William – Page 13 – Really Right

Only Hirelings Scatter the Flock

We here at Really Right are vindicated once again on the issue of Covid and church attendance.

The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. –John 10: 13

A survey released last week found that a third of Americans have stopped attending religious services in the wake of the COVID pandemic.

The survey, “Faith After the Pandemic: How COVID-19 Changed American Religion,” was released Thursday. Conducted by the American Enterprise Institute in conjunction with the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center (NORC), the survey examined findings of the 2022 American Religious Benchmark Survey, which asked 9,425 participants about their religious self-identity and attendance from February to April 2022. The participants were selected for having previously taken part in similar surveys in 2018 and March 2020.

According to the results of the survey, 33% of Americans do not attend religious services at all post-COVID, as opposed to 25% before the pandemic. Also down is the number of Americans that attend either regularly (24%) or monthly (8%), as opposed to a pre-COVID cumulative number of 36% (26% and 10%, respectively), Religion News Service reported.
1/3 of Americans do not attend religious services in the post-COVID era: poll

According to the survey, conservatives, adults 50 and older, married adults, and those with a college degree remained likely to attend a religious service. However, while the percentage of Americans who attend in-person religious services has more than doubled since July 2020 (then 13%), standing at 27% in March 2022, this is still below pre-COVID numbers, the survey notes.

Further, the survey also shows that the percentage of conservatives who never attended religious services post-COVID has gone up, from 14% to 20%. Likewise, women, who the survey contends are more likely to attend religious services, also experienced a decline in attendance, with the percentage of women not attending religious services up from 23% to 31% post-COVID. A similar increase happened in men, the survey notes, with 34% of men not attending religious services as opposed to 28% before COVID.

Among Catholics, the percentage of white Catholics who never attend services has gone up from 11% to 18%. Among Hispanic Catholics, the difference was higher, with 10% not attending as opposed to 20% post-COVID.

So, there you have it, proof that scattering God’s sheep has caused many to be lost—probably for good.

The survey also notes that “[C]hanges in worship help us understand how the pandemic has diminished — perhaps permanently — the role of religious participation in the lives of individual Americans and society as a whole.”

Oh, the church I have been attending has been hemorrhaging of members, money, and good will with many people angry with the clergy but not because of Covid.

Frankly, I think closing during Covid has put many congregations into a death spiral from which most will never recover. I look for a gradual death for my current church. Demographically, it’s all but a certainty. The fear of offending people with the Truth causes the clergy to fail in its mission of equipping the saints to deal biblically with life’s challenges.

My pastor hopes we can just hide-out within our church and all the bad stuff will Passover us. He seems to be perfectly fine with our culture and world going to hell as long as they leave us in peace. I seem to recall something about hiding your light under a bushel basket, but my sense was that it wasn’t a good thing for churches to do. Maybe seminary graduates know something we don’t.

T Minus Two Weeks

By the time I’ve posted this blog, I will have two weeks until I kiss my state job goodbye. I think on my calendar at work, its marked as Bobby’s Johnny Paycheck Day or some such thing. Oh, Johnny Paycheck is best known for a song he did in the 1970’s called, “Take this job and shove it.” I doubt anybody but me knows or cares about this one last slap at my employer, but it’s intended as sarcasm.

Anyway, I’m making a bunch of decisions with little time to think about them. Thankfully my wife is in on my decisions and deliberations. As long as we agree, things should be OK. Oh, one benefit of retiring in January is that I have only one five-day work week during my last month of employment.

Just for entertainment value, I also got a jury duty summons for my last week. Since it’s a four-day work week, and my group number is just over halfway thru the pack, I doubt I have to show up but who knows? Whatever happens, its my last jury duty in California. I can’t wait to get out of this place.

Our new home, in a much more freedom loving place, is slowly coming together. The inside is warm and cozy but in need of drywall and finishes. Also, the wife seems to agree that we each need our own area to work so Really Right looks to be on track for a full-time office. No, I don’t plan on going full blogger 24/7 but I might finally write a book or two like I’ve been wanting to do.

The reduction in income is balanced against the payoff in completing the house. I’m looking forward to having more of a hand in completing our house. When I do work on projects, I harken back to some sage advice offered in one of Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry movies; “A man’s got to know his limitations”. Sometimes I skip doing work due to a lack of knowledge and sometimes due to a lack of insurance. I’d rather let the guy with liability insurance do some types of work rather than do it myself.

I’m not really retiring, just changing jobs.

