Today is Presidents Day. It shouldn’t be.

It’s yet another example of Washington politicians screwing around with important, organic commemorations that celebrate key national figures in our country’s history for superficial contemporary priorities.

Most recently, in 1968 a Democrat Senate, a Democrat House, and a Democrat president eliminated the national celebration of George Washington’s birthday on Feb. 22. The first president was dead, so he couldn’t object. //

News Flash! George Washington was not born today, on Feb. 17. No president was. He was born on Feb. 22, 1732, in Virginia just in time for his historical calling. He reportedly paid little attention to his birthday. No bouncy tent, no clowns and balloon tricks.

But in 1789, a grateful new nation began celebrating Feb. 22 as a government holiday in Washington, along with July 4th. In 1879, that became the official national holiday. //

The same was true for No. 16, Abraham Lincoln, who was born on Feb. 12, 1809, the first president born outside the 13 original colonies (KY). //

We did not learn much about the president’s four sons. I suspect because three of them died as children. That and the Civil War would explain their father’s sad face shortly before his murder in 1865 (on the right above). //

But that all ended in 1968.

That’s when Congress turned the third Monday in February into Presidents Day.

Who cares about actual history if you can wrangle another three-day weekend by ignoring it.

The invention of "Presidents Day" from whole cloth has sapped most of the meaning from its observance.

Largo Patriot
31 minutes ago
It's so typical of a federal bureaucracy run by Democrats for the last half century that two of the most consequential presidents in our nation's history have to share a holiday so one black civil rights hero can have his own.

KanekoaTheGreat @KanekoaTheGreat
·
Al Sharpton Asks: Can you imagine if James Madison or Thomas Jefferson tried to overthrow the government?

🙄🙄

9:04 PM · Feb 16, 2025.

One day, our children's children will read American history, and can you imagine our reading that James Madison or Thomas Jefferson tried to overthrow the government? So they could stay in power? That's what we're looking at, we're looking at American history. //

Lisa Steves @theLisaSteves
·
Replying to @KanekoaTheGreat
Thomas Jefferson along with 55 other men committed treason by signing the Declaration of Independence from the British Government. So Yes, I can 100% see Thomas Jefferson overthrowing a government.
10:28 PM · Feb 16, 2025

Almost 70 years ago, the U.S. State Department dispatched a new ambassador to a Southeast Asian nation. As often seemed to happen, the new U.S. official was no expert on the nation, its economy, or its culture. He did not speak the language. And his concerns were more geopolitical and career-oriented. //

Communism at the time of that ambassador’s appointment was the worst threat ever to global democracy. It had already taken over Eastern Europe, prompted the Korean War, and was inspiring guerrilla movements around the world, especially in Asia, where some colonial powers like France still reigned.

Using the American Revolution against Britain as his model for successful guerilla warfare, Ho Chi Minh was succeeding in ousting the French from Indochina, soon to become Vietnam.

It turns out, this story about the ignorant, bumbling new U.S. ambassador was all made up, total fiction. It was the plot of “The Ugly American,” a blockbuster 1958 novel that would shape the thinking of a future president and millions more through a successful movie starring some actor in his 30s named Marlon Brando.

The compelling book by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer was a longtime best-seller. It spoke to a deep-seated American fear, which survives to this day, that the world’s bad guys would be victorious because a naïve United States, geographically isolated from foreign trouble spots, failed to fully accept its responsibility to help other countries and thereby protect itself. //

During and long after World War I, the U.S. produced and sent millions of tons of food to feed war-torn Europe. That effort was spearheaded by an Iowa orphan and mining engineer named Herbert Hoover, who gained international fame.

He also served as Secretary of Commerce and, in 1928, became the first Quaker and last Cabinet member to win election as president.

The vast Marshall Plan to feed and rebuild Europe after World War II cemented a reputation for generosity in the minds of the world and ourselves and a dawning awareness that Americans had a strong self-interest in helping others.

As someone who read Ugly American at the time, I can say the psychological impact of that book was even stronger than the 1974 one for “Jaws,” which unleashed our inner fears of immense monsters just out of sight.

