NOTES ON A SHABBY CUFF #5,

NOTES ON A SHABBY CUFF #5, Last week...

Last week we paid our respects to veterans of our armed forces.  For one, of several days, the country becomes aware of our armed forces...but for the rest of the year, if VA facilities are any yardstick, we treat them like crap.   That makes me mad and, before you ask, yes, I would do something about it.  My plan is very simple...the top five people in every VA facility around the country would be asked to resign.   If they resign, they get no benefits.  If they refuse to resign, they will face a trial and they will NOT be on paid administrative leave.   If they are found guilty of the charges they face, they will be sent to prison.

Other things were going on last week, but if you watched the mainstream media you might have missed some of it.   For starters, did you see that our president was not in the center of the group picture?   It was Putin, of Russia, who had that spot and that indicated that China thinks that he has replaced our president as the more powerful of the two.   Speaking of China, some business people on TV have reported that their economy has toppled ours as the #1 in the world.   That's not good news, especially when it's tied in with the thinking that some other currency, other than the US dollar should be the "universal" currency.   Economics is not my strong suit, but I can tell you that the stuff I buy at the supermarket seems to be inching up in price week by week.

Last week we learned the identity of the man who killed Usama bin Laden.  Details, as much as was revealed, told us that the mission was considered very likely to be a one-way mission.  With any person who dares to be different, possibly in a menacing way, they come to realize that because of what they’ve done they, and their family, have become targets.  Of course, anyone that puts on the uniform of the United States will be, at some point perhaps, a target for the enemy…and more and more that enemy will be unknown.  Even the last Gulf War was able to be classified as a “standard” war where both sides wore uniforms and you knew the enemy.   Americans, and other “westerners” now face an enemy that doesn’t wear a uniform and, in some cases, could look like anybody else.  This new type of warfare is going to take a new type of response and, personally, I like the military adage “the best defense is a good offense” and that saying goes back to Machiavelli and others.

What would be a good offense?  Surely we cannot duplicate the internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry, as we did in World War Two…can we?  We can do surveillance on places we consider to be breeding grounds for radical insurgents, potential jihadists, can’t we?  In most places, yes we could, but not in New York City apparently.  Back in August 2013, it was the policy of the NY Police Department to conduct surveillance on mosques since that seemed to be the logical places for jihadists to be radicalized.   In April of this year the unit that was watching the mosques was dismantled and the surveillance was ended.   Personally, I think that was a dumb move…but then, I think the Mayor of New York, Bill DeBlasio is an idiot.   Like the president, he’s done enough dumb things that pages could be written about them, but he’s not going to change because of anything that’s said here.

Last week saw two more names placed on my Navy-buddy Taps list.  One I knew personally, having been with him on two cruises, and the other I knew only through e-mails.  Face-to-face or e-mails, it doesn’t make a difference, when they’re gone they’re gone and the loss is just as bad.  With that in mind, when my wife died, it struck me that there was a way now, to keep a presence even though you’re gone.  Technology being what it is, recordings into a computer can be preserved indefinitely, so I started to record stories and poems and just notes, like a journal but not on a daily basis.  Perhaps it will come to pass that they(my children) will put down their phones, pads, tablets, etc. and sit still long enough to listen to me.  Oh well, that might be a pie-in-the-sky wish.  Albert Einstein once said “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”  Alas and alack.

