How Is This Possible?

.

This space reserved for

future upgrades of Expat.com

.

How is it possible that I've never seen this excellent Elvis impersonator before?

(love the sitar!)

Oath creeper.

Stewart Rhodes, leader of the so-called Oath Keepers

and known as the ex-president's "field general on

January 6th," has just received the longest sentence to date

among the hundreds of traitors and convicted felons

who staged the insurrection and have since received

justice. Rhodes allegedly called the Keepers to

Washington, D.C. The attack on the Capitol

might have been much more limited without his

treasonous leadership.

Rhodes, an Ivy League law school graduate,

was not on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021.

It was determined that Rhodes, who founded the

Oath Keepers, led the seditious conspiracy for which

other members of his heinous or misguided band

had been earlier convicted. Prosecutors showed

that he spent the weeks after the election organizing

the attack on democracy.

Rhodes, 58, received a prison sentence of 18 years.

So, barring a pardon from the twice-impeached

leader who is standing for election in 2024 or

his sanctimonious rival, it's quite possible that

Rhodes could spend the rest of his natural life

behind bars.

At sentencing, Rhodes declared himself a

"political prisoner," to which the judge stated

you are not a political prisoner, Mr. Rhodes,

you are here because of your actions and

you "present an ongoing threat" to society.

The judicial ruling stated that Rhodes' actions

met the legal definition of terrorism in an

attempt to disrupt the lawful functioning of

the U.S. government. The terrorism designation

and the perceived need to send a

strong message added extra time to

Rhodes' stiff sentence.

Credit... MSNBC, "The Last Word"

Disputing the winner of a $2-Billion

PowerBall Lottery in Southern California.

Process servers successfully served papers

on a man at the luxurious $25-million estate

recently purchased by Edwin Castro, the man

who had the top winning ticket in last year's

$2-Billion California PowerBall lottery.

For a look at this remarkable property, Google:

ny post lottery winner edwin castro served

Castro also purchased a second new home and

a Porsche.

However, papers were served at Castro's

Hollywood Hills mansion as one José Rivera

claims the winning ticket was his, that it was

stolen and Rivera seeks the super pay-day

Castro collected. The California Lottery has already

given Castro a lump-sum payout of $997 million.

So far the Lottery people are standing by Castro

and have put out a statement to that effect.

The solution may be evident once the videotape

is released of the purchase of the winning ticket

at an Altadena, California, gas station,

proving at least who the actual purchaser was.

Credit... New York Post

How Dianne keeps going in the Senate.

A New York Times article explains how the

the Capitol Police and the sergeant-at-arms

go to great lengths to hide the frailty of

Senator Dianne Feinstein from photographers

and how her staff must provide extra effort

to guide the aged legislator through

routine procedures and the voting

process on the Senate floor.

Even so, Sen. Feinstein (D-Calif.) has missed

six votes since returning from a three-month

health-related absence earlier this month.

AOC and two other members of

Feinstein's party in Congress,

all House members, have gone on record

saying that Feinstein should

give up her seat in the Senate.

Feinstein has said she will not run for

re-election in 2024. Her current term

is slated to end in January 2025.

Her poor health, her age and her confusion

over routine matters (she didn't understand

why the vice-president was present to

break a 50-50 tie vote) are major considerations

among those who feel that properly

representing 40-million Californians is well beyond

Feinstein's diminished capacity.

Her longtime chief of staff, David Grannis, retired

this year in a long-planned move. Her longtime

communications director died this February.

Source... The New York Times,

"Feinstein, Back in the Senate, Relies Heavily

on Staff to Function"

Boffo results on Wall Street.

The Biden deal with top GOP leaders

on the debt ceiling is being welcomed

in a big way in the U.S. stock market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average

had its biggest day of the year on Friday

(June 2), rising 701 points on the day.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ completed its

sixth straight week of gains.

cccmedia

Borrow, borrow, and borrow.