The warnings of Ugly American — that the U.S. had to be smarter abroad — so impressed first-term Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-MA) that he gave copies to every other senator. And then, two years later, he took those impressions with him into the White House with some lethal consequences. //

Just four months into his presidency, Kennedy reversed President Eisenhower’s policy of non-intervention in foreign conflicts. That had kept the U.S. out of fighting in Indochina and Egypt when France and Britain seized the Suez Canal.

Fatefully, in May 1961, Kennedy sent 500 troops to South Vietnam. They were just going to advise the local army, you understand, in its struggle against Communists infiltrating from North Vietnam. //

Fast forward to Afghanistan, 2001. The initial decision seemed reasonable for the U.S. and NATO allies to attack al Qaeda there and the Taliban, which had hosted terrorist training camps for the 9/11 attacks.

But then, once again, mission creep slipped in. //

Three hundred years before Christ, Alexander the Great could not pacify what became Afghanistan. Nor could the British in the 1800s. In 1989, the Soviets gave up their attempt after 10 years.

It took the U.S. and allies 20 years before they gave up and left in a humiliating 2021 withdrawal that Joe Biden's ineptness made worse than necessary.

The Western costs were 2,465 U.S. service fatalities, 1,144 allied and contractor deaths, and $2.3 trillion.

The Taliban won anyway.

Now, we return to the U.S. Agency for International Development, which was active there. The goal of President Kennedy, who also founded the Peace Corps, was to unite scattered foreign aid programs in one semi-independent agency under the State Department to promote social and economic progress in other countries. //

There is no doubt, however, that some of the billions distributed by USAID have benefited many millions. The agency helped eradicate smallpox, stemmed the spread of AIDS in Africa, and provides treatments.

The mission was to make investments abroad that would encourage and ignite further progress. Not provide free lunches today but teach literacy so people could get better jobs tomorrow. Help provide clean water and teach better health care, especially for infants and children. Provide nutritional guidance. Improve agricultural methods to boost production and reduce erosion and pests. //

The fact is that although the U.S. is by far the world’s largest provider of foreign aid, such spending only runs around one percent of the total federal budget of $6.1 trillion; in Fiscal Year 2023, it was 1.2 percent. //

A Warning Written for Tomorrow

January 18th, 2021.

The capital of the free world looked like a war zone.

Armed troops patrolled empty streets. Barriers rose like steel forests. And in a quiet corner of the White House, someone uploaded forty-five pages to the government website.

No ceremony. No press release. Just a document dropped into the digital void.

"The 1776 Report"

But Two days later, it vanished.

Scrubbed from official servers.

Dismissed as propaganda.

Lost in the chaos of transition.

And yet, something survived.

What most Americans never knew was that this wasn't just another government report. This was a diagnosis of what was killing the American spirit—and more importantly—a blueprint for its renewal.

Written not for 2021, but for this exact moment in 2025, as things begin to change.

"We have arrived at a point," it warned, "where the most influential part of our nation finds these old faith-based virtues dangerous, useless, or perhaps even laughable."

Simple words. Surgical precision. Like a doctor naming a disease everyone felt but no one would acknowledge.

But here's what made the report extraordinary:

it mapped the exact pressure points where renewal would begin.

Like a military assessment written for civilians like me.

A battle plan disguised as historical analysis.

"The facts of our founding," it declared, "are not partisan. They address the concerns of ALL Americans—every class, race, religion, and region. Properly understood, these facts resolve the concerns and fulfill the aspirations of our entire people."

Critics called this empty rhetoric in 2021.

They should have read more carefully.

Those weren't just words.

They were coordinates, marking exact points where American renewal would begin. //

The sun rises early in Washington. Its first rays catch marble columns that have watched over the capital for centuries. But something's different in these opening weeks of 2025. Something electric. Something unstoppable.

Inside those buildings and institutions being audited and gutted for the first time in forever, a forgotten report's prophecies are finally becoming reality.

Look closer.

The DS meeting its match in digital sunlight.

Critical Theory crumbling against hard truth.

