Catchall for whatever doesn’t fit elsewhere
Only just ran across this, but Joe Hoft—younger brother of Jim, founder of the renowned Gateway Pundit blog—appears to have flown the coop for his own self-titled digs. Not having seen him over at GP very much if at all of late, I kinda wondered what might’ve happened with him. Good to see the blogging addiction is still pulsing strongly in your veins, Joe. Duly bookmarked and blogrolled, natch.
What an amazing story.
In May of 1861, 9 year old John Lincoln “Johnny” Clem ran away from his home in Newark, Ohio, to join the Union Army, but found the Army was not interested in signing on a 9 year old boy when the commander of the 3rd Ohio Regiment told him he “wasn’t enlisting infants,” and turned him down.
Clem tried the 22nd Michigan Regiment next, and its commander told him the same. Determined, Clem tagged after the regiment, acted out the role of a drummer boy, and was allowed to remain. Though still not regularly enrolled, he performed camp duties and received a soldier’s pay of $13 a month, a sum collected and donated by the regiment’s officers.
The next April, at Shiloh, Clem’s drum was smashed by an artillery round and he became a minor news item as “Johnny Shiloh, The Smallest Drummer”.
A year later, at the Battle Of Chickamauga, he rode an artillery caisson to the front and wielded a musket trimmed to his size. In one of the Union retreats a Confederate officer ran after the cannon Clem rode with, and yelled, “Surrender you damned little Yankee!” Johnny shot him dead. This pluck won for Clem national attention and the name “Drummer Boy of Chickamauga.”
Clem stayed with the Army through the war, served as a courier, and was wounded twice. Between Shiloh and Chickamauga he was regularly enrolled in the service, began receiving his own pay, and was soon-after promoted to the rank of Sergeant.
He was only 12 years old. After the Civil War he tried to enter West Point but was turned down because of his slim education.
A personal appeal to President Ulysses S. Grant, his commanding general at Shiloh, won him a 2nd Lieutenant’s appointment in the Regular Army on 18 December 1871, and in 1903 he attained the rank of Colonel and served as Assistant Quartermaster General.
He retired from the Army as a Major General in 1916, having served an astounding 55 years. General Clem died in San Antonio, Texas on 13 May 1937, exactly 3 months shy of his 86th birthday, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Back in the long-ago days when Disney was still in the family-entertainment business—well before they’d lost their way and veered wildly off into Blasting The Squares with child-grooming and the lionization of mentally-disturbed freaks—they did a made-for-TV movie about John Clem. I believe there’s a DVD available out there, don’t know whether Amazon has it it not. The bare biographical facts:
John Lincoln Clem (nicknamed Johnny Shiloh; August 13, 1851 – May 13, 1937) was an American general officer who served as a drummer boy in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He gained fame for his bravery on the battlefield, becoming the youngest noncommissioned officer in the history of the United States Army.
He retired from the Army in 1915, having attained the rank of brigadier general in the Quartermaster Corps; he was at that time the last veteran of the American Civil War still on duty in the United States Armed Forces, although others similarly aged and experienced such as Peter Conover Hains and Albert A. Michelson rejoined the military after World War I started.
By special act of Congress on August 29, 1916, he was promoted to major general one year after his retirement.
A most remarkable saga of perseverance, gumption, and sheer force of will, I must say.
No, nobody is coming for your guns wood stoves charcoal grills air conditioning gas stoves ICE-engine cars incandescent light bulbs. That’s just another silly-assed right-wing Conspiracy Theory, that’s all.
If you like your light bulb, you can’t keep your light bulb. The Biden administration is seeing to that. Well, to be fair you can keep whatever incandescent light bulbs you may currently own, but you won’t be able to replace them. That is because today is the day when the ban on the sale and manufacture of most incandescent light bulbs officially goes into effect. From here on out, your options will likely be limited to LEDs and fluorescents.
The funny thing is that this is not exactly news. People have known about it for years, and although it occasionally popped up in news stories or your local radio host’s “stack of stuff,” no one enforced it. I remember years ago when the word first came out that incandescents were on the hit list; my wife and I went to the local home improvement store and bought a small stockpile. Since there are only two of us and we don’t use that much power, we still have most of them. I have yet to hit the area stores to see if the shelves have been cleaned out by light bulb hoarders.
National Review notes that the Democrats passed the bill to ban the bulbs by phasing them out in 2007, and then-president George W. Bush even signed it into law. Obama tightened up the standards on incandescents to speed the process up. Trump rolled the whole affair back, and Biden resurrected the effort last year.
I recall reading years ago someplace that the ban came about due to GE pressing FederalGovCo hard for one during the Dubya reign of error, saying that incandescents had become so cheap they couldn’t make any real money off ‘em anymore. No, I ain’t gonna go hunt up a supporting link, you’ll just have to take my word for it.
