John Alton

[John Alton @JAsclepius13]

@REFLOG18 Build it and then put his helmet 10 feet behind it!

[John Alton @JAsclepius13]

@KonstantinKisin Missed “One Nation under God”

[Konstantin Kisin @KonstantinKisin]

For my British and European friends who are "shocked" and "surprised", here are 10 reasons you didn't see this coming.

Read this short post and then read the replies from our American friends who will confirm what I'm saying.

1. Americans love their country and want it to be the best in the world. America is a nation of people who conquered a continent. They love strength. They love winning. Any leader who appeals to that has an automatic advantage.

2. Unlike Europeans, Americans have not accepted managed decline. They don't have Net Zero here, they believe in producing their own energy and making it as cheap as possible because they know that their prosperity depends on it.

3. Prices for most basic goods in the US have increased rapidly and are sky high. What the official statistics say about inflation and the reality of people's lives are not the same.

4. Unlike you, Americans do not believe in socialism. They believe in meritocracy. They don't care about the super rich being super rich because they know that they live in a country where being super rich is available to anyone with the talent and drive to make it. They don't resent success, they celebrate it.

5. Americans are the most pro-immigration people in the world. Read that again. Seriously, read it again. Americans love an immigrant success story. They want more talented immigrants to come to America. But they refuse to accept people coming illegally. They believe in having a border.

6. Americans are sensitive about racial issues and their country's imperfect history. They believe that those who are disadvantaged by the circumstances of their birth should be given the opportunity to succeed. What they reject, however, is the idea that in order to address the errors of the past new errors must be made. DEI is racist. They know it and they reject it precisely because they are not racist.

7. Americans are the most philosemitic nation on earth. October 7 and the pro-Hamas left's reaction shocked them to their very core because, among other things, they remember what 9/11 was like and they know jihad when they see it.

8. Americans are extremely practical people. They care about what works, not what sounds good. In Europe, we produce great writers and intellectuals. In America they produce (and attract) great engineers, businessmen and investors. Because of this, they care less about Trump's rhetoric than you do and more about his policies than you do.

9. Americans are deeply optimistic people. They hate negativity. The woke view of American history as a series of evils for which they must eternally apologise is utterly abhorrent to them. They believe in moving forward together, not endlessly obsessing about the past.

10. America is a country whose founding story is one of resistance to government overreach. They loathe unnecessary restrictions, regulations and control. They understand that freedom comes with the price of self-reliance and they pay it gladly.

[John Alton @JAsclepius13]

@GardensR4Health “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."
Ronald Reagan

[US Open Tennis @usopen]

This is cinema.

[Jack Carr @JackCarrUSA]

It’s been almost three years.
•
For those interested, my thoughts on, not just the withdrawal from Afghanistan but the close to twenty years that preceded it and what amounts to almost zero accountability for senior level military officers, elected representatives, and appointed bureaucrats who failed upward during that time are captured in a blog I wrote on 16 August 2021 titled “Imperial Hubris: The Great Game Revisited” and an article I wrote for TownHall on 23 August 2021 titled “A Time For Bold Adjustment: Fire The Generals.” Both can be found on the blog section of my website.
•
From the blog:
I describe the American experience in Afghanistan as “…a failure that crossed party lines over four separate administrations, two Republican and two Democrat. As we watch the U.S. Embassy evacuation in Kabul and see images of the Taliban taking control of the country, to those of us who fought there it is more than a strategic failure; it’s personal.”
“This year, for the first time in U.S. history, one could have joined the military, served for twenty years, and retired while the country is still involved in the same war.”
“In what is accurately described as imperial hubris, the United States political-military establishment confused entry and initial resolve with victory. They were wrong; America’s sons and daughters paid the price.”
“Simply put, our elected officials and senior level military leaders were trapped by their own intellectual inertia, condemning us to eventual defeat.”
“Strategically, our leaders were not held to account for their blunders — in too many cases, blunders of epic proportions. Rather, they were promoted and eventually retired with full pensions to sit on the boards of companies making a killing in the world of government contracts; the military industrial complex is alive and well. As Lt. Col. Paul Yingling pointed out in his 2007 article A Failure in Generalship, ‘As matters stand now, a private who loses a rifle suffers far greater consequences than a general who loses a war.’”
•
Study the past.

