A HISTORY LESSON

A HISTORY LESSON, we should all pay heed to and may all want to try to remember.

            Ask any person, not your child between the ages of 18 and 25, if they ever heard of the Nuremburg Trials. 1 in 13 might say they have, but will not be able to tell you "what" was on trial (not who).   Those same people will probably not be able to tell you the name of the current Vice President.   84% of those who receive this will not listen to it completely, or at all. 10% will but will also choose not to forward it. The remaining 6% will forward it.   

       The Islamic war started in the 7th century and lasted through the 17th century. I would contend it never stopped, but historically the facts below are correct.  This is why I choke when I hear someone say we will defeat or contain these Islamic terrorists in a few years or even 30 years as recently stated by Leon Panetta.   If the latest batch of murders, beheadings, and killing of innocent Christians has shocked you, maybe you should read this compilation of historical facts about the hatred of Muslims.

WE, THE STUPID…This is factually (and historically) correct - and verifiable:  In 732 A.D. the Muslim Army, which was moving on Paris, was defeated and turned back at Tours, France, by Charles  “The Hammer” Martell.   In 1571 A.D. the Muslim Army/Navy was defeated by the Italians and Austrians as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to attack southern Europe in the Battle of Lepanto.    In 1683 A.D. the Turkish Muslim Army, attacking Eastern Europe, was finally defeated in the Battle of Vienna by German and Polish armies.   This has been going on for 1,400 years and half of the politicians don't even know it.   If these battles had not been won, we might be speaking Arabic; and Christianity could be non-existent. Judaism certainly would not exist.

Reflecting: A lot of Americans have become so insulated from reality that they imagine that America can suffer defeat without any inconvenience to themselves. Pause a moment and reflect back. These events are actual events from history. They really happened!  

Do you remember?   47 years since 1968 and this just keeps going on and on.

    1. In 1968, Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by a Muslim male.

    2. In 1972, at the Munich Olympics, Israeli athletes were kidnapped and massacred by Muslim males.

    3. In 1972, a Pan Am 747 was hijacked and eventually diverted to Cairo where a fuse was lit on final approach.   Shortly after landing it was blown up by Muslim males.

    4. In 1973, a Pan Am 707 was destroyed in Rome, with 33 people killed, when it was attacked with grenades by Muslim males.

    5. On Sunday, Nov 4, 1979, the US embassy in Tehran, Iran was taken over by Muslim males. The remaining 52 prisoners were released on January 20, 1981.

    6. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by Muslim males.

    7. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by Muslim males.

    8. In 1985, the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked, and a 70-year old American passenger was murdered because he was a Jew and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by Muslim males.

    9. In 1985, TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by Muslim males.

    10. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by Muslim males.

    11. In 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by Muslim males.

    12. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by Muslim males.

    13. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take down the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by Muslim males.

    14. In 2002, the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against Muslim males.

    15. In 2002, reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and beheaded by - you guessed it - a Muslim male. (Plus two other American journalists who were also beheaded).

    16. In 2013, the Boston Marathon bombing resulted in 4 Innocent people, (including a child) being killed and 264 people injured by Muslim males.

      No Obama, I really don't see a pattern here to justify profiling, do you? So, to ensure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us, airport security screeners will no longer be allowed to profile certain people.

       So, ask yourself "Just how stupid are we?"   Absolutely No Profiling! They must conduct random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, secret agents who are members of the Obama's security detail, 85-year-old Congressmen with metal hips, and Medal of Honor winner and former Governor Joe Foss, BUT........leave Muslim Males alone lest we be guilty of profiling.    Ask yourself, "Just how stupid are we?" Have the American people completely lost their minds or just their Power of Reason?    Let 's send this to as many people as we can so that the Gloria Allred's and other stupid attorneys, along with Federal Justices, that want to thwart common sense, feel ashamed of themselves -- if they have any such sense.   As the writer of the award winning story " Forrest Gump " so aptly put it, "Stupid Is As Stupid Does."