Identity politics dissolving in the face of American renewal.

She broke barriers at NASA and contributed to its earliest space missions as a rocket scientist, mathematician and computer programmer.

Annie Easley was a member of the team at NASA’s Lewis Research Center in Cleveland (now the Glenn Research Center) given the critical task of fixing the Centaur’s design. Unlike most people working on the project, she was not an engineer. She hadn’t even finished college. But she was an excellent mathematician and computer programmer who was adept at solving problems.

The Department of Defense had concluded that the Centaur would not be ready for at least several more years, a critical setback for the country.

But 18 months later, on Nov. 27, 1963, the redesigned rocket system successfully blasted into space. It was the beginning of a new era in spaceflight, and Easley’s calculations had been vital to the mission. //

Easley had been hired in 1955 to work at Lewis as a human computer — one of a group of gifted women who calculated and solved complex mathematical problems before there were mechanical computers powerful enough to do the work.

The 2016 book and film “Hidden Figures” memorialized the work of some of these pioneers. Like the women depicted in that history, Easley was Black and had to overcome obstacles to succeed, but she did not let that stop her.

“When people have their biases and prejudices, yes, I am aware. My head is not in the sand,” she said in a 2001 oral history interview for NASA. “But my thing is, if I can’t work with you, I will work around you.”

Sean Spicer
@seanspicer
·
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@POTUS @realDonaldTrump kicks off #BlackHistoryMonth with a proclamation from @WhiteHouse recognizing the work of Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas, Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass
6:47 PM · Jan 31, 2025

Throughout our history, black Americans have been among our country’s most consequential leaders, shaping the cultural and political destiny of our Nation in profound ways. American heroes such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Thomas Sowell, Justice Clarence Thomas, and countless others represent what is best in America and her citizens. Their achievements, which have monumentally advanced the tradition of equality under the law in our great country, continue to serve as an inspiration for all Americans. We will also never forget the achievements of American greats like Tiger Woods, who have pushed the boundaries of excellence in their respective fields, paving the way for others to follow.

This National Black History Month, as America prepares to enter a historic Golden Age, I want to extend my tremendous gratitude to black Americans for all they have done to bring us to this moment, and for the many future contributions they will make as we advance into a future of limitless possibility under my Administration.

This is a long time coming. For years, the accomplishments of black Americans like Thomas and Sowell have been overlooked, downplayed, and blatantly ignored by the left, who seemingly can't handle any black person who doesn't fall into line with their radical policies. Back in 2016, the Smithsonian opened the National Museum of African American History and Culture with nary a word about Clarence Thomas to be found in the entire building, something Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) later called an "irresponsible bias." The Smithsonian eventually added Justice Thomas to an existing display about Justice Thurgood Marshall. Mighty nice of them. //

Ronster
3 hours ago
Since the very first time I heard the phrase "celebrate diversity" I have asked why not celebrate unity. As in United States. But then that's the Leftist/Marxist/Democrat way: diversity = divide and conquer.

Baja Sun Ronster
2 hours ago
Diversity is the key to controlling the population.
The more diverse the cultures, the less likely we are to stand united against a tyrannical government.
Divide and conquer.

Ordo amoris was defined by Saint Augustine of Hippo in the fifth century, but best exposition on this heirarchy is in Saint Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summa_Theologica

1. There is an order in charity, and God is the principle of that order. God is to be loved out of charity, before all others. The other beings that are to be loved out of charity are, so to speak, lined up in their proper places, subordinate to God.

2. God is to be loved for himself and as the cause ofhappiness. Hence, God is to be loved more than our neighbor, who isloved, not for himself, but for God.

3. And we are to love God more than we love ourselves. What we love in ourselves is from God, and is lovable only on account of God.

4. A person rightly loves himself by charity when he seeks to be united with God and to partake of God's eternal happiness. And a person loves his neighbor as one to whom he wishes this union and happiness. Now, since seeking to obtain something for oneself is a more intense act than wishing well to one's neighbor, a person manifestly loves himself more than he loves his neighbor. As evidence of this fact, consider this: a man would rightly refuse to sin if, by sinning, he could free his neighbor from sin.

