Monday’s podcast: Hunter Biden and VP Biden on the phone........and other stories



Hunter Biden and VP Biden on the phone....Colombia and President Petro's son...The city of Oakland's crime problem....Nolan Ryan # 30.......and other stories....

click to listen:

Monday's video: Hunter Biden and VP Biden on the phone....Colombia and President Petro's son & more.......

Hunter Biden and VP Biden on the phone....Colombia and President Petro's son...The city of Oakland's crime problem....Nolan Ryan # 30.......and other stories......

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

 

The other president with a son problem

 (My new American Thinker post)

We've heard a lot about Hunter Biden.  Let me tell you about Nicolas Petro, the son of Colombia's President Gustavo Petro.  This is the story:    

The son of Colombian President Gustavo Petro has been arrested for money laundering and illicit enrichment by the country's attorney general.

Nicolas Petro, a politician in Atlantico province, was detained over allegations he was paid by drug traffickers to fund his father's peace efforts and election campaign.

He has denied the claims and welcomed the inquiry when it was launched.  The younger Mr Petro's ex-wife has also been arrested as part of the probe.

President Petro, the country's first left-wing leader, has denied taking money from Colombia's drug traffickers and ordered prosecutors to investigate his son in March.

Writing on social media on Saturday, he said it was painful for one of his children to be sent to prison, but also that he would not interfere with the investigation.  

"To my son I wish luck and strength. May these occurrences forge his character and may he reflect about his own errors," Petro said.

President Petro's comments suggest that he thinks that his son did something wrong. Otherwise, why would he say that he should "reflect about his own errors"?

According to news reports, the controversy stems from large amounts of money allegedly paid by drug cartels to his father's presidential campaign last year.  As you may remember, Mr. Petro won a contested and very close election.

As I told my Colombian friend on Sunday morning, I expect this kind of scandal in Latin America.  I don't expect it in the U.S. when justice is politicized as we see with AG Merrick Garland.  My friend added that this move against the younger Petro is further evidence that the Colombian president's political position has weakened a lot in recent months.

We will watch Hunter and Nicolas and see what happens next.

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

Happy # 78 Gary Lewis

We say happy birthday to Gary Lewis who was born in New Jersey on this day in 1945.

His father was Jerry Lewis, one of the superstars of movies and comedy.   

In 1965, Gary formed a band and enjoyed several hits, such as "This diamond ring" a # 1 song.   All together, Gary Lewis and the Playboys had 7 Top 10 hits.

  P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

Happy # 69 Ellis Valentine

Ellis Valentine was born in Arkansas on this day in 1954.   He was drafted by Montreal and broke with them in 1975.    By 1976, he was the every day right fielder.

In the late 1970's, the Montreal Expos had one of the best outfields in modern baseball history.   In fact, you could argue that it was the best in quite some time:   Ellis Valentine, future Hall of Famer Andre Dawson & Warren Cromartie.

Valentine and teammate Cromartie had 24 assists in 1977.    You simply could not take an extra base on that Expos' outfield!

Valentine survived injuries and retired with a .278 batting average and .288 in 7 seasons in Montreal.

Valentine was part of the Expos who came in second in 1978, 1979 & 1980.  They lost the NLCS to the LA Dodgers in 1981.    In today's game, Montreal would have clinched a wild card spot everyone of those years that they came in second in the NL East.   Who knows what would have happened to that "wild card team" in the NL post season?  

 P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

Disney should release Kamala Roe and her 7 friends

 (My new American Thinker post)

It's another Sunday and time to reflect on another day in the life and times of VP Kamala Harris, or the lady who said most Americans can’t afford a $400 surprise expense, but conveniently forgot that she is a part of the current administration.   She then called Iowa heartbeat law an 'outright ban' but was not challenged on the exceptions, as in cases of rape or incest.  The VP also forgot that this law is the result of a legislature elected by Iowans.  Who cares about that, when the abortion activists keep calling on the Biden administration to codify Roe?

