You are a patriot when you are overthrowing tyrants. 

If the patriots had lost what would they be called now in your history books? That whole tyrant thingy doesn't hold water and is only an excuse used by the smugglers and profiteers who wanted bigger profits for themselves.  You were treated no different that any other subjects of the crown. When only 30% or less wanted to cut ties with England and did it at gun point then you can't call them Patriots.  

The commonest way to gain a commission in the 18th century, most armies did it, although not as much as the British. Not formally abolished over here until 1870. Considering that any fool with money could become an officer it's a miracle that the British Army was as good as it was. No braver officers ever led men into battle. They paid a fortune and died like flies for the privilege, right at the front of the action. There is a certain logic to the bought commission, which as usual, has to be seen through the eyes of its time. A huge sum was a statement of purpose and commitment. Officers had a vested interest in their profession and the vast majority took it very seriously indeed, or were made to by the like of Wellington. The ordinary soldier looked up to these people, they didn't want Fred Bloggs leading them into battle, they wanted a titled person and regiments of foot would boast between each other about who had the most titled officers. Also, as the saying went, they lent dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl. And think about this, there you are in your nice big mansion, surrounded by Champagne, dirty girls and roast pheasant and you pay a fortune to sod off to some flea bitten shithole to go to the front of all that city scum and country yokels and walk them into a hail of lead? Me? I'd stay at home with the dirty girls.

Rubbish, the victors write the history books & we won. 

Yes and they were written by the same people that lead you astray in the first place. Things like the British are coming-the British are coming or Paul Revere's ride to Concord that never happened. Your history books are nothing but folklore and the traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth, not fact.

Tom, that's where the army got its recruits from, the city scum and country yokels.

No different in the States Major. You only got sent to Vietnam if you weren't from a rich family. Their whole military is made up of Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and Blacks.

Keep it up Major, I think we have Tommy on the ropes.

Bernie Sanders to join insulin caravan to Windsor, Ont.

Bernie Sanders will join the next caravan to Canada for Americans to purchase insulin. 

Sanders announced Thursday he plans to come to Windsor, Ont. through Detroit, Mich. to "spotlight greed" existing in the American healthcare industry. 

He joins people with Type 1 diabetes who have been coming to Canada to purchase insulin — the drug costs about $30 in Canada, compared to about $300 in the United States.

"We can't wait for drug companies to lower prices," tweeted Sanders. "Americans need relief now."

Not the first time Sanders has taken a stand

Sanders is no stranger to coming with Americans to Canada to purchase medication. In 1999, Sanders joined women with breast cancer in crossing the border. 

Sanders is currently the U.S. Senator, from Vermont, and is running for the presidency of the United States. 

I know in Vietnam a lot of American officers seemed to get shoot in the back by their own troops. Was this because they were good officers or were they lacking something in their training or attitude before they hit the front lines. I thing there biggest problem would be having to deal with conscript soldiers who didn't want to be there in the first place.

I'm sure today one of the main things junior officers are taught at Sandhurst or West Point is that when you join a Regt you'll know less than pretty well anyone else, that you'll be wise to heed the words of your SNCOs when dealing with the troops.

Over here when a soldier was convicted of murder the victim was usually a Corporal or a Sergeant they'd fallen foul of.

I recall a programme on this many years ago, which stated how the men and their officers got leave at different times, which sometimes meant that a fresh officer off the boat could arrive to take charge of experienced soldiers and being straight out of West Point, with no combat experience but lashings of enthusiasm to make a name for themselves, they took their men on missions and when they got over enthusiastic and put the men's lives in danger with a gun ho attitude, the men shot them. I hear that around a hundred officers were shot by their own side. Don't know about the numbers shot but many deaths would have been covered up as offices seemed to get shot during a fire fight. Was it by accident or on purpose, only the men themselves would know.

Looks like it's only you and me holding the Fort down Mark. Should have the rest of them up on charges for desertion. Not one of them applied for a leave pass.

Holiday season I guess, although when Shula resurfaced a few weeks ago she promised never to disappear for lengthy periods again. Trump hasn't told Shula to go back to where she's from I hope. It wouldn't surprise me because he has told everyone else that. The whole United States is in a bad heat wave this week (in the 90's) so she might be hanging out in Walmarts by the frozen meat section. Too hot to be doing garden work.