5. While we love ourselves more than we love our neighbor, we are required to love our neighbor more than we love our body.

6. And we rightly love one neighbor more than another - our parents, for instance, or our children. In this we violate no law so long as we do not withhold requisite love from any neighbor.

7. Our dearest objects of charity among neighbors are those who are closest to us by some tie - relationship, common country, and so on.

8. The tie that is strongest of all is the tie of blood. Hence it is natural that we should love our kindred more than others.

9. And in those related to us by blood there is an order. St. Ambrose says that we ought to love God first, then our parents, then our children, then the others of our household.

10. We are to love father and mother. Strictly speaking, the love of father precedes the love of mother.

11. A man loves his wife more intensely than he loves his parents. Yet he loves his parents with greater reverence.

12. It seems that we love those on whom we confer benefits more than those who confer benefits on us.

13. The order of charity, since it is right and reasonable, will endure in heaven.

In fact, Aquinas, being Aquinas, even offered objections to his thesis and defended against the objections.
https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3026.htm

Laocoön of Troy Steprock
3 hours ago
We've done this before...

From March 16, 1916, to February 14, 1917, an expeditionary force of more than fourteen thousand regular army troops under the command of Brig. Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing operated in northern Mexico "in pursuit of Villa with the single objective of capturing him and putting a stop to his forays. Another 140,000 regular army and National Guard troops patrolled the vast border between Mexico and the United States to discourage further raids. //

anon-pkys Laocoön of Troy
36 minutes ago
Back in the 1840s the U.S. declared war on Mexico. We had two small armies that attacked, one from the north across the border, and one by sea from Vera Cruz. Our troops, although greatly out numbered kicked A$$ and took names in several battles with the Mexican Army. We conquered and held Mexico City in a battle in which we were outnumbered. Texas Rangers served as Scouts for the Army and as shock troops. They were hated and feared by the Mexicans. To this day the Mexican people have no love for the Texas Rangers. During the 1870s-80s the Texas Rangers guarded much of the border with Mexico. They were not afraid to go into Mexico after Mexican rustlers.

The discovery of a ship, missing for five centuries, in a southwest African desert, filled with gold coins, is one of the most thrilling archaeological finds in recent times.

The Bom Jesus (The Good Jesus) was a Portuguese vessel that set sail from Lisbon, Portugal on Friday, March 7, 1533. Its fate was unknown until 2008 when its remains were discovered in the desert of Namibia during diamond mining operations near the coast of the African nation.

On January 17, 1961, in this farewell address, President Dwight Eisenhower warned against the establishment of a "military-industrial complex."

In a speech of less than 10 minutes, on January 17, 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower delivered his political farewell to the American people on national television from the Oval Office of the White House. Those who expected the military leader and hero of World War II to depart his Presidency with a nostalgic, "old soldier" speech like Gen. Douglas MacArthur's, were surprised at his strong warnings about the dangers of the "military-industrial complex."

As President of the United States for two terms, Eisenhower had slowed the push for increased defense spending despite pressure to build more military equipment during the Cold War’s arms race. Nonetheless, the American military services and the defense industry had expanded a great deal in the 1950s. Eisenhower thought this growth was needed to counter the Soviet Union, but it confounded him. Though he did not say so explicitly, his standing as a military leader helped give him the credibility to stand up to the pressures of this new, powerful interest group. He eventually described it as a necessary evil.

A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction. . . . American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. . . . This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. . . .Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. . . . In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

For this final installment in the inauguration series, we talk about the inaugural balls.

Well-known academic and go-to source for U.S. intelligence and military agencies, Professor John Esposito of Georgetown University, insists that nothing bad was happening during the "five centuries of peaceful coexistence" between Muslims and Christians prior to the First Crusade, which was launched by cynical and evil Europeans, forever turning Islam against the West.

