THE COMING OF 2025

The end and beginning of the year are a transition celebrated worldwide.   

• The first nation to celebrate New Year 2025 was Kiribati, at 5AM ET.  This is because the International Date Line where the day begins is in the Pacific Ocean.
• At 6AM ET came New Zealand.

• Then at 8AM ET, Sydney, Australia.  More than million watched, live.

• 10AM, Tokyo, Japan.

• 10AM ET, Seoul, South Korea.

• 11AM ET, Hong Kong.

• 11AM ET, Beijing, China.

• 11AM New York, Taipei, Taiwan, their tallest building, Taiwan 101.

• Midnight New York, Bangkok, Thailand.

• 3AM New York, Dubai, UAE, Burj Khalifa, tallest building in the world.

• 
  What are the final places to see the new year?
• Baker Island and Howland Island.  However, no one lives there.
• 6AM ET, American Samoa hits midnight.
• 5AM ET, Hawaii.
• 4AM ET, French Polynesia and Alaska.
• 3AM ET, the Pacific Coast of U.S. and Canada.

Maybe the most seen new year celebration occurs at Times Square in New York City.  The following list is from Time magazine:

• In the USA, maybe a million revelers pack Times Square, waiting for the ball to drop at midnight.  Another billion watch on TV.  
• We have a special interest this year because in the spring we spent five days in New York City at the Marriott Marquis, where our room faced that ball.

Ten surprising facts about that glowing orb drop:

• Dropping balls began in the 1800s, as this practice was used to signify time to sailors at sea.  First in Portsmouth, England, then Greenwich, which led to the Greenwich Mean time.  A timekeeping ball is still dropped there daily.
• The Times Square ball tradition began because of a fireworks ban in 1907, but was hardly noticed.

• 
  More recently, counting down a launch had to do with a bomb to be exploded, for the Doomsday Clock came to be in 1947.
• It's possible, not much was known about the Times Square drop until 1957 when a radio program brought it to nationwide attention.

• 
  To compete with Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians (watch their final performance in 1976--nice performance at Times Square if you like nostalgia), Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve began the countdown on TV from 1972, with Three Dog Night and George Carlin.  50 years of the program.

• 
  But crowds did not come until 1979.
• The ball today weighs more than a car, 11,875 pounds.

• 
  After New Year 2024, 200 sanitation workers took six hours to clean up close to 100,000 pounds of trash and confetti.
• The Marriott Marquis (our hotel) charges $15,000 for its Prime VIP Couple's Package, offering an open bar, dinner buffet, hors d'oeuvres, bottle of champagne and guaranteed seating next to floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto Times Square.  We could have done this for the cost of the room, which in the Spring was around $500/night.
• 
  There are no portable restrooms in Times Square.  Solution?  Adult diapers.  No kidding.
• Pitbull unveiled the current ball on December 27.  He placed the final crystal on the ball.  Next year, there will be a brand new higher tech ball.
• Read the entire article for all of them.

This year’s main event will be presented by co-hosts actor Jonathan Bennett and interviewer Jeremy Hassell. It will feature musical performances from Mark Ambor, Mickey Guyton, Rita Ora, Carrie Underwood, and the Jonas Brothers. and more, per the Times Square website. Major broadcast networks will also be celebrating in Times Square, with ABC showing Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest and CNN hosting New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen.

In other parts of the world.

• In Brazil, revelers wear white and go to the beach.
• In Japan, Buddhist temples ring bells 108 times because there are that number of earthly desires.  Each strike removes one of them.

• 
  In  Denmark, they stand on chairs or couches to leap off when midnight hits.  Not to do so brings bad luck in the new year.
• Spaniards pop 12 grapes in their mouth

Shifting gears to sports.

It's here! Over the next 40 hours, sure to be filled with drama, the College Football Playoff field will shrink from eight teams to four. Here are the matchups:

Tonight: (6) Penn State vs. (3) Boise State (preview) Tomorrow: (5) Texas vs. (4) Arizona State (preview) Tomorrow: (8) Ohio State vs. (1) Oregon (preview) Tomorrow: (7) Notre Dame vs. (2) Georgia (preview)

Oregon is not favored to win the championship, but if it does, they will become the first 16-0 team in college football history.  The last time Ohio State lost twice to the same team in the same season was in 1894.

