Images | Commentary | Digital Scrapbook
Alfred Giraud was an Owens Valley Sheepherder and rancher. He immigrated to the United States in the early 1900’s and took up residence in the southern Owens Valley working as a sheepherder.
I first traveled through this area in my late teens and early twenties while in college and fell in love with the area. I have been interested in the pioneers and early residents ever since. I stumbled upon a book by the late Mr. Giraud titled “My first winter in California.” The book was written in 1966. The simplicity and wisdom of this strong man captured my attention. Here are a couple of short versus from his book.
“…We were out under the stars and in the open all the time. We had all the meat we needed, by butchering our own sheep. We were working for wages then, getting $30 a month and board. We had hobnailed, square-toed boots with wide flat heels, no underwear, a pair of 75¢ Levi’s, a 50¢ light shirt, a 75¢ denim jacket, and a slicker in case it rained hard. We were hardy, healthy and tough. We could take almost anything in the line of work day or night…”
and
“…In the mornings, we made and drank a big dish full of coffee and ate bread, sugar and cheese. Our only other drink was water, which at times was hard to find and very precious. This life agreed with us. We were in the best of health, tough and rugged, never an ache or pain. Sure it was sometimes lonely. But where else can one find peace of mind, learn much of the secrets of nature, and realize that a human being is a very small and insignificant speck on this earth and that by living with faith and humility, the good lord will reward us…”
Alfred R. Giraud
U.K. Royal Marines with X-Ray Company, Fire Support Group, 45 Commando conduct a security patrol with Jackals or Mobility Weapon-Mounted Installation Kits (MWMIK) during Integrated Training Exercise (ITX) 2-19 at Galloway lake training area on Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC), Twentynine Palms, Calif., Jan. 18, 2019.
“…Once complete, Calcasieu Pass terminal will export up 12 million metric tons of LNG a year. Brouillette said the project already has buyers, including in Europe, waiting for American natural gas. Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling spurred an oil and natural gas boom over the past decade, making the U.S. the world’s top hydrocarbon producer. However, a limiting factor on oil and gas is the lack of export terminals and pipelines…”
CONRAD BLACK:
“…The most immense and dangerous public scandal in American history is finally cracking open like a ripe pomegranate. The broad swath of the Trump-hating press that has participated in what has amounted to an unconstitutional attempt to overthrow the government are reduced to reporting the events and revelations of the scandal in which they have been complicit, in a po-faced ho-hum manner to impart to the misinformed public that this is as routine as stock market fluctuations or the burning of an American flag in Tehran.
For more than two years, the United States and the world have had two competing narratives: that an elected president of the United States was a Russian agent whom the Kremlin helped elect; and its rival narrative that senior officials of the Justice Department, FBI, CIA, and other national intelligence organizations had repeatedly lied under oath, misinformed federal officials, and meddled in partisan political matters illegally and unconstitutionally and had effectively tried to influence the outcome of a presidential election, and then undo its result by falsely propagating the first narrative. It is now obvious and indisputable that the second narrative is the correct one…”
Katie Pavlich:
“…Earlier this week fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who served as acting director after James Comey was fired in May 2017, made headlines when he alleged meetings took place at the Department of Justice about ousting President Trump from office. Now according to a new Rasmussen Report, the majority of voters believe crimes were likely committed by DOJ and FBI officials and they want a special prosecutor to investigate.
Most voters say top Justice Department and FBI officials are likely to have acted criminally when they secretly discussed removing President Trump from office and think a special prosecutor is needed to investigate.
Fifty-six percent (56%) of Likely U.S. Voters believe senior federal law enforcement officials are likely to have broken the law in their discussions in May 2017 to oust Trump, with 37% who say it is Very Likely. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 36% consider that unlikely, with 19% who say it’s Not At All Likely that they broke the law.
Fifty-one percent (51%) think a special prosecutor should be named to investigate the discussions among senior Justice Department and FBI officials in May 2017 to remove the president from office. Thirty-eight percent (38%) disagree, but 11% are undecided.
Opinion: It’s 2019, And Gay People Are Still Being Forced To Attack Themselves In The Streets
Fact check this Snopes!
Babylon Bee is a satirical web magazine
JIM GERAGHTY:
“…There’s no excuse for racist and sexist stereotypes, but as the well-informed audience of this newsletter knows, [Kamala] Harris and Brown did have an extramarital affair (he was married, she wasn’t) starting in 1993, he appointed her to two well-paying state positions during their relationship, and he was no doubt a key connection as she began her career, introducing her to California’s political movers and shakers. It’s completely fair to ask the candidate hard questions about this nepotism, and the fact that some Russian bot is tweeting about it doesn’t mean the topic transmogrifies into “disinformation.”…”
John McWhorter:
“…Did it not occur to Smollett that if this blew up in his face, he would be tarring by association actual and legitimate claims of racist and homophobic abuse? As someone seeking to be seen as a concerned activist in the vein of his mother and Angela Davis, could Smollett really not understand that a stunt all about making himself more famous was not exactly the wokest approach?
But that’s just it—Smollett, if the latest reporting is true, was an eager puppy, jumping with joyous inattention into American social politics as he has encountered it coming of age in the 21st century. He would have known that in this moment, very important people would find him more interesting for having been hurt on the basis of his identity than for his fine performance on an interesting hit television show. He would have known this so well that it didn’t even occur to him that his story would have to be more credible than the dopey one he threw together about being jumped in near-Arctic temperatures by the only two white bullies in America with a mysterious fondness for a black soap hip-hopera. (Yet again, I’m assuming the latest reporting is accurate.)
Only in an America in which matters of race are not as utterly irredeemable as we are often told could things get to the point that someone would pretend to be tortured in this way, acting oppression rather than suffering it, seeking to play a prophet out of a sense that playing a singer on television is not as glamorous as getting beaten up by white guys. That anyone could feel this way and act on it in the public sphere is, in a twisted way, a kind of privilege, and a sign that we have come further on race than we are often comfortable admitting…”
Related