        Each opportunity that you have to show this to a friend or media outlet... Do It! OR JUST SIT BACK, KEEP GRIPING, AND DO NOTHING. As OBAMA SAID IN HIS BOOK, NOTHING SOUNDS SO BEAUTIFUL AS THE MUSLIM EVENING PRAYERS FROM THE TOWER.       WAKE UP AMERICA, your country needs you…desperately.

ONE SIZE FITS ALL…AND OTHER FABLES

ONE SIZE FITS ALL…AND OTHER FABLES

        It might be just my imagination but the world, and in particular the United States, seems to be drifting to the conclusion that one-size-fits-all…and nothing could be further from the truth.  Let’s look at a few examples of this wrong-headed thinking, and perhaps the hottest topic in that area is the bathroom and who uses what.   If ever there was a topic where one-size-fits-all doesn’t work, it’s that one, because if that were true there would be no need to have separate facilities for males and females.

There would be just one facility for everybody.  Think of the money that could be saved by building just one restroom at a sporting event, in schools or at the local shopping mall.  Then, you wouldn’t have to declare that today you “think” or “feel” like you’re the opposite gender because the one facility would be there to utilize regardless of your sex.   We’ve already heard of males going into female restrooms, but you will hardly ever hear of a female going into the male bathroom…they’re just not that interested in us.

        Peace…now there’s a word that conjures up all sorts of things.  To dictators it probably means that they, and they alone, have the final word on everything…and that’s peaceful for them.  Nobody would question anything because they’d be killed or at the very least, they’d disappear and never be heard from again.   In a democratic society like most of the civilized world, it mostly means a time when there is no war…at least none in which that particular country is engaged.   For one particular religious cult, Islam, it can only be achieved when all the world has submitted to it, and until that takes place, true believers will be at war with “the West”, or civilization as we know it.   Even the United States, in its sometimes misguided efforts, has tried to bring some sort of democratic government to places where tribal, religious, or ethnicity differences simply would not allow it to work.   One-size-does-not-fit-all in governments either.

        Closer to home, we have Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act(ACA) which is the official name.  If ever there was a failure of the thinking that one-size-fits-all, this would be it.   To lump large numbers of people into some sort of health “class” is simply ridiculous.  Even in a marriage, which would be the smallest “group” that one might encounter, there are bound to be differences in health, and healthcare.

As it was explained to me, the eventual goal of the Affordable Care Act, was to have a single-payer, and that would be the government.   If there are healthcare differences between just two people, can you imagine the differences that might exist between millions of people?   Certain conditions which existed prior to coming into the ACA are to be covered, others which are contracted after joining the ACA are not covered.   Right there you can see that the one-size concept cannot work.   People, by their very nature, are individuals and even though large portions of the population may ACT like sheep, they’re not really.

        Being retired from the Navy I’m especially upset about trying to make this distinctive, sea-going branch of the armed forces look like the ground-based ones.   The Coast Guard as well as the Navy are wearing camouflage which is, in my not-so-humble opinion, stupid.  There is no place aboard ship where camouflage is going to blend in, which is the basic reason for wearing it in the first place.  If based ashore, there are other uniforms for work and dress.  Personally I favor the old dungarees and chambray shirts with either white or blue “dixie cup” hats.  It takes more than a shoulder patch, or a pin on the chest to differentiate one service from another and to say that they are all the same is doing a great disservice to each of our armed services.  Down to police departments in different cities, the uniforms are different, so why try to make it one-size-fits-all in our military?

        In the upcoming presidential election we definitely have a choice.  If there is ever a place where the concept of being different from anyone else is important, it’s here.   Whichever person wins out, and I hope it’s the person I prefer, the government is going to take a turn in its direction.   The Republicans started out with seventeen candidates and now have one.   The Democrats started out with four and are down to two, but there are those that will say it’s really only one.   Let’s suppose that we only had a one party system, and that could probably only occur if we had a dictator, albeit a benign one.   That one party could decree that anything it said would become the law of the land, regardless of whether it was good or bad.  Wow!  Talk about one-size-fits-all being a failure, that is a prime example.  No matter who the dictator is or was, sooner or later the people rise up and change the leaders, if not the entire form of government.  A prime example of this is the American Revolution, and following close on its heels, the French Revolution.  One-size-fits-all indeed!  Not here, not now, not ever.