The PGA's first two tournaments will be held in Hawaii:

• The Sentry Open beginning Thursday, January 2 at the Kapalua Resort Plantation Course on Maui.
• The Sony Open at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu from January 9.

Tiger Woods plans on playing more this year.  Below, Tiger and Charlie just came in second at the PNC Championship, with daughter Sam on the bag.

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WILL TULSI GABBARD BE CONFIRMED BY THE U.S. SENATE FOR DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE?

The subject of today will be Tulsi Gabbard, of Hawaii.  But first, a couple of other Trump developments.

• That MAGA vs Elon Musk civil war on immigration.  Was never a real issue anyway, for the new Trump administration will target undocumented immigrants.  Elon Musk and his techie friends only want to continue to have access to documented immigrants, those science and engineering products from other countries, something Trump supports.  The heel in most of this is that odious Laura Loomer.
• 
  You win some, you lose some.  Trump learned today that the federal appeals court rejected his 2023 appeal regarding the sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll.  In a 77-page ruling, the 3-judge panel said Carroll should get the $5 million previously granted.  And oh, by the way, there is that other New York jury judgement this year ordering Trump to pay Carroll $83 million for continuing to insult her.  So does Carroll get $88 million?  Maybe, but if so, not for a long time more, for Trump will continue to appeal both decisions.

Incoming president Donald Trump selected Tulsi Gabbard to become his Director of National Intelligence.  All signs point to a difficult Senate confirmation process  for her. 

From The Hawaii Free Press:

• Is a twice monthly newspaper published in Hilo, Hawaii since 2005.
• Circulation of 15,000.
• Founded by Andrew Walden, who wrote The Ron Paul Campaign and its Neo-nazi Supporters.

December 18, 2024 News Read By Andrew Walden @ 2:43 PM :: 1841 Views  FBI Honolulu Publishes 2024 Fiscal Year in Review Document Hawaii AG Joins 18-State Coalition Targeting 'Ghost Guns' ‘Lack of Significant Intelligence’: ‘Serious pessimism about whether Gabbard could secure the votes’ R: …Eight Republican senators are unsure about supporting former Democratic member of congress Tulsi Gabbard to become America’s top spy, according to a Trump transition source and a second source with knowledge of the issue, increasing doubts about whether her nomination will secure Senate confirmation. A Trump associate in close contact with the team trying to push the president-elect's nominees through the Senate also said there was serious pessimism about whether Gabbard could secure the votes she needs to become director of national intelligence. The transition team source and the source familiar with the issue said eight Republican senators harbored doubts about supporting the former lawmaker because she was unprepared to answer tough questions during an initial round of meetings last week on Capitol Hill. Her failure to address those questions sufficiently, her 2017 visit to Syria to meet then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and her lack of significant intelligence experience fueled those concerns, the sources said…. several Republican senators and senators-elect plausibly could vote against Gabbard, including Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, John Curtis and Mitch McConnell…. Trump’s selection of the former Democratic U.S. representative from Hawaii and combat veteran to be the nation's top intelligence official sent shock waves through the national security establishment, raising fears over politicization of the intelligence community. In addition to visiting Syria and her lack of intelligence experience, Gabbard has been viewed as soft on Russia. Critics point to her opposition to U.S. military aid to Ukraine for its battle to reclaim territory seized by Moscow since its 2022 full-scale invasion, her assertions that Kyiv cannot win, and what they say is her parroting of Kremlin views. Nearly 100 former national security officials signed a statement this month criticizing Trump's decision to nominate Gabbard and calling for closed Senate hearings to review government information about her…. read … Exclusive: Some Republican senators reluctant on Gabbard for spy chief | Reuters

Who is Tulsi Gabbard?

• A 43-year former Democratic four-term congresswoman who served as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee and also made a run to become the Democratic candidate for president.
• She has very little intelligence experience, and would need to oversee 18 intelligence agencies with a $100 billion budget.

