You have probably seen the photo before – six Marines struggling to raise the US flag atop Mount Suribachi during the bloody fight for Iwo Jima in World War II.
The picture, shot by photographer Joe Rosenthal is iconic but there is a bit of a story behind it.
The flag being raised there is actually the second flag that was raised on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945.
Mount Suribachi was the dominant feature of the island of volcanic ash island of Iwo Jima. It was heavily defended and being used to spot artillery for the Japanese. The Marines had slogged and fought their way up Suribachi and when they reached the summit, a flag was planted at approximately 10:30 AM. When the flag was raised, it was seen by Marines on the island and on the offshore ships. A huge cry of celebration went up from the Americans. However, the flag was not easily seen at the northern end of the island which meant a bigger flag was needed.
A second, larger flag was brought ashore. Rosenthal and other photographers followed the flag up the slope and recorded the larger flag being raised and the first flag being lowered. (more…)
Sometimes those rules can reach up and bite a person.
Lee Ann Walker was participating in the Senior LPGA Championship. The event is the first LPGA sanctioned event she had played in since 2016.
Walker shot rounds of 85 and 74, which is respectable.
That was before a rule change kicked in. At the start of this year, the LPGA changed its rules on putting, specifically on caddies helping players line up their putts.
Walker says she wasn’t aware that caddies no longer can stand behind players as they putt unless a player starts the stance over. She didn’t realize it until midway through her second round Tuesday, and then she had to add a two-shot penalty for every time it happened.
Project Veritas is at it again, this time exposing the bias and hatred rampant at CNN.
(Washington, D.C.) A brave CNN insider came to Project Veritas to expose anti-Trump bias at the cable giant. Cary Poarch, who works at CNN’s Washington D.C. Bureau, tells Project Veritas “I decided to wear a hidden camera…to expose the bias running rampant” at the network. Poarch documented CNN’s bias for months; recording undercover footage of numerous long-term employees, some of which talk about Jeff Zucker’s anti-Trump agenda. In the video are Nick Neville, Christian Sierra, Hiram Gonzalez, David Chalian, and Mike Brevna. These employee’s positions range from media coordinator to high-ranking executives. I decided to secretly record the 9:00am rundown call meetings with senior management and executives, says Poarch. In the recordings, Zucker details his expectations for CNN’s coverage and very matter-of-factly states “impeachment is the story.”
Jeff Zucker has served as president of CNN Worldwide since 2013.
New York’s Office for People With Developmental Disabilities oversaw a 24 unit housing facility for developmentally disabled adults in the Bronx known as the Union Avenue IPA.
Approximately five years ago, allegations of abuse of the residents by the staff began to surface.
These allegations included rape and physical abuse as family members saw their loved ones with un-explainable cuts and bruising.
One worker regularly hit a resident while he ate, making him cower in fear at mealtimes. Another worker would repeatedly “smack, punch and push” a female resident, sometimes when she tried to watch staff members cook. A female worker sat in the lap of a male resident who used a wheelchair, placing his hands on her breasts and moving provocatively while other employees laughed and cheered, according to records and depositions.
Getting no response from the agency, three families of women in the facility sued the State of New York.
Recently, the State settled the lawsuit:
Now New York State has agreed to pay $6 million to settle that lawsuit, which had been brought on behalf of three residents, all profoundly disabled women, ages 39 to 52, who had been abused at the facility, according to settlement papers filed on Monday in Federal District Court in Manhattan. (more…)
For the most part, you’d think that with all of the stuff that we cover here that would “drive a person to drink,” we’d be raving alcoholics. Such is not the case and for the most part, we are teetotalers. We aren’t judgemental about it and our opinion is that as long as you aren’t putting others at risk, go ahead and drink.
We are therefore somewhat treading into unfamiliar waters with this post which concerns the Barcardi product “Bombay Sapphire Gin.”
Bombay Sapphire Gin is Barcardi’s best selling gin. The gin contains 10 botanicals in the distillation process including a West African spice called “grains of paradise” or Aframomum melegueta. The spice is widely available in the US through spice distributors and places such as WalMart, Amazon, etc.
If you’ve never heard of the spice, this is how it is described:
Used as a spice, the seeds have a hot and pungent flavor and the tastes of ginger, coriander, nutmeg and cardamom, but without the camphor component. There is also a citrusy quality.
The taste is most often described as a combination of black pepper and ginger.
However, here in Florida, the use of grains of paradise is illegal when making liquor.
Whoever adulterates, for the purpose of sale, any liquor, used or intended for drink, with cocculus indicus, vitriol, grains of paradise, opium, alum, capsicum, copperas, laurel water, logwood, brazil wood, cochineal, sugar of lead, or any other substance which is poisonous or injurious to health, and whoever knowingly sells any liquor so adulterated, shall be guilty of a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
According to the Miami Herald, the law banning grains of paradise goes back to the end of the Civil War and involves taxes. (more…)
Linda Cameron is a 70 year old woman living in the town of Richland, Washington. In 1977, Linda and her husband Gary purchased a modest home of less than 1200 square feet. The home has one bedroom, one bath, a kitchen, a living room,and two smaller rooms. In 2012, Gary passed away due to cancer. In 2018, Linda decided that she would use some of the money from her husband’s insurance policy to do what the couple had planned on doing – renovating the home.
The home, valued at $136,980 has obvious sentimental value to Linda, and besides, she likes the neighborhood and her neighbors. Therefore, moving was an option she considered, but ultimately rejected.
The renovation would include the tearing down of a enclosed porch and a carport and building an addition which would have a second bedroom, a second bathroom, a living area, and a garage.
Linda contacted a company by the name of AJ Construction and Development, LLC to do the design work and the construction. The costs of the renovation would be approximately $143,000 plus an additional $12,000 in taxes.
With the design approved by Linda, the builders sought the necessary permits to do the renovation.
The City of Richland denied the application unless Linda paid to upgrade the city street in front of her property – an expense that would cost an estimated additional $60,000.
That’s what happens in a best of 7 series. You either win or you go home.
The same is true in a game 5 of a five game series. You either win that game or you go home.
On Wednesday night, in Major League Baseball’s National League Division Series (NLDS) there were two game fives. If you are a fan of the game, it was set up to be a great night of watching America’s pastime. The Dodgers were set to take on the Washington “Natinals” (not a typo) in the late game while earlier, the St. Louis Cardinals traveled to Atlanta to face the Braves.
The Dodgers, Nats and Cardinals were all focused on baseball. After all, as we said, the losers of these two games were going to go home for the season.
The Atlanta Braves were concentrating on something else – the so called “tomahawk chop.”
Ever since the early 1990’s the team had used the chop as a rallying cry for fans in the stands. Thousands of people doing the chop in unison as well as the accompanying music and cheer was a unifying message to the team, as well as to opposing teams.
Editor’s Note: We aren’t fans of the “chop” as it seems rather silly to us and was stolen borrowed from Florida State University. That’s just us, however.
Prior to the game – arguably the biggest game of the season for the Braves – the Braves announced they would be scaling back on the “tomahawk chop” because a member of the St. Louis Cardinals was offended by it. (more…)
