Ellsworth "Al" Johnson, R.I.P.

Ellsworth Johnson was a courageous American medic 

and soldier. Johnson fought in both the European and 

Pacific theatres of war in WWII. A draftee, he was first

a medic but volunteered for a dangerous mission and 

joined the forerunner of the CIA, the Office of Strategic

Services. In August 1944, Johnson parachuted behind

enemy lines in France to assist the French Resistance

in capturing a strategically vital dam. Next, he transferred

to the Pacific Theatre where he helped train Chinese

paratroopers and also jumped into Japanese-occupied

territory. 

Neither he nor his exploits were widely known prior to 

1995, when information about Johnson was declassified.

Johnson was the last surviving member of a special-

operations group which was the forerunner of the Green 

Berets, and was honored a month before his passing

at 100 years of age with an Army Special Forces tab

and a green beret, presented in a special ceremony at 

his assisted-living facility near Grand Rapids, Michigan,

where le lived out his days.

Thank you, sir, for your service and sacrifice. Rest in peace.

MEM  

A Special Way to Observe Memorial Day

Friends, your grateful Peasant has an idea that I'd like to share 

with you. As we are just four days away from Memorial Day,

the day established for remembrance of and gratitude for our 

fallen military members who, by their shockingly difficult 

work and sacrifice, especially that of their very lives, there is

an activity we can engage in which will help us to, in a manner 

of speaking, get to know the names and the stories of those 

very heroes who gave all so that we can have much.

This is an idea which I came across when looking up such brave

people, and I am simply expanding on it; The Peasant thanks 

and praises Jane Horton, the Defense Department's senior 

advisor for Gold Star and surviving family members matters

for sharing this idea this week on the DoD web page. 

Horton urged that families get familiar with those who have

made the ultimate sacrifice  by learning their names and stories,

"teaching their (children) about those losses, then go out and have 

fun." She makes clear that families should not maintain a somber

mood throughout the day, and in fact to have some enjoyment 

during same. All she wants to do is to promote awareness of these

magnificent Americans and what they did to establish and to keep

our nation free and strong. 

Your faithful Peasant recommends doing the following: looking up

information on ancestors who have so served and sacrificed, as well

as to read books and articles on the wars that our country has fought 

in, with an eye out for individual instances of heroism in battle, 

in particular stories of those who truly gave everything. If you come 

across any records of ancestors' military service, including their

deaths in battle, have them on hand to display or to be a part of your

family libraries to show to all family members, as well as to pass down 

to future generations of family. This way they will always be 

known and remembered by all family members, and will make 

Memorial Day and its meaning something that the family can 

appreciate as well as to identify with via connecting the stories

with their family histories and how they relate to our country's 

history. And one needs not stop there; this all can be done at anytime

of the year, all through the year. If you have any drawings or 

photographs of your family members in uniform, and/or military 

equipment i.e. helmets, swords, guns, or perhaps medals and 

newspaper articles giving accounts of their bravery and sacrifice

in battle, these, too can be wonderful historic family heirlooms.

We Americans have much to be proud of. This includes the stories 

of our courageous ancestors and how our country benefitted from 

their service, including dying so that we could live in freedom.

MEM

Antisemitism Infects America

Hitler is laughing in hell. Our country and our allies

routed his Nazi Germany in WWII nearly eighty years

ago, destroying the Jewish people's biggest and most

dangerous enemy in the world with the ultra-tyrannical,

antisemitic dictator taking his own life before the allies

could nab him. But today there are antisemites running

around in many of our cities and college campuses 

screaming out for the destruction of Israel and for 

running Jews out of both our cities and colleges. 

Furthermore, these hatemongers chant their support for

Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and anyone else who

has declared their hatred for Israel and the Jewish people

there and everywhere else in the world. They protest for 

their elimination from what they consider the Palestinian 

state, territory in the hands of Israel, and on college

campuses they have protested violently against the very

presence of Jewish students and faculty at these schools.