• 
  Is anti-war.
• Endorsed Bernie Sanders for president in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020, after her failed run.
• Back when she was a Democrat, she was critical of the Trump presidency, and said he was unfit to serve, with a long list of wrongdoings and abuses of power.
• This I can't really believe, but she has written almost a "countless" number of books.  See this list from Amazon.  Amazing.
• Wrote For Love of Country earlier this year.
• 
  In that period, she endorsed Trump for president, and told him at a rally in October that she was joining the Republican Party.

• 
  She also was that one individual who supposedly helped him practice for the debate against Kamala Harris.  But he lost that debate, so really should have tossed her out of the campaign.

• 
  But Trump has this thing about loyalty, especially anyone who reverses an attitude towards him.
• But let's go back to from where she came and how she developed.

• 
  Her parents lived in Hawaii in the late 1970s.
• She was born in 1981 in America Samoa.  Her mother is from Indiana/Michigan and is White.  Her father is of Samoan and European ancestry who was born in American Samoa and grew up in Hawaii and Florida.  He has been a Hawaii State Senator since 2006, and I closely interacted with him when I was more active at the University of Hawaii.

• 
  The family moved to Hawaii when she was two-years old.
• She has four siblings
• She was mostly home schooled and was into surfing, martial arts and yoga.
• 
  As a teenager, became a Hindu.
• At 21, dropped out of the University of Hawaii's Leeward Community College to run for the Hawaii House, becoming the youngest U.S. state legislator.

• 
  Graduated from Hawaii Pacific University in business.
• While a legislator, in 2003, at the age of 22, enlisted in the Hawaii Army National Guard.  
• The following year she was deployed on a 12-month tour in Iraq, and decided not to run for reelection.

• In 2007 she became the first female to graduate top of her class from the Accelerated  Officer Candidate School at the Alabama Military Academy, and came back to Hawaii to be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the National Guard.

• 
  Again was sent to the Middle East, and was stationed in Kuwait in 2008-2009 as an Army Military Police officer.  She was under enemy hostile fire in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III.  To the right, in Baghdad, Iraq.
• Became a major in 2015.

• 
  She also got married to Abraham Williams that year.  He proposed while they were surfing.  He is a documentarian.

• 
  After 17 years of service, she left Hawaii to join a California-based Army Reserve unit, and in 2021 was promoted to lieutenant colonel.  Here with dad and hubby.

• 
  Was given command of a regiment in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and has top-secret security clearance.
• After her fourth term, decided not so seek reelection in 2020, citing her presidential campaign.
• 
  In 2020, she and Congressman Matt Gaetz introduced a bill calling for the U.S. to drop criminal charges against Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who leaked classified documents, and became a naturalized Russian citizen in 2022.

• 
  She introduced a similar bill with Congressman Thomas Massie, aimed at ensuring the release of Julian Assange from prison in the UK.  Must have had an effect, for Assange is now free.
• In her fourth term, she served on the Armed Services Subcommittee on Intelligence.  So she does have some experience in this field.
• In 2019, Hillary Clinton called Gabbard a "Russian asset," being groomed to become a third party spoiler candidate.  Saturday Night Live that year showed two parodies with Gabbard as the villain.  But Donald Trump supported Gabbard.

• 
  Left Democratic Party in 2022 and endorsed Donald Trump.
• Served as a fill-in host for Tucker Carlson Tonight on the Fox News channel, and became a paid contributor from November of 2022.
• She was considered as a Veep running mate for Trump, which went to JD Vance.

• 
  With Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vance, was named on 27August2024 as honorary co-chair of Trump's future presidential transition team.

• 
  Less than 10 days after Trump was re-elected, he chose Gabbard to be his Director of National Intelligence.
• On 4December2024, over 100 former national security and other officials wrote a letter criticizing Gabbard.
• If confirmed, Gabbard would become the first Pacific Islander American and Hindu American to serve in a Cabinet-level position.

She will have a tough time getting approved by the incoming Republican Senate.  This 548 Politics Podcase indicates her changes are less than 50%.  If she makes it, it will be mostly because Donald Trump has a lot of influence, and doesn't mind any of this staff having a friendly attitude to Russia.

Watch Tulsi and her husband sing John Lennon's Imagine.  Tulsi sings Amazing Grace with her parents.  Here, alone with a ukulele singing Hare Rama Hare Krishna.

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