So light ’em if you got ’em. Ads appearing on the back channels of the web advertising incandescent light bulbs should be arriving any day now. DOE enforcement officers may be kicking down the doors of the last mom-and-pop hardware stores to confiscate stockpiles of outlaw bulbs. You could be walking down the sidewalk and hear a whisper from the shadows, “Psst! Hey, buddy. Wanna buy a light bulb?”
Is there some sort of kickback or business deal tied to the ban on incandescent light bulbs? Possibly. I certainly wouldn’t put it past our elected and appointed officials to game the system. MRCTV has reported on Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s connections with the EV industry, and we know that the Biden administration is in bed with the solar industry. But overall, I suspect that this is being done because it can be done. This is one more rule, one more law, one way to remind you that there is nothing that the Uniparty can’t control, even if it means something as small as your light bulbs.
Can, and most assuredly will—for exactly as long as we sit still for it and let it happen, and not one micromillisecond longer. Until such time, they’re only just getting started, really.
Okay, from this diatribe I’m gonna guess that Ace is pretty much off the Trump train.
Wow, you would never guess that Donald Trump paid off a stripper to keep quite the adulterous affair he had with her, or that he’s been found culpable of sexual assault against a woman.
Before you object — stuff it. I’m always being told “Gee I don’t know why DeSantis people are so angry about Trump’s constant scumbag lies, this kind of thing always happens in a primary, just deal with it.”
Well Trump was found liable in a rape lawsuit. Deal with that.
We have ONE RULE here, people. Not one rule for the Trump scumbag and another rule for his opponents.
I guess Trump will be running on morality now.
Trump, who has spent most of his campaign money and time attacking Ron DeSantis rather than Joe Biden, now calls upon his opponents to drop out of the race because, you see, just by contesting the nomination, they’re attacking other Republicans instead of Joe Biden.
Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?
Even by Trump’s slimy standards, that is outrageous. He has done nothing but attack an actual conservative Republican who, unlike him, is able to achieve win after win on conservative policy, instead of ranting on Twitter all fucking day.
The former president and GOP front-runner said it was time for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and others he dismissed as “clowns” to clear the field, accusing them of “wasting hundreds of millions of dollars that Republicans should be using to build a massive vote-gathering operation” to take on Biden in November.
How much of the money you’ve grifted from supporters have you spent on that, Mr. So-Tired-of-Winning-That-You-Just-Stopped-Winning?
Trump’s brand lately is losing. Losing his own races, and making horrible picks based just on whether someone is 1, a celebrity (or, really, a “celebrity;” Trump is desperate for anyone that he can pretend is in “show business”) and 2, willing to kiss his ass.
And these picks also lose.
He has to prove he is capable of winning — and of answering the many, many criticisms that the media/left has of him, but also the criticisms that (the) actual conservative right has of him.
But…but…but WAIT. You mean there’s still an “actual conservative right” out there? Man alive, that’s good to hear. I thought it had gone extinct years ago.
Only Bathhouse Barry really knows for sure.
Last week, Barack Obama’s private chef, Tafari Campbell, fell off his paddle board and sank below the surface of Edgartown Great Pond. His drowned body was recovered on Monday morning in the water off the former president’s Martha’s Vineyard estate. Currently, there’s no foul play suspected, and it’s worth noting that Campbell was not wearing a lifejacket.
However, certain peculiarities have presented themselves, causing some people to raise questions. For example, the reason for the 911 call that prompted the search was left blank in official logs. The person Campbell was with at the time of the accident remains unidentified, and the police have refused to disclose the person’s name.
Adding to the intrigue is that Barack Obama appeared with what looks like a black eye and a bandaged hand, playing golf at the exclusive Vineyards Club on Friday while Michelle Obama played tennis elsewhere on the grounds. Photos of Obama reveal a bruise or ‘black eye’ beneath his left eye, along with bandages wrapping fingers on his left hand.
Some dispute the significance of the bandages, insisting that they are sports bandages meant to prevent blisters from playing golf. Perhaps that explains it. But other details are being noticed as well. For example, some have called out the media for reporting that Campbell could not swim as an explanation for the drowning — when his own social media posts prove he most certainly could.
Initial reports claimed that the Obamas were not at their estate at the time of the incident, though later reports indicated that Barack and Michelle Obama “were out of the house” but on Martha’s Vineyard when it happened. It is unclear if their daughters, Sasha and Malia, were at home at the time, though they were seen leaving Martha’s Vineyard the following day.
The individual who was with Campbell at the time of the accident and the woman who reportedly called 9-11 both remain unidentified.