Larry Usoff, US Navy Retired   www.AirHumanityRadio.net 

NOTES ON A SHABBY CUFF #4

NOTES ON A SHABBY CUFF #4

What in the world are we coming to in this country?  Down in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a pretty nice town I understand, a 90 year old man was arrested for feeding hungry people.  From ABC News, by Christopher Donato, writing on November 6^th, and his headline reads…90-Year-Old Man Charged With Feeding Homeless Says He Won't 'Give Up' ...and he says Every Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. for the past 23 years, 90–year-old Arnold Abbott has been feeding the homeless at a public beach in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  On October 21, the City of Fort Lauderdale Commission passed an ordinance that banned public food sharing -- something that went into effect last week. Under the ordinance, organizations distributing food outdoors would have to provide portable toilets for use by workers and those being fed.   "We hope he feeds. He has a very valuable role in the community,” said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler. "All we're saying is he can feed the next block over. He can feed at the church. We want them to be in safe secure settings. We wanted them to be in a sanitary matter. We them to have facilities available before and after."    On November 2, just days after the ordinance took effect, Abbott had handed out his third meal of the day when he was approached by police officers. He was cited for breaking the ordinance and given a notice that he must appear in court.   Abbott, a World War II veteran and civil rights activist, told The Associated Press that he has been serving the homeless for more than two decades in honor of his late wife. He has several programs, including a culinary school to train the homeless and help find them jobs in local kitchens.

"One of the police officers said, 'Drop that plate right now,' as if I were carrying a weapon," Abbott told ABC affiliate WPLG.   Abbott continued his tradition of feeding the homeless on a public beach Wednesday night when he was approached by officers again and his food operation was shut down.   But he plans on being back at the public beach, as usual, next Wednesday.    "I don’t plan to give up the beach,” he said.   The Fort Lauderdale Police told ABC News that Abbott will get his court subpoena in the mail and a judge will decide whether he will spend up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.   "Arnold thinks he can feed wherever he wants and the laws say differently. Despite the fact that he's a super nice guy and he's a gentleman and a kind soul we have to enforce the law,” Seiler said.   Although Abbott has been cited twice in less than a week, he has no plans to stop feeding the homeless, telling ABC News over the phone from his non-profit organization, Love Thy Neighbor, that the only alternative he has is to go to court.   Abbott sued the City of Fort Lauderdale in 1999 after they tried to stop him from feeding the homeless on a public beach. Abbott won the case three times in circuit court and twice in the court of appeals.   He was invited by a local church to feed the homeless in their parking lot this coming Sunday where he expects to feed up to 200 people. Abbott doesn’t believe he will receive any citations during this feed because he will be on private property.

Mr. Bumble had little use for judicial reasoning. In Dickens' Oliver Twist, he put it rather bluntly: "'If the law supposes that', said Mr. Bumble, 'the law is an ass — an idiot.'"  I quite agree, Mr. Bumble.  Just because something is the law, doesn’t make it right, fair or logical.  One only has to look at the “stuff” that’s come out of the White House in the past six years to understand that.   Here’s what Francis Bacon said about the law, "That laws were like cobwebs; where the small flies were caught, and the great break through."

Now, on a different subject…immigration.  A brief note…when my grandparents came here, with literally thousands of others, they waited in line.  First they waited in their home country, to get permission to emigrate to America.  Then they waited until they saved enough money to get on the boat.  Then, arriving in America, either broke or almost so, they scrimped and saved and made their way in the New World.   You can trace famous families of this country back to their immigrant roots and see how they worked to get ahead. 

Now contrast that to the Muslims that are being imported into this country.   They cannot wait to get on the welfare rolls, to suck at the government teat, to contribute nothing of value to the society in which they live and, they are “offended” at everything that takes place!   You can make all the excuses you want, for them, but they are not compatible with anything in the civilized world, and they’ll do anything, say anything, so long as it furthers the cause of Islam.   We don’t need that in a free(for now) country.

