip side, obstinately demanding that everyone speak in English will make you stand out to those looking to target tourists for crimes or other nefarious purposes.
There are many good language apps for your phone that will help you translate foreign languages on the spot, but Google Translate and iTranslate are particularly good, though you’ll have to pay more if you want to use iTranslate offline. Each can translate more than 100 different languages and both are free. When in doubt, appreciation is a universal language, so knowing at least how to say “please” and “thank you” in the host language will get you far.
8. Prevent potential health risks. Traveling is a great way to find every kind of germ and sickness imaginable. You may encounter diseases, like malaria, that are not common in your country. Find out what vaccinations or medicine you need before you go through the Center for Disease Control website. Build in extra time to visit your doctor because they may not have the right vaccine on hand. Gastrointestinal illnesses are common when traveling, because of new foods and poor water quality, so research what you should avoid.
While you’re there…
1. Minimize your profile, so you are not a target. Criminals often target tourists for things like petty theft or worse, and many travelers make it easy by doing things that make them stand out. Things like looking lost, holding a paper map on a sidewalk, wearing a camera over your neck, or speaking loudly in a language not native to where you are visiting may make you a target. Clothing can also draw attention to you—for example, American men wearing baseball hats in countries where that is unusual, or wearing obviously expensive items, like noticeable jewelry.
2. Don’t take unofficial forms of transportation. As soon as you exit the airport, watch out for people who approach you with what sounds like a great transportation deal. It might be a private tour at half the cost or a cheaper taxi rate to your hotel, but often it is a scam, a kidnapping attempt, or something else that could put you in danger. Make sure your taxi has a meter and that the driver turns it on when you start your journey.
In some places, you must even negotiate a fare upfront if you do not want to be ripped off when they drop you at your destination. Inability or failure to pay, even if it is a scam, could get you in trouble with the local police. Sticking with legitimate transportation companies in the country you’re visiting isn’t a fool-proof solution, but it is a good first step.
3. Practice good hotel security. Hotel rooms are often the site of emergencies, such as robberies. Keep your blinds drawn so that intruders cannot scout out your room or belongings. Ground-floor rooms are more easily accessible to would-be intruders, but staying on the top floor may make it more difficult for rescue workers to reach you in the event of a fire. Lock the deadbolt at all times when you are in your room.
4. Watch out for electronic attacks. Hackers often skim insecure public wi-fi hotspots for targets. While free internet on the go might be tempting, it is a good way to get hacked, and can put all of your personal information at risk. You should also make sure you keep your electronic devices with you because they can easily be hacked or bugged. Even hotel safes can be cracked by people who know how, so do not assume your electronics or other belongings are safe there.
5. Follow local laws and customs. This is not only a sign of respect for the area you are visiting, it is also a critical way to stay out of trouble. To find out about the laws and customs of the area you are visiting, Google is your friend. But U.S. government types often refer to Kiss, Bow, Or Shake Hands by Terri Morrison and Wayne Conaway, an encyclopedia-like reference book covering customs in every country. Breaking local rules, or even the law, to snap that perfect Instagram shot is not worth the trouble it could cause.
6. Keep your belongings in safe places. Many small crimes like pickpocketing happen in crowded places, like train stations. Keep your personal items safe by making them difficult to get to. That means, not putting your wallet in your back pocket, carrying shoulder bags that can be easily snatched, or stowing things in outside backpack pockets. Do not flash cash or anything else that could suggest to would-be thieves that you have a lot of money.
7. Don’t panic. Real life is not quite like James Bond movies, but local security services in some countries like to keep tabs on foreigners. If you notice you’re being followed, keep calm, but stay in public places and well-lit areas. If you think security services are watching, confronting them could do more harm than good. Report any suspicious behavior to the embassy.

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Forum: If You Could Have A Different Career What Would It Be?

Every week, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: If You Could Have A Different Career What Would It Be?

Bookworm: I've never liked being a lawyer, although I'm reasonably good at it. It's honed my analytical abilities and my writing skills. It makes possible the blogging I enjoy doing, although I don't seem to be able to make money as a blogger.