        Wake up America, your country needs you…desperately.

3 COMPANIONS…

3 COMPANIONS…

Companion.  The word conjures up all sorts of pictures, doesn’t it?   A man can have a woman as a companion, with or without the benefit of being married…and the same goes for a woman.  In these times such partnerships, even a companion of the same gender, is not unusual.  Room-mates in college, or in the business world, sharing expenses and experiences.  That is not to say that I either approve or disapprove of same-sex partners, it’s just a fact of modern day life, that’s all.   In my Navy career there were many such companions, buddies we called them, and we were thrown together because of the work we did, or the places we went.  Many life-long friendships have come out of my Navy years.

            There is the relationship of a man, or woman, to a dog…and these companions are, for many, the only true friends they may ever know.  Nothing that I can think of is more relaxing than sitting in your favorite chair with your dog beside you, or in your lap.  You give a dog, as an example, the time you can spare, the love you can spare and, now and then, the food you can spare.  In return he gives you everything…companionship and love…perhaps the truest love there is because it’s given freely with no thought of anything but pleasing you.  I have had many dogs in my lifetime, and notice I didn’t say I owned them because you don’t own a dog…you and it are a living partnership and when one dies it is no less a heartbreak than if one of my children had died…they are that much a part of me.   The one wish that I might have in the case of my dogs is that they lived longer than they did.

            Some people think of horses as good companions, but although I like to look at them, they don’t strike me as a companion…unless of course I’m a cowboy riding the range.  In that instance, a horse is not just a companion, it’s an absolute necessity and if you find yourself out in the wilderness, you’d better take really good care of that four-legged baggage carrier…it might be many miles to the next watering hole or town.   We had what we called a “lookin’ horse” once.   Nobody rode her, she was just to look at and looking at her made you feel good.  Mariah was her name and she was pretty gentle but we were not riders.  She would come to the back fence in the morning and my wife would bring a tray on which were two large mugs of coffee and two sweet rolls, and they would share a morning treat.  She had three acres of area in which to roam and every once in a while we could see her rolling in the pasture.

            On these three acres we had chickens, ducks and geese…as well as the horse and a very nasty goat.  Our original two geese were bought as babies, so my wife became their mother and they would follow her everywhere, and that included into the house.  Eventually the male became the dominant bird of the place and we called him The Boss.  His attitude clearly indicated that we were trespassers on his land and he would make mock attacks toward us to frighten us away…but we had learned how to grab him by the neck and hold him still until he decided to allow us to go into the backyard and gather whatever eggs we could find.   With a mixed flock of fowl we often had eggs of different sizes and the goose eggs were the best.  One egg was a meal!  As time went on we lost a bird now and then to something…we never found out what, but we suspected it might have been a fox, as one had been seen in the neighborhood.  Eventually we lost them all.  I wish we could have lost the goat!

            We got the goat because we thought we’d milk her and possibly make cheese out of the milk, but she turned out to be pregnant and when she had the kid she turned even nastier than ever.  The kid was born dead, unfortunately, and we had to lure the goat away from the body so we could bury it.  You didn’t want to turn your back on this goat because she would butt you and with enough force to knock you down.  One experience with her was enough and we learned to leave her alone.  As it turned out, one of our friends said they wanted a goat so we got rid of her.  It was not a sad parting, I can tell you.

            So you see, as was said in the beginning, there are all sorts of companions, just as there are all sorts of people.  There are people with whom you want to, and do, spend your life, and there are others that have an effect as they pass through your life ever so briefly.   A companion, human or animal, seems to make life more bearable and, sometimes, more enjoyable to the point where, like me, a trip down memory lane makes me happy.   If you don’t have a companion, get one…of some sort, because you’ll find that life is that much better with one.

