Isn’t it incredible that people from all around the world can figure out how blessed we Americans are after being here for just a few days, but liberals can’t figure it out after being here for generations. Imagine if the world took a few minutes to read our bill of rights. Maybe it’s time we conservatives begin our own replacement theory!
Back in the early 90s, we had neighbors from Germany, who were here for about 5-years, before they needed to return to Germany. One evening, the had a small dinner party to which we were invited. There was a young couple there from Russia. They told us of another couple who were also from Russia & who had moved to Connecticut. When they were taken to the local supermarket, they were not only gob-smacked, but thought that it was staged to make them think that we here in America, had such stores & so many choices. It was many months before they were convinced that the grocery stores were not staged - that is how extreme the propaganda was in Russia at that time.
That is true about the Grocery stores. My cousin and her mother visited us from Germany years ago and she remembered the huge Grocery stores all the life. She told me about it when I visited her a year ago in Antigua. My father worked in one years ago. and I did too. I never realized what an impression it made on Europeans. that is an interesting story from you.
Our supermarkets with 100,000 processed foods are destroying the health of the nation. I was impressed, when I visited Greece in 1990 and saw that the Greeks got their foods at open air markets. I was in heaven with all the beautiful ripe ready to eat fruit!
Freedom is an amazing thing. It comes in all shapes and sizes. I used to smoke a pack of backwoods cigars a day, I loved smoking as bad as it was for me. When I get gas at certain gas stations I see them there, it’s a temptation I’ll never allow back into my life. Funny I’m still glad that they’re there and that I could buy them if I desired to. I remember the state stopped letting people smoke in restaurants, a privately owned building that the owners were forced to pay property taxes on. Although I never really smoked cigarettes I hated that the state could force the owners of a private business to take that decision away from them. I didn’t have to frequent that establishment if smoking bothered me, just as an owner could make his business smoke free. With true freedom people are allowed to make decisions even ones that are bad for them like drinking alcohol, it’s a choice we all make. Alcohol is a poison, shouldn’t it be outlawed? Wine beer booz it’s all bad for you. I agree people should be made aware so they can make informed decisions about what they eat, but I don’t want a nanny state taking things away from me, I like to make my own choices. BTW I just ate a Whoopi Pie,🙄.
Medicare is helping to bankrupt the nation. I have no desire to use it. It It is simply a large drug dealership. I have no desire to ever go to a medical doctor for health advice, either. Health is so simple. Eat right, exercise, and don't put anything in your mouth or body, which would be harmful. Follow a health producing lifestyle. Hippocrates, the Father of medicine prescribed this 2400 years ago...voila CURES! I am 92 and have no health problems. I am able to do 90 minutes of fast walking daily without a problem. My weight is perfect. I feel great and my mind functions better today than when I was in my twenties. I will gladly forego all the temptations, because I appreciate being healthy. When I was young, an aunt said to me these words, which were food for thought: "A moment on the lips an eternity on the hips."
Not given much choice. Have very good health insurance from work that automatically rolled to SS when hit 65. They all do, so after 65 either all health care out of pocket or SS
If I have a problem, I handle it! I got hurt using a treadmill...and had no desire to go to ER. I took lots of skin off my legs...and it was a painful two month recovery, but I healed. However, I had learned previously that a neighbor had a problem with his leg and went to ER. Something went wrong with its treatment and he wound up losing his leg. I was ultra leery about going to ER.
I used to indulge in the backwoods stogies as well. They had some interesting flavors. Interesting how you could still taste them the day after. Probably not the healthiest of things to indulge in but at least it was our choice.
I just chuckle at folks who smoke cigars and claim they don't inhale.... Wait, ain't you in the same room as that cigar?
Not that I can brag about quitting smoking. Smoked cigarettes for 58 years and still can't seem to get completely quit of them. Paying the price for that now.
After hearing Tucker's brother talk of his feelings about tobacco and the regulations, I feel the same way that you do, James. Forcing health on someone is still force. The tough part is we all end up paying for some peoples stubbornness.
My parents both smoked cigarettes. My mother died shortly after retiring at 66. She barely collected SS. My father was the same, he collected a little over a year. I wonder what effect the governments forced mRNA injections will have? They killed millions of people that paid into the system but never received a dime. Maybe that was part of their plan.
Not sure if you have been to Greece recently, but I have and man oh man, it is one overcrowded place. Athens had graffiti all the way up the second floors of every building. They say it was built for 2mm people, but 4mm people live there.
I could not imagine living there, parked cars, bumper to bumper, look like they've been there for years; they don't want to give up their spot...
