Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

   

 

                              For those that already have their Christmas lights up .....

 Go out and enjoy Thanksgiving, Ignore the people trying to scare the crap out of you to not get together with your family because of "fears".  We are not guaranteed tomorrow, and to deny time with your family because of "fears" is a crappy thing to do to them.  Have fun, spend time with your family and friends, watch the Cowboys and the Lions play football.. Traditions.....It is what make us Americans....And tell the powers that be to pound sand...

  Remember to have fun, enjoy the camaraderie of Family and Friends and don't talk politics, unless your liberal Aunt or Uncle start it, then have fun stirring things up, LOL

I clipped this compliments of alex@ammo.com
Thanksgiving is the oldest national holiday in the United States. However, it’s observation is not a continuous presence in American history. While the celebration of Thanksgiving predates even the founding of the nation, it was proclaimed by George Washington, then ignored by Thomas Jefferson. From then on, it was sporadically observed until Abraham Lincoln, who once again introduced a National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving to the United States.
Indeed, it was Lincoln who set the day as the last Thursday in November. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt changed the day between 1939 and 1941, which was highly controversial. The days were called “Franksgiving.” Roosevelt changed the date because retailers communicated to him through the Retail Dry Goods Association and the Secretary of Commerce, that the late date of Thanksgiving that year (the last day of November) might negatively impact retail sales. It was considered bad form to put up Christmas decorations or put on Christmas sales before Thanksgiving.
If only we still lived in such times.
In 1942, Congress set Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday of the month, and here it has stood since then.

The Early Days of Thanksgiving

Harvest feasts date back centuries, with the earliest “thanksgiving” celebrations in the New World dating to the 16th Century with the French and the Spanish. The Commonwealth of Virginia had regular celebrations of this type dating back to 1607. The first permanent settlement, Jamestown, Virginia, had a thanksgiving celebration in the year of its founding, 1610. 
Of course, anytime someone says “Thanksgiving,” one immediately thinks of the Pilgrims. “Thanksgiving” as we know it is generally dated back to when the Pilgrims first celebrated it in 1621. This was in response to a successful harvest, however, it was not the first of a consistent celebration. The Pilgrims celebrated this only sporadically.
No one is entirely sure when the Thanksgiving celebration took place. There was a three-day celebration following their harvest, sometime between September 21 and November 11, with the Feast of Michaelmas (September 29) being the most likely date. We do, however, know that all 50 surviving Mayflower passengers were there, as well as 90 Native Americans. The feast was cooked primarily by four women, all of whom were on the Mayflower. Two years later, in 1623, following another boat of colonists arriving, the first civil (not religious) Thanksgiving took place in July.

The Revolution to the Civil War

The day of national Thanksgiving jumped around until the founding of the nation. During the late Colonial period, the Continental Congress merely recommended the day be celebrated by the various colonies. Samuel Adams drafted the first national proclamation, issued in 1777 – something to remember when you tip back one of his beers while watching the game. Revolutionary Commander General George Washington set the date in December of that year to celebrate early revolutionary victories. 
In 1789, President George Washington would proclaim November 26, 1789, to be a National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving. This day also provides the roots for America’s National Day of Prayer. In 1795, Thanksgiving was celebrated, again by presidential proclamation, on February 19. President John Adams continued the tradition in 1798 and 1799. The tradition was undone by deist and skeptic President Thomas Jefferson. President James Madison revived the tradition in 1814, but it remained sporadic until the Civil War. Many governors proclaimed celebrations statewide. 
In November 1863, however, President Lincoln made the celebration national again. He was inspired by an editorial series written by “Mary Had a Little Lamb” author Sarah Josepha Hale. Secretary of State William H. Seward wrote the proclamation. During this period, traditions were regional and some of the food is decidedly not what we would consider to be traditional Thanksgiving fare today (pigeon pie, for example).