A TRIO OF RANDOM THOUGHTS…

A TRIO OF RANDOM THOUGHTS…

            The madness that is the state government in California has once again been made known to the residents of that state.   On Tuesday, May 10^th of this year, the California Assembly passed a bill Monday that would require all single-use restrooms in business, public and government establishments to become gender-neutral.   AB 1732 requires all single-use restrooms in the establishments to be identified as "all-gender toilet facilities."   A looney-tune member of the legislature, one Philip Ting, had this to say about the bill, "California continues to move forward, be forward thinking - think about how we can be more inclusive and frankly, more tolerant.  My hope is that we de-politicize the bathroom issue.”           

            If the bill became law, it would give the state the power to decide how individual business owners and public entities should best serve their customers.   The gender inclusive restroom bill would inconvenience far more people than gender specific restrooms did.  Women,specifically would be inconvenienced.   Not many women would want to use a bathroom that had been used by men.  There are other, unintended consequences to this bill, if it becomes law.

            As I understand it, a person just has to believe, or “feel” that they are of a different gender that day and they can use the bathroom of the other gender.  Let’s carry this a step or two further.  How about boys showering with the girls in high school or college?   Can a woman play on a man’s sports team simply because she feels like it that day?   In my not-so-humble opinion, this whole transgender thing is nothing but trouble and the only ones that are going to profit in any way from it, will be trial lawyers.

            The number of so-called “refugees” in Europe makes the Police shake their heads.   It was reported back in April that Police have uncovered a large and growing network of Islamic State fighters, at least two of whom came to Europe as “refugees.”   French and Belgian authorities have found that the scale of the threat of terrorism could be much bigger than they had previously thought. They’ve found that the members of these terror cells are mostly young Muslim men from the Brussels suburbs of Molenbeek and Schaerbeek and many were former criminals often involved with petty thefts and assaults.  

Many of the attackers in Paris committed suicide and blew themselves up. One fled the scene of his crime and hid away with his cousin. He was killed in a police raid five days following the attack.   After the attacks police had a major question: How large was the network that participated in the attacks and were there more sleeper cells in Europe waiting to strike?   Many of these men are currently being sought by police, but unfortunately police often have no idea if they are in Europe or in Syria.   Their names, which cannot be verified, are assumed to be aliases as authorities are currently unsure of their true identities.

This next piece came to me from one of my readers and he asked me to pass it on, and I am.   My Grandfather watched as his friends died in WWI.    My Father watched as his friends died in WWII and Korea.  I watched (1st hand) as my friends fought and died in Vietnam.  I watched as our friends and children fought and died in Desert Storm.   I watched and waited while our friends and children fought and died in Iraq.   None of them fought for or died for the Mexican Flag or any other foreign flag…Everyone fought for and died for the U.S. Flag!

            In Texas, a student raised a Mexican flag on a school flag pole; another student took it down.  Guess who was expelled.  The kid who took it down.   Kids in high school in California were sent home on Cinco de Mayo because they wore T-shirts with  the American flag printed on them. Enough is enough.               

This message needs to be read by every American… and every American needs to stand up for America.   We've bent over to appease the America-haters long enough.

I'm taking a stand.   I'm standing up because the hundreds of thousands who died fighting in  wars for this country, and for the U.S. Flag, can't stand up. And shame on anyone who tries to make this a racist message.             

Let me make this perfectly clear!   THIS IS MY COUNTRY!   And, my making this statement DOES NOT mean I'm against immigration!   YOU ARE WELCOME HERE IN OUR COUNTRY.  Welcome!   To come through legally: 1. Get a sponsor!  2.  Get a place to lay your head!   3.  Get a job!   4. Live By OUR Rules!   5. Pay YOUR Taxes!  6. Learn the  LANGUAGE like immigrants have in the past!   7.  Please don't demand that we hand over our lifetime Savings of Social Security Funds to you.   If you don't want to forward this for fear of offending someone, then YOU'RE PART OF THE PROBLEM!   When will AMERICANS STOP giving away THEIR  RIGHTS?   We've gone so far the other way...we’ve bent over backwards not to offend anyone...But it seems no one cares about the AMERICAN CITIZEN being offended!   Wake up America, your country needs you…desperately.

