skaikinhp

[𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞 🇺🇸 @creation247]

There are women right now paying $2,000 a month for someone else to raise their kids so they can go make $2,400 a month at a job they hate.

That's $400 to miss your kid's first words.

Somehow someone convinced an entire generation of women that this was freedom. Crazy.

[Buzz Patterson @BuzzPatterson]

This is hard, guys. Really hard! God Bless America! 💪🇺🇸

[🎩Laird of the Manor🎩 @LairdOfThManor]

A small public service announcement from the Department of Things That You Should Know…

It has not “peeked” your interest.
Nor has it “peaked” your interest.

…It has piqued your interest.

You are not “phased” by something.
You are fazed by it.

If you’ve had a long day, you are weary.
If you suspect someone is an idiot, you are wary.

It is “due course”, not “do course”.
“Per se”, not “per say”.

And while we’re here, it’s “could have”, not “could of”, but that particular battle may already be lost.

Thank you for your attention during this brief outbreak of grammatical housekeeping.

This has been a @LairdofthManor announcement.🎩💙

[skaikinhp @shai68]

@japan_nobunaga 😂😂 welcome to ‘Merica❤️🤍💙

[NOBUNAGA🇯🇵🏯_夏樹蒼依 @japan_nobunaga]

Stateside, a gas station. I drank a frozen blue beverage too quickly, and was struck down by a punishment this entire nation knows, and accepts, and has named.

The drink is called a slush. Ice, sweetness, and a blue that does not occur in nature. The day was hot. I was thirsty. I drank like a soldier at a river.

The pain arrived in my skull like a war horn.

Behind the eyes. Above everything. Total. I gripped the roof of my car. I may have made a sound.

"Brain freeze," said the cashier through the door, with no urgency whatsoever.

It has a NAME. The affliction is so common it has a household name, like a cousin.

"Tongue on the roof of your mouth," called a man at the pumps. He did not look over. He prescribed the remedy mid-pump, casually, the way one mentions weather.

I pressed my tongue to the roof of my mouth. The war horn faded. The healer nodded at his pump, finished, and was gone in a Chevrolet.

In my land, punishment follows crime by way of courts and seasons. Here, the sentence is instant. Drink with greed, and the ice strikes the mind directly. No trial. No appeal. Perfectly fair.

And here is what moves me. EVERYONE has felt it. The cashier. The healer. Children. Elders. An entire nation united by the same small lightning, all taught the same cure, all passing it on to strangers at gas stations, free of charge.

You cannot fully distrust a country once you know it shares one pain.

The freeze does not punish thirst. It punishes haste.

I finished the slush slowly, like a scholar. Blue tongue. Clear mind.

Then at the door I forgot everything, drank deeply, and was struck down again.

"Tongue, hon," said the cashier, without looking up.

Discipline is a journey.

[Jacob Rudner @JacobRudner]

Scoring the first run of the College World Series on the first straight steal of home in Omaha in over a quarter century to break your school's single-season stolen base record is a pretty loaded accomplishment.

[Old School 80s @OldSchool80s]

June 11, 1986: 40 years ago, Ferris Bueller's Day Off was released in theaters. #80s

[Joe Rogan Podcast News @joeroganhq]

"They say curiosity k*lled the cat. Explain this one to me... If the Covid shots were given away for free because they're life-saving, then why aren't chemotherapy, insulin, and EpiPens?"

[Uzi @UziCryptoo]

Property taxes help fund schools, roads, emergency services, and local infrastructure. That part of the system matters and most people understand why those taxes exist.

But the conversation changes when an 85 year old retiree on a fixed income is paying $15,000 a year just to stay in a home they already paid off decades ago.

Property taxes are tied to rising home values. As neighborhoods become more expensive, assessments increase and tax bills rise with them. The problem is that homeowners do not need to sell their property, earn more income, or receive any actual cash for those bills to go up.

A couple who bought a modest home in the late 1980s may now live in a property worth several times what they originally paid. On paper, they look wealthier. In reality, they may still be relying entirely on Social Security or retirement savings that have not kept pace with rising costs.

That creates a situation where people can become “house rich but cash poor.” They technically own valuable property, but the monthly tax burden can become impossible to manage.

Many states do offer relief programs for seniors, including homestead exemptions, tax freezes, and income based credits. But these programs are often difficult to access, limited by strict qualifications, or reduced when budgets tighten. The people who need the help most are often the least likely to successfully navigate the system.

It is possible to support property taxes as a way to fund essential public services while also recognizing that the system needs reform for older homeowners living on fixed incomes.

Those ideas can exist together.