What Do Donald Trump and Amy Grant Have in Common

They both got on my naughty list this month for the same thing, redefining marriage. Sorry culturally compromising people but marriage is between a man and woman. God didn’t make Adam and Steve, or Ellen and Eve as Ole Dave Waddell used to opine. When people in a homosexual relationship want to stay together it’s not a marriage. Anyone that calls it that demeans the institution and the Biblical view of God. There can be no such thing as marriage in a homosexual union; in fact, rightly viewed there is no such thing, its just a convenient fiction, an imitation, a demonic copy.

First Trump. And folks this is likely just a bridge too far for me to enthusiastically support the Orange Man in 2024.

Thursday’s “Spirit of Lincoln” gala was in honor of the “Log Cabin Republicans” a pro-homosexual activist group formed 45 years ago. The party, held in the ballroom of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago beachfront country club and residence, was a joyous celebration of gay rights and —by coincidence— the historic “Respect for Marriage Act,” obliging the federal government to recognize same-sex marriage, signed into law by President Joe Biden just days earlier, after 12 GOP senators defected and voted with all the Democrat senators (at the urging of the Seventh-day Adventist Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department).

The long-planned event in honor of the Log Cabin Republicans’ 45th anniversary brought in Republican notables like former Ambassador Ric Grenell, Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), former State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus, who emceed the evening in a feathered turquoise gown, and former GOP gubernatorial candidate from Arizona Kari Lake, who was swarmed by guests eager to meet her and take a photo.

“We are fighting for the gay community, and we are fighting and fighting hard,” Former President Trump said. “With the help of many of the people here tonight in recent years, our movement has taken incredible strides, the strides you’ve made here is incredible.”

Throughout the evening, speakers praised Trump for his embrace of the gay community. They credited him for his initiatives to combat the criminalization of homosexuality, his work pushing for public heath initiatives to combat the HIV epidemic, and for appointing the first openly homosexual Cabinet member, Ric Grenell, as DNI, Director of National Intelligence.
Trump hosts gay Republicans at Mar-a-Lago

In fairness, Trump didn’t mention Sleepy Joe’s law attempting to enshrine homosexual marriage into federal law, but it was enough of an issue that Politico called the party “a celebration of the same-sex marriage law”.

Next up is Amy Grant.

Seems Amy has thrown in the towel on the Bible being the highest authority in her life. Instead, she has thrown in with the rainbow people and made love—however pervertedly you wish to define it—as the highest value in life. Rev Franklin Graham has taken her to task over this, but shouldn’t her local pastor be leading the charge on the issue? Well local pastors did so well with Covid, by comparison this issue should be a sinch since its specifically condemned in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, but sadly let’s get back to reality. Here’s the meat of the story.

Upon learning that her niece declared her sexuality, Grant openly said her reaction was: “What a gift to our whole family to just widen the experience of our whole family.” “Honestly, from a faith perspective, I do always say, ‘Jesus, you just narrowed it down to two things: love God and love each other,'” Grant said. “I mean, hey — that’s pretty simple.”

In 2013, Grant did her first interview for PrideSource.com, an LGBT news website, where she shared her views on faith and LGBT issues.

“I know that the religious community has not been very welcoming, but I just want to stress that the journey of faith brings us into community, but it’s really about one relationship. The journey of faith is just being willing and open to have a relationship with God. And everybody is welcome. Everybody,” Grant said.

The wife and Christian singer also told “Proud Radio” host Hunter Kelly last year about why it’s important for her to set a “welcome table.” Grant stated that she was invited to a “table where someone said, ‘Don’t be afraid, you’re loved.’ Gay. Straight. It does not matter.”

“[It] doesn’t matter how we behave. It doesn’t matter how we’re wired,” Grant said, according to Church Leaders. “We’re all our best selves when we believe to our core: ‘I’m loved.’ And then our creativity flourishes. We’re like, ‘I’m gonna arrange flowers on your table and my table.’ When we’re loved, we’re brave enough to say yes to every good impulse that comes to us.”
Franklin Graham responds to Amy Grant’s plan to host lesbian wedding: Don’t ‘compromise’ God’s authority

Boy, Amy sure seems to have lost her way. Sadly, she’s not the only one. Enabling people on the way to hell by cheering them on in their spiritual darkness is a much different proposition from warning them of their peril and telling them to turn from the wrath to come.

I have friends that know Amy personally but until I read about Graham taking her to task, I had no idea she was so immersed in heresy and compromise on this clearly stated Scriptural teaching.

Amy once did a song about “love will find a way” but if that Way is not to the Cross then its in vain.

California’s Employment Development Disaster Continues

I’ve worked at the agency that is the posterchild of government waste, fraud, and fiduciary abuse for almost two years now. This agency is not only irredeemably broken but it’s so far down the sewer (or rabbit hole) depending on which metaphor you wish to employ that it seems beyond reform.