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WORLD WAR 3…IT’S HERE

WORLD WAR 3…IT’S HERE.

          Regardless of which side of the political aisle you are on, you have to realize that we ARE at war…with Islam.  Oh wait…it’s only the radical element of that cult that’s at war with us, right?  WRONG!   Islam, to the true believer, does not negotiate…about anything.  It’s their way or the highway, and when it’s their way it will be littered with headless bodies, charred remains and mutilated corpses.  This CULT, and that’s what it is, may be ruled by a few thousand die-hard fanatics, but that fanaticism reaches out to whatever “moderate” Muslims there might be and scares the you-know-what out of them so they cower and don’t say anything to anyone.   To be sure, there’s some Muslims that do speak out, but they are few and far between and a lot of them may be apostates-in-secret as well.   If you’ll allow me this comparison, think back to World War 2, if you’re old enough to know it as anything but ancient history.  You DO know about that war, don’t you?  I digress.

          In WW2, we were fighting Germany.  We did not separate the “good Germans” from the “bad Germans”…they were all bad to us.   What we knew back then was that the nation of Germany was at war with us and we with them.   It was a shooting war, it was a bombing war and, on their side, it was an outright murder war.  Sometimes when they captured Allied personnel they were not sent to any work/concentration camp, they were shot right where they were captured.  Our prisoners, on the other hand, some of them, came to camps in the United States and once the war was over, decided to stay, got married and became American citizens.  The point here is that Islam is like the Nazis, and as a matter of fact the two collaborated during that war.  There is a pretty famous saying about history…it says if you don’t pay attention to it, you’re going to repeat it.

          In the years between the two World Wars one might have gotten the idea that all was right in the world…but it wasn’t.   There were little skirmishes going on here and there…more so than the two shots fired at Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, killing them both, that started World War 1.  In the United States during the period of peace between the two World Wars we relaxed and felt so good about ourselves that we drew down our military strength drastically.   Although we were sending materiel to our allies overseas prior to our entering the war in 1941, we apparently didn’t see the need to bring our own armed forces up to a wartime strength.   Our Army trained with broomsticks for rifles, they used automobiles as substitutes for tanks and much of the other gear, including ammunition, was left over from the first World War.  The Navy was sailing on some ships that were built prior to WW1.  There was an Army Air Corps, which was considered only good for patrol and reconnaissance, and a Marine Corps which was primarily for show at our overseas embassies.

          In short…we were not well-prepared for war when it came to us.   We are not now well-prepared for war, which is already here, whether you deny that or not.  Islam has but one goal and that is “peace” throughout the world…but that “peace” can ONLY

be achieved when the entire world is under the thumb of Islam.   In case you’ve forgotten, or never knew, Islam means submission and Muslim is one that has submitted, and a cult, according to the dictionary is “a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.”   Could it be any clearer than that?

Islam has been at war, truly, for 1400 years, and down through those years has had various clashes with “Western” civilization.   Sometimes they won and sometimes they lost.   In places where Islam has been, all previous forms of worship are destroyed because it is the theory that, before Islam, nothing good existed.  Even today, tombs, artifacts, anything of historical value to some other group, is being destroyed.

          So, here we are in the 21st Century and trying to get along with fanatics that are locked into the 7th Century.   Are they compatible?  No, they’re not…and not because we in the 21st Century wouldn’t accept them, but because those barbarians from the 7th Century won’t accept us.  It’s rather one-sided when you get to thinking about it, isn’t it?   We cannot, however, go out and have mass executions as they do…that’s simply not the “Western” way.   The concept of “turn the other cheek” is not going to work with these people either…when you turn your head they’re going to try to cut it off…that’s what they do.  We cannot also round them up and put them in concentration camps while we sort out who’s who…but that might turn out to be the last resort.  People more brilliant than I am are working on this problem and it will be interesting to see the plan when it’s proposed.   In the meantime, wake up America, your country needs you…desperately.

ANSWERS…AND QUESTIONS.