Larry Usoff, US Navy Retired   www.AirHumanityRadio.net

NOTES ON A SHABBY CUFF #3

NOTES ON A SHABBY CUFF #3

Election day comes and goes during this week and the course of the ship of state is set, but there’s a few things that have come to light recently that you should think about.  Not the least of which is massive voter fraud, probably in this election…and definitely in the last one.   Voting machines which automatically transferred a vote to the other side, voters who voted more than once, illegal aliens who voted and, of course the dead, and the cartoon characters.  Perhaps the most obvious was the case of  Jim Moynihan in Chicago…and who would EVER think that politics could go awry in that place?  Moynihan, a Republican, voted for himself in early voting and watched in amazement as the machine changed his vote to the Democrat.  He tried several other choices on the ballot only to have the same results…his vote was changed to the Democrat opponent.   If that isn’t investigated, and thoroughly, then we might as well go back to the paper ballots and have them counted by both sides simultaneously.

Being retired from the US Navy, there have been occasions when it was proper and authorized to wear the uniform again, and I did.  Now, with the recent flurry of terror attacks on uniformed personnel, it causes me, and a lot of others I’ll bet, to think twice about wearing the uniform.  One place in particular comes to mind immediately, and that is the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier at the National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.   When the terrorist shot and killed the soldier in Canada, he ran right up to him and shot him in the chest and, as we found out later, those soldiers carried rifles, but they had no ammunition with them to defend themselves or the monument.  Is that the case in the United States also?   Personally speaking, every American citizen should be armed now, because a so-called “lone wolf” type of attack happens very fast and, usually, without warning.    You should always be aware of your surroundings, the people nearby, and be prepared to defend yourself should it be necessary.  If the Department of Defense mandates that US Armed Forces personnel should not wear uniforms off the base, the tactic of terror will have done its job.

From time to time a news item makes me sit up, scratch my head and wonder how we got to this point, and this is one of those items.   In Baltimore, Maryland, a white family boarded a city bus and, for what reason we don’t know, had some words with the driver, a black female.   She apparently used her phone and arranged for a group of black youths to meet her bus at the next stop, with the instructions that they should take care of the whites when they exited the bus.  When the family disembarked the bus  the youths followed and began pepper spraying and beating all of them. The group got on and off the bus several times, all the while beating the family, in an attack that lasted at least 3 minutes. Sadly, the family also reports that the crowd on the bus was cheering on the attack.   The bus waited for the “gang” to get back on the bus before continuing.  The driver, and the black youths have been brought to trial but no word on what the outcome was.

Maybe you didn’t hear about this but Halloween was cancelled  in Newington, Connecticut.  Why was it cancelled, you may ask?  For the usual reason…it might “offend” some people who don’t celebrate it.   Parents say they got letters from the principals stating that since not everyone celebrates Halloween, it should not be celebrated.   I’ll give you three guesses as to who those people, who might be offended, were…and the first two don’t count.   Yes, it’s probably those people…the same ones who are so easily offended at everything that this country, and every other civilized country on earth, practice.   Those people, you know them as “the religion of peace”, when they are killing and maiming by the thousands in places where they’ve conquered, or terrorized, the local population.  Those are the people, most likely, that were offended by Halloween and caused it to be cancelled.   Now my question is, are we going to cancel Christmas too…because they might be offended at that?

Wake up America!    The United States is being converted, subverted, undermined, and sabotaged, and guess what…most people don’t know and don’t care!   This quote, from John F. Kennedy, should be read aloud before every session of both houses of the United States Congress…”Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”

Larry Usoff, US Navy Retired   www.AirHumanityRadio.net

NOTES ON A SHABBY CUFF, #2

NOTES ON A SHABBY CUFF, #2

               Recently, Gwyneth Paltrow, the fawning actress, practically slobbered in her adoration of the president, during a fund-raising event.   It occurred to me that we could put that puppy-like devotion to some good use.   We have thousands of illegal aliens coming to our southern states, especially along the border with Mexico, and they have been disbursed throughout the country…many times without anyone knowing where they are being resettled.   As a result, we are seeing a surplus of illegals and a dearth of places to put them, and that’s where Paltrow comes in.   Her idol, the president, brings these illegals into the United States, so it would be only logical that she follow in his footsteps, so to speak, and house several dozen of them in her spacious home.   That would be a step in the right direction, and maybe she could talk to her other liberal know-nothings, and they could open up THEIR homes to these unwanted, sometimes diseased, illegal, aliens.