Oh, I just bet they do at that. You can be certain they will remain “unidentified,” as the sordid, rank-smelling mess gets hurriedly tossed down the deepest, darkest memory hole Praetorian Media can possibly contrive, beginning in 5…4…3…2…
Actually, the thing that leaves me most skeptical about the whole deal is the idea that Barry might have offed the chef, rather than Mighty Moochelle—after all, she’s always been the REAL muscle in the (notional) family. Moreover, they could quite easily have spoken to HILLARY!™ about having “her people” take care of business for them, without all the fuss, muss, and anxiety of getting their own hands dirty. As it happens, Aesop was way out in front of everybody on this one:
Bayou Peter on Yertle McTurtle’s Bidenesque mental lockdown the other day, whereupon he was whisked away from the podium in the arms of a couple of nearby handlers.
One gets very tired of politicians (irrespective of their party) when they’re performing business as usual, jabbering on inanely about subjects of which they know little or nothing, and expecting us to support them while they actively undermine our interests. When their general incompetence is augmented by diminished capacity due to age and its effects, it gets even worse. Based on what we saw this week, I daresay a case could be made that both Senators McConnell and Feinstein should be mandatorily retired as incompetent to exercise their office. The signs are very clear that they’re both “past it” – and they’re not alone in that.
I might have a suggestion or three regarding that “mandatorily retired” option myself, which I shall refrain from going into details of for the nonce, because Glowniggers reasons. Anyways. Onwards.
Perhaps a general age limit for elected political office (and, for that matter, appointed office, too) isn’t a bad idea. The Catholic Church requires bishops to tender their resignation to the Pope when they reach the age of 75 years. He doesn’t necessarily have to accept it, but in most cases he does, giving him an opportunity to bring in “fresh blood” to the episcopacy, and (hopefully) “cleaning house” of those who’ve become ossified in their thinking and reactions. Perhaps that’s a reasonable age limit for our politicians as well. If 75 isn’t right, what is?
That’s one of the reasons I’m very dubious about voting for former President Trump. Regardless of his policies, he’ll be 78 years old if he’s re-elected in 2024. Joe Biden was that age when he assumed office – and we’ve all seen the very visible signs of age-related problems in him even before that.
There’s simply a human and medical reality that as we get older, our capabilities and performance deteriorate to a greater and greater extent. Can we ignore that in our national and political leaders? I don’t think so. There’s nothing stopping an older person from offering really useful advice and insights, but to have such a person’s finger on the “nuclear button”? To have such a person making and/or approving national policy that directly and immediately affects not only our future, but the future of the world? To me, that’s a very dangerous situation.
I’m generally good with the idea, were it not for the part I put in bold, which is another instance of an assumption not in evidence: that the marionettes paraded around for We Duh Peepul as “our national leaders” in fact are the “people” in charge of FederalGovCo. In reality, they are no such thing. The people who actually DO run the whole dumbshow don’t ever stand for “election,” don’t ever make speeches on TeeWee, and are basically unknown to us, unless something goes horribly awry.
Bathhouse Barry’s former chef buys it under mysterious circumstances with the strong aroma of fish wafting off them, about which Kunstler has a few pertinent questions.
The former president suddenly has another new problem: the family’s onetime personal chef, Tafari Campbell, 43, was found dead around 10:00 o’clock Monday morning in the Edgartown Great Pond off the Obama’s Martha’s Vineyard estate after a paddle-board accident. Mr. Tafari allegedly fell off the board and…thrashed a bit…then just disappeared…a hundred feet off-shore in eight feet of water, according to another paddle-boarder as yet unidentified who was either with Mr. Tafari or who happened to witness the accident around 7:45 Sunday evening July 23. Somebody, also unnamed, then made a 911 from the Obama house. Who was that? Early reports said that the Obamas were not home at the time.
A later report said that Mr. Obama might have been present at the estate that evening without Michelle. Was he Mr. Tafari’s paddle-board companion? Did he make the 911 call? Mr. Tafari was reportedly no longer in the Obama’s employ and was writing a book about his experiences as the first family’s cook. One reported morsel attributed to the book is that Barack and Michele Obama almost never had meals together. What else was in it? Possibly Mr. Tafari had a book deal. Has anyone located the editor and asked to see the manuscript or interviewed him/her/they about what’s in it? Mr. Tafari, who had videotaped his lap-swimming abilities previously, and was considered an able swimmer, was supposedly just visiting Martha’s Vineyard for the weekend. How did he get through the Obama’s Secret Service security to go paddle-boarding if the Obamas were out for the evening? Did he lug his own paddle-board to the scene, or borrow one from the Obama’s equipment shed? Who let him in there? My goodness, what a busy gal Lisa Monaco (Deputy AG as well as, in Kunstler’s phrasing, “Barack Obama’s ‘fixer,’ the clean-up gal who makes problems magically go away”) must be these days. So much that needs a good fixing!