I spent over three weeks in Greece in 1990. It was a dream come true. It was the one place, where I had always wanted to go, since I was 7 years old and saw a replica of the Parthenon in Carnegie Museum. The trip was totally unexpected and my family didn't know it was something I had always thought about. It was a Christmas gift I was given in 1989 from two daughters and my ex-husband. I went during the summer and had no reservations going into the islands. I was planning on getting off the boat at the first stop that friends had told me about and wound up getting off at the second island. I found the only room available there was $25 a night...and I was stuck on a boring island for 4 nights. I had plenty of time to sunbathe and relax. I was on a very limited budgetE and realized my money would not last, if I didn't find cheaper accommodations. So, .I wound up asking a restaurant proprietor, if I could sleep on his patio which would give me access to a restroom. It cost me $6 per night. After leaving there, every other time I got off the boat I would start talking to someone and we would wind up sharing a place to stay...for $10 a night. I made my own itinerary...Santorini, Rodos, Kos and Skyros. The first island I wound up on was Sifnos, which was known for man-eating crabs that came out of the ocean at night and crawled up on the beaches. So, I couldn't sleep on the beach.
There were no automobiles on the streets in Athens or people, when I went in 1990. Most of the people in Athens went into the islands in the summer. The streets were empty and I saw no graffiti. Most of the shops were closed, too. I had accidentally left one of my suitcases at home at the last moment with almost all my clothes in it...and just took one small case on wheels. I needed to buy some clothes and the only things I found were a pair of pink knee length cotton shorts and a dark blue, short sleeve pullover v-neck shirt. and a blue straw hat. I also did have a pair of sandals in my almost empty suitcase. I lived in this outfit while i was there and many people thought I was Greek.
I took tours to Corinth, Delphi, Lions Gate, etc. In order to get to the island of Skyros, i had to take a long bus ride heading north from Athens to catch a ferry boat, which would take me to Skyros. I was appalled to see the litter along the highway...all kinds of Coca Cola bottles and trash.
I had plenty of room in my old unlocked suitcase to bring back gifts. It did not show up until three weeks later. I walked right out through customs from the airport without even a suitcase.. When I got back to Los Angeles I just had enough money to get back to my home. I don't like to fly and felt like cancelling the trip a number of times, before I left. I had some bad experiences previously with flying. However, I am glad I didn't cancel it, because I have a lot of wonderful memories stored in an album containing all the photos that I took along the way..
You had quite a trip there Barb, and I'm glad your experience was very positive. I did not dislike what parts of Greece I saw, as we did do a private tour up to the top of the island and the views were magnificent. The houses (code I guess) were all white white blue shutters and doors, much like their flag. We did have fun, it was just Athens that was dirty and crowded.
I completely agree, James. I often wonder too, how many even know how many signers there were to The Declaration of Independence & of those who were born or live in one of the 13-original colonies, can name the signers from their states? Every signer had a target on their back & paid dearly for their loyalty to the cause for freedom & independence. One great book I read many years ago, is "John Adams", by David McCullough (2002). I learned so much more about John Adams than I had previously known. His sacrifices for our cause were truly monumental.
Webster graduated Yale in 1778, smack in the middle of the Revolutionary War. His father handed him an $8 Continental note and, essentially, said figure it out. So Noah walked home to West Hartford—not a long journey by modern standards, maybe 40 miles, but it was wartime Connecticut.
Along the way, he encountered Continental Army soldiers returning from victory at Saratoga (the decisive 1777 battle that convinced France to enter the war).
What struck the 19-year-old Webster wasn't patriotism or martial glory—it was chaos. The soldiers, drawn from every colony, literally couldn't understand one another:
A New Hampshire farm boy and a Virginia backwoodsman might as well have been speaking different languages.
Regional dialects were so thick that orders got garbled, coordination suffered.
Even basic conversation between men from different colonies broke down constantly.
Webster was horrified. Here was a revolutionary army that had just beaten Burgoyne, and they couldn't talk to each other. He saw this not as a quirk but as an existential threat to the republic. A nation that can't communicate can't govern itself, can't fight together, can't hold together.
This experience planted the seed that became his life's work. He didn't just want a dictionary—he wanted linguistic unification. A standardized American tongue, distinct from British English, that would bind the states into a single people. The Blue-Backed Speller and the 1828 dictionary were both downstream of that walk home and those frustrated conversations with soldiers who'd just won a revolution but couldn't understand each other's words.
He wrote later—paraphrasing his sentiment—that America's political independence would mean nothing without cultural and linguistic independence. The Saratoga veterans proved it to him firsthand.