Here is a partial list of systemic problems that no one seems interesting in fixing.

First and foremost, old claims never die, they simply loose their appeal. What I mean by this is that both the claimant—person that filed the claim—or any random staff person at EDD can revive a claim, no matter how old. Like your stereotypical B Movie, there is really no such thing as a dead claim. There is always room for a sequel. I have seen claims as old as ten years be brought back to life again either at the request of staff or the claimant. Claims that died due to lack of authentic documents or California wages years ago are routinely appealed and benefits rewarded. Often these claims were filed with forged documents and when denied, the fraudster simply submits more and different fraudulent documents to someone different and if persistent enough, they often are rewarded not for honesty but for perseverance.

The bureaucratic vehicle for successful fraud is often via the ALJ-Administrative Law Judge. If a claim is denied for whatever reason, it can be appealed to the Administrative Law Judge where a person can try again to become eligible for benefits. The ALJ will accept new documents not previously submitted to the agency. This in theory is OK because some folks need a second chance to get a claim properly submitted. Think of people in public school that can only eek-out a C minus if the class is graded on a curve. These folks can’t abide by the normal rules and need extra babying or babysitting to get to the correct result. This is likely why they are unemployed in the first place. Following certain societal rules is necessary for getting and maintaining a job and some folks just can’t cut it without extra help.

The problem with that ALJ system is that they never check any documents. They do not verify Social Security Numbers. They do not verify Drivers License Numbers. They do not verify U.S. Passports. They do not verify any documents submitted to them at all. Oh, and everything submitted to them is photocopies or scanned. Furthermore, they do not verify if applicant ever lived or worked in California.

Worse yet, if EDD staff flags something as fraudulent, the ALJ will often ignore their findings.

Doubly worse is that any documents submitted at an ALJ hearing are purposely kept from EDD staff in the Identity Unit. Thus, the people charged with verifying the authenticity of documents have zero input to evaluate the authenticity of new documents presented at an ALJ hearing.

In cases where the fraudulent claim uses the same documents found in the initial application process, ALJ judges have often excoriated EDD staff for not accepting the forged documents as part of their decision to approve claims for people that don’t deserve them. The ALJ judge is often busy grading the quality of art work done on Photoshop and not interested in looking too hard for the veracity of the documents.

The Identity Unit is not formally trained on what to look for when it come to fraud. There are no master or example documents that we know are correct to use to compare with stuff submitted by claimants. The only advice some are given is look up such and such a document on the Internet and compare that to what you were sent. FYI most of what you see on the Internet are forgeries, so this advice is worse that worthless.

For example, try looking up a U.S. Passport on the Internet under images. Most of what you see in this search are fakes, some better than others. If I want to evaluate a passport, I need to get mine out of my fireproof lockbox and compare it to the scanned copy that I’m looking at as part of someone’s application for benefits. Ditto for a California Driver License—except that there are multiple versions, some of which I’ve never seen before.

Different staff are given limited tools to verify certain documents, but these tools are not all equal. Counting me, there are three in my working group and each of us has a different software package for checking the same identity documents. Each software varies in the detail that can be researched.

This is the next issue with EDD and that is that a myriad of different software is used by the department. None of these programs can talk with each other and all serve different functions. As with all California’s government agencies, the backbone of the department’s automation is still the Unix systems that were brought online in the 1980’s. I would guess that about two dozen different programs are used daily by various parts of the agency.

California claims to be the technology capital of the world but has the worst and most archaic computers around. There is talk of wanting to modernize, whatever that may be, but whatever they decide to do, you know it will be fraught with waste, fraud, abuse, and delays. Also, it will cost several times whatever the winning bid will be. Think, costs of hi speed rail over time.

So, if you’re handy with Photoshop, have lots of free time, and don’t mind shopping on the “dark web” for identity information, you too can join the California gold rush. California’s EDD, where you get money for nothin’ and your checks for free. Multiple entries do increase your chances of winning.

Folks, I’m glad I’m leaving there in seven weeks.

PS I think the ALJ (and the Department) are inclined to ignore identity documents in part because Newsom and the boys at the “bill mill” don’t want to be accused of excluding illegal immigrants from cashing in. Today’s recipients are tomorrow’s Democrat voters.

My Thoughts on Trump 2024

Folks now are accusing Trump of being an Army of One and he is and will continue to be, but let’s suppose that Donald Trump is elected in 2024. What does that Presidency look like?

To win in 2024, Trump will have to cripple or destroy the entire Republican “farm team”. In essence, Trump will destroy all Republican presidential contenders for the next 12 or 16 years to achieve his victory.