Indeed so, but the fact remains that really, there’s still just the one way of “fixing” it—one which does NOT involve lawyers, judges, “blue ribbon” Congressional “investigatory” panels, or the utterly hopeless chimera of impeachment. However, it DOES involve the Constitution, one amendment from the Bill Of Rights in particular.
Oh, and more astute CF Lifers will probably have already guessed where I was headed with my post title…ahem.
Curiouser and curiouser update! Saw a commenter on the NY Post’s story flatly stating that Campbell had very little skill or experience as a swimmer, which this seems to refute unequivocally.
Trending Politics co-owner and investor Collin Rugg revealed on Twitter that Tafari Campbell was an experienced swimmer, so it’s strange that he drowned. The user revealed that Campbell shared on Instagram that he was an avid swimmer and fitness enthusiast.
“Campbell’s ‘Fitness’ Instagram highlight shows him swimming backstroke, freestyle, recording a 40-minute swim workout with his Apple Watch and even doing a 315 on the bench. Campbell obviously took very good care of himself in the kitchen and gym,” Rugg noted NEW: Video from Tafari Campbell’s Instagram page shows he was an expert swimmer and took fitness very seriously.
Hoft has a post over at GP with further details, none of which contradict the above. So far I’ve been unable to find confirmation (or denial, mind, except at Media Mutters, who are hardly a trustworthy source) of Kunstler’s claim that Campbell was working on a tell-all book about his time with the Obamas, but I’ll keep poking around.
Yep, I’ve fallen waaay down into another of those darned Innarnuts rabbit-holes, this trip sparked by a conversation with my brother about John Carpenter’s unforgettable allegorical film They Live and its superstar protagonist, the late great Rowdy Roddy Piper. From the Piper website’s “official” bio:
As best as we can tell, Roderick George Toombs was born. Rumor has it that it happened in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada-allegedly in a war time house on Victoria Avenue. For those not acquainted with Saskatoon, it’s one of the coldest places on earth, reaching 100 below with windchill. That may explain why Roddy hit the ground running-he just wanted to keep warm! At 6 years old, he began studying the bagpipes, moving to different places but always playing with a pipe band. By the time he was 14, Roddy was considered an impresario of the bagpipes, and was invited to play at prestigious events such as the Rose Bowl, and at Lorne Greene’s house. Being a big fan of “Bonanza”, Roddy was crushed to find out that Greene had no cattle but had a poodle. By the time he was 15, Rod won the 167 lb Amateur wrestling championship, and was a star boxer at the Landsdown Boxing Club in Toronto; near the Landsdown subway station where at the time you would have found Roddy looking to stay warm at night.
At 15, Roddy had his first professional wrestling match. He had never seen a pro match, but his amateur coach was a pro referee when it came in to town. Another wrestler missed a plane and Roddy’s coach told him that “I can get you 25 dollars,” Roddy immediately took it. Roddy’s pipe band was so happy for him that they played Roddy into the arena. As Roddy was being piped into the arena, the announcer only knew his first name as “Roddy” and having to continue the announcement he announced “Ladies and Gentlemen, here comes Roddy the Piper!”
Roddy jumped in the ring and in front of him stood 320 pounds of Nordic Viking: Larry “The Axe” Hennig, who beat Roddy in 10 seconds by busting his nose and eye open, setting one of many records of Roddy’s: shortest match in the history of the arena. With this match, Roddy Piper was born and began a full-time wrestling career at the age of 15- A permanent record, as it is illegal now.
Roddy’s mentors– or fathers as he called them, were some great fighters, such as the toughest man in the world– Judo Gene Labell, Mad Dog Vachon, Muhammad Ali, and even the great Lou Thez, just to name a few. Roddy was smuggled in the back of a truck with a ring in it into the United States of America and never stopped fighting.
When Roddy Piper was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005, by 16 time World Champion Ric Flair, Flair said “Roddy is the greatest entertainer in Wrestling History, bar none”. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper is the last of the real deal gunslingers of Pro Wrestling. Recently, the WWE named Rowdy Roddy Piper the greatest Villain in the history of Professional Wrestling.
According to Vince McMahon, you never know what the Hot Rod has under his kilt, nor what he is going to do next! Maybe Vince had a point, as in the height and prime of his wrestling career, Roddy Piper quit the WWE and did a movie with John Carpenter called THEY LIVE! which 26 years later is hotter than when it first premiered as the #1 film at the box office.
Like Vince McMahon said, you never know what the Hot Rod’s going to do next. In addition to appearing on “it’s always sunny in Philadelphia”, Rod hosts a podcast, a youtube channel, appears in feature films, one man shows, commercials, and now appears in his very own graphic novel! It takes a loyal Pit Crew to keep the Hot Rod running! Try to keep up!
Piper, unfortunately, passed away a few years back, leaving us at way too young an age.
