CLVoit

[Echoes of War @EchoesofWarYT]

On this morning 250 years ago, the British hanged a 21-year-old American schoolteacher as a spy, and in trying to make him disappear quietly, they accidentally made him immortal. His name was Nathan Hale, and it is worth sitting with just the last few hours of his life.

He had been caught the night before, behind British lines on Long Island, carrying notes on enemy positions hidden in his shoes. There was no real trial. A man out of uniform with military intelligence on him was a spy by the rules of war, and the sentence for spying was death by hanging, no ceremony, no honor. General Howe ordered it done in the morning.

What we know of that morning comes mostly from the enemy, from British officers who were there, and it is the small human cruelties that stay with you. Hale asked for a clergyman to attend him in his final hours. The request was refused. He asked for a Bible. That too was denied. He was a devout young man about to die, and they would not give him even that comfort. A British officer named Montresor, watching, was troubled enough by the young man's composure to later make sure his story was told.

In his last moments Hale was allowed to write a couple of letters, one to his mother, one to a fellow officer. He wrote them, and then the British provost marshal, a notoriously brutal man named Cunningham, took those letters and destroyed them in front of him. The reason given was chilling in its pettiness: so that the rebels should not know they had a man in their ranks who could die with such firmness. They did not just want to kill him. They wanted to erase him.

Then they marched him to the gallows, and there, according to the accounts that survived, this young schoolteacher who had failed at the one dangerous mission he ever attempted, stood calmly and spoke about duty and country with a steadiness that unnerved the men sent to kill him. The famous words attributed to him, that he only regretted having but one life to lose for his country, may be polished or borrowed from a play he loved. But everyone who was there agreed on the essential truth beneath the wording: he met his death without flinching, and he made even his executioners remember him.

And that is the irony that redeems the whole sad morning. Cunningham burned the letters so no one would know how bravely Hale died. It did not work. The story got out anyway, carried by the very enemies who watched it, and a young man the British tried to erase became one of the most enduring symbols of the Revolution, honored two and a half centuries later, on this exact day, as the first American to die spying for his country. They denied him a Bible and a chaplain and burned his last words, and still they could not make him small.

[Melissa Chen @MsMelChen]

It is imperative that the US cancels birthright citizenship.

There are numerous commercial pipelines that turn the 14th Amendment into transactions for wealthy foreign clients who have no intention of living in the US, contributing, or pledging allegiance to the flag.

Trump tried to use an executive order to restrict birthright but SCOTUS struck it down in June.

So it now falls to Congress to close this loophole through legislation or, if necessary, a constitutional amendment.

GOP needs to prioritize this

[CLVoit @clvoit]

@gc22gc @douglassmackey This is why my sibling, in a union, in the middle of the country, has no freaking idea what it’s like to try to get a job in the northeast.

[Melodies & Masterpieces @SVG__Collection]

67 years ago today, ‘Take Five’ by Dave Brubeck Quartet was released as a single.

It went on to become the best-selling jazz single of the 20th century.

[CLVoit @clvoit]

Pennsylvania!

[Senator Joe Pittman @SenatorPittman]

I’ve submitted my comments to IRRC in opposition to Gov. Shapiro and the Department of Health’s recently proposed sweeping new regulations.

You still have until tonight, Monday, September 21, at 11:59 p.m. to submit public comments. Make sure your voice is heard!

[CLVoit @clvoit]

@amelia_squealia @DaveReoX @MaacTheft In my experience, they like being near family, and there’s enough industry to do that in the Northeast.

[Melodies & Masterpieces @SVG__Collection]

Today is the 21st of September.

[PA VOTER (Marla) @PAKAG2020]

After Wolf and Shapiro used COVID as a blank check to run roughshod over Pennsylvania citizens, voters fought back and stripped the governor of emergency powers.
Shapiro’s Health Dept is trying to take them back in a 502-page rewrite: walk into an apartment with a badge, not a warrant; walk into a school; and question a kid in private with no parent there.
Deadline is Monday.
Email:
[email protected]
Put 10-242 in the subject.