Supposing Trump can overcome challenges from his own Party and the Swamp—the Democrats and duplicitous Republicans in the House and Senate—and manages to get in the Oval Office, it’s likely all for naught because from day one he is a lame-duck President. Nobody will care what he wants to accomplish. Washington will be about posturing, backstabbing, and business as usual. Can you imagine Trump finding after clawing his way to the top that he is irrelevant! I think his head will explode.

Ironically, Trump’s biggest obstacle in victory is not Democrats or Republicans, it’s the Constitution.

The 22^nd Amendment states: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice …”

If Trump had busted his butt and got those House and Senate candidates elected that stuck their necks out and enthusiastically supported him, I might be singing a different tune but as others on the blog have pointed out, he sat on his thumbs and checkbook doing nothing. If you recall, Trump backed primary opponents of at least six House Republicans that voted to Impeach him. As far as I know, all six challengers won their primaries and zero of them got money or support from Trump in the general election and all lost, WTF Donald.

Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy both worked to undercut conservative MAGA candidates to insure they would lose, often just for voicing support for Trump. Oh, both Republican “leaders” were funded in part by FTX Crypto currency.

Sam Bankman-Fried FTX Crypto funded anti-MAGA Republicans

Donald Trump failed us that have stuck with him thru thick and thin because the rich guy that was President didn’t have a good business plan. Part of any good business venture is hiring and keeping good and talented people. Another aspect is succession. Trump failed in both these areas.

In too many instances, Trump hired weak people that he could bully. Those that he could bully, he did not respect and thus would not listen to them. Many others were opportunists that never believed in his vision of America. In many cases, the career politicians that took posts with Trump were bottom feeder, Mitt Romney types, that were there to thwart him.

Trump also never had a plan of building on MAGA – which by the way was a slogan stolen from Ronald Reagan.

Had he spent the last several years promoting likeminded candidates as I had hoped, the Republican Party would have been remade and would own all levers of power in the country. Now however, the Swamp Creatures in both Parties know that Trump is toast no matter what he does. They may not follow the Constitution with how they govern but both Democrats and Republicans know that the 22^nd Amendment makes Trump irrelevant and for that they rejoice. They only differ on whether to “move on” or totally destroy him.

Trump should have followed Ronald Reagan and brought people into his administration that knew Madison Avenue and technology. Getting his Twitter account cancelled was a huge blow in his efforts to communicate. I will not debate mean Tweets too much except to say that Trump put all his communication eggs in that basket. To stick to the business analogy, he should have diversified in this area, so Twitter didn’t have him by the short hairs.

Trump also should have groomed a successor and promoted the hell out of them. If not Mike Pence, then someone else like maybe Kari Lake. Oh wait, he never wrote her a check, did he?

The Donald F***ed up this election cycle and will pay a steep price for his hubris; as will we all.

Oh, thanks to Trump’s failure, Democrats are going for the demographic kill shot on the Republican Party. Yep, Democrats don’t want any more squeaky elections so they are prepping for the nuclear option in the lame duck session of Congress in December. They want to baptize many or all the illegal aliens in the United States in hopes of inducting millions into the Democrat fold of government dependence. This will give them an insurmountable majority and make the United States a one-Party nation forever. Think turning the United States into California for the next 200 years.

Sadly, there are enough shortsighted Republicans in office that they may accomplish this in a few short weeks. I once stated on this blog that due to changing demographics there is a real chance that Donald Trump will be the last Republican President this country will ever have, and right on que this is about to happen right before your eyes.

Sometimes being Really Right is a huge burden.

Last Thursday Night was a Wreck

As has been my habit, this week I went to the twice monthly Theology on Tap. It’s a Thursday night men’s gathering at a local watering hole that is sponsored by my church and usually attended by our pastor. The Pastor decided to read a passage in Psalms about trusting in God as opposed to men. I’m not sure of the reference—not that it matters—but it was something like one of these verses.

Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. Psalm 146:3

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. Psalm 20:7

He used the verse as a springboard to bring up government and politics. As you might expect, things went really sideways from there. Folks, it was the most horrific display of biblical illiteracy that I’ve seen in many years.

Those in attendance maintained that government was an invention of men and God could care less about it or what it does. It was just another societal institution composed of corrupt men. Which by the way is ok, as long as they leave us Christians alone and don’t force us to do stuff we disagree with; not that anyone could cite an example of what that might be. (Apparently closing churches, telling us whether we could sing songs during a worship service, or when and how to have Holy Communion is not crossing that line.) Furthermore, they asserted that the Bible is mute on how we should be governed by the State.

Folks these were not a bunch of pagans in the local biker bar trying to tell me why religion is dumb, these guys are the leaders of the church and regularly attend weekly services, and most have done so for years on end.