As Disney continues on a suicide mission of $900 million in losses, they should consider a new movie about someone named Kamala Roe who travels in the forest with her 7 friends. We will cast them as follows:

Dopey is the person who writes her speeches or keeps telling the VP to cackle while laughing;

Grumpy would be Congressman Nadler who hasn't smiled in years;

Sneezy would be Dr. Fauci who wears a mask to protect the community from the latest virus;

Bashful would be Governor Newsom who keeps hinting and hinting;

Sleepy would be President Biden.

Happy is her former staffer.

Can you think of anyone else?

VP Harris is one heartbeat from the presidency and that is why the Democrats will be do everything in their power to keep the President's heart beating.

In the meantime, Disney should consider my idea for the movie because nothing else is selling tickets.

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

Happy # 82 Paul Anka, great vocalist and songwriter!

Wonder how many people know that Paul Anka was born in Canada?   He was born on this day in 1941.

Paul is from Ottawa and enjoyed big hits by the time that he was a teenager. 

Anka is one of the few pop artists who had Top 10 songs in the 1950s, 1960's & 1970's!  Who else but Elvis can say that? 

Anka's formula?  Romantic and catchy songs that filled Top 40 play lists in the era of AM radio stations.  I'm sure that lots of our parents have Anka 45's among their belongings and souvenirs.

I learned in the 1970's that Paul Anka composed "My Way" and several TV songs, such as The Tonight Song theme song!  How would you like to collect those royalties?

A few years ago, Paul wrote an autobiography.    He also left us an amazing collection of hit songs, available now on digital.

 P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

Now, everybody knows I am the judge

 

(My new American Thinker post)

To paraphrase Pigmeat Markham, everybody knows that she is the judge, yes Maryellen Noreika is the judge and order in the court.   

On a more serious matter, the Hunter Biden team finally ran into someone who was asking questions about their plea agreement. And it did not go well, as Will Scharf wrote:

Hunter Biden arrived in a Delaware federal court on Wednesday morning expecting that, in a few short hours, he would walk out a free man with full immunity from prosecution for an exceedingly wide range of alleged criminal conduct, ranging from gun and drug charges to foreign influence peddling. His expectation was that his deal would be insulated from challenges from the presiding judge, or from a prosecutorial change of heart under a future administration. His expectation was that his legal ordeals were coming to a close.

Instead, U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika picked apart his plea deal with surgical precision, exposing its legal contradictions, and upbraiding both defense counsel and the Department of Justice for structuring an unprecedented deal that in her view -- and mine -- was illegal and unconstitutional.

As the old folks used to say when something didn't smell right:  The judge smelled a rat and this one was pretty stinky.  Judge Noreika felt that the lawyers were trying to get her to rubber-stamp. Sign here, judge, and the big man is going to be very happy with you.  He may invite you to White House Christmas Party! 

So here we are, and it was not part of the script as the article points out:

Hunter’s lawyers and DOJ are going to go off and try to pull together a new set of agreements, likely narrower and less novel in its arrangement to satisfy Judge Noreika and move the case. They will have to explain their conduct in a public briefing which may shed some light on the obviously tortured negotiations that led us to this place. And, fortunately, the chances of any agreement proceeding with the kind of blanket immunity the parties had in mind as they walked into court yesterday are essentially nil at this point.

You mean that Hunter may have to face reality one of these days?  Let's hope so.  Let's say thanks that the judge this time around was not willing to go along.

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

Friday's podcast: The Biden plea agreement runs into a judge and more chaos coming

Friday's podcast:   

The Biden plea agreement runs into a judge and more chaos coming.....

chick to listen:

Friday's video: The Biden plea agreement runs into a judge.. More chaos coming and other stories...

The Biden plea agreement runs into a judge...More chaos coming with Trump & Biden.......Jackie Kennedy (1929-1994)......and other stories....

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

 

We need something like Animal House in 2023

 

(My new American Thinker post)

As we struggle with a Barbie movie that does not remind me of the dolls that my sister collected, a U.S. women soccer team that can't smile, or even a new version of Snow White that claims she won't be saved by a prince's kiss this time around, it is difficult to find a good movie to see.

Please forgive us if we get nostalgic or remember some of the flicks that made us laugh, cry or just plain entertained us.

Entertain us?  Do they even know that in Hollywood anymore?