On July 24, 2015, Piper appeared as a guest on The Rich Eisen Show. He had trouble collecting his thoughts and staying focused, often rambling and not answering Eisen’s questions.
Six days later on July 30, 2015, Piper died in his sleep at the age of 61 at his summer residence in Hollywood, California. His death certificate cites a cardiopulmonary arrest caused by hypertension, listing a pulmonary embolism as a contributing factor; TMZ reported this as a heart attack caused by the embolism. Piper’s long-time friend Bruce Prichard revealed on his podcast that he received a voicemail from Piper the night of his death. In the message, Piper indicated that he had not been feeling well and that he would be going to sleep it off. Hulk Hogan later revealed that Piper had left him a voice mail that he discovered following his death in which Piper said that he was “walking with Jesus”.
News of his death broke minutes before the Hall of Heroes dinner to cap off the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Legends FanFest in Charlotte, North Carolina, where about 600 current and former wrestling personalities and fans had gathered. He received a ten-bell salute after the planned salute to fellow former professional wrestler Dusty Rhodes, who had died the previous month. Another ten-bell salute was given at the beginning of the August 3, 2015, episode of Raw.
WWE CEO Vince McMahon said, “Roddy Piper was one of the most entertaining, controversial and bombastic performers ever in WWE, beloved by millions of fans around the world. I extend my deepest condolences to his family.” Film director John Carpenter said, “Devastated to hear the news of my friend Roddy Piper’s passing today. He was a great wrestler, a masterful entertainer and a good friend.”
In an HBO Real Sports interview conducted by Piper in 2003, he had predicted that he was “not going to make 65” because of his poor health, and that he made his 2003 return to WWE because he could not access his pension fund until reaching the age of 65.
Piper was cremated and his ashes laid to rest at Crescent Grove Cemetery in Tigard, Oregon.
A little over a year ago, I did a CF post on They Live featuring movie trivia and Piper quotes both from and about the film. I have to admit, I never had much use for either Vince McMahon or his WWF/WWE/whatever the fuck it might be called now, but for many years was a HUGE fan of Eric Bischoff’s WCW, even attending one of their early Slamboree! events at the old CLT Coliseum after the BPs’ manager Mike Evans pulled strings with some of his old Coliseum contacts to get us in and even backstage after the show*. That being so, most of my exposure to Piper was via the WCW professional rasslin’ organization during his brief stint there.
Piper joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the fall of 1996. He made his surprise WCW debut as a fan favorite at the Halloween Havoc pay-per-view in October to insult the nWo leader and the World Heavyweight Champion Hollywood Hogan. On the November 18 episode of Nitro, Piper revealed that Eric Bischoff was a member of the nWo, which ended with the nWo members attacking him. on the December 9 episode of Nitro, Piper told Flair that he didn’t need the Four Horsemen’s help in beating Hogan and he was going to do it on his own. Piper defeated Hogan with his signature sleeper hold in the non-title main event of the company’s flagship pay-per-view Starrcade, which earned him a title shot against Hogan for the World Heavyweight Championship at SuperBrawl VII, where Piper was defeated. On the March 10, 1997, episode of Nitro, Piper and his family joined forces with Ric Flair and The Four Horsemen in their battle with the nWo. At Uncensored, Piper competed in a triangle elimination match where he captained a team of Horsemen Chris Benoit, Steve McMichael and Jeff Jarrett against the nWo and WCW’s team of Lex Luger, Steiner Brothers and The Giant. His team lost the match. On the March 31 episode of Nitro, Piper and Flair agreed to team up and stand side by side to fight. Piper moved on to feud with other members of nWo. At Slamboree, Piper, Flair and Kevin Greene defeated nWo members Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Syxx in a six-man tag team match. The following month, at The Great American Bash pay-per-view, Piper and Flair unsuccessfully challenged The Outsiders for the World Tag Team Championship. On the June 23 episode of Nitro, Flair and the Four Horsemen turned on Piper and attacked him. This led to a match between Piper and Flair at Bash at the Beach, which Piper won.
Piper took a hiatus from television before making his return to WCW on the September 8 episode of Nitro, where he was appointed the new on-air Commissioner of WCW, which reduced his in-ring work. He briefly resumed his feud with Hulk Hogan, beating him in a steel cage match at Halloween Havoc. on the March 23, 1998, episode of Nitro, Piper and Randy Savage battled to a no contest. On the March 30 episode of Nitro, Piper defeated Hogan by disqualification. At the 1998 Spring Stampede pay-per-view, Piper teamed with The Giant in a loss to Hogan and Nash in a Baseball Bat on a Pole match. At Slamboree, Piper served as the special guest referee in a match between Randy Savage and Bret Hart, which Hart won but the following night on Nitro, Piper changed his decision and declared Savage as the winner by disqualification. At The Great American Bash, Piper and Savage lost to Hogan and Hart in a tag team match by submission. After the match, Piper wrestled Savage in the next match, which Piper defeated Savage by submission. On the September 7 episode of Nitro, Piper and Diamond Dallas Page defeated Sting and Lex Luger by disqualification. Piper teamed with Diamond Dallas Page and The Warrior as Team WCW in a WarGames match at Fall Brawl for an opportunity at the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at the following month’s Halloween Havoc. Page won the match for his team. On the September 14 episode of Nitro, Piper confronted Bret Hart.