Wow. Truthfully, I got so angry that I left before it was over.

I thought every Sunday School kid knew that God created government. Its right there in Genesis 9, if you know what you’re reading. The proposition that man created government is usually credited to Thomas Hobbs or Jean-Jacques Rousseau. That this idea was allowed to stand for the hour and a half of discussion that I endured is shameful.

Most were in agreement that the Bible has nothing to say about “How should we then live?” (title of 1976 book by Frances Schaeffer). To say this group was antinomian and hostile to what the Bible has to say is no exaggeration. Any believers that would look to the Bible—particularly the Old Testament for guidance as to what God expected of government—were denounced as advocates of tyranny, inquisition, theocracy, and Roman Catholicism. Aren’t those the accusations normally leveled against Christians by liberals, pagans, and humanists?

I couldn’t get anyone to agree to the proposition that God is sovereign, ruling the nations now, and that all authority is under Christ. I said that God has appointed all authorities and will judge them and hold them to account. Not one agreement from anyone in the room.

I also stated that we don’t live in normal times. We are under God’s judgement. One person asked if that was the nation as a whole or Christians in particular? I said both.

Oh, the other zinger that was loudly and repeated stated, the United States was not founded as a Christian nation. I guess the first 200 years or so of our history were irrelevant, at least to this know-it-all public school graduate.

Finally, they got around to bashing Donald Trump—who last I checked didn’t claim to be a roll model of virtue or Christian excellence. Trump was bad because he called people names and had been married more than once. Zero complaints about the Party of the KKK, Jim Crow, Trail of Tears, abortion, homosexuality, slavery, etc.

Other than to invoke a Lutheran prayer that the government leave us alone—“That we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity” —and a reading of Romans 13, there was crickets from the pastor.

(I would expect this discussion from a female Methodist priestess and her congregants but a supposedly conservative clergyman and his leadership team, yikes!)

The only thing others said that I agreed with last night was if you don’t like it then move to another state. Thankfully I’m doing just that in a few months, God willing.

Folks, please understand that these guys see themselves as Godfearing Christians, good fathers, and Conservatives. If you want to know why your state is moving liberal and you have California Conservatives in your midst, maybe you can see a pattern here. They would rather be ruled by godless humanists, atheists, and pagans than by anyone using the Bible as their standard of Law and Ethics.

I got to see a microcosm of what’s wrong with the Church in America, or some of it anyway. It was heartbreaking. I’m not sure that I have much interest in going anymore.

Spin on Paul Pelosi Attack–Hit Job in a Box

Yep, before the wounds were cleaned from Paul Pelosi getting hammered, the Democrat spin machine was ramping up to frame Republicans.

Below is an early report from Associated Press and CBS News.

San Francisco – The suspect in the attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, appears to have been an active online participant in multiple conspiracy theories railing against perceived censorship and government control, and engaging in hate speech and antisemitism.
Pelosi attack suspect David DePape embraced hate speech, multiple conspiracy theories

DePape was known for embracing multiple conspiracy theories on subjects such as voter fraud, climate change, and the COVID pandemic on at least two different online forums. He also has posted antisemitic screeds and entries defending former President Donald Trump and Ye, the rapper formally known as Kayne West who recently made antisemitic comments.
In other posts, the writer said Jews helped finance Hitler’s political rise in Germany and suggested an antisemitic plot was involved in Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine.
In a Sept. 27 post, the writer said any journalists who denied Trump’s false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election “should be dragged straight out into the street and shot.”
An Aug. 24 entry titled “Q,” displayed a scatological collection of memes that included photos of the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and made reference to QAnon, the baseless pro-Trump conspiracy theory that espouses the belief that the country is run by a deep-state cabal of child sex traffickers, satanic pedophiles and baby-eating cannibals.
“Big Brother has deemed doing your own research as a thought crime,” read a post that appeared to blend references to QAnon with George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984.”
In an Aug. 25 entry titled “Gun Rights,” the poster wrote: “You no longer have rights. Your basic human rights hinder Big Brothers ability to enslave and control you in a complete and totalizing way.”

DePape’s posts frequently fixated on the subject of government or tech company “censorship.” One blog has subject tabs with such labels as “Pedophile normalization,” Creationism,” and “Facts are Racist.”
Another website has categories such as “Climate Hysteria,” “Da Jewbs,” and “Groomer Schools.” The web hosting service WordPress removed one of the sites Friday afternoon for violating its terms of service.
DePape also posted memes and conspiracy theories on Facebook about COVID vaccines, the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. Two of DePape’s relatives told CNN that he was ‘out of touch with reality,” estranged from his family, and confirmed that the Facebook account – which was taken down by the social media company on Friday – belonged to him.