Franksgiving

Franksgiving is one of those things like the court-packing plan that made FDR’s opponents squeal with laughter. FDR’s moving of the date of Thanksgiving caused his opponent in the previous election, Alf Landon, to compare him to Hitler. James Frasier, chairman of the Plymouth, Massachusetts board of selectmen heartily disapproved of the change. 
The change caused a number of problems, not least of all holiday travel plans. Football teams around the nation played before empty stadiums because they couldn’t change their schedule. Many games were cancelled. In what is a familiar scenario to anyone who has followed 21st-century politics, Democrats narrowly supported Franksgiving (52 to 48), Republicans widely despised it (79 to 21) and most of America didn’t like it (62 to 38). 
All told, 23 states and the District of Columbia recognized the new date, while 22 preferred the traditional date. The remaining three (Colorado, Texas and Mississippi) went with both dates, meaning there was plenty of time off for everyone. In 1940, 32 states and the nation’s capital went with Franksgiving, while the remaining 16 opted for what was called “Republican Thanksgiving.”
A report from the Department of Commerce issued in 1941, found that there was no difference in retail sales due to the day of the month. Indeed, barely more than a third of all retailers even observed Franksgiving. What’s more, only two out of every seven Thanksgivings would fall on a fifth Thursday rather than a fourth. Still, a joint resolution of Congress, signed into law by President Roosevelt, permanently moved the date to the fourth Thursday, where it has stood ever since. Most states concurred, and while revelry was on the back burner thanks to the war, Thanksgiving in its final form took root by 1945. 
If you ever find yourself watching the Merrie Melodies cartoon Holiday Highlights, you’ll notice a reference to two different Thanksgivings – one for Republicans and one for Democrats – that will now make sense to you. 
Texas was the last state to observe the traditional “last Thursday” Thanksgiving in 1956.

Thanksgiving Haters

While it has its roots in European harvest festivals, there is perhaps no more quintessentially American holiday than Thanksgiving. Americans eat more food this day than they will any other day of the year, including the Fourth of July and Christmas Day. Unsurprisingly, there are people who think that the celebration of Thanksgiving is shameful and should be abandoned. 
Both liberal college professors and some Native American activists believe the traditional story of Thanksgiving has been whitewashed by conquerors. They believe in replacing the day with a National Day of Atonement and fasting. Other prominent Native Americans such as Tim Giago, who founded the Native American Journalists Organization, believe that the celebration of Thanksgiving is a synthesis of both European and Native American traditions and is, as such, uniquely American. 
The rest of us, however, will enjoy stuffing ourselves with turkey, slipping into a tryptophan coma, and waking up just in time to catch the big game or the parade. Real Americans, as it turns out, would much rather enjoy a day off than complain

"Ford Quietly Pulls the Plug on this model after 27 years in production."

 I have owned 3 "Focuses", a 2005:

    She got killed by bambi, I hit the deer going 85 miles an hour on the interstate at 4:30 in the morning in the way to work.  I escaped injury with the exception of some glass in the corner of my eye which I removed.

   This was Focus#2, another excellent, car, I had her for several years until a Chevrolet Tahoe pulled in front of me and the resulting accident totaled out both vehicles.

  This was Focus#3, I seemed to blog the most about this one.  All were excellent cars and I raved about all 3 of them.  Ford quit making sedans for the North American market in 2019 and I thought that was extremely shortsighted of them.  Sure the market was tight but sedans are the gateway vehicles for most new families, if they are happy with the sedan, then they are most likely to buy from that same brand when they go to get their next vehicle.  At least that is my thought pattern and experiences, but I don't have a fancy marketinig degree but to me it is logical.  GM and Chrysler still sell sedans as do the "imports".  I have seen pictures of the new Taurus that is being made in China and sold in CHina and in the middle East and it is really cool looking according to my brother who is a contractor in Saudi Arabia.

  I wish they would sell that car over here (And make it over here)

  11 photos

Photo: Ford

Ford knew this day was coming, but that didn't make it any easier when the last Focus, a white, five-door hatchback, rolled off the line at Saarlouis in mid-November. After 27 years, more than 12 million units, and a legacy of being the dependable, fun-to-drive family car for millions, production officially ended.

Employees shared the moment across social media, quietly closing a chapter that once defined Ford's European presence. The decision wasn't sudden. Ford had announced back in 2022 that the Focus would wind down as the company pushed harder toward its electric transition.

When the original Ford Focus landed in 1998, it didn't just replace the Escort. It reset the bar for what a compact car could be. In an era when small family cars were mostly basic appliances, the first-gen Focus arrived with crisp New Edge styling, sharp reflexes, and a chassis so well-sorted it instantly became the benchmark.

For younger buyers, it was a gateway into driving that actually felt fun. For older buyers, it was proof that practicality didn't have to be dull. The Focus was that rare mass-market car that satisfied almost everyone.

And Ford ran with it. The Focus became a global model, eventually replacing regional compacts with a single formula that worked just as well in Berlin as it did in Boston.

Photo: Ford

It spawned everything from budget-friendly commuter trims to the raucous ST and RS variants that earned genuine cult followings. Over four generations, the Focus became one of Ford's essential nameplates.

That long run came to a quiet but emotional close last week when a white, five-door Focus rolled off the line at Ford's Saarlouis plant in Germany. Still, seeing the final car nose its way off the line on November 15 felt like watching an era dissolve in real time.