Ahh, those were the days. As big a fan of Roddy’s as I always was—and I assure you, I was—reading further into the Piper Wiki page I stumbled across something I hadn’t known before (in bold):
In his autobiography, Toombs (Rowdy Roddy’s nom de real life was Roderick George Toombs—M) claimed to be a cousin of Bret Hart, which would make him a relative of the Hart wrestling family. This fact was once used as a trivia question on Raw. Hart also revealed that Toombs was the only wrestler to visit him in the hospital after his stroke. Bruce Hart has stated that they were second cousins.
Boy, talk about your Rasslin’ Royal Families, eh? Rest ye well, Rowdy Roddy Piper; you are sorely missed, and will never be forgotten.
*Yes, Roddy appeared that night, teaming up with Ric Flair and Kevin Greene to crush three NWO stalwarts: Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Syxx
Aldean has stood behind his song and its message, and the attempts to cancel it have only made it more popular.
But now some people are reporting that Aldean caved to the woke mob by removing footage of a Black Lives Matter riot from the music video of “Try That in a Small Town.”
“Jason Aldean caved under pressure and removed all the Black Lives Matter footage from his music video despite receiving an outpouring of support from conservatives. So much for that. There are no more heroes,” lamented journalist Ian Miles Cheong. “Gotta have it both ways by pretending to be based for that cash, while folding to the woke in this business if you wanna keep getting invited to the Grammy’s [sic].”
“Jason Aldean quietly edited out the BLM rioters from his ‘controversial’ music video,” Brigitte Gabriel of ACT for America observed. “Very disappointing to see him cave to the woke mob.”
But that’s not what happened at all. According to a report from TMZ, the BLM riot footage used in the Aldean video came from Fox 5 in Atlanta, and the production company behind the video didn’t get the proper legal clearance to use the footage.
From the story Margolis links:
Sources connected to the music video production tell TMZ…back when they were producing the video, the company that produced it reached out to FOX on May 8 and asked for permission to use the 6 seconds of video shot by FOX 5 Atlanta…showing violence at a BLM rally.
We’re told the folks at FOX asked for more information … specifically the lyrics of the song. We’re told the production company sent FOX a link to the song — which was released May 19 — but the protocol was to send the lyrics in writing, which they never did.
Our sources say a week ago, FOX reached out to the production company and asked them to remove the video to avoid any legal action — which was described to us as a “polite ultimatum” — and the production company complied.
And there you have it; as always, the truth will out, though it may take a minute doing so. But also as per usual, the Left will use any lie they must so as to paper over the truth and claim another “victory” for themselves—even as flimsy, easily-disproven a one as this. Back over to Matt for the finisher, and the lesson to be learned, remembered, and always borne closely in mind.
So, this wasn’t about caving to the woke mob. This was Aldean’s production company being sloppy and not getting permission to use the footage included in the video. While there have been plenty of times conservatives have been rightfully disappointed by someone caving to the woke mob, this wasn’t one of those moments, and conservatives shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.
Exactly, precisely so. They win enough as it is, without us pre-emptively surrendering when there’s no need for it, reflexively throwing one of our own under the bus at their behest. FUCK all that noise.
Say, did somebody or other mention aliens in the “Eyrie up” post earlier today? Why yes, I believe someone did at that.
US Has 12 Or More Alien Spacecraft, Say Military And Intelligence Contractors
Military and intelligence agencies are withholding evidence from Congress, sources say In April, the director of the Pentagon’s new program for studying UFOs said he had seen no evidence of alien spacecraft. “I should also state clearly for the record,” said Sean Kirkpatrick, the Director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), “that in our research, AARO has found no credible evidence thus far of extraterrestrial activity, off-world technology, or objects that defy the known laws of physics.”But on Monday, an Air Force whistleblower contradicted the Pentagon’s claim, telling The Debrief and News Nation that the U.S. government is in possession of “quite a number” of alien spacecraft. “I thought it was totally nuts,” David Grusch said. “I thought at first I was being deceived.”
And now, multiple sources close to the matter have come forward to tell Public that Grusch’s core claims are accurate. The individuals are all either high-ranking intelligence officials, former intelligence officials, or individuals who we could verify were involved in U.S. government UAP efforts for three or more decades each. Two of them have testified, including as recently as last year, to both AARO and Congress.
