Caught My Eye…

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Happy Friday, friends! Here are the topics that made today’s column:

  • Personal Note
  • Russia Prisoner Swap
  • Unlawful Border Crossings
  • One More Thing

PERSONAL NOTE:

It’s August recess time! I will not be posting as much as I normally do for the next few weeks. Don’t cry for me…

I will be posting stuff on X and TikTok as the need arises.

I plan on taking a road trip with my wonderful wife who just retired. I will be heading east, then probably south, then maybe west, and hopefully north, and then east. I will try to post some photos along the way.

You might catch me standing on the corner somewhere…

RUSSIA PRISONER SWAP:

The Associated Press (AP) reported that the U.S. and Russia on Thursday completed their largest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history, a deal involving 24 people, many months of negotiations and concessions from other European countries who released Russians in their custody as part of the exchange.

All together the AP says 24 people were released. Russia released 16 people, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan. Also freed by Moscow was Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen convicted in July of spreading false information about the Russian military — accusations her family and employer have rejected — and Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Kremlin critic and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer serving 25 years on charges of treason widely seen as politically motivated.

While we should be happy for the families of those mentioned above, the AP says there are still several Americans being held by Russia. Those people include Travis Leake, a musician convicted on drug charges and sentenced to prison; Gordon Black, an American soldier convicted of stealing and making threats of murder; Marc Fogel, a teacher also sentenced on drug charges; and Ksenia Khavana, who was arrested in Yekaterinburg in February on treason charges, accused of collecting money for Ukraine’s military.

I pray that our leaders can work out a deal to bring these people home.

You can read the AP story HERE.

UNLAWFUL BORDER CROSSINGS:

CBS News is reporting that unlawful crossings by migrants along the U.S. southern border dropped for the fifth consecutive month in July, plunging to the lowest level since the fall of 2020, internal government figures obtained by CBS News show.

This is good news and I hope the trend continues.

Check out the full report from CBS News HERE.

ONE MORE THING:

I want my MTV…

At 12:01 am on Aug. 1, 1981, the television network MTV was launched. It was only on one cable network in New Jersey. Today it is in about 85% of American homes and is seen worldwide. When they started out, they played music. Today it has become something else. (Source)

The first music video played was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles.  Of course, my favorite band, REO Speedwagon, had several videos played on the first day, with “Take it on the Run” being the ninth video played. (Source)

## HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND ##

10 thoughts on “Caught My Eye…”

  1. I watched Trumps interview with the black journalists and after he insulted and chewed out the ABC lady he stole her water bottle and did that awkward two handed drink out of it. Funny.

  5. Have fun, Jackie! Recharge the old batteries a bit. And then back at it with renewed vigor.

    Before you go, it’s vital that we not get comfortable referring to Vance as just weird. He’s not. He’s an honest to God Nazi. The flowing article is beyond anything this country has seen since the Bund days. And his mentor and benefactor Peter Theil, is unashamedly proud to be a fascist. Please read this article carefully, and think about its implications. And I encourage you, if you can stomach it, to listen to the song about placing Jews in the ovens. “Ovening Jews”. It is a masterfully done piece of extreme hate propaganda. Very artistic and quite good musically except for the abhorrent content. What sort of person invests in a site that argues there’s a white genocide and extolls the virtues of roasting Jews? Vance, that’s who! This can’t happen here.

    ”Vance has had a six-figure stake in Rumble, an online video platform. The company has played host to Russian propaganda and to far-right personalities like Stew Peters and Tim Pool. It has also featured even more extreme content, including explicitly neo-Nazi images and themes like this song touting the “Reich” and calling for Jews to be placed in ovens from a “dissident rapper” with a dedicated page on the site. The site features a plethora of channels and videos dedicated to the concept of “white genocide,” which is a core belief for white supremacists. It also hosts channels for explicitly white supremacist organizations including VDare and Patriot Front, which has led masked demonstrations around the country.”

    https://crooksandliars.com/2024/08/jd-vance-literally-invested-neo-nazi-and

  6. I sincerely hope you and your wife have a great trip, and know you will be safer out there since I no longer drive.

  7. Interesting new commentary from the Daily Montanan:

    “The only voter fraud being perpetuated in Montana is the bogus theory Jacobsen tried” [to block the ballot initiatives by changing rules midstream and disqualify 16,000 registered voters]

    “… what we’re witnessing is the Secretary of State apparently colluding with Republican legislators to undermine and discredit legitimate Montana voters.”

    “In the midst of all these concerns about election integrity and security, it is the very person who is charge of elections statewide who has made an attempt at discounting or ignoring ballot signatures.”

    More and more layers of scummy conniving and election interference by Jacobsen’s office and Republican leadership revealed. Shameful. Awful nasty people. As Tubby would put it.

    https://dailymontanan.com/2024/08/01/the-only-voter-fraud-being-perpetuated-in-montana-is-the-bogus-theory-jacobsen-tried/

    • Partisan politics is destroying the trust in our system. I don’t know if we’ll ever get it back. -JmB

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