It will catch up to the US sooner or later, and BRICS might well make it sooner

Leave plenty of time if flying through JFK.

A study of airport wait times has determined that

travelers average about 48 minutes of wait time

when flying out of JFK airport in Queens, New York.

The airport laid of thousands of security staff during

The Situation and has been overwhelmed with

travelers and understaffed lately.

The study found JFK has the longest wait times in

the USA, which is saying something based on what

I personally experienced (thumbs down) at DFW

Dallas-Fort Worth airport on June 1.

Better to travel, when possible, through BWI Baltimore

or San José or San Antonio, based on the study.

Those are the airports in the study with the shortest

wait times.

Credit... 247WallStreet.com

Out of Oakland.

The major sports teams have all but abandoned

Oakland, California.

The NFL Raiders now play in Las Vegas.

The NBA Golden State Warriors moved across

the bay to San Francisco.

A new stadium is being built in Vegas for the

expected move of the MLB Oakland A's

to Sin City.  See the ensuing post below for

more on the woeful A's.  The team has

moved before, from Philadelphia to

Kansas City and then to Oakland in 1968.

cccmedia

The worst team in the history of MLB baseball.

The New York Mets (40-120) lost 120 games in

their inaugural season of 1962.  "Can't anybody

here play this game?" manager Casey Stengel

wanted to know.

This year the Oakland A's (.203 winning percentage)

could challenge the '62 Mets' dubious record

of futility.  The A's are on pace to lose 129 games.

Through 59 games, no team since the '32 Red Sox

has performed so poorly as the A's this year.

The team has scored at a pace of 3.39 runs per game

while giving up 6.7 runs on average to the opposition.

The best A's players have gone to other teams,

the payroll is paltry by MLB standards and fewer than

10,000 fans attend their games.  Several years ago,

an average of 20,000 fans attended.

The stadium is in poor repair, "dilapidated" according

to an article on the team's downfall at nypost.com ...

Source... The New York Post

How is it possible we forgot this gem of wisdom from 2003?

"I regard consensus science as an extremely pernicious development that ought to be stopped cold in its tracks.

Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you’re being had… Let’s be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world.

In science consensus is irrelevant. What are relevant are reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus.

There is no such thing as consensus science. If it’s consensus, it isn’t science. If it’s science, it isn’t consensus. Period."

Michael Crichton, Lecture at the California Iinstitute of Technology, Pasadena CA, Jan 17 2003[1]

Limping through Gunsmoke.

in the early days of the classic Western TV show

"Gunsmoke," Dennis Weaver portrayed a deputy

with a stiff-legged limp.

However, a video about the long-running series

(1955-75) reveals that the actor with truly awful

leg pain was the star, James Arness, who played

Marshal Matt Dillon in 19th century Dodge City.

Arness's leg was badly injured in Italy in

World War II. By the late 1960's, his subsequent

arthritis got so painful he was able to do

his TV shoots only one day a week. He shot all

of his scenes on that day and then rested for

almost a week before his next on-camera work.

Primary source... YouTube channel Viral Nater

"If you do this job seeking popularity,

you are doing this job incorrectly.

I take the attacks from partisans

as compliments."

  -- NBC's Chuck Todd

Todd announced today that he will soon

be leaving Meet the Press after hosting

the program for a tumultuous decade,

and will become NBC News chief political

analyst.

Kristen Welker will be the new host.

Since we seem to be on an America-themed thread, I offer this for consideration by the international members of expat.com

Now then...

HOW THE HECK IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE?!

Since Its Birth The USA Has Only Had 17 Years of Peace.

Since July 4, 1776 with the Declaration of Independence, the country has been at war for 93% of its existence.    (GAK!)