You can’t expect someone who’s 67, or 72, or 85 to keep paying the government $10,000-15,000 every year just to live in their own paid off house.

If you defend this system you’re brainwashed. Nowhere else costs this much only here.

[WV Sports Talk @SportsTalk_304]

ESPN showing Country Roads uninterrupted just skyrocketed WVUs brand overnight. This is the first time a lot of "casual" sports fans have gotten to see this amazing tradition in full.

[Super 70s Sports @Super70sSports]

Remnants of a better world …

[Thrilla the Gorilla @ThrillaRilla369]

@js_ace_football If they can track a $600 transaction in your bank account, they should be able to tell us exactly where our trillions in taxes went.

[healthbot @thehealthb0t]

If COVID shots were given away for free, because they are life saving, then why isn't chemotherapy, insulin, and EpiPens also given away for free?

[The Husky @Mr_Husky1]

Remember the guy who wouldn't take the flag pole down on his Virginia property awhile back? You might remember the news story several months ago about a crotchety old man in Virginia who defied his local Homeowners Association and refused to take down the flag pole on his property along with the large American flag he flew on it.

Now we learn who that old man was. On June 15, 1919, Van T. Barfoot was born in Edinburg, Texas . That probably didn't make news back then.

But twenty five years later, on May 23, 1944, near Cyrano, Italy, That same Van T. Barfoot, who had in 1940 enlisted in the U.S. Army, set out alone to flank German machine gun positions from which gunfire was raining down on his fellow soldiers. His advance took him through a minefield but having done so, he proceeded to single-handedly take out three enemy machine gun positions, returning with 17 prisoners of war.

And if that weren’t enough for a day's work, he later took on and destroyed three German tanks sent to retake the machine gun positions.

That probably didn’t make much news either, given the scope of the war, but it did earn Van T. Barfoot, who retired as a Colonel after also serving In Korea and Vietnam , a well deserved Congressional Medal of Honor.

What did make news was his Neighborhood Association's quibble with how the 90-year-old Veteran chose to fly the American flag outside his suburban Virginia home. Seems the HOA rules said it was OK to fly a flag on a house-mounted bracket, but, for decorum, items such as Barfoot's 21-foot flagpole were "unsuitable."

Van Barfoot had been denied a permit for the pole, but erected it anyway and was facing Court action unless he agreed to take it down.

Then the HOA story made national TV, and the Neighborhood Association rethought its position and agreed to indulge this
aging hero who dwelt among them.

"In the time I have left", he said to the Associated Press, "I plan to continue to fly the American flag without interference."

As well he should. And if any of his neighbors had taken a notion to contest him further, they might have done well to read his Medal of Honor citation first. Seems it Indicates Mr. Van Barfoot wasn't particularly good at backing down.

If you've read this post and don't share it, - Guess what -You need your butt kicked. I share this with you because I don't want MY butt kicked anymore and I'm tired of seeing those who hate our country yet march in our streets, tear down our statues, burn our stores and loot our businesses have a free hand to do whatever they want.

WE ONLY LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE! AND, BECAUSE OF BRAVE OLD MEN LIKE VAN BARFOOT!

[RG | BEATS @DR_BEATS_KICK]

Can you rt this? Maybe we can make a difference

[skaikinhp @shai68]

@NancyMace Property tax

[ScienceFocus @ScienceFocusonX]

A tiny bee just did what chemotherapy couldn't.

Scientists in Australia discovered that honeybee venom can wipe out 100% of aggressive breast cancer cells in under 60 minutes.
And the healthy cells around them? Barely touched.

The breakthrough came from Dr. Ciara Duffy and her team at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, working alongside the University of Western Australia.
They tested venom drawn from 312 honeybees and bumblebees across Australia, Ireland, and England.

The target: triple-negative breast cancer and HER2-enriched breast cancer. Two of the deadliest, most stubborn forms of the disease.
The weapon: melittin. The same tiny peptide that makes a bee sting burn.

At one specific dose, melittin tore through cancer cell membranes completely within an hour. Within just 20 minutes, it shut down the chemical signals cancer cells need to grow and multiply.
Bumblebee venom, which lacks melittin, did nothing. Zero effect, even at high concentrations.

Scientists then recreated melittin synthetically in the lab and got almost identical results, meaning no bees need to be harmed to develop the therapy.

Published in the peer-reviewed journal npj Precision Oncology, the findings are still early-stage. Human trials haven't happened yet.

But one thing is clear. Nature has been hiding answers in plain sight all along, sometimes inside the smallest creatures on Earth.