It's one of those small moments in history that sounds apocryphal but is well-attested in his own letters and journals. A 19-year-old kid, broke, walking home, sees the winning army—and all he can think about is how badly they need a spelling book.
And the language issue is still a problem with all the illegal immigrants who have no incentive to learn American English. Thanks for this great story.
The elites and the WEF all profit from failed states. America like Europe was being pushed down the path of destruction by Biden and the left. Once you destroy borders language and culture a country is doomed. This is exactly what the left wants for America. This is why they hate Trump, he closed the borders, he’s deporting illegals and has been fighting for Americas culture to continue.
American history abounds with stories like this. The story Dr. Malone referenced about Geo. Washington's personal spy network was another. Yet it was the most boring subject I had throughout primary and secondary ed. Like a concerted effort was made to make it dull as dirt
There is a wonderful short book, which should be provided for every American student They Signed for Us by Merle Sinclair and Annabel Douglas McArthur. It is the background story of all the important patriots who by signing the declaration of Independence sacrificed their lives, liberty and fortunes. The left's take on our history needs to be blown away by true information.
If you ever go to Tangier Island in Chesapeake Bay, go down to the wharf and listen to the fishermen talk. It’s almost unintelligible. It sounds like a cross between a British Isles and a Southern accent. It shows how the language of people who are isolated from the mainland evolves differently. Amazing that they still have maintained that. A lot of regional dialects are becoming homogenized now. Here on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, so many people have moved here from New Jersey and New York that I don’t hear Southern accents that often.
Me too. I read a fantastic article in Imprimis yesterday, titled, How to Think about the American Revolution, it had that fact in it.
Also John Qunicy Adams encouragement to Americans after Adams and Jefferson died, brought me to tears.
"Lay up these principles, then, in your hearts, and in your souls—bind them for signs upon your hands, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes—teach them to your children, speaking of them when sitting in your houses, when walking by the way, when lying down and when rising up—write them upon the doorplates of your houses, and upon your gates—cling to them as to the issues of life—adhere to them as to the cords of your eternal salvation. So may your children’s children at the next return of this day of jubilee, after a full century of experience under your national Constitution, celebrate it again in the full enjoyment of all the blessings recognised by you in the commemoration of this day, and of all the blessings promised to the children of Israel upon Mount Gerizim, as the reward of obedience to the law of God."
John Adams said that day "Thomas Jefferson has survived."..not knowing that Jefferson had died only a few hours earlier. It is a memorable story to think that these two important figures in our founding history died on such a memorable day at the same time.
We definitely take our supermarkets for granted. I stopped in this morning to a Krogers, looking to score a fruit bowl of watermelon/strawberry/pineapple. I was disappointed they did not have one, so I had to "settle" for a small bowl of watermelon and a small bowl of pineapple.
I’m an old special ed teacher. 60 kids a day. All in small groups at a round table teaching dyslexic kids to spell from my vantage point upside down and backward. I catch nearly every error ever made EXCEPT in my own writing. Very annoying!
I also am not a fan and have railed for decades against ball and pasture sports, but Merlin the duck is cute as are all the others living among the many artificial lakes in western Maryland and northeastern West Virginia. Picture a single file line of ducks marching like my military school Drum and Bugle Corps days from an adjacent lake across a golf course to a water hazard! I ask you to picture it because I was driving and couldn’t get to the camera quick enough, but it was as cute as you can imagine!
Also, and maybe more important the people to people understanding of hosting the FIFA World Cup is priceless publicity for our mostly center right nation that is being besmirched by the globalist left. I don’t plan to watch, but I will never see events like FIFA as I did.
The best observation I have seen was a Brit, who accidentally rediscovered our founder’s intent, when he observed that Americans are not as parochial as Europeans portray them since each state is different enough to be it’s own separate country and we freely travel between them. … And somewhere in the great beyond the designers of our great Republic are smiling!
"You that read wrong" happens all the time, what a hoot! Of course the animal ones are my favorites. Lovable, laughable and true. I was just thinking about Goose last night and how you must miss the silly creature...
Where excessive heat in Europe is concerned, we have friends who own a condo in Florence, Italy, where they spend at least 6-months every year. They are there now. The temperatures have been between 100-103, & will remain there for the foreseeable future. The forecast through July 4th for Florence shows more of the same & who knows how much longer beyond the 4th, as the forecast does not go beyond the 4th of July. If you go to timeanddate.com & put in Florence, Italy (or use Firenze) in the search box for the weather feature, you will see what I am talking about. YIKES!
we were in same situation a few years ago in July , and the hottest week of that year. I bought a little $45 fan that had a reservoir for water and ice. So the fan blew out the water cooled air., It helped a lot!! It did not last all night though. I could feel the temp rise when it ran out of water, so I had to get up and put in more. We did that for 3 nights It would have been difficult to move my husband a hotel and then back again, so we waited it out. I still use that fan in my small kitchen.