"Formally declared" Wars of the United States of America:

American Revolution [1775-83]

War of 1812 [1812-15]

Mexican-American War [1846-48]

Civil War [1861-65]

Spanish-American War [1898]

World War I (The Great War) [1917-18]

World War II [1941-45]

-------------------------------------------

Conflicts which were not "officially declared", but were substantial wars nonetheless, fought by the United States:

First Barbary War [1801-1805]

Indian Wars [many different conflicts, 1777-1898]

Philippine-American War, or Philippine Insurrection (War of Philippine Independence) [1899-1913]

Korean War [1950-53]

Vietnam War [1959-75]

Persian Gulf (Desert Storm) [1990-91]

Iraq War [2003-2011]

War in Afghanistan [2001-2022]

---------------------------------------------

Policing Actions and smaller conflicts fought by the United States (including those with significant US presense as UN Peacekeepers)

Quasi-War (Undeclared Naval War with France) [1798-1800]

Boxer Rebellion [1900]

Lebanese Civil War [1982-83]

Grenada Invasion [1983]

US Invasion of Panama [1989]

Somalian Civil War [1993-95]

Bosnian War [1993-96]

Kosovo War [1999]

Libyan Civil War [2011]

--------------------------------------------

Wars and other conflicts fought by people who would later become American citizens:

French and Indian War (7 Years War) [1754-63]

Texas War of Independence (Texas Revolution) [1835-36]

-------------------------------------------------

17 Years of Peace in its almost 250 years of existence.

At war 93% of its time.

That's a heavy load to carry. The world continues to enjoy the fruits of your labour(s).

Thank you for your service, I guess.

A nation founded on genocide and slavery .. addicted to so-called Manifest Destiny to conquer anything in its path -- how is that country NOT continually going to be at war during centuries dominated by the military-industrial complex and its lobbyists and legislators?

cccmedia

The above is intended as a rhetorical question.

The US has been at war rather a lot and, much as this isn't generally a popular thing to say in the US, is the worst terrorist nation on the planet.

If you wonder why I would say that, ask the peoples of Loas and Cambodia who were carpet bombed for years by a nation they were in no position to attack, but who attacked them in secret.

Using B52s as terrorist weapons is still terrorism.

Personally, I crack a less than amused smile when US politicians rant on about Putin and war crimes - Yes, putin is a git, but the US has done far more of far worse over the years since 1947, and did a lot before.

In fact, the US has NEVER attacked any country capable of attacking it in any serious way and, when the US did get hit by a bunch of Saudis, they attacked Afghanistan.

The Ukraine thing is put down as some sort of humanitarian crusade, but look who is making a pile of cash, then decide what's really going on.

As a clue, look at the timeline for US shale gas production against the timeline for Ukraine - Ooops.

Of course, I'm sure the EU and others buying expensive US shale gas instead of far cheaper Russian natural gas is purely a coincidence - NOT!

However, minor things like facts are like history - Very anti-US.

I also love the utter stupidity of the US right who moan on about people speaking Spanish in the US, even in cities with Spanish place names because the US stole the land from Spanish run governments - Not that the Spanish speakers could seriously claim the lands they stole as theirs, but the Alamo story is a crock(ett).

The dead at the Alamo were mostly a bunch of very violent illegal immigrants who deserved what they got.

Then the victor wrote history in a way that made the invading army look like heroes instead of gits.

I wonder if the Mexicans had WMDs

If you wonder why I would say that, ask the peoples of Loas and Cambodia who were carpet bombed for years...
-@Fred

...or any of the people here in my neck of the woods, Viet Nam.

The cause of armed conflict is arms (surprize!) coupled with nationalism (and the hate it generates).

If we remove arms, nationalism and hate (which are more difficult to reduce) can do far less harm.

If you wonder why I would say that, ask the peoples of Loas and Cambodia who were carpet bombed for years...
-@Fred

...or any of the people here in my neck of the woods, Viet Nam.
-@Aidan in HCMC

Answer:

Colonialism

MAc

If you wonder why I would say that, ask the peoples of Loas and Cambodia who were carpet bombed for years...
-@Fred

...or any of the people here in my neck of the woods, Viet Nam.
-@Aidan in HCMC
Answer:
Colonialism

MAc
-@Mac68

Answer answer;

Usury, cosmopolitanism, and internationalists.