               Former President Jimmy Carter, who seems to have gone round the bend in his thinking, has a grandson, Jason Carter, who is running for governor of Georgia.   Like his grandfather, it seems that Jason utters an idiocy now and then, and this is a lulu!   Erick Erickson wrote, on October 21^st, in Red State.com that Carter, in his own words, believes the government “doles out” our rights. No, this may surprise you. You may think that in our American system we have “unalienable rights” endowed by our Creator. But Carter thinks otherwise. In his own words, government doles out our rights to us.   Carter opposed religious liberty legislation in Georgia that protects Christians from being forced to provide goods and services to a gay wedding. Now he also thinks the government can dole out rights. If the government can dole out rights, surely it can take them back at its pleasure.  

               Unless you live in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area, you probably never heard about this.   It seems that even a person’s last wishes, in this case a personal headstone over her grave was ordered removed.   In October of 2013, the headstone marking the grave of Kimberly Walker, a veteran of the Iraq war, was taken away from the grave.   Why?   Because her headstone was in the shape of her favorite cartoon character, SpongeBob Squarepants, and the cemetery said it was “inappropriate” for the grounds.   Despite getting the cemetery's prior approval of the headstone's design, a smiling SpongeBob in an Army uniform, with Walker's name and rank, her family said that cemetery staff called them the day after it was installed to say it would have to come down.   The 7-foot headstone, along with a near-exact duplicate erected for Walker's living twin sister, have been removed and will not be allowed back up, cemetery President Gary Freytag said.

               My friends, we have come to something of a fork in the road.   To the left is the diminished power and prestige of the United States, and the road is straight and level.   To the right is a road that is pock-marked with craters, boulders are strewn about, and the road twists and turns as it rises.   To be sure, the one way is easy…and will eventually lead to a dictator and slavery.   The path that is more difficult to travel will, eventually, restore the prestige of our beloved country.   You have the choice.

Larry Usoff, US Navy Retired    www.AirHumanityRadio.net

Notes on a shabby cuff, #1

Notes on a shabby cuff, #1

          Let me start off by saying that the out-and-out adoration and worship of the Muslim-in-chief is sickening.   Recently, Gwyneth Paltrow, yes, that same person that thinks you can hurt water's feelings by yelling at it,  made this startling statement during a fund-raiser for the Democrat party...she praised the president for his recent efforts to ensure that women are paid the same as men who work the same job, telling the audience that the issue is “very important to me as a working mother.”  Paltrow makes roughly $16 million per movie.  She went on and uttered this, “It would be wonderful if we were able to give this man all of the power that he needs to pass the things that he needs to pass,” she said.   Paltrow is apparently upset that the power of the executive branch is balanced by the judicial and legislative branches of the U.S. government, apparently would much rather have a dictator as the chief executive.   Last(thank goodness) remark was this, before turning over the floor to the president, Paltrow did her best Beatlemania impersonation, giddily telling the president, “you’re so handsome that I can’t speak properly.”  Oh, please...spare us the inanities from this obviously air-headed celebrity.

          I like to watch man-in-the-street interviews, but honestly, the answers that people give makes me wonder if they EVER attended any sort of school, and if so, did they skip all the classes on American History, or Civics, or whatever they call some program that teaches Americans about America.   College-age and college students were asked about Columbus and Columbus Day...you would cringe hearing the answers from these young people.   They didn't know who he was, where he was from, what his ships were, when he discovered America, who financed the exploration.   Why are Americans, especially those under 40, so damned stupid?   My Dad used to say that if you are ignorant, people will take advantage of you...and nothing is more true-to-life than that statement, especially when you look at who is running the country, how they got there, and the worst thing of all...the generations coming up, who WILL be running a country they know nothing about.   Oh wait...we've got one of those already in the White House, and the legions of ignorant people put him there!