The individuals said they had seen or been presented with “credible” and “verifiable” evidence that the U.S. government, and U.S. military contractors, possess at least 12 or more alien space crafts, some of which they shared with AARO, which AARO has refused to provide to Congress. The reason AARO “has not discovered any verifiable information,” they said, is because it does have the authority to verify it and may not want to verify it.
Grusch, 36, is a senior intelligence analyst who represented the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, the precursor to AARO, from 2019-2021. Grusch is also a decorated combat officer for his service in Afghanistan.
“His assertion concerning the existence of a terrestrial arms race occurring sub-rosa over the past eighty years focused on reverse engineering technologies of unknown origin is fundamentally correct,” said Karl Nell, a retired Army Colonel who worked with Grusch on the UAP Task Force, which preceded the creation of AARO, told The Debrief,” as is the indisputable realization that at least some of these technologies of unknown origin derive from non-human intelligence.”
Some of the same sources who shared information with Grusch, as well as others, spoke to Public about retrieved spacecraft that they say is in the possession of the U.S. government. “I know of at least 12-15 craft,” said one person, who said they shared the information with AARO and Congress. “Every five years, we get one or two recovered for one reason or another, from either a landing or that we catch, or they just crash.”
A different contractor said, “There were at least four morphologies, different structures. Six were in good shape; six were not in good shape. There were cases where the craft landed, and the occupants left the craft unoccupied. There have been high-level people, including generals, who have placed their hand on the craft, and I would have no reason to disbelieve them.”
Oh, I can think of quite a few very good reasons, myself. Nonetheless. Loozianner John Kennedy has something to say on all this as well.
There appears to be bipartisan interest in getting more transparency from the executive branch about UAPs (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena—M), though there was some skepticism as well. Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) questioned how aliens with technology advanced enough to make it to Earth from billions of miles away could be “incompetent” enough to crash here.
It’s a fair point.
And, true to form, Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana responded to the hearings in a way only he could, in a campaign video.
“In Washington, D.C., common sense is illegal. I swear to God and all the angels that’s true. You know, I remember when the kitchen table issues mattered more than pronouns, when boys weren’t allowed to compete in girls’ sports, when truth mattered a lot more than political correctness,” he said, “Maybe that’s why the aliens won’t talk to us.”
Heh. Perfectly understandable, though. With the pandemic of daylight barking moonbattery currently plaguing the nation, why on Earth would any race of beings possessed of intelligence vastly superior to Bozo Sapiens want to? Believe the whistleblowers or no—and I really, really want to—the last word on all this can only be Jack Nicholson’s.
Far as I’m concerned, George has way more credibility than anybody currently working for FedGovCo ever will.
Update! I glided right past this bit from that last link with nary a thought, but on further reflection it might bear some mulling over.
Retired U.S. Navy commander David Fravor testified that the infamous “tic-tac” shaped UAP he encountered in 2004, exhibited technology “far superior than anything that we had, have today, or are looking to develop in the next 10+ years.”
Oh rilly? Only ten-plus years? Did CDR Fravor just give a certain game away, perhaps?
Not just one, but two of ‘em.
Tucker Carlson is a national treasure.
This moving 2 minute interaction with Ice Cube on resisting the Vaxx propaganda is enough to bring both sides of the country together.
More of this 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/5cjSA8IdRz
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson)
The above is three minutes’ worth from Tucker’s latest Twitter X ep, itself an extended interview that is absitively, posolutely worth your while. I didn’t expect I’d ever say such a thing, not being anybody’s idea of a rap/hip-hop fan, but Ice Cube shows himself to be an independent-minded, extremely thoughtful and politically-astute guy—articulate, even. Whodathunkit? Watching this interview gave me a whole new respect for the man.
Update! Waitwaitwait—is that Erik Satie I hear in the background as outro music? Right at the very end? I do declare, I believe it is! Wonder whose idea THAT might have been?
Why are certain pharmaceuticals becoming rare as hen’s teeth in the FUSA? Bill lays it all out over at the DP mothership, then hits on a related topic in his latest for Substack: Blogs – What Are They Good For? Both posts are of the impossible-to-excerpt variety, so just click on over and read ’em all.
CA at WRSA has it, and it’s truly a beauty to behold. A small sampling:
A-yup, the boy really outdone himself this time…and everybody else, too.
Who says good old American ingenuity, know-how, and the can-do spirit is dead? ‘Cause clearly, they’re wrong about that.
— ONT WTF (@OntWtf)
What can one possibly say but: Heh.
Update! Another excellent example from the same ONT post.
— ONT WTF (@OntWtf)
I repeat: heh. Weird Dave has a shit-ton more of them over at the Ace place, too.