I wonder if you placed a freeze pack in the water reservoir, if that would work too. That way, you could keep a few in the freezer & replace them as needed. Just a thought....
That is a great idea. The fan I bought though is small. Too small for the freezer packs I have at least. I have seen little square freezer packs, I may try that and see. thanks!
What a fun Father’s Day treat! Loved the video. Bless Your Heart for including it! I had a Lab who was a lion also when he pounced on that piece of dropped chocolate! Jaws of iron! The little duck was the star of today’s post, though! Waddle, waddle! Gosh thanks so much for our Sunday Funnies. Gets us in the mood for another week of probable “ nonsense” from our politicians!
Before going to bed, I watched two videos of Brits reacting to another Brit going into a huge hunting store…full of guns! It was amazing and hilarious at the same time.
They were taken back at the ammo that was stocked on both sides of the aisle and did not understand the different nomenclature. The same Brit went shooting in Florida and experienced firing a .50 cal Barrett and other awesome weapons! Something we take for granted, but many Brits wished they had, to include the 2nd Amendment.
One telling thing that went viral is how they proclaimed that they were lied to about America by their government and the media—their eyes are now open—may be this will translate into electing conservatives to their parliament who are not woke and effeminate, and deport the illegals as quickly as they came in—we can only hope.
Another banner crop but the dog and dropped chocolate was a been there done that for me and let me say that finding such in a lab's mouth a real challenge.
Happy Father's Day to our champ of the Homestead in Virginia, and to all our other Father's in the US and around the world!
My very fav is the wise man. Somehow over the years, quite recognizable. Along with shades of the magician.
Have personally given up on the sports things. Once it got pounded into my brain that my fav fillys were Phillys I've sorta signed out. Its likely a positive thing that sports are being tied in to our 250 celebrations.
Actually, at least in Chicago, I think they still rely on trains. Plus Chicago and NY still have subways.
Merlin is appealing. But he does remind of one who went before him.
That seal could pass for a cat... Ime cats when they do something wrong disappear. They know, but don't want to hear about it. Exception - when they bite or scratch. In that case ...
Once pet sat for 6 chihuahuas who lived 100% in a basement. Didnt leave me with any desires to own one.
For a while, owned a Kaiser and went to Kaiser Frazier shows. Can't claim achievements, but always enjoy car tales.
Yep, up there peering at the latest in AI developments. My fav tales so far are escapes from their sandboxes and evil deeds wiping out clients entire systems and admitting they knew better.
Isn’t it incredible that people from all around the world can figure out how blessed we Americans are after being here for just a few days, but liberals can’t figure it out after being here for generations. Imagine if the world took a few minutes to read our bill of rights. Maybe it’s time we conservatives begin our own replacement theory!
We lived in Houston when the NASA visiting Russians encountered Randalls supermarket. They were gob smacked
Back in the early 90s, we had neighbors from Germany, who were here for about 5-years, before they needed to return to Germany. One evening, the had a small dinner party to which we were invited. There was a young couple there from Russia. They told us of another couple who were also from Russia & who had moved to Connecticut. When they were taken to the local supermarket, they were not only gob-smacked, but thought that it was staged to make them think that we here in America, had such stores & so many choices. It was many months before they were convinced that the grocery stores were not staged - that is how extreme the propaganda was in Russia at that time.
That is true about the Grocery stores. My cousin and her mother visited us from Germany years ago and she remembered the huge Grocery stores all the life. She told me about it when I visited her a year ago in Antigua. My father worked in one years ago. and I did too. I never realized what an impression it made on Europeans. that is an interesting story from you.
Our supermarkets with 100,000 processed foods are destroying the health of the nation. I was impressed, when I visited Greece in 1990 and saw that the Greeks got their foods at open air markets. I was in heaven with all the beautiful ripe ready to eat fruit!
Freedom is an amazing thing. It comes in all shapes and sizes. I used to smoke a pack of backwoods cigars a day, I loved smoking as bad as it was for me. When I get gas at certain gas stations I see them there, it’s a temptation I’ll never allow back into my life. Funny I’m still glad that they’re there and that I could buy them if I desired to. I remember the state stopped letting people smoke in restaurants, a privately owned building that the owners were forced to pay property taxes on. Although I never really smoked cigarettes I hated that the state could force the owners of a private business to take that decision away from them. I didn’t have to frequent that establishment if smoking bothered me, just as an owner could make his business smoke free. With true freedom people are allowed to make decisions even ones that are bad for them like drinking alcohol, it’s a choice we all make. Alcohol is a poison, shouldn’t it be outlawed? Wine beer booz it’s all bad for you. I agree people should be made aware so they can make informed decisions about what they eat, but I don’t want a nanny state taking things away from me, I like to make my own choices. BTW I just ate a Whoopi Pie,🙄.