ANSWERS…AND QUESTIONS.    

How far does one have to stretch their imagination to determine that Hillary Clinton didn’t break any laws?  Unless you are brain-dead or have a very narrow field of vision you cannot help but hear about all the things that she has done…and the things she didn’t do, on the way to garnering the power(which is what she’s after) that is the Presidency.   Let’s take a cheap shot here and use the meme

“Hillary lied and people died”, which is not just true, it’s ghastly to think about.  With Mrs. Clinton it’s possible to go way back and see a pattern of deceit.  It’s just been one thing after another, usually with only certain people to be affected.  Now, with the admission of the hacker, it could very well be the safety and security of the entire United States.  In my not-so-humble opinion she ranks right up there with Benedict Arnold and Tokyo Rose, no slouches when it comes to betrayals.

              Now and then one of my readers/viewers will ask what would my plan be on a certain situation, and there’s always my stock answer: I have a plan but you may not like what you hear.   A good example is our Southern border.   We have thousands of veterans that would be excellent border guards, if we put my solution into the mix.  Generally speaking the weather along our Southern border is mild, so a tent or small shack would suffice for “quarters” stationed about every 100 yards…just the length of a football field if you need a reference.   The veterans could be “deputized” by the local sheriffs and would stand eight-hour watches.  Radio communications over that short a distance would be no problem and if worse came to worse, use semaphore or flags.  The deputies would have the authority to capture and detain illegal aliens and turn them over to the Federal Border Patrol which, it’s hoped, would not be using the catch-and-release system.  Weapons could be their own personal weapons, or something issued by the local law.

              Still on the subject of veterans I have a solution for that problem as well.  In EVERY VA facility there should be a six-foot poster that says the veteran has the option of a CHOICE card, and with that card he or she can use an outside medical facility…no questions asked.   The limitations would be pretty much what they are now, and I believe that it only disallows things like cosmetic surgery(unless it was a wartime injury).  It should cover things like dentures, but not cleaning because if you cannot chew your food it’s a problem, but you can clean your teeth as millions do.   This would have to be hashed out, as my solution is a basic one and I’m certainly not a doctor.   The present situation with the VA must be changed, soon and for the better.  Don’t put political hacks or donors in positions of policy…try to get people that are either in the field now or have SOME experience in the field.  Veterans, by and large, are well-disciplined and while most of them will never speak of their wartime experiences, you can bet your bottom dollar they don’t need a “safe place” because somebody wrote something in chalk on a sidewalk.

              What’s the best way to keep the United States alive and well?   That’s an easy one to answer.   You present a military to the world that is so strong that no one would dare to take us on.   That might mean a return of the draft and if that is what is needed, so be it.  Now let’s understand something right here…everyone, male and female, would be eligible for the draft unless they are mentally or physically incapable of performing certain duties…but, they might be able to do other duties.  Example, a person in a wheelchair is not going to be able to go on marches, but they could do things that only require sitting at a desk, at a computer or planning meals…you get the idea.   That business of fleeing to Canada?  That’s going to be a no-no and we’d work with the Canadian government to have them returned and put into jail…or join up.   Along with a strong armed forces we’d have to straighten out the mess that is the InFernal Revenue Service(and that’s “service” like what a bull does to a cow).   The manual or code or laws, whatever it is that the IRS calls it is so full of holes and dispensations for this, that, and the other that it is completely unworkable.  There is something called the Fair Tax that I urge you to look into.  The name tells you just about all you need to know about it.  Nobody escapes it, you take home your entire paycheck with no deductions and April 15^th becomes just another Spring day.

              Hey…I could go on and on because there’s so much that needs to be done if the United States is to return to being the shining city on the hill…instead of the shanty that it has become.   Wake up America, your country needs you…desperately.

