Christmas at Greenpoint (1930)

 

Well, the old mill closed down on us Tuesday night at 6 P.M. for the rest of the week, so as to give us a holiday for Christmas, which came this year on December 25th inst. And so when I came out of the shop and started home it was sunset, and all back to the west was the prettiest 1 ever did see, with the sky all red and gold and sorter mingly like and the old Blue Ridge Mountains standing out blue and cold, and I knew that we were in for some sort of weather by Christmas.

That morning when I got up I told Mrs. Goodloe that we were going to have a change in the weather by the way my old joints hurt and popped and she said she hoped it would hold off till the children all got in for Christmas, and I said 1 did, too.

More @ The Abbeville Institute

Baltimore Ravens send letter to fans blaming anthem protest for low attendance

Via Billy

Duh,  who would have thunked...........

The Baltimore Ravens reportedly blamed their participation in the national anthem protests for low game attendance in a letter to season ticket-holders this week.

The team’s president, Dick Cass, signed the letter, which expresses concern to fans about the “noticeable” no-shows at recent games, ESPN reported.

"There are a number of reasons for the no-shows, but surely the one-time protest in London has been a factor,” the letter reads.

More @ The Hill

Obama Appointed Anti-Islamic State Envoy: Trump Policies Led to Major Jihadi Defeats in 2017

 

The State Department held a special press briefing Thursday with Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, and spokeswoman Heather Nauert. The focus was the 2017 successes against the Islamic State (ISIS).

The special envoy position was created in 2014 to oversee the international coordination of the struggle against ISIS, which, at the time, controlled vast swaths of territory in its Iraq and Syria-based “caliphate.” McGurk has served in this role since 2015 when former President Barack Obama appointed him. His tenure has witnessed, especially since the beginning of the year, the virtual eradication of that terrorist pseudo-state.

McGurk told reporters that he recalled just how dire the situation remained only a year ago. “I think it’s worth recalling ISIS used to be controlling basically a state, 100,000 square kilometers, the size of the UK,” he told reporters, adding later:

[W]hen President Trump came in and Secretary Tillerson came in, we faced real critical challenges in terms of major [ISIS] plotting attacks against us and against our partner homelands coming from Syria and Iraq.  And they were aspiring to kind of major, 9/11-type attacks. …  And so long as they had these safe havens and sanctuaries, particularly cities, a city like Raqqa, and at the time they still controlled half of Mosul, it was really hard to root them out."

More @ Breitbart

Expert Lets Us in on Some Awesome Secrets of the Iconic M1 Garand Rifle

Via Billy

I have my one and only M-1 thumb. :)

Springfield Armory’s M1 Garand is one of the most iconic firearms in the world.

It was the brainchild of firearm designer John Cantius Garand. His first prototype was tested and accepted on July 21, 1937, for use with the United States Army and Marine Corps. Because of its primary use during the Second World War, it’s often seen in pictures being toted by GIs.

But today, the rifle is elusive for collectors, with only a few being offered through the Civilian Marksmanship Program. Quality models can cost upwards of $5,000.

More @ Conservative Tribune

Skyrider v Mig 17 Vietnam +

 

Frustration and fatigue were starting to simultaneously set in on me on 20 June 1965. We were 30 days into our third at-sea period, and the ops tempo was intense. Ten days prior we had our first loss, one of our nuggets, Carl Doughtie. The last four days we had not been especially successful. During those four days I had flown 21 hours on an Alfa strike, two road recces and a seven and one half hour RESCAP. The strike was marginally successful with 40 percent BDA, the RESCAP was not. We had to leave the downed pilot when it got dark. One road recce was nothing more than harassment. The other I scored one truck, but someone almost scored me while I was executing a life-saving pullout just short of bending the prop. I logged two nice round holes in the aft fuselage.

More @ VNAFMAMM

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Picture via  Dung Cao Tran

 

                                             Skyraider photographed at Da Nang in 1966.

Two Douglas A-1H/J Skyraiders of the then Republic of Vietnam Air Force or VNAF seen taxying. Both in USAF style Southeast Asia camouflage schemes. Emblem of 516th Fighter Squadron on engine cowl. The VNAF 516th fighter squadron was based in Da Nang, Republic of Vietnam.

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 The most unusual MiG killer: the Skyraider air-to-air victories on North Vietnamese MiG-17s

The Douglas Skyraider has been the last piston engine propelled aircraft to shoot down a jet fighter.

The last propeller U.S. Navy attack aircraft to disappear from the decks of the flattops was the Douglas AD Skyraider.

This airplane had a unique capability: even when it carried its full internal fuel of 2,280 pounds, a 2,200-lb torpedo, two 2,000-lb bombs, 12,5 inch rockets, two 20 mm guns and 240 pounds of ammunition, the Skyraider was still under its maximum gross weight of 25,000 pounds.

Entered in service just in time to take part in the Korean War, the Skyraiders in the improved A-1H version were quite slow; nevertheless in spite of performance not even comparable to those of the other assets in the air wing’s strike group, the propeller-driven attack aircraft managed to shoot down two MiG-17s during the early part of the Vietnam War.

In fact, some of the most unusual kills of the conflict did not come from the F-4s, F-105s, or F-8s, but from the Korean War-era piston-engine Skyraiders, thanks to the four M3 20 mm fixed forward-firing cannons capable of firing 800 rounds per minute, that fitted the A-1Hs.

More @ The Aviationist

F-105 Thunderchief MiG Killers of the Vietnam War.

Via Quan Nguyen Thanh

 

A North Vietnamese Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 is hit by 20 mm shells from a U.S. Air Force Republic F-105D Thunderchief piloted by Major Ralph Kuster Jr. from the 469th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 388th Tactical Figther Wing, on 3 June 1967.