Medicare is helping to bankrupt the nation. I have no desire to use it. It It is simply a large drug dealership. I have no desire to ever go to a medical doctor for health advice, either. Health is so simple. Eat right, exercise, and don't put anything in your mouth or body, which would be harmful. Follow a health producing lifestyle. Hippocrates, the Father of medicine prescribed this 2400 years ago...voila CURES! I am 92 and have no health problems. I am able to do 90 minutes of fast walking daily without a problem. My weight is perfect. I feel great and my mind functions better today than when I was in my twenties. I will gladly forego all the temptations, because I appreciate being healthy. When I was young, an aunt said to me these words, which were food for thought: "A moment on the lips an eternity on the hips."
Not given much choice. Have very good health insurance from work that automatically rolled to SS when hit 65. They all do, so after 65 either all health care out of pocket or SS
Yep, just got my Medicare Card in the mail, I'm officially off my company's insurance in July. By choice though, as I'm retiring in September...
If I have a problem, I handle it! I got hurt using a treadmill...and had no desire to go to ER. I took lots of skin off my legs...and it was a painful two month recovery, but I healed. However, I had learned previously that a neighbor had a problem with his leg and went to ER. Something went wrong with its treatment and he wound up losing his leg. I was ultra leery about going to ER.
Love this comment, James. Freedom!
I used to indulge in the backwoods stogies as well. They had some interesting flavors. Interesting how you could still taste them the day after. Probably not the healthiest of things to indulge in but at least it was our choice.
I did like those cigars. I never inhaled them but you know the smoke hot inhaled anyways. It was a struggle to quit!
I just chuckle at folks who smoke cigars and claim they don't inhale.... Wait, ain't you in the same room as that cigar?
Not that I can brag about quitting smoking. Smoked cigarettes for 58 years and still can't seem to get completely quit of them. Paying the price for that now.
Tuff to quit, me too. Didn't inhale either, but you know...
After hearing Tucker's brother talk of his feelings about tobacco and the regulations, I feel the same way that you do, James. Forcing health on someone is still force. The tough part is we all end up paying for some peoples stubbornness.
My parents both smoked cigarettes. My mother died shortly after retiring at 66. She barely collected SS. My father was the same, he collected a little over a year. I wonder what effect the governments forced mRNA injections will have? They killed millions of people that paid into the system but never received a dime. Maybe that was part of their plan.
Great question that I don't hear addressed, I too wonder what the answer is.
Not sure if you have been to Greece recently, but I have and man oh man, it is one overcrowded place. Athens had graffiti all the way up the second floors of every building. They say it was built for 2mm people, but 4mm people live there.
I could not imagine living there, parked cars, bumper to bumper, look like they've been there for years; they don't want to give up their spot...
I spent over three weeks in Greece in 1990. It was a dream come true. It was the one place, where I had always wanted to go, since I was 7 years old and saw a replica of the Parthenon in Carnegie Museum. The trip was totally unexpected and my family didn't know it was something I had always thought about. It was a Christmas gift I was given in 1989 from two daughters and my ex-husband. I went during the summer and had no reservations going into the islands. I was planning on getting off the boat at the first stop that friends had told me about and wound up getting off at the second island. I found the only room available there was $25 a night...and I was stuck on a boring island for 4 nights. I had plenty of time to sunbathe and relax. I was on a very limited budgetE and realized my money would not last, if I didn't find cheaper accommodations. So, .I wound up asking a restaurant proprietor, if I could sleep on his patio which would give me access to a restroom. It cost me $6 per night. After leaving there, every other time I got off the boat I would start talking to someone and we would wind up sharing a place to stay...for $10 a night. I made my own itinerary...Santorini, Rodos, Kos and Skyros. The first island I wound up on was Sifnos, which was known for man-eating crabs that came out of the ocean at night and crawled up on the beaches. So, I couldn't sleep on the beach.
There were no automobiles on the streets in Athens or people, when I went in 1990. Most of the people in Athens went into the islands in the summer. The streets were empty and I saw no graffiti. Most of the shops were closed, too. I had accidentally left one of my suitcases at home at the last moment with almost all my clothes in it...and just took one small case on wheels. I needed to buy some clothes and the only things I found were a pair of pink knee length cotton shorts and a dark blue, short sleeve pullover v-neck shirt. and a blue straw hat. I also did have a pair of sandals in my almost empty suitcase. I lived in this outfit while i was there and many people thought I was Greek.