Just heard that Animal House was released 45 years ago.  Back then, the movie made a lot of us laugh.  Honestly, I still laugh every time it comes on TV.  No virtual signaling.  No political message, just a bunch of college kids being stupid.  Give me more movies like that.

Roger Ebert, the movie critic and the guy who used have that show on PBS along with Gene Siskel, reviewed the movie like this:      

The movie is vulgar, raunchy, ribald, and occasionally scatological. It is also the funniest comedy since Mel Brooks made "The Producers" (1968). "Animal House" is funny for some of the same reasons the National Lampoon is funny (and Second City and "Saturday Night Live" are funny): Because it finds some kind of precarious balance between insanity and accuracy, between cheerfully wretched excess and an ability to reproduce the most revealing nuances of human behavior. 

The star of the movie is a fellow named Bluto played by the late John Belushi.  I remember one time explaining to a friend that Bluto reminded me of a combination of the cocky Chico Marx and the silent Harpo Marx.  No matter what, I found this movie a charm because it made me laugh.

It is true that this is a story about rebellious kids challenging authority.  At least you didn't have college professors teaching kids to hate their country or deny conservatives an opportunity to speak.  

Keep your modern Barbie or Snow White and her inclusive dwarfs. I'd rather entertain myself with a crazy comedy like Animal House.  What could possibly be wrong with a bunch of guys who love beer, "Shout," "Louie, Louie," motorcycles, and Playboy centerfolds?

Let me celebrate 45 years of Animal House by watching old movies and being entertained again.

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

2014 podcast: "The Vikings" with Leslie Eastman & friends

Perhaps you've been watching "The Vikings" on The History Channel.    It is a challenging and complex topic but the series is very entertaining.  The series was written by Michael Hirst of Elizabeth & The Tudors.

Back in 2014, Leslie Eastman joined me for a discussion of "The Vkings".  Barry Jacobsen discussed the history, myth, and legends based on The History Channel's new series, focused on famed raider Ragnar Lothbrok.  Then, Thrand Godfrey discussed the weapons, tactics, battles and his video projects on the subject.

Leslie wrote a great post about the show and the series.  Check it out!

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

Click to listen:

Thursday's video: White House and the border mess...Spain's election and more

White House and the border mess...Sec Mayorkas before the House....Men playing on women's team...Spain election.....and other stories....

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

 

Thursday’s podcast: White House and the border mess...Spanish election & more

White House and the border mess...Sec Mayorkas before the House....Men playing on their women's team...Spain election.....and other stories....

click to listen:

It would have been better if they had stayed in Mexico

 (My new American Thinker post)

Upon taking office, the Biden administration killed the "stay in Mexico" policy.  

 

They claimed that their approach was more humanitarian but were never forced to explain from "the basement" what that actually meant.   

 

Two years later, we know that it meant opening the border and handing people a court date and hope that they show up for the hearing.

 

Yesterday, a judge halted another of the Biden administration's ideas.   

 

This is the story:

 

The Biden administration was dealt a major blow in its efforts to control the ongoing border crisis on Tuesday when a federal judge blocked a rule introduced in May that makes migrants ineligible for asylum if they have entered illegally and failed to take advantage of expanded lawful pathways set up by the federal government.

 

Judge Jon Tigar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California blocked the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule in response to a lawsuit from a coalition of left-wing immigration groups, which claimed the rule was similar to a Trump-era transit ban that was similarly blocked. He found the rule is "both substantively and procedurally invalid" and has delayed his ruling from taking effect for 14 days to give the administration time to appeal.

 

So the Biden administration is now at war with the immigration activists who persuaded this judge to halt another one of the administration's ideas.   

 

This is what happens when you refuse to enforce immigration law and try to govern by making the activists happy.  It raises the price of gasoline, and everything else, when you try to please the climate activists.  It creates chaos on the border when you change policies that were working, such as stay in Mexico.

 

As someone who came here with my parents many years ago, I appreciate that many people want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  At the same time, it must be done in an orderly fashion so that you don't create the chaos and confusion we see at the border.

 

P.S.:  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

Happy # 74 Maureen McGovern

(P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page)

We say happy birthday to Maureen McGovern who was born in Youngstown, Ohio, on this day in 1949.