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 F-105 Thunderchief MiG Killers of the Vietnam War.

 

Republic F-105D-31-RE Thunderchief 62-4284 was a triple MiG killer. Captain Max C. Brestel shot down two MiG-17 fighters with this airplane, 10 March 1967. Captain Gene I. Basel also shot down a MiG-17 while flying this fighter bomber, 27 October 1967.

10 March 1967: Captain Max C. Brestel, United States Air Force, a pilot assigned to the 354th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 355th Tactical Fighter Wing at Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base, was flying a Republic F-105D-31-RE Thunderchief fighter-bomber, serial number 62-4284. His call sign was “Kangaroo 03″. During an attack on the Thai Nguyen Steel Mill, the single most heavily-defended target in North Vietnam, Captain Brestel engaged and shot down two enemy MiG-17 fighters. This was the first time during the Vietnam War that an American pilot shot down two enemy airplanes during the same mission.

Captain Gene I. Basel also shot down a MiG-17 while flying this fighter bomber, 27 October 1967.

62-4284 is the only F-105 Thunderchief officially credited with shooting down three enemy fighters during the Vietnam War.

Trump: Patriots Owner Robert Kraft Building Factory in N. Carolina After Tax Cut Bill

 

Breitbart

President Donald Trump announced that New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft told him of plans to build a factory in North Carolina as a result of his tax cut bill.

“He just wanted to let me know he’s going to buy a big plant in the great state of North Carolina,” Trump told reporters.

Kraft, who is Trump’s friend, has visited and called the president since he took office. The Patriots even gave Trump a Super Bowl ring during their visit to the White House to celebrate their NFL championship.

The Kraft Group owns International Forest Products as well as Rand Whitney, a packaging company.
Trump said that he had many calls from prominent business leaders who said that the tax bill would encourage them to invest more in the United States.

“They’re going out and they’re going to buy, frankly, factories that are closed, abandoned and now not going to be abandoned any longer,” Trump said. “This is having a bigger impact — faster than I thought.”

Inside the Secret Club of Illegal Moonshine

Via Cousin John

At a flea market off of Highway 129 in Knoxville, Tennessee, cars pack into the parking lot. So much so that vans and trucks with lift kits pull over on the shoulder of a side street and park. In recent years, the flea market doesn’t get a ton of business on Saturday, but on Sunday, it’s saturated with people. These are not Tennessee church people, though if you head far enough into the rows of flea market vendors, you can buy prayer candles with Mother Mary on them, six for five dollars.

 

At the top of the hill, attached to a chicken and rabbit stand is a small shed. Unlike ninety-five percent of the other stands at the flea market, this one has a screen door, with a sign fixed to it that reads “Burglars and thieves watch out for flying objects” and a drawing of a pistol pointed directly at its reader. If you want to buy a chicken, you should go around to the other side. This is an entrance for friends. Friends looking for something they can't (really) get in a liquor store: authentic, old-fashioned, Tennessee moonshine. Inside the shed, usually, is one of the few people left making and selling it the authentic, old-fashioned, Tennessee way.

More @ Esquire

NC: Grandma Defends Grandchildren from Attacker: ‘I shot him in the face’

 

A Charlotte, NC, woman will not be charged after shooting and killing a man who was threatening to attack her and her grandchildren.

The Cabarrus County District Attorney’s Office determined that Sarah Shoe acted in self-defense during an incident that occurred at her business, Sarah’s Pet Spa, last month.

The DA reviewed multiple pieces of evidence to make the decision, including witness testimony, physical evidence, and a 911 call in which the dispatcher asked Shoe whether anyone needed an ambulance.

“I shot him in the face. He’s probably dead,” Shoe responded matter-of-factly.

More @ Guns America

Salon: ‘U.S. was actually founded on gun control’

 

Actor Ed Asner and comedian Ed Weinberger have a problem with gun owners. According to these two constitutional luminaries, the NRA and their ilk (this includes the Supreme Court) have been misinterpreting the Second Amendment for years.

The right to keep and bear arms doesn’t apply to individual citizens, as the Supreme Court ruled in 2008, but only to state militias. James Madison and the rest of the Founding Fathers actually supported strict gun control, as evidenced by Madison’s original draft of the Second Amendment as well as state constitutions.

More @ Guns America

Time for Trump to slow-cook the turkeys of Turtle Bay

Via Billy

At the United Nations headquarters in New York, President Trump is engaged in a standoff with a deeply entrenched political class.

Yet, it is the president who has the initiative.

In aggressively challenging the U.N.'s condemnation of his decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, Trump has the massive leverage created by the $10 billion Washington gives to the U.N. each year.

He who pays the piper calls the tune. That's the big picture. But you get still more from the details, so let's dig in.

More @ Washington Examiner

Tied Virginia election proves every vote actually does count

Via Billy

Don’t ever say to me on Election Day, “Oh, I’m not voting.”

Those who express such an indefensible sentiment often then try to justify it by saying, “My vote doesn’t count.”

Every vote counts.

Just ask two people today, Shelly Simonds and David Yancey. Both were candidates for delegate to the Virginia state legislature from the 94th House District. Neither has been declared the winner.

The election took place in November. The reason that there is no declared winner or loser is that they both got the exact same number of votes.

The Democrat, Shelly Simonds, received 11,608 votes. And the Republican incumbent, David Yancey, got 11,608 votes. So the result is a tie.

More @ The Hill

Roll Alabama Roll

Via comment  by RebPirate on Find the Alabama: Thunderous Naval Combat—Valor an...