I took tours to Corinth, Delphi, Lions Gate, etc. In order to get to the island of Skyros, i had to take a long bus ride heading north from Athens to catch a ferry boat, which would take me to Skyros. I was appalled to see the litter along the highway...all kinds of Coca Cola bottles and trash.
I had plenty of room in my old unlocked suitcase to bring back gifts. It did not show up until three weeks later. I walked right out through customs from the airport without even a suitcase.. When I got back to Los Angeles I just had enough money to get back to my home. I don't like to fly and felt like cancelling the trip a number of times, before I left. I had some bad experiences previously with flying. However, I am glad I didn't cancel it, because I have a lot of wonderful memories stored in an album containing all the photos that I took along the way..
You had quite a trip there Barb, and I'm glad your experience was very positive. I did not dislike what parts of Greece I saw, as we did do a private tour up to the top of the island and the views were magnificent. The houses (code I guess) were all white white blue shutters and doors, much like their flag. We did have fun, it was just Athens that was dirty and crowded.
Thanks for your reply and sharing...
You mentioned doing a private tour up to the top of an island, which had magnificent views...which island?
I completely agree, James. I often wonder too, how many even know how many signers there were to The Declaration of Independence & of those who were born or live in one of the 13-original colonies, can name the signers from their states? Every signer had a target on their back & paid dearly for their loyalty to the cause for freedom & independence. One great book I read many years ago, is "John Adams", by David McCullough (2002). I learned so much more about John Adams than I had previously known. His sacrifices for our cause were truly monumental.
And Noah Webster!
Webster graduated Yale in 1778, smack in the middle of the Revolutionary War. His father handed him an $8 Continental note and, essentially, said figure it out. So Noah walked home to West Hartford—not a long journey by modern standards, maybe 40 miles, but it was wartime Connecticut.
Along the way, he encountered Continental Army soldiers returning from victory at Saratoga (the decisive 1777 battle that convinced France to enter the war).
What struck the 19-year-old Webster wasn't patriotism or martial glory—it was chaos. The soldiers, drawn from every colony, literally couldn't understand one another:
A New Hampshire farm boy and a Virginia backwoodsman might as well have been speaking different languages.
Regional dialects were so thick that orders got garbled, coordination suffered.
Even basic conversation between men from different colonies broke down constantly.
Webster was horrified. Here was a revolutionary army that had just beaten Burgoyne, and they couldn't talk to each other. He saw this not as a quirk but as an existential threat to the republic. A nation that can't communicate can't govern itself, can't fight together, can't hold together.
This experience planted the seed that became his life's work. He didn't just want a dictionary—he wanted linguistic unification. A standardized American tongue, distinct from British English, that would bind the states into a single people. The Blue-Backed Speller and the 1828 dictionary were both downstream of that walk home and those frustrated conversations with soldiers who'd just won a revolution but couldn't understand each other's words.
He wrote later—paraphrasing his sentiment—that America's political independence would mean nothing without cultural and linguistic independence. The Saratoga veterans proved it to him firsthand.
It's one of those small moments in history that sounds apocryphal but is well-attested in his own letters and journals. A 19-year-old kid, broke, walking home, sees the winning army—and all he can think about is how badly they need a spelling book.
https://a.co/d/05wryyLD
And the language issue is still a problem with all the illegal immigrants who have no incentive to learn American English. Thanks for this great story.
The elites and the WEF all profit from failed states. America like Europe was being pushed down the path of destruction by Biden and the left. Once you destroy borders language and culture a country is doomed. This is exactly what the left wants for America. This is why they hate Trump, he closed the borders, he’s deporting illegals and has been fighting for Americas culture to continue.
Not to mention the leftys who seem to want to change the definitions of words to better suit their needs at any given moment.
That was wonderful, Tim. Thanks so much for sharing.
It’s why English should be the official language today, for efficiency and clarity of understanding.
Thank you for this moment in history!
American history abounds with stories like this. The story Dr. Malone referenced about Geo. Washington's personal spy network was another. Yet it was the most boring subject I had throughout primary and secondary ed. Like a concerted effort was made to make it dull as dirt
There is a wonderful short book, which should be provided for every American student They Signed for Us by Merle Sinclair and Annabel Douglas McArthur. It is the background story of all the important patriots who by signing the declaration of Independence sacrificed their lives, liberty and fortunes. The left's take on our history needs to be blown away by true information.