All weekend the media was regurgitating this story or ones in a similar vein.

Folks, as a Trump supporter, this article looks very embarrassing and maybe even damaging to the cause; however, virtually every assertion in the above quotations is a bald-faced lie. David DePage had no websites or Facebook pages. Yep. It was a psyop.

The mainstream media attributed two websites to the man arrested with Paul Pelosi on early Friday morning, David DePape. However, this all appears to be another far-left farce.
David DePape was found with Paul Pelosi early Friday morning in his underwear at the Pelosi home by police in San Francisco. The mainstream media immediately tried to cover for the Pelosi family. They then attempted to align the man in his underwear found with Paul Pelosi as a conservative. But it was all a lie.
EXCLUSIVE: Two Far-Right Websites Attributed to David DePape to Smear Conservatives Were Scraped Friday and Deleted Saturday

In addition, the media tried to frame DePape as a conservative based on websites that were reportedly his. DePape was homeless and a drug addict but the media insisted he was running a conservative website? Makes perfect sense.

Fox News reported:

Facebook disabled DePape’s profile early Friday and declined to answer questions. At least two online blogs under DePape’s name are stocked with posts from the years of 2007 and 2022 speaking of “censorship,” “Big Brother,” and pedophiles. One contained calls for violence and antisemitic content. It was not immediately clear that he was responsible for the posts, and San Francisco police did not immediately respond to questions about DePape’s online presence.

The L.A Times:

In the months before police accused him of attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Friday morning, David DePape had been drifting further into the world of far-right conspiracies, antisemitism and hate, according to a Times review of his online accounts.
In a personal blog that DePape maintained, posts include such topics as “Manipulation of History,” “Holohoax” and “It’s OK to be white.” He mentioned 4chan, a favorite message board of the far right. He posted videos about conspiracies involving COVID-19 vaccines and the war in Ukraine being a ploy for Jewish people to buy land.
DePape’s screeds included posts about QAnon, an unfounded theory that former President Trump is at war with a cabal of Satan-worshipping elites who run a child sex ring and control the world. In an Aug. 23 entry titled “Q,” DePape wrote: “Either Q is Trump himself or Q is the deepstate moles within Trumps inner circle.”

The problem is the websites cited by the mainstream media that were supposedly aligned with DePape were created on Friday and they are no longer active today, Saturday.
The site Godisloving.wordpress.com was opened on Friday and shutdown on Saturday.
If you try to link to it now, you will find it has been shut down

The other site listed, www.frenlyfrens.com/blog is no longer active as well. It too was created on Friday and shut down on Saturday. The only activity on this site as well was in the last two days.

If you read the article quoted above, the author is correct in stating the sites were created Friday October 28 and taken down Saturday the 29^th. I verified it. Since he wrote the article, archive.org has attempted further backups. Following the URL will take you to a jump page stating the site is down.

The moral of the story is that facts are irrelevant because Democrats just make-up their own. This is the intersection of “he who frames the issue, wins the debate” and “never let a good crisis go to waste”.

With just a week until election day, would you really expect anything else?

Is Nothing Private Any More

The good news is that we finally got insurance for our future retirement house. They offered us a discount to add our car on the policy, so we agreed.

That was last week. Today I was greeted with the following package in my mailbox.

In it was the “Drive Safe & Save” gizmo. It is a Bluetooth device that they want you to pair with your phone and keep in your vehicle. Yep, they want you to voluntarily let them track your every movement in exchange for an auto insurance discount.

Sorry fellas but I’m not playing. It’s bad enough that Big Tech is tracking me, and I didn’t volunteer or agree to that, but they make me do it to get a cell phone. Oh, as a bonus, China gets to track me too and gets copies of my text messages and address book on a regular basis, oh, notice that Tim Cook, et al., don’t block the Communists from having the same data on me that they have. Our government is next in line and getting us to agree to this Bluetooth device is just an incremental step in imposing a mileage tax on us because who wants their odometer read?

Oh, on the subject of privacy, why is it that it takes a daily newspaper in Texas to inform us that UC Davis is monitoring all their student’s social media activity?

DAVIS — An investigation by The Dallas Morning News revealed UC Davis is among several schools across the country using social media-monitoring software to keep track of students’ online posts.
UC Davis police using software to track students’ social media posts

The Dallas Morning News reports that “Detect” can also allow campus police to surveil student protests. The surveillance strikes a chord with UC Davis students as they remember the impact of an incident over a decade ago. In 2011, student protesters with the Occupy movement were pepper-sprayed by campus police.

