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For refusing the imperial purple, unlike Napoleon decades on, Washington should go down as not just the greatest president, but greater than the sum of all the presidents that follow. Not for what he did after becoming president, but for his abdication while king in all but name.
In 1783, King George III asked an American painter what George Washington would do now that he had virtually won the war. The painter replied that the General intended to return to his farm in Virginia. The King was stunned. He reportedly said, "If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world."
Throughout history, victorious generals almost always seized the throne. From Caesar to Cromwell, military success usually meant political dictatorship. The concept of voluntarily walking away from absolute power was practically unheard of. But George Washington wasn't like other men.
By December 4, 1783, the British surrender at Yorktown was past, and peace was finally assured. Washington commanded a powerful, seasoned army that adored him. Conversely, many of his officers were unpaid and angry at the inefficient Congress. They had the guns, the manpower, and the loyalty to install a new monarch. He could have been King George I of America.
Instead, on this day in history, Washington walked into the Long Room at Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan. The room was filled with his most loyal officers—men like Henry Knox and Baron von Steuben—who had frozen with him at Valley Forge and bled with him for eight long years.
The atmosphere wasn't celebratory. It was heavy with inevitable separation. Washington, usually stoic and commercially reserved, poured a glass of wine and looked at his brothers-in-arms with visible emotion. "With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you," he said, his voice shaking. "I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable." He didn't order them. He didn't demand their allegiance. He hugged them.
One by one, the hardened soldiers wept openly. Washington embraced each man in silence. There was no pomp, no ceremony, and no speeches about future conquests. It was just a quiet goodbye between warriors who had done the impossible. Immediately after leaving the tavern, Washington didn't march on Congress to demand payment or power. He rode to Annapolis, Maryland, resigned his commission, and went home to Mount Vernon to plant crops.
He did the impossible.
He refused the crown.
He trusted the people.
By stepping down, he ensured that the United States would be a republic ruled by laws, not a kingdom ruled by force. He proved that the military serves the people, not the other way around. It was the final, and perhaps greatest, victory of the Revolution.
The world watched in awe as the American Cincinnatus returned his sword to its sheath, proving that character is the strongest constitution of all."
#archaeohistories
jon kessler retweeted
It's now gone 11am, and I've yet to see a single national media outlet mention Alastair Campbell telling Zia Yusuf:
“You've got more chance captaining the Sri Lankan cricket team than you have of becoming Home Secretary.”
Yet last week, Raheem Kassam was dragged through the national media for calling Kemi Badenoch a “Nigerian scammer”.
Where's the same outrage for Alastair Campbell?
Where are the headlines, the condemnation and the demands for an apology?
The double standards are becoming impossible to ignore, and the credibility of British journalism is suffering because of them.
Raheem Kassam was dragged through the national media last week for calling Kemi Badenoch a “Nigerian scammer”.
Now Alastair Campbell has told Zia Yusuf, “You’ve got more chance captaining the Sri Lankan cricket team than you have of becoming Home Secretary.”
Will Alastair Campbell face the same media outrage and scrutiny?
Or do the standards change depending on someone's political allegiance?
This will be a very telling moment for British journalism.
jon kessler retweeted
NEW: Noah Casey Sullivan, the son of Dan J. Sullivan, who filed to run as a Republican against GOP incumbent Sen. Dan Scott Sullivan, is a registered Democrat who works as a field representative for Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s (D-WA)
jon kessler retweeted
Ram Chhetri came to the US as a refugee, but this might be worst day of his life: It's the moment he realizes the $80k-$160k/year salary he's bilked from Medicaid for no-show work is coming to an end because @realdailywire caught the truth on camera.
We conducted months of surveillance that shows why "home care aide" is now the *most common job* in states like NY, CA, MN, and PA: Because a large part of those jobs are unambiguous Medicaid fraud.
Thanks to home care, Bhutanese refugees now make more money than actual PA families. The state doesn't just look the other way, but helps them get away with it. Converting federal health dollars into a universal basic income for certain communities relieves the financial burden they place on the state.
