In 1884, Ulysses S. Grant was dying of throat cancer and was dead broke.
His money was wiped out by a swindler who stole his fortune.
Desperate to leave something for his wife, he agreed to write his Civil War memoirs and was close to signing a contract for a meager 10% royalty.
Mark Twain stepped in, called the deal robbery and offered Grant 70% of the profits through his own publishing company.
Grant raced death to finish the book, completing it just days before he died in July 1885.
It became one of the greatest memoirs ever written.
The royalties left his widow nearly half a million dollars, about $16 million today, and the book has never gone out of print.
There is something stupendously depressing about the government and state media of the United Kingdom. They simply don't believe in their own nation, or its history and traditions anymore.
I once had a meeting with several folks at the Department of Education during the Obama administration. I was talking about campus due process, and I made what I thought was a perfectly reasonable point: sexual assault allegations should require due process, but people found guilty of rape should go to jail.
The response?
“Nobody should go to jail.”
I pushed a little further, trying to figure out what the hell they were talking about. I clarified that I think too many people are punished for bullshit offenses, but that murderers and rapists should go to jail.
No response.
That is a luxury belief. It’s not noble. It’s extraordinarily selfish.
"What an embarrassment."
GOP and Democrat senators are casting doubt on President Trump’s Iran peace deal, with lawmakers from both parties criticizing the agreement and raising concerns about its potential impact.
"Giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is not a good idea."
"I think the president unfortunately is receiving bad advice on this deal."
@foxnewspolitics
VP JD Vance just brought the US to its knees with a humiliating deal weeks before our 250th birthday and he has the audacity to blame … Israel! … for the terrible situation we’re in. We're watching the Tucker Carlsonifcation of our Vice President in real time.
GOP operatives say the Trump- Iran deal is so abhorrent that some GOP Senators are talking of the Trump impeachment coming after Dems take Congress in midterms…and the expectation some GOP Senators will support Trump’s conviction/removal. The GOP Senate anger at DJT is intense
Every Republican defending this MOU knows that if a Democrat had signed a document like this, they'd be blasting them to kingdom come. It's actually worse than the JCPOA. Iran made out like bandits. And now they know they can bring us to our knees with a few mines.
Greetings, President Trump,
You may have secured a temporary deal, but you've shaken the trust of almost everyone around you except perhaps JD Vance and Iran's Supreme Leader. Attacking friends who stood with you in wartime while defending an enemy that attacked both of you is how nations stop trusting you, even if they keep smiling for the cameras. The way many of us, including me, see it, Israel is America's biggest ally in the Middle East. Telling Israel not to hit Hezbollah for the sake of a deal with Iran is like telling America not to hit al-Qaeda because you're negotiating with Hamas.
And a deal that lasts only 60 days? That's not diplomacy, that's a ceasefire with an expiry date shorter than a carton of milk.
If this picture makes you happy then sorry, we are not the same.
I'm a day one Trump supporter. I have never wavered.
I've been on the Iran portfolio for the better part of a decade. These people cannot be trusted. They are the very definition of evil.
I can't believe this day has arrived where we are lifting oil sanctions and unfreezing billions hoping they change their behavior just months after these monsters killed +40,000 of their own unarmed people in cold blood.
To my Iranian brothers and sisters - I am speechless but now I know how the Holocaust happened. The world knew Jews were being slaughtered but everyone looked the other way. Now the world is not just looking away, they are rewarding the Regime's war crimes.
Reagan is rolling over in his grave. Iran’s nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works and will undoubtedly leverage it in the future. Now, Iran gets to build brand-new infrastructure under this deal.
Before the war, the strait was open, Iran was being crushed by sanctions, and 13 service members were still alive. Now, 13 Americans are dead, families have paid billions at the pump, sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped. This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.
Our hearts ache as we announce the passing of John Kinsel Sr., a cherished elder and one of the immortal Navajo Code Talkers. At 107, he leaves behind a legacy of unbreakable bravery forged in the fires of Bougainville, Guam, and Iwo Jima. From 1942 to 1946, as a U.S. Marine, he wielded his sacred language, the uncrackable code, to weave the vital communications that defied the enemy and tipped the scales of World War II.
In my view, the US is arguably the only true superpower of our time.
Military bases across the world, a strong economy, a language billions speak, incredible diplomatic service, allies across the world, and the King of currencies (the USD).
And its leader just decided to let a bunch of barbarians blackmail his country into humiliation and defeat.
The West's demise is self-inflicted.