[Governor Mike DeWine @GovMikeDeWine]

Today I have declared a state of emergency for the following counties: Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Portage, Summit and Trumbull following the tornadoes and strong storms that came through Northeast Ohio communities on Tuesday.

This declaration of a state of emergency will give the state the ability to give these communities expedited assistance. At the moment, we have no outstanding requests for services the State can provide to our local communities to help in the aftermath of these storms. https://t.co/s1Wbem8v0X

[John Alton @JAsclepius13]

@DiedSuddenly_ We know an entity “Olympic Opening Ceremony Committee” that is produced this offensive display but who are the people on this committee? Who is the chair? #detailsmatter

[Libs of TikTok @libsoftiktok]

Google is trying to memory hole this.

Whatever you do don’t tag @Google and share this.

[John Alton @JAsclepius13]

@MattWallace888 #MAGA

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

When will politicians, or at least the intern who runs their account, learn that lying on this platform doesn’t work anymore?

[Collin Rugg @CollinRugg]

NEW: Protester who threatened to murder Bakersfield City Council members weeps in court as she faces over a dozen felony counts.

This is incredibly satisfying.

"I hope one day somebody brings the guillotine & kills all of you motherf**kers," Riddhi Patel said.

Hours later, she was crying in court.

According to Bakersfield Police Sgt. Eric Celedon, Patel is facing over a dozen felony counts.

Patel is reportedly facing 10 counts of threatening with intent to terrorize and eight counts of threatening the City Council members and the mayor.

Her bail was set at $1 million.

FAFO.

[The Wall Street Journal @WSJ]

🧵One year ago today, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was detained in Russia for doing his job.

He remains in a Moscow prison.

We’re offering resources for those who want to show their support for him. #IStandWithEvan https://t.co/ll83UMXlp5

[Thomas Rhett @ThomasRhett]

HOME TEAM! Your pre-sale for @ParkBoots in Tempe, AZ on 9/28 is live! Get your code & tix: https://t.co/AYhDq33iTF

[Vital Vegas @VitalVegas]

The best illustration of Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity is the difference between the first $20 you gamble in Las Vegas and your last $20.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Many Americans still have no idea this happened

[John Alton @JAsclepius13]

@theaceofspaeder Julio Franco was so old he could’ve played against Ty Cobb

[John Alton @JAsclepius13]

@ryeaton1992 @VikMunjal @AJGrossbach @ViljoenMd @DavidSXu @CaesarsPalace @spinesection Congrats!!

[Jack Carr @JackCarrUSA]

Four days before Christmas in 1988, a suitcase was transferred onto a Boeing 747 at Heathrow International Airport from an aircraft that had arrived from Frankfurt. It had begun its journey in Malta. 35 students from Syracuse University boarded the New York bound flight along with the CIA’s deputy chief of station from Beirut, Lebanon. In Scotland, families were settling down put their kids to bed and wrap presents. 38 minutes after takeoff, at an altitude of 31,000 feet, a bomb concealed in a tape deck exploded in the luggage compartment of Pan Am Flight 103. The forward fuselage was ripped away ejecting bodies into the night and pulling others through the still operating Pratt & Whitney engines. The aircraft impacted the small Scottish town of Lockerbie at half the speed of sound. 259 people onboard and 11 people on the ground were killed.

11 years after the bombing, following one of the largest investigative efforts in history, 2 Libyan operatives alleged to have planted the bomb at the behest of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi went on trial in the Netherlands. Abdelbesset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was found guilty of 270 counts of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah was acquitted. On Aug 20, 2009, al-Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds for terminal cancer. He died in Libya on May 20, 2012.

Each year, Syracuse remembers the 35 students killed on Pan Am 103 with Remembrance Week. 35 Remembrance Scholars are named in honor of each student who perished. 35 empty chairs are arranged symbolizing exactly where each student was sitting on the flight. A service is held in the university chapel on December 21 at 2:03pm.

After the trial, FBI agent Dick Marquise said, “the biggest regret I have is that we did not get everybody…there are others we know are alive.” On Dec 21, 2020, the U.S. government indicted Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud in the plot. He was then reportedly in custody in Libya. In early Dec 2022 the U.S. DOJ confirmed that Mas’ud had been taken into U.S. custody. He made his initial court appearance on Dec 12, 2022 and pled not guilty in Feb 2023. Legal proceedings continue.

[John Alton @JAsclepius13]

#15 jerseys flying off the shelves @Browns