Ford's corporate communications lead for Europe, Volker Eis, confirmed the moment in a note to Motor1, marking the car's quiet send-off without even a press photo. So the Focus goes as any of the discontinued models that we won't be seeing in 2026, alongside the Alfa Romeo Giulia or the Chevrolet Malibu.

Its end follows a string of Ford farewells in Europe. Fiesta? Gone in 2023. Mondeo? Wrapped up in 2022. The tiny Ka disappeared earlier still. The Focus ST even bowed out separately this fall, its own last unit finishing assembly weeks before the standard car. The result is a Ford lineup in Europe devoid of traditional cars, now consisting almost entirely of SUVs, crossovers, and work vans.

Photo: Ford

Why abandon the staples that once carried Ford's brand in the region? As CEO Jim Farley put it, they were no longer making money. Development costs rose, margins stayed thin, and the numbers never justified future generations.

In one of his blunter comments, Farley said Ford was "getting out of the boring-car business and into the iconic-vehicle business." But the fallout has been painful. Ford's European market share, once 7.2 percent in 2015, has slipped to just 3.3 percent through September 2025. Cutting high-volume nameplates tends to do that.

Meanwhile, European buyers haven't abandoned conventional cars at all. The VW Golf, Renault Clio, Dacia Sandero, Peugeot 208, Skoda Octavia, Toyota Yaris, these are still topping the charts, proving that mainstream hatches and sedans have plenty of life left. Other automakers have doubled down. Ford, at least for now, has stepped back.

The Focus's departure also leaves Saarlouis in limbo. The plant once buzzed with the rhythm of one of Ford's best-known models. Now it builds nothing. Ford hasn't committed to a new product for the factory, nor confirmed a buyer. For a place that's produced millions of cars since the late 1960s, the silence feels heavy.

Photo: Ford

Still, there are signs Ford isn't giving up on Europe entirely. Autocar reported that Ford is preparing a new mid-size crossover arriving in 2027, slotting alongside the Kuga rather than replacing it. It is expected to offer both hybrid and fully electric powertrains, an attempt to fill the void left by the Focus without returning to a classic hatchback formula.

The company is also rolling out two EV crossovers, the Explorer and Capri, both based on Volkswagen's MEB architecture. They are roughly Focus-sized, but not Focus-spirited; they are part of Ford's reinvention, not its heritage.

To orchestrate this comeback, Ford appointed Jim Baumbick, formerly in charge of the Focus and Kuga lines, as its first dedicated European boss in three years.

His marching orders are clear: develop vehicles that Europeans actually want, and restore Ford to the upper ranks of the sales charts. That's no small task when the automaker has fallen from Europe's No. 2 brand in 2015 to 12th just last year.

Photo: Ford

And so the Focus ends the way many great cars do, not with a flashy farewell edition, but with a single, ordinary hatchback gliding quietly into the world. A driver's car to the end, beloved for its steering feel, its balance, its everyday honesty.

It leaves behind a hole in Ford's lineup and in countless driveways, a reminder of a time when a compact hatchback could carry a company's hopes and still put a smile on a driver's face.

Monday Music "You Should Be Dancing" by the Bee Gees

 Was super busy this weekend, family stuff all weekend, I think I came to work to catch my breath.

    Another 70's Icon, LOL   I may find another 70's song for next week.

 I remembered when Disco hit in the mid 70's, and as a kid, I liked the music and Disco was starting to fade a bit when the movie "Saturday Night Fever" hit, prolonging the Disco era.  I like the crazy outfits of the time including the bell bottoms pants, the huge lapels on the jackets made for an interesting cultural phenomenon.  I still listen to Disco even now on my XM/Sirius on channel 54 and maybe Old NFO remember this one, LOL   Who knows the dude depicted here was inspired by "Jim"

"You Should Be Dancing" is a single by the Bee Gees, from the album Children of the World, released in 1976. It hit #1 for one week on the American Billboard Hot 100, #1 for seven weeks on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart, and in July the same year, reached #5 on the UK Singles Chart. The song also peaked at #4 on the Billboard R&B chart. It was this song that first launched the Bee Gees into disco. It was also the only track from the group to top the dance chart.

"You Should Be Dancing" was recorded January 19, February 1 and 8, and May 6, 1976 with Barry Gibb providing lead vocals in falsetto. Barry had developed his falsetto to an incredible degree in the ten months since the release of "Baby As You Turn Away" from the Main Course album on which he sang a full song in falsetto for the first time (except for its chorus). Keyboardist Blue Weaver recalls that Maurice Gibb wrote the bass line and sang the horn parts to the brass players, while Barry sang parts for Weaver to play, while guitarist Alan Kendall got in a short guitar solo for its instrumental break.