What I'd really like to be is a member of the idle rich. My favorite pastimes are reading books; writing short, horribly proofread essays off the top of my head; and eating chocolate ice cream. I'm really not sure there's a career pathway for all of that.

Rob Miller:I have to giggle a little when I think of the word 'career' applied to me.Everything I ever did that was reasonably successful, I just sort of fell into.

One day I accidentally strummed a cheap guitar my parents brought home from a trip to Mexico and fell in love. I never wanted to do anything else afterwards, so that became my 'career.' even if I wasn't earning anything from it. I had a lot of different jobs,(I left home at 18) some of them quite interesting, but they were always just to finance and pave the way towards playing music for a living.

Eventually I managed to do that after a few false starts and made a fairly decent living out of it. It also was something of a fascinating sort of sub culture in which I was a 'semi-celebrity.' In other words, I wasn't any multi- millionaire, but I was known, sort of, whatever that means. I could get into  clubs for free and into their VIP sections all across the country, get backstage at concerts to 'say hello' and enjoy the adult refreshments and other diversions, drink for free in certain watering holes (thank you, Esther and George Wong) meet a lot of interesting people and fulfill a fair amount of fantasies. And the money wasn't bad at all.

The way that sort of ended was that I became a hired hack basically playing music I didn't really like at all for other people.  And for someone who loves music the way I did, that made it just another job, a way to make some money. About that time, I met my wife and we married, and I wasn't exactly rabid with excitement over the offers I had. So I went back to just doing sessions, mostly commercials, and working as a customer service manager for a large office supplies company.

When business went down at the office supply company and I was fired, it was time for another accident in my 'career.' I met an Israeli contractor (we knew some of the same people in Israel) who I got some jobs for in exchange for some baksheesh, and he told me about an Israeli friend of his who was 'doing loans' and that it was commission only, 'but you talk nice to people chaver, and you could make some nice money.'

Well, OK. Todah rabah.

I had a friend who was refinancing her house and I knew she'd give me the job, so I figured I'd do this once, make some money, hate it and move on. The Israeli broker hired me and I proceeded to learn about the paperwork and other things I needed to know. Instead of hating it, once I saw that first commission check I wanted nothing more but to master this new occupation the way a Samurai wanted to master his swordsmanship and do a lot more business.I ended up being pretty good at it.

After three years working for my Israeli boss (lots of fun!), I got my broker's license, opened up my own business and ended up being rather successful. For me, the 1990's and early 2000's were literally golden years. Aside from mortgages and refis, we also listed and sold houses and I also did quite well buying foreclosures once I learned how to do it properly. I'd refurbish them and either sell them or rent them out.

I sold my business right before the nasty stuff hit the fan in 2008, and I'm still not exactly sure why I did but the timing was right.  Now, I'm semi retired, mostly manage my properties, and partner up now and then with a couple of brokers I know to find refurb houses, fix them up, and sell them. It bothers me a bit because it's mostly investors buying them to rent out rather than families who want a home of their own, but so be it.

All in all, considering where I started, I'm quite grateful to the Almighty for the life I have. I wouldn't change a thing.

Jeffrey Avalon Freidberg: Like one of my personal idols, Bookworm, I am really really really good with ice cream.

However, I tend to specialize in Hagen Dazs chocolate covered ice cream popsicles and Julie’s Organic ice cream sandwiches, which kind of limits my style and reach.

I too think I’d be really good at being filthy rich like Diane Feinstein and practically the entire senate.

Amazing how they go to DC poor and leave rich as kings and queens, with unlimited lifetime medical, insurance, pensions, and all....

I guess they get smarter when they get off the bus?

Of course John McCain married the Beer Queen and had so many houses they were almost as many as Obama has—but not as many as John Kerry.

Anyways....

Anyways, I got into the private eye biz by accident and stuck with it for 35 years. I guess I did everything there was to do in that line. I wooda been something else, except I think I liked the private eye gig. I got to be outdoors and run a lot.