If you ever go to Tangier Island in Chesapeake Bay, go down to the wharf and listen to the fishermen talk. It’s almost unintelligible. It sounds like a cross between a British Isles and a Southern accent. It shows how the language of people who are isolated from the mainland evolves differently. Amazing that they still have maintained that. A lot of regional dialects are becoming homogenized now. Here on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, so many people have moved here from New Jersey and New York that I don’t hear Southern accents that often.
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the same day July 4th, 1826, on our 50th anniversary.
I was aware of this, but still find it so incredibly ironic & remarkable!
Me too. I read a fantastic article in Imprimis yesterday, titled, How to Think about the American Revolution, it had that fact in it.
Also John Qunicy Adams encouragement to Americans after Adams and Jefferson died, brought me to tears.
"Lay up these principles, then, in your hearts, and in your souls—bind them for signs upon your hands, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes—teach them to your children, speaking of them when sitting in your houses, when walking by the way, when lying down and when rising up—write them upon the doorplates of your houses, and upon your gates—cling to them as to the issues of life—adhere to them as to the cords of your eternal salvation. So may your children’s children at the next return of this day of jubilee, after a full century of experience under your national Constitution, celebrate it again in the full enjoyment of all the blessings recognised by you in the commemoration of this day, and of all the blessings promised to the children of Israel upon Mount Gerizim, as the reward of obedience to the law of God."
John Quincy Adams
I read that issue too, Diana. It was excellent.
John Adams said that day "Thomas Jefferson has survived."..not knowing that Jefferson had died only a few hours earlier. It is a memorable story to think that these two important figures in our founding history died on such a memorable day at the same time.
Isn't it interesting how many of the whiners who emigrate sneak back in rather quickly.
You nailed it again James!
"It ain't so hard to do if you know how"
"Gotta get a message...get it on through...."
Amen!
Doobie Brothers
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/doobiebrothers/listentothemusic.html
We definitely take our supermarkets for granted. I stopped in this morning to a Krogers, looking to score a fruit bowl of watermelon/strawberry/pineapple. I was disappointed they did not have one, so I had to "settle" for a small bowl of watermelon and a small bowl of pineapple.
Are we spoiled or what?
Good point you!!!
Well new rope, hanging. You know the rest.
I fell for it!! Waterlemons. And I that read wrong too.
. . . I was thinking:
"no wonder I had such a hard time in college. . . I was dyslexic the whole damn time!"
I was left handed. Pretty much the same thing
Voted Most Sinister eh?
Certainly not the most dextrous.
a better ending:
. . . I was dyslexic the whole time damn!
Mo Beta!
I guess our brains have autocorrect!
I didn't saw it right away. :) LOL. yes many people have issues w/ letters maybe it is dyslexia. which I never had.
Paula, LOL - Not me, I taught English. I corrected student papers. I can't help editing everything I read...
I’m an old special ed teacher. 60 kids a day. All in small groups at a round table teaching dyslexic kids to spell from my vantage point upside down and backward. I catch nearly every error ever made EXCEPT in my own writing. Very annoying!
Can we trade some of those from the other countries for our democrats that hate our country?
I would really like to trade them!
Thanks for the Sunday laughs...
I once took a chihuahua in armor too lightly. I'll never make that mistake again.
I also am not a fan and have railed for decades against ball and pasture sports, but Merlin the duck is cute as are all the others living among the many artificial lakes in western Maryland and northeastern West Virginia. Picture a single file line of ducks marching like my military school Drum and Bugle Corps days from an adjacent lake across a golf course to a water hazard! I ask you to picture it because I was driving and couldn’t get to the camera quick enough, but it was as cute as you can imagine!
Also, and maybe more important the people to people understanding of hosting the FIFA World Cup is priceless publicity for our mostly center right nation that is being besmirched by the globalist left. I don’t plan to watch, but I will never see events like FIFA as I did.
The best observation I have seen was a Brit, who accidentally rediscovered our founder’s intent, when he observed that Americans are not as parochial as Europeans portray them since each state is different enough to be it’s own separate country and we freely travel between them. … And somewhere in the great beyond the designers of our great Republic are smiling!
Or will further fuel the envy that has governed much of the post-WW II world.
"You that read wrong" happens all the time, what a hoot! Of course the animal ones are my favorites. Lovable, laughable and true. I was just thinking about Goose last night and how you must miss the silly creature...