             

PANCHO VILLA AND OTHER NUISANCES…

PANCHO VILLA AND OTHER NUISANCES…     

It was a typical New Mexico morning, on March 9, 1916.  The small town of Columbus awoke and people were starting to go about their daily routines…but this was not going to be a routine day.   The American President, Woodrow had been lending support to Venustiano Carranza, the opposition leader to Victoriano Huerta whose administration Wilson had described as a “government of butchers”.   Unfortunately, Carranza proved to be no better than Huerta.  Wilson then turned to a rebel leader, a man named Pancho Villa.   Villa was an adopted name.  The real name of this bandit leader was Francisco (Pancho) Villa born José Doroteo Arango Arámbula, born in Durango Mexico on June 5^th, 1878, he was from the peasant, or peon, class…but he had ambition.

          It was that ambition that drove him to team up with another ambitious rebel leader, Emiliano Zapata.  They wanted to keep the rebellion going, but it was going to take money, power, and guns.   Somewhere along the time-line President Wilson got to thinking that Carranza was on the right track and that he, Wilson, no longer needed Pancho Villa…and he dropped his support.  This withdrawal of support for Villa so aggravated Villa that he declared war on the United States.  And that brings us to what Villa did.  Pancho Villa stopped a train in Mexico, but which had 18 Americans on it.  He

took them off the train and killed them all.  

          A few weeks later, on March 9, in 1916, Villa led an army of about 1,500 guerillas across the border to stage a brutal raid against the small American town of Columbus, New Mexico. Villa and his men killed 19 people and left the town in flames.   Woodrow Wilson called on the US Army, under General John “Blackjack” Pershing, to lead 6,000 troopers into Mexico to capture and/or kill the bandit, Pancho Villa.   For two years, Pershing pursued Villa, on horseback, in automobiles and even the new-fangled airplanes…but he never caught him.

          By this time Carranza had lost patience with the American Army in his country and ordered them out.  Pershing went on to become the leader of the American Expeditionary Force(AEF) in World War One.  Although he never actually caught Villa, he did convince him never to attack the United States again.  Pancho Villa retired from banditry and was eventually assassinated in 1923 while on his way to become the Godfather to a friend’s child. 

          Fast forward now to the present.  We no longer send expeditionary forces in to wipe out foreign leaders.  We have special operations teams to try to do the work without actually harming anyone…other than the intended target, that is.   Who might some of these nuisances be?  There was Osama Bin Laden, and we got him.  There was Moammar Quaddafi, but his own people got him.  There was Saddam Hussein, and he was hanged by his own people.   Still around is the North Korean Kim Jung Un, the little fat boy dictator, several people connected with ISIS, whose names I cannot pronounce, and if we had something other than a spineless twit in the White House we could get rid of them also.

          It just seems to me that when duty called we had men and women to answer that call.   These were young men and women stepping up and putting their civilian lives on hold while putting their lives on the line in combat.  Today’s armed forces are being hamstrung by ridiculous rules of engagement which actually give the enemy the advantage.   What good is superior technology if you cannot use it first.  What good is technology if the troopers don’t understand how to use it, or it’s too bulky to move around easily?   We hear of sorties into areas controlled by ISIS and the bombing of a truck or a building…surgical strikes they call them.  Some of these sorties come back without firing a missile or dropping a bomb.  Maybe we are just a nuisance factor to ISIS.

          While on the subject of nuisances, what about our borders?  Are we to continue to have such porous borders that we no longer resemble a sovereign nation?  If you look at the areas now controlled by ISIS the borders of those countries seem to have melted away and in their places is something called the Islamic State.  The lesson is very clear, at least to me…if you have no borders, at least none to speak of, you cannot be considered as a sovereign nation.  You become simply a territory of some name or another without real meaning and, sometimes, without a real government.  A good example of this, aside from ISIS is Somalia.  Although they have borders of a sort, bandits and pirates operate inside and outside those borders as if they didn’t exist.  There hasn’t been a true, working, government in Somalia for several years now.

          Nuisances exist in many forms, not the least of which is government itself.  Our country was formed with the idea that government people were elected for a term or two and then they went home and continued on with their lives.  Serving in Congress was never meant to be a career, and those making it so seem to have created an elite class completely disconnected from their constituents.   Wake up America, your country needs you…desperately.