The scammers easily deceive the feds' woefully broken monitoring system. You'll see Ram pull into a driveway for 2 minutes in the morning, then 2 minutes in the evening. He clocks in and out of his shift from the right place, and the GPS system doesn't notice that he goes home in between.
$20 an hour doesn't sound like much, but at 77 hours a week, it's $80k–and it's easy to bill huge hours when you don't actually have to work them. And that's just for the low-level guys in this scheme.
jon kessler retweeted
He’s not low energy. I think he took for granted that Kansans always elect Republicans and that people would see Hamilton has progressive stances. Hamilton has an advantage of being a professional speaker for almost 40 years and essentially a salesman. So he can sell a pitch better than most politicians. Hamilton is an unknown while Marshall is not.
jon kessler retweeted
The Coalition of the Unwilling
🚨 BREAKING: EU countries have dropped the idea of offering Canada "associate member" status in the 27-member bloc, opting instead for softer language promising "ever closer association," according to a draft statement, seen by POLITICO.
Full story: vist.ly/5qd4s
jon kessler retweeted
People in an intolerant 6th century religion are rushing straight into American politics with absolute slop.
jon kessler retweeted
Was the Navy supposed to give him milk and cookies for endangering an entire strike group that had to stop to conduct an SAR mission in a warzone?
NEW🚨: A Sailor Jumped From the U.S.S. Lincoln. The Navy Punished Him.
The case offers a rare look at the military’s handling of mental health issues during extended deployments.
My latest: nytimes.com/2026/10/29/us/po…
jon kessler retweeted
$QQQ $VIX and other hedges... this is cracking me up cause usually this doesn't happen.
All I did this morning was take some profits on my hedges and use them to roll back hedges slightly.
D*mn. Jesus loves me. I do wish he'd give me a sign on whether or not I'm right about who I think is blowing out their portfolio and whether that will go through next week.
$QQQ $VIX... I got a little bit off at the close after letting it breathe from the AM lows. I mean... let's see how it goes.
Happy Halloween...🎃
jon kessler retweeted
You can phrase it as enthusiasm, the actual reason though is that they hate you. Anyone right of center hates all of you.
So why would they participate?
“After more than 85,000 phone calls and nearly 50,000 text messages, a potential problem emerged.
Democrats were far more enthusiastic about taking the poll than Republicans were.”
washingtonpost.com/politics/…
How the heck did a low energy guy like Roger Marshall get nominated for statewide office? Doesn't he get that he is a state party leader of sorts, that his election has downticket effects?
jon kessler retweeted
He wins by 5 easy...guess you arent following the EV data...xitter.gq/RealSKeshel/status/211…
And just like that, Republicans lead combined mail+early voting in Kansas. Ballots yesterday were R+13.0%.
Kansas is R+19. The next drop today will likely be R+15, and so on until Election Day is a blowout.
There are still 800,000 votes left to go and people ignore simple arithmetic because it isn’t as fancy as THE POLLZ.
jon kessler retweeted
I live in Kansas. I’m a diehard Republican. Hamilton had me concerned before the primaries. He started campaigning right away. Marshall waited and waited. His campaigning has been nothing compared to Hamilton. It has seemed like the RNC and Marshall were unprepared and caught off guard. Campaigning has looked unserious. Marshall needed to be on offense and defense from the start.
jon kessler retweeted
Months ago, the RNC was warned that Marshall was not taking the race seriously. They basically ignored all warnings, Marshall told them don’t invest in Kansas, he was fine. He never hired a professional campaign team for the re-elect.
jon kessler retweeted
Great! All we needed is for "UN Rapporteurs" to lace their posts with Islamic prayers on martyrdom and sumoud. Hassan Nasrallah would have been proud of Francesca.
#Bismillah-c'est la lumière
Palestine-the revealer:
Its martyrdom is awakening the world.
Its struggle against Apartheid, the beating heart of all free beings.
Sumud, the grammar of resistance against all forms of oppression.
Thank you @mackelmore for being the comrade you are
It's pretty hilarious how crypto was hyped as the most secure platform ever, but people mysteriously lose their entire account balances with no recourse with metronomic regularity. Say what you will about banks, from big to small, but what you put in generally doesn't vanish.