All have one thing in common. Greed.

If you wonder why I would say that, ask the peoples of Loas and Cambodia who were carpet bombed for years...
-@Fred

...or any of the people here in my neck of the woods, Viet Nam.
-@Aidan in HCMC
Answer:
Colonialism

MAc
-@Mac68
Answer answer;
Usury, cosmopolitanism, and internationalists.
All have one thing in common. Greed.
-@Aidan in HCMC

Yep,

Best said.

MAc

If you wonder why I would say that, ask the peoples of Loas and Cambodia who were carpet bombed for years...
-@Fred

...or any of the people here in my neck of the woods, Viet Nam.
-@Aidan in HCMC

Not at all - That war was justified.

The evil, mass murdering dictator in the North had to be destroyed by supporting the evil, mass murdering dictator in the south - but he was the US's pet mass murdering dictator, so that makes it justified.

Shah of Iran?

Oh, yes, the UK and US removed the democratically elected government of Iran in favour of a mass murdering dictator who let the US and UK make massive oil profits - That pesky revolution was a bugger so Iranians are evil now.

Why was there a revolution? Easy, because the US installed a mass murdering dictator. However, that bit never gets mentioned.

Let's move on to the nasty crisis in Cuba where the evil commies stuffed first strike nukes there the US told the world was a nasty provocation that could not be allowed. The US government forgot to mention the Jupiter nuclear missiles they bunged into Turkey and Italy the year before.

History is a real bugger.

Hunter Biden investigators pulled off the case.
The entire team of investigators in the Hunter Biden
tax-fraud probe has been taken off the case.

Attorneys for a whistleblower inside
the Internal Revenue Service said
in a letter to Congress that the purge
was retaliation done on the orders of the
Justice Department.


Source... The New York Post
-@cccmedia

I missed that one.

***

Got a link?

If you wonder why I would say that, ask the peoples of Loas and Cambodia who were carpet bombed for years...
-@Fred

...or any of the people here in my neck of the woods, Viet Nam.
-@Aidan in HCMC
Not at all - That war was justified.
The evil, mass murdering dictator in the North had to be destroyed by supporting the evil, mass murdering dictator in the south - but he was the US's pet mass murdering dictator, so that makes it justified.

Shah of Iran?

Oh, yes, the UK and US removed the democratically elected government of Iran in favour of a mass murdering dictator who let the US and UK make massive oil profits - That pesky revolution was a bugger so Iranians are evil now.
Why was there a revolution? Easy, because the US installed a mass murdering dictator. However, that bit never gets mentioned.

Let's move on to the nasty crisis in Cuba where the evil commies stuffed first strike nukes there the US told the world was a nasty provocation that could not be allowed. The US government forgot to mention the Jupiter nuclear missiles they bunged into Turkey and Italy the year before.
History is a real bugger.
-@Fred

The Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovych...

Really busy with work and I took most of today off (I'm on holiday from my main job anyway but I still worked all except today), but I have to catch up.

Three jobs and not enough time means I won't see the cries about how anti-US both history and I are unless I  get a seconds by dawn's early light before I start working. I won't get any gallant streaming done - No ruddy time.

The Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovych...
-@Aidan in HCMC

Dodgy as hell, but he was the pet dodgy as hell leader of the wrong country.

Likely rigged election put him into power, but the new government stopped people in Russian speaking areas voting (Before the Russian invasion), so that's democracy still screwed.

However, we hardly hear about that because it ruins the narrative if people know it's still as bent as it was.

As for the people of Ukraine - Neither of the countries that are deciding their fate gives a toss about them.

Hello everyone,

Please note that that politics should not be discussed on the forum.