Some colleges and universities, such as Columbia 

University in New York have informed Jewish students 

and others that they could not guarantee their safety

and that they should, for their own safety, leave campus

and not attend any classes for the time being. 

Even places of worship aren't safe from these hordes;

recently three men barged in and interrupted the Easter

vigil at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, unfurling

a banner while shouting "Free Palestine". Other religious

as well as political and sports events have been targeted 

by these horrible elements whose organizers are know-

ledgeable in maximizing public exposure.

They have even protested against President Biden's 

handling of Israel's war with the Palestinians and their allies,

and Biden is no fan of Israel and her people. On March 28

these haters disrupted a re-election fundraiser for the president

in New York featuring two past Democrat presidents, 

Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. That garnered headlines, 

but oddly enough the protesters' chants of "Down with the USA",

and "Al-Quassam are on their way (this is Hamas' military wing),

got zero coverage (!). Their physical threats to attendees outside 

of the building were completely ignored (!!). Posters and flags 

of terrorist organizations, including these aforementioned ones,

were present at protests in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada; 

they, too, were ignored (!!!). 

One can surmise that many of these college and university 

campuses, along with many major American cities and the so-called

Mainstream media, are adding to the fact that the current presidential 

administration are in the hands of very left-of-center people whom

--- with much of the Left --- are adamantly opposed to Israel

and their defending themselves against their radical Arab enemies 

that had attacked their homeland, and have no concern whatsoever 

for the safety and protection of the Jewish people here in the U.S.

as well as other countries where Jews find themselves targeted for 

various acts of physical harm. And from what your studious Peasant

has gathered, one would certainly be right. In Congress, there are 

some members who are of Arab heritage and make antisemitic remarks

and rants, all quite public, there in the House chamber quite regularly.

They don't fear censure, either; there seems to be no shutting them up.

Every senior Hamas leader has acknowledged the importance of the

protests and that they are an integral part of influencing U.S. as well 

as Western policy regarding the Palestinians and Israel. On October 7

of last year, coinciding with the attack on Israel, Hamas leader and 

ex-Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh mentioned this on 

Al-Jazeera TV, cheering on the "resistance abroad", "strategic allies",

and Muslims all over the world, to "join this battle any way they can."

At present, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and others are grooming

and working with activists, truly useful idiots, in the U.S. and the West.

On March 25, the Columbia University Apartheid Divest student group

hosted an event called "Resistance 101" on campus. Featuring leaders 

of the PFLP-affiliated Samidoun, Within Our Lifetime and other such

organizations, former PFLP official Khaled Barakat made reference to 

his "friends and brothers in Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP in 

Gaza," acknowledging that right after October 7, his "friends and

brothers" feel strongly that "they are being backed as a resistance 

and are being supported." 

On January 21 a New York event hosted by the Communist World 

Workers World Party, an official Hamas statement was read and there

were the screening of videos from PFLP, Palestinian Islamic Jihad,

Hezbollah, and the Houthis. The gathering of radical and racist thugs 

proclaimed that they stand "together, one front" against Israel, 

the U.S., and their "tyranny", as well as "Western hegemony 

and imperialism." All in all a very cozy gathering, indeed. 

Some of the officials in attendance thanked and praised the protesters 

in western countries including the U.S. for "taking a stand and partici-

pating in marches and going out into the streets." 

All of these things have very real, and very dangerous consequences.

These groups themselves don't march around chanting hateful slogans, 

they make terrorist attacks and kill as many people as they can. 

Yet another reason to replace our current president with one who will 

see and recognize this looming threat to the safety and stability of our

country and that of the world, and will take appropriate action to 

thwart it before it is too late.

MEM

Philippe de Gaulle, R.I.P.

The son of General and President Charles de Gaulle

was an admiral in the French Navy. After WWII he 

became a senator in France's legislature. Being the son

of Charles de Gaulle was no walk in the park, but he 

had this to say in an interview on his 100th birthday:

"I would have preferred to give some of my longevity

to my father." Admiral de Gaulle went to join his father 

for all time, aged 102. Rest well, Admiral.