We remember Maureen for "Morning after" or the theme song of the movie "The Poseidon Adventure".  Remember the one about the cruise ship that flipped  over in the middle of the ocean?

Scary movie and a nice pop song by Maureen McGovern.  

It was the a big hit in the summer of 1973!  She did not have another Top 20 until "Different worlds" in 1979, a song that reminds me of "The love boat" theme song.

Click here for "Morning After":

"There's got to be a morning after

If we can hold on through the night

We have a chance to find the sunshine

Let's keep on lookin' for the light

Oh, can't you see the morning after

It's waiting right outside the storm

Why don't we cross the bridge together

And find a place that's safe and warm

It's not too late, we should be giving

Only with love can we climb

It's not too late, not while we're living

Let's put our hands out in time

There's got to be a morning after

We're moving closer to the shore

I know we'll be there by tomorrow

And we'll escape the darkness

We won't be searchin' any more

There's got to be a morning after

(There's got to be a morning after)

There's got to be a morning after..."

Happy # 81 Bobbie Gentry

 

We say happy birthday to Roberta Lee Streeter who was born in Mississippi on this day in 1942.  "It was the third of June.." sang Bobbie Gentry in "Ode to Billy Joe"....# 419 in Rolling Stone Top 500 songs....

 P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

2013 podcast: Let's chat with Frank Burke about "A failure to communicate"

We spoke with Frank Burke, contributor to American Thinker, about his latest: "A failure to communicate".   

Frank has this advice to conservatives:

"Both in terms of technology and content, communication has changed vastly in the past quarter century and continues to evolve. Cable television has added multiple programming choices. Radio has been augmented by satellite services. Most local newspapers have been in decline, and many traditional magazines have vanished or gone digital. Social media adds an entirely new dimension, and video games are now mainstream with more than half (52.4%) of the U.S. television population having access to a console."

 

Click here for Monday's show with Frank Burke:

The week in review with Bill Katz the editor of Urgent Agenda

Today’s podcast:    

The week in review with Bill Katz the editor of Urgent Agenda

Click to listen:

Wednesday's video: July 26 and Cuban history..........and other stories...

Wednesday's video:    

July 26 and Cuban history..........and other stories...

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

July 26, 1953 turned out to be an ugly day for Cuba

(My new American Thinker post)

Growing up in a Cuban-American home acquainted me with a lot of the island of Cuba's history.  

 

I guess that's normal in immigrant homes, but my parents were the type committed to teaching us how communism destroyed what they lovingly called "la patria" or homeland.   

 

Conversations at our family dinners were always about Cuba.  My parents would often warn us about leftists by saying "cuidado" or "be careful" because they always tell you what you want to hear.    

 

Every time a Third World politician came on TV preaching "injustice," my parents would say one of their favorite lines about the movie that they saw already and didn't end well.

 

Once a year, the topic would be about what they would refer to as Moncada.  On this day, July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro and his followers attacked the Moncada Barracks in eastern Cuba.

 

The attack was a disaster since more than 60 of the 185 "rebels" involved were killed. Castro and the survivors escaped and were eventually discovered and captured.   Castro was tried a few months later and sentenced to fifteen years in prison.  He defended himself and turned it into a book.

 

While imprisoned on Isla de Pinos, he wrote letters and continued to plot the Batista regime’s overthrow.  

 

He also enjoyed prison benefits later denied to the men and women that he executed or locked up.    

 

After having served less than two years, he was released in May 1955 due to a general amnesty. After that, he carried on with his "revolution." 

 

My guess is that Batista regretted that amnesty to the end of his life.

 

Castro left Cuba and went to Mexico, met Che Guevara from Argentina, and the rest is the history that we are all too familiar with.

 

Our family conversations about Moncada would often try to answer one question: Why did Batista release him?  

 

My parents felt that it was a PR move and a bit naive.  At the same time, my father said that no one thought that Castro would harm anyone.  

 

I guess that most people thought that the talk of revolution was finished and the Cuban economy was booming with prosperity.    

 

A few years later, my father said that it would have been better if Batista had left, too, and the country could have been put back on a democratic track.