          It's becoming painfully clear to me that the United States needs to get out of the United Nations.  The only thing they are united in, is the attempted destruction of Israel, and the bringing-down of the United States.   Put the UN in Haiti...they need the boost to their economy and we can use that beautiful waterfront property in New York for some other, more useful purpose.   We will also save a bundle of money by not shoring-up the UN.   Wake up America...before it's too late.

WHERE ARE THEY WHEN WE NEED THEM MOST?

WHERE ARE THEY WHEN WE NEED THEM MOST?

          America, you need people like we had years ago.  We had a George Patton, whose exploits in Europe during World War Two, approached being legendary.  He feared nothing and his men probably would have followed him into Hell.  Today, we have military officers that, probably, have been questioned as to whether or not they will fight AGAINST American citizens, on US soil.  General Patton was a plain-speaking man and when he said something you could take it to the bank.  Do we have any officers, in any of the Armed Forces, like that?  Perhaps General Norman Schwarzkopf was the last one of that type, and so, at this greatest time of need, when there is a clear and present danger of an armed conflict in our country, we don’t have the military leader that we need.

          Another plain-speaking man was Harry Truman.  He didn’t mince words, even taking a music critic to task for saying something derogatory about his daughter.  With a military, as well as a business background, he understood when decisions needed to be made, they had to be made immediately, if they were to do any good.  As the war in the Pacific was winding down and the invasion of Japan was the ultimate step to take, his choice to use a superbomb was not a decision made by committee.   The invasion of Japan would have had huge casualties and so the bomb was dropped.  When the Japanese did not immediately surrender, a second bomb was dropped.  They capitulated.  Have we had a president of his caliber since?  I think not, with a possible exception in John Kennedy…but we’ll never know.

          A man of his time, and ahead of his time…both descriptions fit our 26^th President, Theodore(Teddy) Roosevelt.  As a young man he wasn’t as robust as he later became, but he knew how to get healthier, and tougher.  He was, first and foremost, a patriotic man, saying that a hyphenated American was not an American.  You had to be 100% American if Teddy said so.  Never one to hold back on speaking his mind, he used the bully pulpit to let the world know that America was Number One.   He sent The Great White Fleet around the world to show the flag in places we had never been before.  Our Navy became the premier naval force.

          Now, in 2014, we are fast approaching the place where decisions are going to have to be made, and I don’t see any leaders on the stage to make those decisions.  We have tried a social experiment and elected an unknown entity…and we’re paying the price for that.  Americans, being the sort of people that they are, thought that it was time to elect a black man, to show the world that we were through with racism.  That it was a huge mistake, choosing that particular man, is now being disclosed, albeit too late.  The social experiment has given us a person who has, in my opinion, the total destruction of the United States as his goal.

          More than any other, this president has made wrong decisions even when faced with advisors giving him the right advice.  He has, instead, chosen to listen to people who fawn on him, without any regard as to what their hare-brained advice might cause to occur.  As noted many times before, he follows the Cloward-Piven and Saul Alinsky strategies to the letter and, if you read those people, you’ll know what the ultimate outcome must be…the United States will become a third-world nation, possibly with a puppet government being ruled by some other, some stronger, country.  Perhaps we need a Winston Churchill.  When faced with a possible German invasion he said this, “We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

          Will we have a leader that could say something like that, if the occasion demands?  No platitudes, no mixed messages, no diplomatic tone…just the plain words that could not be mistaken for anything else.  From time to time people ask me what my words would be, if mine was the leadership position.  Here is my answer…you look straight into the camera and you say this, “We are a peaceful country.  We don’t want a war with anyone, we want to live in peace.  However, if you screw with the United States, we will bring hell-on-earth to you.  We will lay waste to your land so that nothing, not a plant, not an animal, no people, will be able to live there for a thousand years.  If that is what you want, go ahead and mess with us.”