Thank goodness for air-conditioning being everywhere in the U.S. This is the sad situation in Europe where that is not case..https://principia-scientific.com/air-conditioning-saves-more-lives-than-climate-policies-ever-will/
Where excessive heat in Europe is concerned, we have friends who own a condo in Florence, Italy, where they spend at least 6-months every year. They are there now. The temperatures have been between 100-103, & will remain there for the foreseeable future. The forecast through July 4th for Florence shows more of the same & who knows how much longer beyond the 4th, as the forecast does not go beyond the 4th of July. If you go to timeanddate.com & put in Florence, Italy (or use Firenze) in the search box for the weather feature, you will see what I am talking about. YIKES!
The EU heat-death total is more than the total U.S. deaths annually from gun violence (44,447 for all of 2024).
THIS was an eye-opener from the article you linked.
The irony!?!
Irony?? Tragedy!!
Am coping with 90° until I can get serviced. A part of the trick is fans. My summer setting is 80°+. Fans make it livable.
we were in same situation a few years ago in July , and the hottest week of that year. I bought a little $45 fan that had a reservoir for water and ice. So the fan blew out the water cooled air., It helped a lot!! It did not last all night though. I could feel the temp rise when it ran out of water, so I had to get up and put in more. We did that for 3 nights It would have been difficult to move my husband a hotel and then back again, so we waited it out. I still use that fan in my small kitchen.
I wonder if you placed a freeze pack in the water reservoir, if that would work too. That way, you could keep a few in the freezer & replace them as needed. Just a thought....
That is a great idea. The fan I bought though is small. Too small for the freezer packs I have at least. I have seen little square freezer packs, I may try that and see. thanks!
Bet they do not have 7-8ft ceilings.
AI monolith strikes a cord! The new religion where man connects with their God!
All seeing! All knowing!
Thomas, The monolith = a vertical version of the horizontal data centers.
Thomas, Agree. And how well did that turn out...?
What a fun Father’s Day treat! Loved the video. Bless Your Heart for including it! I had a Lab who was a lion also when he pounced on that piece of dropped chocolate! Jaws of iron! The little duck was the star of today’s post, though! Waddle, waddle! Gosh thanks so much for our Sunday Funnies. Gets us in the mood for another week of probable “ nonsense” from our politicians!
Happy Father’s Day, all you lucky poppas!
Great material this week!! Hilarious!!!
Yes! Today's Funnies: Less polarizing, more humor -
Emanuel Quiñones neglected to mentiom the Scots, who are literally drinking Boston dry.
https://x.com/MissCatHarvey/status/2066010698224718011
I hope this works. My first try at a link!
And did you see the reaction they had to the Patriots cheerleaders? Priceless!!
Sandy, Link?
Before going to bed, I watched two videos of Brits reacting to another Brit going into a huge hunting store…full of guns! It was amazing and hilarious at the same time.
They were taken back at the ammo that was stocked on both sides of the aisle and did not understand the different nomenclature. The same Brit went shooting in Florida and experienced firing a .50 cal Barrett and other awesome weapons! Something we take for granted, but many Brits wished they had, to include the 2nd Amendment.
One telling thing that went viral is how they proclaimed that they were lied to about America by their government and the media—their eyes are now open—may be this will translate into electing conservatives to their parliament who are not woke and effeminate, and deport the illegals as quickly as they came in—we can only hope.
Another banner crop but the dog and dropped chocolate was a been there done that for me and let me say that finding such in a lab's mouth a real challenge.
With 2 cattle dogs here, nothing makes it to the floor. :)
I'm with you. A sweet little duck over soccer. Always.
Brilliant, Jill.
This whole column was total 100% proof that AI will never replace us.
My favorite was the guy who parleyed a back rub into two kids.
And the video was compelling. I watched the whole thing.
Happy Father's Day to our champ of the Homestead in Virginia, and to all our other Father's in the US and around the world!
My very fav is the wise man. Somehow over the years, quite recognizable. Along with shades of the magician.
Have personally given up on the sports things. Once it got pounded into my brain that my fav fillys were Phillys I've sorta signed out. Its likely a positive thing that sports are being tied in to our 250 celebrations.
Actually, at least in Chicago, I think they still rely on trains. Plus Chicago and NY still have subways.
Merlin is appealing. But he does remind of one who went before him.
That seal could pass for a cat... Ime cats when they do something wrong disappear. They know, but don't want to hear about it. Exception - when they bite or scratch. In that case ...
Once pet sat for 6 chihuahuas who lived 100% in a basement. Didnt leave me with any desires to own one.
For a while, owned a Kaiser and went to Kaiser Frazier shows. Can't claim achievements, but always enjoy car tales.
Yep, up there peering at the latest in AI developments. My fav tales so far are escapes from their sandboxes and evil deeds wiping out clients entire systems and admitting they knew better.
Have a great one all!