Further posts on politics will be removed.

Regards

Bhavna

@Bhavna  yes you right  dear am on your side with that no politics here

@Bhavna I agree with you somewhat, and specifically on this thread. But, where does politics begin and where does it end. Talking about lack of affordable housing is politics as well. Golden Visa is a very political topic. Location of a new airport even more. There is some politics in every action of a government.

Let's just make sure it doesn't get out of hand...

Verboten political subjects include

ad hominem attacks on a government official

and specific put-downs of a particular political party.

The offending post (since moderated) on this

thread was an unsubstantiated personal attack

on a particular high government official.

cccmedia, Experts Team

Drawing the line.

Nz752 makes a good point about the line

between politics and government.

To my knowledge, in ten years participating

in Expat.com forums, I have never known

of any member being chastised or moderated

due to discussing a new airport, the lack of

affordable housing or a golden visa.

cccmedia

"Lions mate with lions.

They don't mate with mice."

  -- Francoise Gilot (1921-2023) who

refused to take a back seat to the famous

men in her life -- Pablo Picasso,

Henri Matisse and Dr. Jonas Salk, inventor

of the polio vaccine.

She met the Spanish artist Picasso

(1881-1973) in May 1943 when

he was 61 and she was 21.

She became his muse, his lover

and the mother of two of his children.

She had a distinguished career

in her own right as a great artist whose

works were shown in the world's

foremost art museums.

Francoise Gilot died in New York today.

She was 101.

Credit... Washington Post obituaries.

@Bhavna I agree with you somewhat, and specifically on this thread. But, where does politics begin and where does it end. Talking about lack of affordable housing is politics as well. Golden Visa is a very political topic. Location of a new airport even more. There is some politics in every action of a government.
-@nz7521137

And, so goes life , ..........................religion and politics, cause of all upheavals in the world.

As once stated, bringing your culture with you ok, imposing it upon the great country of Viet Nam. Not.

MAc

As once stated, bringing your culture with you ok, imposing it upon the great country of Viet Nam. Not.

MAc
-@Mac68

I thought imosing your culture on any country in the world was an official US policy. I guess nobody neeeds examples ...

@Bhavna And what is out of hand? Can you please define that?

06/10/23 I thought imosing your culture on any country in the world was an official US policy. I guess nobody neeeds examples ...
-@nz7521137

People who take advantage of a keyboard to spread their own particular hatreds of specific nations should probably think, before hitting the "Submit" button, how much that particular behavior contributes or doesn't to the specific mission of this site of helping expats with their problems and making everyone feel welcome, especially that last.

Personally, when that's all it is, I usually ignore them -- haters gonna hate.  But when the message is wrapped around a personal attack on another member, I'm happy to report it, and nobody should need further "examples" of what they did wrong.

@Bhavna And what is out of hand? Can you please define that?
-@ab230597339

Dear ab23,

Welcome to the forums of Expat.com ...

Don't expect a senior moderator at the Home Office to

split hairs or shadow-box to define a line between

acceptable discourse and over-the-line comments,

which IMO is essentially what you were seeking.

Read the terms and conditions of service for this site

if you are not clear .. then post within your understanding

of the guidelines.

Above all, use your common sense!!

cccmedia

member, Expat.com experts team

Life in an orange jumpsuit.

For Maureen Dowd, Pulitzer prize-winning

columnist of the New York Times, it is surprisingly

easy to imagine what prison life would be like for

a twice-impeached, twice-indicted p**** grabber

from Palm Beach, Florida...

"He'd have the joint wired, like the mob guys

from 'Goodfellas'.  He'd be enjoying all kinds

of privileges, DJing Elvis and Pavarotti,

getting a steady flow of Viagra, cheeseburgers

and conjugal visits (not from Melania).

Maybe he'd even be able to smuggle in

a supply of his special Tang-colored hair bleach."

-- From this weekend's Times column

     by Maureen Dowd