Larry Usoff, US Navy Retired   http://www.airhumanityradio.net/

         

         

         

“RANDOM THOUGHTS IN SEPTEMBER”

“RANDOM THOUGHTS IN SEPTEMBER”

As I write this, we still have a Marine in Mexico, captured because he crossed the border in error.  Meanwhile, our Muslim-in-chief is importing Muslims from various places around the world.  Why is he doing that, when it's non-Muslims that are being slaughtered?  You know the answer the same as I do, these imported people will probably vote in a few years, and they will most likely vote Democrat.  That's the same reason that our porous southern border is allowing thousands of illegal aliens, and you know that there are terrorists in that mix, as they flood into our border states.  Also, as I write this I am keenly aware that, because of a social experiment, we elected a man who is an intellectual and moral weenie.  America just had to have a black man as president, to prove that we were no longer a racist country.  Well, guess what folks...we got him, and anyone with two working brain cells has regretted it, and he's got 2 years to go, and

racism seems to have awakened, but in reverse.

            Black-on-white crime is rampant in this country.  If you read as many crime reports as I do, you probably would throw up...but, unfortunately, I'm getting desensitized to it.   Police departments around the country have become nearly as armored-up as the army itself, and I'm not at all sure that's a good thing.  Do you know what a no-knock warrant is?   This is a new thing, where the law agency doesn't knock, but bashes the door out of the way and enters in an overwhelming manner, sometimes just to serve a subpoena!   Several lawmen have been killed doing this because the occupant of the house was armed and had no idea who they were, so they attempted to protect themselves.   Punishment has to be politically correct, which is a crock of you-know-what.  If an electric chair is no good, use the chemical cocktail, and if that's no good there is one method that is quick, guaranteed to work, and it's cheap. 

            A large-bore bullet to the head does the job, first time, every time.  A .45 caliber bullet, even a hollow-point, is under a dollar, and you can't get much cheaper than that.   Another quick note about punishment, let's bring back the tar and feathers punishment.  It's not lethal, but it certainly is punishing, the perpetrator won't soon forget it...and we can also add the indignity of being tied to a rail, or nowadays a tree trunk, and brought to the edge of the city and told never to come back.  For minor crimes there's the sandwich sign advertising what the criminal did, or perhaps a return to the stocks.  If you don't like the idea of someone being shot in the head, tarred and feathered or the stocks, how about the old ball-and-chain gangs?  There's a lot of cleaning-up that they could do around this country.  The nose-in-the-air folks must be having conniption fits hearing this, but I don't give a rodent's rear end about them.  I want my America back.

            Alexander the great is reported to have said “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”  America is headed by a sheep right now, when we need a lion, not a lyin’ African.   As a nation we have become the laughing-stock of the world because the imposter-in-chief says one thing and does the opposite.  He’s not even a paper tiger, he’s a toilet-paper tiger, and you know how soft that is, don’t you?   If there was ever a need for a resignation by the president, this is the time…but he won’t because his humongeous ego wouldn’t stand for it.  No president in the history of this great country has ever done more damage to the country than the current one.

            The president, who has a variety of military minds to pick, instead chooses to listen to people who have no idea about world politics, much less how to defend the country.  His hand-picked advisors are know-nothings who give him terrible advice as evidenced by his lack of understanding of the imminent threat from Islam, both out of and inside our borders.  Anybody who truly had the welfare of our country at heart could have done a better job than he has done, and he’s not finished.  He’s got two more years in which to degrade and destroy…not ISIS, but the USA.  It boggles the mind to list all the things that he has done to ruin this country, all the while blaming it on everyone but himself.  Nobody believes that ordering things that run contrary to the US Constitution don’t come right from the Oval Office.   I have two words for the president and they are RESIGN…NOW.

            Larry Usoff, US Navy Retired    www.AirHumanityRadio.net