Stephen Stills was also at Criteria Studios recording the album Long May You Run with his band and Neil Young. Stills added percussion on the song's February sessions. Members of Stills's backing band, George Perry (bass) and Joe Lala (percussion), also worked with the Bee Gees on some songs.
The song was prominently featured in the movie Saturday Night Fever and appears on its soundtrack album. Live performances of "You Should Be Dancing" during the 1979 Spirits Having Flown tour featured the Bee Gees' younger sibling, Andy Gibb, on backing vocals.

The Boston Celtics also play this song when they are about to win a basketball game in a convincing manner accompanied by the ever popular "Gino Time" video from the television show American Bandstand. Recently, the Tampa Bay Rays have started playing the song at home games between innings.
The song was also featured at the end of the film Despicable Me, in which the minions replace ballet music with the song so everyone (including both a reluctant-at-first Gru and a stranded Vector, who is still on the moon) can dance.

7-11 Clerk fired for defending her life"

 In the 90's I was a Domino's Pizza Manager, and I carried, as did most of my drivers.  It was in a town in middle Georgia.  Now corporate policy was if you get robbed, don't resist, give them what they want and they will leave.  That policy might have worked 20+ years ago, but by the 90's the perps would rob you then shoot you just for street cred.  That "no resist" policy was put in place to protect the store and the company from lawsuits if the perp got killed because the employee resisted, the company can say "Well the *former* employee violated our policy and resisted so we are not liable," because you know that the family of the now dead perp will go looking for a bottom feeder lawyer to get one of those ghetto lottery verdicts and companies have much deeper pockets than the former employee, but with the violation, the company has no liability and is *off the hook*.  We knew the odds and accepted the risk.  Later I was transferred to a store inside the Atlanta area and I didn't carry and got robbed, beaten, pistol whipped and stabbed by 2 15 year old *minority yuuths*. Fun times. Years later  in late 2006 and early 2007 when I was delivering pizza after Ford shut down before my present employer hired me, I was delivering pizza to keep the wolf at bay, I had 3 robbery attempts on me, they weren't in the hood, the trailer parks, the apartment complexes, they were in the middle class subdivision with a high section 8 population, you know the houses with lawn furniture inside, and the flashy cars well pizza boy carries a pistol and I pulled it every time and they saw it and ran.  Pizza boy is married and had a young son at home and Pizza boy was going home to his family.  As soon as my present employer hired me, I gave the pizza places my 2 weeks notice and I haven't worked it since.

     WHat will fix this stuff is tort reform, and loser pays for bullcrap lawsuits.

Wiki Commons

An Oklahoma a 7-Eleven clerk named Stephanie Dilyard was fired for defending her life with a gun.

After 59-year-old Kenneth Thompson allegedly attacked Dilyard, she told KOKH-Fox 25: “This was a situation where I felt like I was put into a corner between choosing between my job, and my life, and I’m always going to choose my life because there’s people that depend on me … .”

Dilyard had worked at the 7-Eleven on a shift from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. for about two years. Then, at about 11:59 p.m. on November 13, according to local media reports, she refused to accept what she thinks was a counterfeit $100 bill for several items.

Thompson then allegedly became violent.

“He threatened me, and said he was gonna slice my head off, and that’s when I tried to call the police,” says Dilyard. “He started throwing things at me, came behind the counter. I tried to run off, but he grabbed his hands around my neck, and pushed me out of the counter space, and that’s when I pulled out my gun and I shot him.”

Thompson then left the store and made his way to an intersection in Oklahoma City, Okla., (MacArthur Blvd. and Northwest 34th St.) and he called 911. 

Police arrived and Thompson was taken to a nearby hospital. He was later charged with assault and battery, threatening acts of violence, attempting to pass a fake (counterfeit) bill and a felony warrant for violating parole.

Oklahoma’s “Stand Your Ground” law legally protects individuals who use force in self-defense. According to local reports, police confirmed that Dilyard is protected under Oklahoma’s self-defense law. 

Dilyard’s job, however, was not safe. She was fired by 7-Eleven for using a gun to defend herself. “They said that they were going to separate from employment because of a violation of policy,” said Dilyard.

Dilyard said that she hopes her ordeal will serve as a wake-up call for other clerks, especially women. People need to be prepared to defend themselves, just as she was. “If I’ve known that there’s a potential that somebody is for real on taking my life away that I will do whatever it takes, and I hope that women see that, and they’ll do the same thing. You have a right to defend yourself,” she told local media.