Then one day I just could not open one more file and walked away...

...what a DUMB THING TO DO!

Now I have no income, no job, and temp’ services won’t touch me because—even though I built and ran a million dollar business—I don’t appear anywhere in their “categories.” I was never—say—an accountant, lawyer, or secretary. No listing. 

As bugs Bunny said, “Ehhhh...I knew I shoulda took that left toin at Albu-qoikey.”


Laura Rambeau Lee: Once I got past my childhood obsession with dinosaurs and wanting to be an archaeologist I set my sights on becoming a physician. I studied hard and was a pretty good student, often studying beyond what was available in school. Growing up outside of Philadelphia in a small college town the college professors would give me text books which I read voraciously. In junior high I was attacking texts on abnormal psychology, organic chemistry, and books on human anatomy and physiology. I began college with a premed major. That changed when my father died when I was nineteen. At that point I decided I did not want to become a doctor and deal with life and death issues on a daily basis. I quickly lost interest, got married, had a daughter and divorced within six years. At age twenty-five I was a single mom who needed to make money, and make it without a college education. As a vice-president of a local bank my mother introduced me to an owner of a title insurance company and I was hired as a processor. My wages went from $145.00 a week working in a bank to $175.00 a week. That was a big jump back then, especially when child care alone was $45.00 a week.

I learned the business and after a couple of years went to work for an attorney doing real estate closings. Then I went into business with my mother for ten years, she having a mortgage company and me running the title insurance side. After my mom retired my company was bought out by a national title company owned by a national builder. ­(I had let the mortgage company dissolve due to the savings and loan crash in the late 80s early 90s. It became nearly impossible to be a mortgage broker at the time). I worked there for thirteen years until the crash in 2008.

One thing I realized early on was the chairman of the Federal Reserve really controls our country. I would tell people that whoever controls the cost and flow of money controls it all. I was still in my 20s. As I looked into it more I realized how correct I was in my analysis.

Then around 2004 I began to see it coming apart. The mortgages they were selling were certain foreclosures. No doubt about it in my mind. But it became personal when they started selling purchase money first and second mortgages. People could get one hundred percent financing by taking out an eighty percent first mortgage along with a twenty percent second mortgage. They avoided private mortgage insurance and avoided having to put money in escrow with their payments for property taxes and homeowners insurance. We called them NoNo loans – they required no asset and no income verification to qualify for these mortgages, all under full approval of FNMA guidelines. At that point I understood that now we would have a situation where we would have millions of people in homes they couldn’t afford and they would not be able to pay their property taxes either. That would severely cripple our local municipalities and county revenues, meaning we would not have money for schools, firefighters, police, transportation and social services. Where I was naïve was in believing that these lenders would go out of business. I never would have believed our government would steal our savings and wealth to bail out the banks. Americans collectively lost over 19 Trillion Dollars in wealth between savings, stock market accounts and real estate! That was my wake up call. That was my call to action and when I started blogging. It helped that I was laid off from my position as division president of the company I worked for and gave me time to write, get involved with the Tea Party and also help care for my mother who was terminally ill with cancer at the time. I also returned to college to finish my bachelor’s degree, which I did with high honors in American Studies with a major in communication and media. It was also an eye opener to the open Marxist ideology indoctrination occurring on our college and university campuses. I was the token conservative on campus.

Thinking back on everything I am content with the path my life has taken. I am back in the title insurance business, doing real estate closings. It is interesting and challenging and I have always enjoyed the business and the work. I find it amazing that when I was still in college back in 1975 and knowing I no longer wanted to pursue a career in medicine I took a test to see where my interests and abilities might take me. The results came back that a career in politics or the law, or writing and reporting would best serve my personal interests and career goals. Interesting, huh?

Dave Schuler:If I knew then what I know now, I would have swallowed, sucked it up, and remained in the corporate world rather than going off on my own and starting my own business. I would have been less happy then but probably happier now.

 Well, there it is!

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