Source: Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research / npj Precision Oncology (Dr. Ciara Duffy et al.)

[Robert Sterling @RobertMSterling]

I just had the craziest experience at the airport.

We are about to board a flight to Atlanta when the pilot from the incoming plane walks out of the jetway. Guy is probably late 50s, salt and pepper hair, military look. The kind of pilot you instantly feel good about seeing on your flight.

Pilot walks over to the counter, gets on the PA system, and starts addressing everyone. “Folks, I’ve been doing this a long time. Flying one of these jets is easy. The hard part is looking at 130 people and telling them their flight is going to be delayed.”

Audible groans throughout the boarding gate. Most people here are flying to Atlanta as a layover before another flight. 130 people just had their day become a complete mess.

The pilot goes on. “I get it, trust me. But here’s the deal: During our landing, we had a small mechanical issue. I’m not your pilot for the next leg, but I don’t feel confident the jet’s safe to fly until we have a mechanical team look it over, and I don’t feel comfortable asking the next pilots to fly you guys until we get confirmation.”

He points at the agents next to him behind the counter: “Now, none of this is the agents’ fault. Please be kind to them. I’m the one who made this decision, not them, so any inconvenience you experience is my fault. Just please know that I don’t do this lightly, and I’m only doing it because I believe it’s in the best interests of everyone’s safety.”

Now this is where the story gets crazy. The pilot puts the microphone down, grabs his suitcase, and all the people in the gate…

Start clapping.

I’m not joking, everyone starts clapping for the guy. 130 people who just had their travel plans ruined give an ovation to the guy who made the decision and delivered the message.

All because he addressed them with decency and transparency, took ownership of the decision, made it clear that it was necessary, and explained why it was in everyone’s best interest.

It’s honestly one of the best examples of strong communication—of strong leadership, for that matter—that I’ve seen in a long time.

@Delta, whoever your Atlanta to Wichita pilot was this morning, he’s one of the good ones. Please tell him the delayed passengers of flight 1637 appreciate what he did.

[Retro Recall (☥𝐃𝐁) @RetroMoviesDB]

Sadly, kids today will never know how hard this intro goes man...

[Dustin @r0ck3t23]

Elon Musk just defended America better than every politician in Washington combined.

Musk: “After World War 2, the US could have basically taken over the world and any country. Like we got nukes, nobody else got nukes. We don’t even have to lose soldiers. Which country do you want?”

One nation on earth held a weapon nobody else had.

Total dominance. Zero competition. No risk of retaliation.

Every empire in history that held that kind of advantage used it.

Rome. The Mongols. The British. The Ottomans.

They conquered until they collapsed.

America had a bigger advantage than all of them combined.

And it rebuilt the countries it just defeated.

Musk: “The United States actually helped rebuild countries. So it helped rebuild Europe, it helped rebuild Japan. This is very unusual behavior, almost unprecedented.”

Almost unprecedented?

It had never happened before. Not once in 5,000 years of recorded history.

The Marshall Plan wasn’t foreign aid.

It was the most radical act of restraint any superpower ever committed.

America turned its enemies into allies. Turned rubble into economies. Turned surrender into partnership.

Germany went from ashes to the economic engine of Europe in a generation.

Japan went from unconditional surrender to the third largest economy on earth.

Three years after the war, America was flying food into Berlin.

A city in the heart of the nation that just tried to destroy it.

That’s not policy.

That’s a civilization deciding what it is at the exact moment it has the power to be anything.

You’re being told a story right now.

That America is the villain of history.

You hear it everywhere. Media. Universities. Social platforms.

Musk: “There’s always like, well America’s done bad things. Well of course America’s done bad things, but one needs to look at the whole track record.”

Every nation on earth has dark chapters. Every single one.

The difference is what a country does when nobody can stop it.

And when nobody could stop America, it fed its enemies and rebuilt their cities.

Musk: “The history of China suggests that China is not acquisitive. Meaning they’re not going to go out and invade a whole bunch of countries.”

Probably right.

China has historically built walls, not fleets.

But the real question isn’t about borders anymore.

We’re approaching a moment that mirrors 1945 in ways nobody has fully processed yet.

AI is going to give a handful of people a power advantage that makes nuclear monopoly look quaint.

If someone is going to hold that kind of power, who do you want it to be?

The country that conquered when it could? Or the one that rebuilt when it didn’t have to?

Every alliance. Every trade route. Every economy.

Billions lifted out of poverty.

All of it traces back to one act of restraint that had never been done before.

And carries no guarantee of being repeated.

The most powerful thing America ever did wasn’t building the bomb.

It was what it didn’t do after.