[City of Pittsburgh Republican Committee @PGHGOPcommittee]

Since Josh Shapiro became governor PA is experiencing a measurable domestic migration and income outflow. The top 3 reasons for leaving PA under Josh Shapiro:
1. Taxes and the overall cost of living
2. Better job and income opportunities elsewhere
3. Housing, property taxes and the cost of raising a family
So the question must be raised: When Josh Shapiro says he ‘gets shit done’, shouldn’t he tell the truth and admit that he hasn’t done shit.
https://t.co/UVZ4hHCxm3

[Ryan @Ryan_Parkerrr]

So $4.50 gas has made you angry? Fine. Answer these first.

Who drained the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?

Who forced California’s two largest oil refineries to shut down?

Who canceled the Keystone XL pipeline on day one?

Why do blue states charge the highest gas taxes in the country?

Who spent years trying to kill Line 5 in Michigan?

That was the Democratic Party, and they said it was for climate change. The United States was energy-dominant at home until they piled on restrictions and rules. Don’t tell me a five-month war is the whole story.

[𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀 @Old_But_Gold50s]

A little Bach accompanied by the sound of rain. For anyone who needs a beautiful, peaceful moment today. 🎻🌧️

[Byron York @ByronYork]

Just three years ago today. Would still be going on if Biden or Harris had won another term. (Yes, crossings dipped in the election year, but do you believe they would have stayed down? I don't.) Might well come again if a Democrat wins in 2028.

[CLVoit @clvoit]

@simongerman600 Aah yes, New Jersey. I am surprised it has stayed so all these decades.

[Alex Fasulo @alex_fasulo]

Commercial solar is swallowing Upstate NY at an alarming pace.

Another installation going into the Town of Ballston.

It looks like a graveyard. These photos don’t need editing.

All for a form of intermittent power that will generate at only 15% of its annual potential in our state. We’re trading our farmland, property values, wildlife, water sources, and viewsheds to companies that pocket green energy subsidies and credits while generating fewer than 2 full-time jobs per complex.

This is what you call a bad trade deal. Hideous.

[Dr. Dawn Michael @DawnsMission]

Watch what happens the minute the midterms are over.

Gas prices will drop. The war will end. Right now, that convenient timing looks like the only argument Democrats have left to persuade people to vote for candidates who want to usher in Socialism.

Do you think that this is a coincidence?

[Breaking911 @Breaking911]

A new species of cat has been identified for the first time in more than 100 years. The Tilcayo tiger cat was brought to a Bolivian wildlife sanctuary after a local man found it as a kitten and mistook it for a domestic cat.

Sanctuary staff later contacted a biologist about what they described as a “weird cat,” leading to its identification as a new species.

[🇺🇸Mighty Magnet🇺🇸 @TheMightyMagnet]

GDP at 5.1%.
Inflation stable and approaching 3%.
Food inflation below 20-year average.
Stocks at record highs.
Real incomes at record highs.
Crime at 90-year low.
Poverty at record lows.
1 million private-sector jobs created.
Tens of billions in fraud cut from programs.
Trade imbalances being leveled out.
0 Illegals crossing the border.
3 million went home (saving billions).

Once gas comes back down soon... the simple fact is... President Trump has done better than any president in our lifetimes, overall. 🇺🇸💪🏻

And given the worst of circumstances.

Let's vote Republican in November to allow him to finish the job. 🇺🇸✊🏻

[CLVoit @clvoit]

@mikeroweworks @NessKathy This is great. Congratulations, and go get ‘em!

[CLVoit @clvoit]

Good to know

[Mary Talley Bowden MD @MaryBowdenMD]

Despite strong evidence regarding the importance of vitamin D for a healthy immune system, @Labcorp has lowered the reference range for a normal vitamin D level from 30 to 20. I tell my patients to aim for above 50.

[Aɴᴛ @AntSpeaks]

Marco Rubio realising he’ll have to be Ed Sheeran’s new opening act.