In the course of a discussion on country music both trad and *ugh* contemporary over at Sido’s place, I was moved to respond to Outlaws Forever’s comment thusly:
This in turn got me headed over to YewToob to reacquaint myself with a few Ray Price songs, when up popped a BPs cover of his classic “Crazy Arms” amongst the rest of the flawless tunage.
Pretty decent homage if you ask me, which of course nobody did.
Update! Moar country-music rebellion.
Another Anti-Woke Country Anthem Is Shooting Up The Charts
As Jason Aldean’s “Try That In A Small Town” continues to top country music charts in the face of backlash from left-wing entities, another anti-woke country anthem is also enjoying its own surge to the top.“I’m Just Sayin’” by Nashville-based artist Austin Moody — a song that critiques radical positions on crime, gender ideology and college indoctrination — currently holds the number seven slot on iTunes’ top 40 country chart. “I’m just sayin’, have we all lost our minds?” reads the chorus of the song meant to reflect what many think in private, but feel unable to say in the face of pressure from powerful groups and institutions.
“I am absolutely floored by the response I’ve gotten on the song,” Moody told Breitbart News. “It just proves to me there’s still a strong moral compass in this country, and it means that honesty and freedom cannot be independent. You have to be honest even if it costs you.”
In a previous interview, Moody told Breitbart that he felt compelled to write the song due to the creeping influence of woke ideology in popular country music circles. Those sentiments were immediately validated just days after the interview, as Country Music TV (CMT) opted to remove Jason Aldean’s viral “Try That In A Small Town” music video from its lineup.
“Over the past couple years, I’ve been convicted. Seeing a lot of things happening in this country that I don’t agree with. You sit back and think, ‘what can I do about this?’” Moody said. “All I could hope for is when people hear ‘I’m Just Sayin,’’ they just know it was written to say we’ve had enough. We live in a society bent on the destruction of the individual. If you don’t fall in line you’ll be cancelled or destroyed.”
The Tennessee native went on to add that the birth of his daughter was another massive inspiration to write the song. “In today’s world, what we’re dealing with, it’s not just about politics. It’s about a darkness that’s now coming for our children. I’ve got a 15-month-old daughter. I don’t want her growing up in a liberal-run America,” he said.
Well said, sir. May I say, you have the right idea: jumping on these Woke fucksticks before they can infiltrate the House of Country Music like the termites they are and bring it crashing down on all your heads is definitely the way to go. The rest of the country failed to do so, and just look where THAT got us.
Still no big fan of contemporary country music, and I certainly mean no insult to Jason Aldean, but I gotta say I like Moody’s song better than I do Aldean’s.
I sincerely wish both Jason Aldean and Austin Moody nothing but the best. May you both enjoy all the success in the world, fellas. For courageously taking your stand and standing your ground in such parlous, trying times, you richly deserve it.
Inside-baseball addendum: Lest anyone think this is a hurry-up job by Moody hoping to jump on a bandwagon which Aldean had already gotten rolling, y’all should know that that is NOT the way things work in the music biz. Or at least, not that quickly, anyhow. The song being released just recently means that Moody has almost certainly been working on it for at least a year, if not longer.
He would have to have been, what with composing and editing, bringing it to the band for rehearsals, then booking studio time for tracking and overdubs, mixing, and final mastering all needing to take place before the first CD is even pressed and shipped—a very time-intensive process in and of its own self. Cover art; decisions on the J-card layout, track-listing order, and credits; running it all by the label people for their approval—nosirreebob, don’t think for a second that all this gets done in the blink of an eye.
Getting your music out there to the public, whatever genre you may be working in, is in fact a long, laborious, painstaking process, involving a whole lot of gears that have to mesh before anything happens, IF it happens. There’s a blue million ways it can all fall apart and come to naught, too.
On the upside, though, the day when you finally do get your hands on that first CD and rush down to your favorite watering hole to show off the long-awaited fruits of your labor to all your friends is a frabjous one indeed. All the horizonless hours of frustration, weariness, and self-doubt wash right away like dirt down a shower drain; you open that first box of what the record-label maggots, in their deadened-soul unmindfulness, refer to as “product” with your hands literally a-tremble and the hair on the back of your neck standing straight up, no fooling. There’s no feeling like it in all the world, there truly isn’t.
Updated update! Just checked out the above-referenced Breitbart piece, when what to my wondering eyes should appear but this:
“I’m going to use what God gave me to try to say the right thing. So far, the response has been positive,” Moody says. He also understands what a blessing (it is) to have his wife — Jennifer Wayne, granddaughter of the late film icon John Wayne — as an occasional writing partner.
Because of COURSE she’s the Duke’s granddaughter. A one hundred percent all-American family unit for sure and certain. Bold mine, natch.
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