The software can track student email, movement, friends and associates, posts, and more. The software vendor claims to have thousands of schools in 36 different states as customers.

The article appears in many places such as these:

Tracked: How colleges use AI to monitor student protests

Tracked: How Colleges Use AI To Monitor Student Protests

An older but similar story

Texas schools are surveilling students online, often without their knowledge or consent

I promise this information will be abused but anyone with a brain will not admit how they use it. Perhaps we are seeing a glimpse into what gets you into the college when they don’t use SAT or other academic criteria.

Oh, even without all the above, here’s what I call “an admission against interest” from a hiring manager that was reposted on GAB a few days ago.

Esophageal Cancer Update September 2022

I haven’t written about my wife’s struggle with cancer lately. I wanted to provide an update for at least two reasons, first, it’s been over a year since her diagnosis and secondly, she just spent a week in the hospital because of cancer related reasons.

At the end of August, the wife and I went to our house in Idaho. Our mission was to frame interior walls and get rough electrical and plumbing figured out. I did get both bathrooms framed as well as some other walls, but it took way more time than I thought. I found that the house framing was not ready for insulation and covering the walls. Nailing edges were not installed anywhere and that took lots of additional cutting and attaching.

The air compressor that we bought at Home Depot was broken when it came out of the box. As a result, we had to return it and buy a new one. I decided to try a different brand. Word to the wise—skip the Dewalt 6-gallon compressor. Getting supplies was a slow process, especially, when mama decided on a major design change in the midst of the build.

Partway thru the week, my wife got sick. Typically, she throws-up about once a week but this time was different. She usually is her happy-go-lucky self by morning but not this time. She had a fever and continued to barf up everything, including water. The next night she woke me up because she was shaking the bed. She complained of being cold and couldn’t stop trembling. I gave her my half of the blankets on the bed. I offered to take her to the Emergency Room two blocks away, but she refused. Her shaking lasted for about 45 minutes before subsiding.

She spent the next day in bed. It was clear that as it related to construction, I was on my own. The following day I strongly suggested that we skip the remainder of our vacation and go home. It was only one day early but she agreed. I drove the thousand miles from our place in Idaho to California in one day. I don’t think I did more than two potty stops on the whole trip. My wife was miserable and did most of the trip with ice packs on her head.

That night we showered and went to bed hoping tomorrow would be better. Sadly, that was not to be. The next day was Labor Day. By that evening, I finally got my wife to let me take her to the hospital.

She had three major issues, she was dehydrated, vomiting, and had a horrible headache. Just so you know, it seems nobody wants to go to the Emergency Room on a three-day weekend. We were seen almost immediately. OK, technically she was seen, I was exiled because I didn’t have a Covid vaccine card. Newsom has never released his grip on the medical community.

After sitting outside for a while, I read the Covid rules. It said that if I did a home test that I could go see her. I verified this with security, and they said my understanding was correct. Trying to find a Covid test at nine o’clock at night on a holiday is really a booger. I had to go four places to find one. Believe it or not, I ended up at Safeway in Elk Grove. They were the only place that I could find them. Shortly after 11 PM, I had two in hand and headed to the hospital.

Oh, just as I was walking out the door of Safeway, the ER doctor offered me a Covid test so I could be with my wife.

My wife spent a horrible week in the hospital. The IV solution took care of the dehydration. The docs thought she had “aspiration pneumonia” and put her on antibiotics. She has shadows in her lungs, and signs of an infection. Everyone assumed it was because her vomiting had been inhaled. The lab tests showed she did have an infection, but the white cell count didn’t improve as a result of her treatment. In fact, her blood chemistry was an indescribable mess. All sorts of seemingly unrelated things were low. Towards the end of her stay, the doctors decided the only logical thing was that these symptoms were the result of her immunotherapy.

Let me explain. Immunotherapy is supposed to encourage your body to fight-off infections. Since it is administered one per month, it must be stored in your body and released slowly over time. This means it’s probably related to your liver. When you get sick, your body can release a large quantity of the stuff into your system and overload your body’s systems. This appears to be what happened.

My wife has been out of the hospital for about a week now. She is weak and lacking energy. She has improved a bit but seems to be stuck in a lower gear, if that makes any sense. I have to help her walk long distances and her stamina is definitely gone. She is taking multiple naps each day and has a very limited reserve of energy. Also, her food intake is minimal, some days just a few hundred calories. She has lost about 80 pounds since being diagnosed with cancer and her weight is continuing to decrease.