My PC has broken, or rather my monitor has, and I won't get a new one until Wednesday, I'm in my local library at the moment. I should be able to log in for a few words at work from Monday, but I'll be out of touch over the weekend.

So hopefully I'll be back to normal brimming with useless historical facts from the middle of the week. Let's hope that in the meantime Trump hasn't started World War III/civil war/race war. 

My PC has broken, or rather my monitor has, and I won't get a new one until Wednesday, I'm in my local library at the moment. I should be able to log in for a few words at work from Monday, but I'll be out of touch over the weekend.

So hopefully I'll be back to normal brimming with useless historical facts from the middle of the week. Let's hope that in the meantime Trump hasn't started World War III/civil war/race war.  Sorry to hear about your monitor. Time to buy a big one. In that time frame Mark flakey Trump could start all three. The Republicans are so scared of losing their seats in the Senate that they are putting their jobs head of the country and are at the stage Trump could commit murder and they would back him and fluff it off. Wait till September when the country is out of money and has to go kiss China's backside again to borrow more.

What a load of bollocks, since when have the dems ever done any government work? Their entire lives are consumed with Trump, to the exclusion of all else. What laws are they trying to pass, other than ones which oppose anything that Trump is doing? What policies do they have on unemployment? Defence? Industry? None, the only thing that drives their miserable, useless existences is TDS. They are not a legitimate party of opposition, they are a re psychopathic rabble, run and dominated by the gang of four US despising radicals. Cortes wants to take your cars off you? happy with that are you Pete? What about your ability to take a flight on holiday, eat a steak? All going.... utterly pathetic. You know what? The socialists have created societies where you cannot be sacked for being useless or just plain inept but you can for posting a social media statement they don't politically care for and your all for it. The socialists have created a permanent unpaid career of PC spotting and enforcement. They might not have got you yet, but as more and more language and history become forbidden, it's only a matter of time, but you can't see that. We're beginning to live in societies where communism has gained an totally unhealthy respect, forget the mass murder, that was just an unfortunate mistake, we'll get it right next time and on that pernicious journey there are two main weapons with which to beat you over the head, one is your own language and the other your own history. This new brand of political thug have two major factors to kow tow you all with, they are not white and they are women. Being none white means you can shut down all debate by pointing the racist finger and thinking of a reason later, when you can get around to it, but with the ease with which just about everybody come under the racist umbrella nowadays, they better watch out because when we're all racist, then none of us are racist. Pelosi doesn't do what they tell her, they call her a racist! HA! If she persists they'll label her something far worse, a Trumpite. They have banned the word US citizen, do you realise that? Canadian cities will soon follow with that transvestite you have as a Prime Minister in Canada. About time societies got up off their knees.

You don't have to take it from me but the whole world Is now calling Trump and the Republican party racists, especially after Trumps last rally. The Republicans have sold their souls and their country so that they can try and save their seats in the next elections.. Germany, Britain, France and Canada have all come out and said Trump is making racist statements. Every Red State is jerrymandering so that can win the electoral collage vote again like they did before. By doing this they have corrupted the vote.

Not too much will be gained by Mueller's report because the DOJ has already put a gag order on what he is allowed to say.

The Demo's problem right now is too many running and wanting too much big change which American's are not use to.

To say that I'm disappointed on how America is acting right now would be an understatement. You are capable of much better. 

The Tea Party were the first at one time to whine about fiscal restraint and were telling everyone they didn't want to have their grand children stuck with the countries massive debt.

To me, I thought it was a good cause as Governments if they are not kept under check can get carried away.

Where are they now letting a cap less budget go through. How much more money will they need to borrow from China.

Seems like the Tea Party has done a 180.

Boris is our new PM, it'll take me a few days to get used to the idea as it seems almost ludicrous, not as ludicrous as Trump getting in, but not far off.

We're in the middle of a horrendous heatwave over here, forecast to reach 39C in the south east tomorrow, a record high if it does. Where I am it'll be a mere 33C, too bloody hot by far.