The corporate media contact for 7-Eleven was asked for comment, but the company has not yet responded. This article will be updated if or when they do.

"We Need to Make America, America Again.

 *Apparently I had a "Sensitive" content warning on my Monday Music.......I have no idea what that was about.

This is a concern, I blame a lot of this on the lack of "civics" being taught in school, plus several generations of students that were taught to despise their country and Western civilization because they were taught that it is the root of all the world's evil. and if it is gone, then utopia will arrive.  Unfortunately if that happens, the safe warm existence they are used to will no longer exist.  We are seeing it in Europe as the slow conquest of Europe by the march of islam that unfettered migration has let in and their institutions have betrayed their people in the name of "multiculturalism".  It is coming here and in several generations we will not recognize our country unless it is stopped.  I will be gone as are my friends, but my son and my descendants will have to deal with it.

I clipped this from "Newsmax"

America is losing its unique American identity, and it's happening with not just the blessing of judges and politicians, but also their active participation.

The United States was founded on three fundamental principles: Individual liberty, a free market economy, and personal responsibility. But all three are bring turned on their heads.

The election of Zohran Mamdani, an anti-Semite communist Muslim, as mayor of what was the center of capitalism, should have shocked everyone.

Mamdani is a 34-year-old Ugandan native who didn't become a U.S. citizen until 2018 and has never run so much as a Kool-Aid stand.

As a result, New Yorkers can look forward to a loss of private property rights, crippling taxation, and a rise in crime due to a diminished police presence.

In addition, at least 10 other un-American Marxist Mamdani clones won local races across the United States this month — an off-year election.

We can expect many more at the 2026 midterms.

Mamdani's campaign came to the attention of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who gave a warning a few months before his assassination.

"It's not Islamophobia to notice that a man who wants to globalize the intifada is about to run America's largest and once greatest city," he said.

"It's not Islamophobia to notice that Muslims want to import values into the West that seek to destabilize our civilization."

Kirk concluded that "It’s cultural suicide to stay silent."

A month later, Kirk addressed the broader issue of immigration in general.

He believed that the sharp decline of married, 30-year-old homeowners from 1960 to the present was attributable to a breakdown of the social compact.

To address it, he believed we need a sharply decreased non-American influence in the United States and suggested:

1 - Mass deportations

2 - Stop the H-1B scam

3 - Dramatically reduce legal- Immigration

4 - End chain migration and the Visa Lottery

All too often government figures bend over backwards to accommodate immigrants who commit crimes or engage in dangerous behavior.

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg released an Algerian migrant taxi driver who was charged with sexually assaulting late-night female passengers on two separate occasions.

The cabbie, Mohammed Bellebia, 34, was arrested on Dec. 19, 2024 and charged in both cases. Later, he was permitted to plead guilty to disorderly conduct and was given a conditional release.

Well, what the heck, sexual assaults may be acceptable in Algeria, as a form of flattery, right?

Remember the Indian immigrant, Harjinder Singh, who made an illegal U-turn on a Florida divided highway, resulting in the deaths of three people?

It turned out that he was given a commercial driver's license (CDL), despite the fact that he couldn't speak, understand, or read English.

He was later charged with and pled not guilty to three counts of vehicular homicide and three counts of manslaughter.

In response, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy restricted the ability of non-U.S. citizens to obtain CDLs, and last week Duffy announced that California had illegally issued 17,000 CDLs.

"After weeks of claiming they did nothing wrong, Gavin Newsom and California have been caught red-handed," said Duffy. "Now that we’ve exposed their lies, 17,000 illegally issued trucking licenses are being revoked."

However, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the Department of Transportation from enforcing its restrictions on foreign CDL holders.

It ruled that the government failed to follow proper procedure and didn't provide sufficient justification for how the rule would promote safety.

Meanwhile, last month another illegal alien commercial truck driver was under the influence of drugs when he rear-ended several vehicles at high speed with his rig, killing three people.

We're supposed to believe in free markets, not socialism.

Also, this is supposed to be America, not Uganda, Algeria, India, or the Tower of Babel

More than a century ago President Theodore Roosevelt warned America about immigrants who refuse to assimilate to our way of life.

"There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag. . .  We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language. . .  and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

That quote, along with our founding principles of individual liberty, free market economy, and personal responsibility, should be prominently displayed in the offices of every judge, district attorney, and politician in America.

And it wouldn't hurt for New York City voters to review it also.

If we're going to survive as a nation, America has to become America again.