Is that true? My answer follows:
https://youtu.be/hgrrMhxAaog

DonnaM
9 hours ago
I'm thinking that a "deal deal" with Greenland and Denmark could be structured like an economic development corporation (EDC). These are nonprofits that work with geographic areas in cities cooperating with businesses to supply plans and services to develop that area. I'm a humble marketer and no expert, but I'd bet that the Trumps have worked with plenty of them. That way we get security and access to resources, kick out the Chinese (mandatory), help Denmark on their issues with Greenland, Greenlanders are part of the EDC representation, run their affairs, improve their economy, yet the Danes keep it as a territory or state. We don't take it on as a US colony or territory, but it's supervised, planned against specified goals. A win all around. //

anon-201n
9 hours ago
This idea of acquiring Greenland at first sounds crazy, but as noted Harry Truman wanted to buy it from Denmark in 1946, at a time when the USSR was beginning to flex its post-war muscles. Greenland has lots of natural resources but also. has a coastline that would open into a northwest passage. Both China (declaring itself an Arctic country!!!) and Russia are eying the Arctic Ocean for its trade routes and natural resources. Greenland has had an uneasy relationship with Denmark over the recent years and is subsidised by Denmark (but also restricted). Trump eyes Greenland as an ally and a trade source and is playing the art of the deal.

Damocles Gordon of Cartoon
9 hours ago
This from Wikipedia:
In 2016, the BBC published a report which stated that the administration of United States President Jimmy Carter (1977–1981) had extensive contact with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his entourage in the prelude to the Iranian Revolution of 1979.[1][2] The report was based on "newly declassified US diplomatic cables".[1][2] According to the report, as mentioned by The Guardian, Khomeini "went to great lengths to ensure the Americans would not jeopardise his plans to return to Iran - and even personally wrote to US officials" and assured them not to worry about their interests in Iran, particularly oil.[1][2] According to the report, in turn, Carter and his administration helped Khomeini and made sure that the Imperial Iranian army would not launch a military coup

There are a lot of people here in the USA that do not know that Carter Gave the Ayatollah Khomeini a crap ton of money (read: Millions) and allowed them to take over Iran. The thanks for using our tax money was a bunch of hostages held for over a year.
Look it up people! //

epaddon
9 hours ago
The context of giving away the Panama Canal stemmed from all the 1970s self-flagellation America went through in the wake of Vietnam. The idea of America a force of evil in the world, which gained ascendancy with opposition to the Vietnam War, combined with the rise of "revisionist" scholarship on the Cold War which blamed America, not Stalin for why the Cold War started, and all the trashing of America over getting rid of Marxist regimes in Guatemala and Chile is why Jimmy Carter felt that giving away the Canal would be a way of showing America making amends for all those things they never had to apologize for in the first place.

It didn't help that he not only got the backing RINO Senator Howard Baker, but also the backing of William F. Buckley. Indeed, there was a big "Firing Line" debate between Buckley and Reagan on the Canal and its telling that on Buckley's side was George Will, while Reagan's side had Pat Buchanan. George Will of course now stands exposed as Never-Trumper fake. //

Almost Sane
7 hours ago
Jimmy Carter was a virulent anti-Semite. He hated Israel and did his best to always side with their enemies, even after he was out of office. He was responsible for the ayatollah taking over Iran and responsible for our embassy being overrun and our diplomats taken hostage for over 440 days. Everybody praised him for his Habitat for Humanity project, but failed to read his antisemitic writings long after he was no longer president. //

anon-pabn
9 hours ago
This all may be Trump leveraging the canal to bring to light what China is trying to do with Taiwan. "Go after Taiwan and say goodbye to controlling the Panama Canal." Of course he would refuse to take military action off the board. He is playing 3 dimensional chess while the MSM is playing Candy Crush.

The last few years revealed stark differences in philosophy regarding the role of government in our society. When the level of fear was high, people were more inclined to submit to onerous mandates. They believed restricting freedom was necessary for the common good and saw the government as a benevolent savior. It was terrifying to watch.

Some people want the government to control as much as possible.

This led me to an existential question: What is the point of government? //

“Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first a patron, the last a punisher.”

Paine described the purpose of government as providing for freedom and security.

“Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here too is the design and end of government, viz. freedom and security.”

Steve Guest @SteveGuest
·
.@ScottJenningsKY: “In the run up to the Persian Gulf War, [Jimmy Carter] wrote letters, to all of our allies, and to Arab States, asking them to abandon their cooperation and coalition with the USA.. if it’s not treasonous, it’s borderline treasonous.” 🔥

11:18 PM · Dec 30, 2024

JENNINGS: In the run-up to the Persian Gulf War, he wrote letters to all of our allies and to Arab states, asking them to abandon their cooperation and coalition with the United States of America. If it's not treasonous, it's borderline treasonous, and so I hear what you're saying about the humanitarianism, but when you're an ex-president, and you have served in that office, I think you have a duty to the United States and only to the United States, and when he did that and other instances, to me, it showed that he cared more about his own legacy than he did about the country, and I think that is wrong. //

Scott Jennings @ScottJenningsKY
·
My thoughts on Jimmy Carter’s legacy last night on @cnn: terrible president, soundly rejected by the American people. Even worse ex-president, whose meddling in US foreign policy & virulent anti-Israel/anti-Semitic views must not be forgotten. Undermined US interests repeatedly.

6:58 AM · Dec 31, 2024
https://x.com/ScottJenningsKY/status/1874062472384307315

Ricardo Dale
4 hours ago
Carter handed us the current terror state that is Iran. Then he called Israel an "apartheid state." He is only partially redeemed by the fact that Joe Biden was worse by a large margin...

it's an opportune time to refresh ourselves on some of the traditions and rituals that occur on the death of the person who wore the illustrious mantle of the leader of the free world.

440-pound 1980s behemoth rescued from an Osaka restaurant days before demolition. //

For those who want the absolute largest CRT experience possible, Sony's KX-45ED1 model (aka PVM-4300) has become the stuff of legends. The massive 45-inch CRT was sold in the late '80s for a whopping $40,000 (over $100,000 in today's dollars), according to contemporary reports.

That price means it wasn't exactly a mass-market product, and the limited supply has made it something of a white whale for CRT enthusiasts to this day. While a few pictures have emerged of the PVM-4300 in the wild and in marketing materials, no collector has stepped forward with detailed footage of a working unit. //

Enter Shank Mods, a retro gaming enthusiast and renowned maker of portable versions of non-portable consoles. In a fascinating 35-minute video posted this weekend, he details his years-long effort to find and secure a PVM-4300 from a soon-to-be-demolished restaurant in Japan and preserve it for years to come. //

The full video includes lots of footage and details of the shipping and unboxing process, and confirmation that the TV still works after its incredible journey. Shank Mods also includes a breakdown of the internal design and processing hardware that went into such a uniquely large CRT and an extended discussion of the intricate process of calibrating and tuning the tube to deliver a sharp, color-corrected picture after years of magnetic and electron beam drift.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfZxOuc9Qwk

“This is a strange Christmas Eve. Almost the whole world is locked in deadly struggle…. [B]efore we turn again to the stern task and the formidable year that lie before us, resolved that, by our sacrifice and daring, these same children shall not be robbed of their inheritance or denied their right to live in a free and decent world.” //

OwenKellogg-Engineer | December 25, 2024 at 6:09 am
I just finished reading “The Splendid and the Vile” by Erik Larson, about Churchills first year as PM (May 1940-May 1941). What an incredible insight into one of the 20th Century’s most prominent figure. He truly understood that the freedom of western civilization was at stake.

My, how we have slipped away in such a short period of time…..

President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian Chief of Government Omar Torrijos signed the Panama Canal Treaty and Neutrality Treaty on September 7, 1977. This agreement relinquishes American control over the canal by the year 2000 and guarantees its neutrality. On May 4, 1904, Panama granted the United States the right to build and operate the canal and control the five miles of land on either side of the water passage in exchange for annual payments. For the history of the Panama Canal, visit the Library of Congress American Memory section.

Appendix B: Texts of the Panama Canal Treaties with United States Senate Modifications -- Panama