   

Today, Cuba is a dictatorship: Thousands of executions, millions have taken flight and no one knows for sure how many died leaving the country in leaky rafts, while many are still sitting in political prisons. 

 

The Castro regime never allowed fair trials, free elections or had a general amnesty to empty the prisons.

 

In short, Castro devastated a beautiful country and a prosperous island.

 

What are Cuba’s political prisons like?  Read Armando Valladares “Against all Hope”.  You will learn all you need to know about the legacy of July 26.  

 

By the way, you will read that Armando spent years in Villa Maristas, or the name of the political prison that used to be the Catholic school that my brother and I went to.   

 

Turning a Catholic school into a political prison to torture political prisoners?  What else do you need to know about that regime?

 

In retrospect, July 26 turned out to be a very bad day for Cuba.

 

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

 

Happy # 80 Mick Jagger

We say happy to Mick Jagger, one of the greats of rock.    He was born on this day in 1943.

Mick, along with Keith Richards, turned The Rolling Stones into one of the greatest rock bands ever.

Rolling Stone magazine, no connection to the rock group, has Jagger at # 16 of the top vocalists ever.   

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

My chat about Moncada 1953 with Jorge Ponce

A few years ago, we discussed Moncada 1953 with Jorge Ponce, Cuban American writer and contributor to Babalu Blog.  

Jorge and I came to the US in the 1960's with our parents.  

You can hear the show here.

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

Tuesday's podcast: Democrats and Republicans 2024.....Feds and interest rates.....and other stories

Tuesday's podcast:    

Democrats and Republicans 2024.....Feds and interest rates.....and other stories.....click to listen:

Tuesday's video: Democrats and Republicans 2024.....Feds and interest rates.....and others...

Tuesday's video:

Democrats and Republicans 2024.....Feds and interest rates.....and other stories

 

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

Spain and the inconclusive election

 (My new American Thinker post)

Thumbs up for our system.  At least the winner here gets to form a government quickly. 

 

Over in Spain, they had an election and people wonder what the point of it was. 

 

Who won?  So far no one really knows.

 

This is the story:     

 

Spain was plunged into political uncertainty Monday a day after Alberto Núñez Feijóo's conservative Popular Party narrowly won the country's national election but without securing the parliamentary majority needed to topple the five-year-old coalition government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

 

The result means Feijóo can't claim outright victory, though he told his supporters he would try to form a government. That process is likely to take weeks or even months as Sánchez may also be able to secure support from smaller parties to form a governing coalition. A new election could also be called.

 

 

As I read in news reports, PP and Vox secured 169 seats, PSOE and Sumar 153 but nobody got the magical 176.

 

What a mess or, this is something like what happened in Canada, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was returned to power by cutting a deal with a small party.     

 

In other words, PM Sanchez could stay in power by cutting a deal with some of the other parties.  It could happen if PM Sanchez is supported by Junts, a Catalan pro-independence party.

 

Frankly, I'm disappointed because what we heard from friends is that the vote would be a referendum on jobs. the economy, inflation and a Spanish version of "malaise."     

 

It probably was but not enough to form a parliamentary majority.

 

So check the news because the election is over but forming a government is not.

 

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

"Pedro Pan": The story of how 14,000 Cuban children were sent to the US!

Time flies and we celebrate another anniversary of the Cuban-American experience.  The picture above shows parents saying goodbye to their children and putting them in a plane headed to Miami.  

We remember another anniversary this week:

"It hardly seems possible, but it’s been 50 years since Operation Pedro Pan began the airlift that eventually that brought 14,000 unaccompanied children from Cuba to this country." (Babalu Blog)

The Pedro Pan program touched every one of us in a very special way.

We salute the wonderful people who led this program.  

We remember the late Father Walsh and all of the wonderful nuns who cared for the children.  It was indeed a work of love!

How do you say "thank you" or "gracias" to so many people?  I think that you say "thank you" by standing up for freedom and remembering the sacrifice that our parents made for us.

P.S. In a previous show, we spoke with Carlos Eire, the wonderful Cuban American author, who was one of these kids.  Carlos discussed his book "Learning to die in Miami":