MEM 

World Wide Socialism

With so many countries, including (sadly) the United States,

having increasingly ravenous appetites for money, and the

more the merrier (not for the countries' taxpayers), it was 

bound to happen. 

Here's the latest lowdown on the lefties' down 'n' dirty. 

There is the bright idea of four countries in the G-20 

group of nations to impose a 2% wealth tax of the very

wealthiest citizens in those lands. The economic ministers

of Germany, South Africa, Spain, and Brazil have said that

the tax would  raise about $250 billion per year from 

approximately 3,000 billionaires. They also claimed that 

this would "boost social justice and increase trust in the 

effect of fiscal redistribution (!)". These four countries are 

planning to present this hare-brained idea at the upcoming 

G-20 meeting in June. 

As the United States has the highest number of billionaires

this horror, labelled the Global Wealth Tax, it would be a tax

similar to and in addition to a similar idea being bandied 

about in Washington; remember what I shared with you two 

weeks ago regarding the wealth tax scheme dreamt up by 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA),  the female version of 

colleague and political soulmate of Sen. Bernie Sanders

(Ind.-VT)? But this would be taxation without representation,

as it would be imposed by a cabal of global elites 

attempting to do so without it having been passed 

by Congress.

The game plan is to get President Biden and Treasury Secretary

Janet Yellen, along with a majority of the G-20 bunch endorse 

the tax, then negotiate a global tax scheme and keep it off to the 

side until the Democrats control both chambers of Congress 

--- and not by such skinny margins as they currently do in the 

Senate --- as well as the presidency (which they now do).

This may take quite some years, but this money-hungry bunch

would be willing to wait, I'm sure. The wealth tax "is a necessary

third pillar that complements the negotiations on the taxation

of the digital economy and on a minimum corporate tax of 15%

for multinationals," these ministers swear by. This thing would

team with any minimum corporate tax to double-team the 

multinationals and remember, these corporations will simply pass 

along these taxes to their customers via increased prices for their 

goods and services. And once such taxes are implemented, good 

luck getting rid of them!

Besides all this, do you really think that the super-wealthy earners

(that is, those who call for such taxation on a wide scale) currently

pay their so-called fair share of income taxes, and would they 

bend to the will and wishes of the G-20 crowd and pay these new 

taxes, especially any wealth tax? If any of you, my wonderful 

readers do happen to think this, then your enterprising Peasant 

has some real estate way down south to sell you; it's the

Okefenokee Swamp!

Folks, the takeaway here a multipoint one: 

1) In the U.S., and in other countries where there are billionaires 

and near-billionaires, there won't be enough of them to provide

all of the tax revenue that the G-20 club is projecting that they 

think they will raise. That means they will have to go downstairs

to the millionaires, then maybe the near-wealthy, the upper middle-

class, the middle class, then your guess as to where and how it

will end is as good as your favorite Peasant's.

2) This nightmarish tax idea is increasingly at loggerheads with 

U.S. interests. The G-20 over the years of its 25-year existence 

has become a tool for left-wing governments the world over to

to make financial trouble for the U.S. And our country has been

in their crosshairs for much of that time.

3) The Biden regime is, politically speaking, kindred spirits with 

these governments and would love nothing more than to aid their

plans by giving power, and lots of it --- hang our sovereignty --- 

to these far-left governments. This would result in, among other 

things, U.S. taxpayers both individual and business having yet 

one more layer of financially oppressive government to fight 

in order to keep from getting cleaned out, and it would be a 

layer unaccountable to them. Taxation without representation 

and loss of sovereignty; a gruesome twosome.

4) Finally, this would be a tool, really an "in", for socialists in 

many countries, including here in the United States, to give their 

noxious ideology roots to anchor themselves in their governments

and economies to displace any semblance of the free market.

Something to ponder, and not just every April 15.

MEM