Many follow-up visits to various doctors have been planned and each visit seems to have lab work associated with it. My wife hopes to resume immunotherapy in October, but I think the doctors will consider ending the treatments. Perhaps lowering the dosage and going back to twice monthly sessions will be considered, but the problem with the twice monthly idea is that the FDA approval of this drug may not allow this as an option. I know a certain number of people cannot complete the course of immunotherapy treatment but none of the literature that I can find says why. Perhaps this is what my wife is going thru now.

I do know that none of the tests run in the hospital found any cancer in her body and they did look. This recent hospitalization makes me wonder if the cure for the cancer is almost as bad as the disease. On good days you say, “No,” on bad days … well, you hope there aren’t many until things improve.

A Church at War with Its Members

Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
1 Corinthians 1:12–13

Even if you don’t recognize all the names in the above passage, you get the idea that when people divide into factions that they exclude others and treat the one they like with more deference, respect, or courtesy. Conversely, those that disagree with them are vilified, dehumanized, and shunned.

A storm has been brewing for several years in the church that I have been attending. Actually, three storms or waves of controversy. Things finally hit the boiling point during the last two weeks. People have been taking “sides” and going after each other on social media and other platforms.

Instead of coming clean about what transpired, the church has told its members that its none of their business. They are maintaining that “it’s a personnel matter” and thus they have no intention to tell anyone what happened or apologizing to those that quit their jobs because of the crappy way they ignored the “personnel matters”. Yep, plural issues; more about them in a minute.

Folks, personnel matters are not in the Bible. We are given a command on how to deal with dissention in churches by Jesus himself.

Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
Matthew 18: 15 – 17

These folks think they are a “Bible Church?” That’s laughable. I guess the Good Book doesn’t apply to them, it’s just a tool to whack everyone else.

On the other hand, this group was supportive of the leadership’s willingness to fold like a cheap suit when the governor said they were non-essential, I guess they’d rather please Caesar than their Savior. On this point they’re a consistent lot anyway.

Lastly people forced to experience these situations don’t act based on reason but are governed by emotion.

Now that I’ve given you an idea of what’s happening, let’s get to the why. From this point on, hip waders are recommended because the crap is going to hit the fan.

Folks this is literally a three-ring circus.

In ring number one is the school administrator that didn’t pay the teacher’s money which was withheld from their pay checks to the appropriate government agency. If memory serves, this agency is the guys that are currently hiring 87,000 agents willing to use deadly force against taxpayers. Her attitude was no worries. When the school was notified of the oversight, this genius just threw the notices (plural) in the trash so nobody would see them. This went on for the better part of two years before she was busted for being stupid. Oh, she was not the treasurer, so I don’t see why she saw fit to interfere. After tens of thousands in penalties, interest, and principle were paid, she was fired. (Makes you wonder what else wasn’t reported about her conduct.)

A certain segment of the congregation thinks she was shafted and treated unfairly. They maintain she was innocent. This is based upon the idea that she is a nice lady so she couldn’t have done it. Another group thinks she is lucky not to be serving time in government custody.

In ring number two are both the ordained ministers on the payroll. They needed to hire an outside mediator to help them reconcile “issues.” Being this happened during Covid, makes me wonder. You’d think the degree of ankle grabbing done by the church staff might not have been as unified and harmonious as it appeared. The only thing worse than the wholesale surrender of worship and church authority to Gavin Newsom was the Scripture twisting done from the pulpit to try to rationalize obeying the government when they ordered the church shut down.

Heresy is not too strong a term for the sermon allegedly based on Romans 13 that was put forth to justify capitulation to the whims of the State. It was as masterful as any scary cult stuff you get warned to avoid. The Scripture twisting from the pulpit was remarkable in its boldness and deceit. Rarely have I seen Holy Writ so grossly manipulated from the misapplication of “The Word.” The pastor verbally contorted the Bible in the same fashion as a clown stretches balloons into grotesque animals or a corner vendor shapes his dough into pretzels. Before long, the epistle written by the Apostle to the Gentiles is placed firmly upside down and its contents are proclaimed to mean the exact opposite of the plain context and historical background of the text.

In ring number three is the main event, the hostile workplace issue that dragged on for almost three years. Word is that employees of the church filed a complaint with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing because the church board failed to act after repeated complaints. I was told, gosh shucks, the board is volunteers so we shouldn’t expect them to act on such complaints. Such matters are way out of their league.

Finally, enough pressure was applied that the church had to hire a labor attorney to investigate the issues. In the course of conducting the investigation, much of the church board had to recuse themselves for conflicts of interest because they were either related to participants in the controversy or material witnesses to said violations.

The findings of said investigation are embargoed but the recommendations that the attorney made were reportedly adopted unanimously by the same governing body that had failed to act for so many years. What those recommendations are has not been disclosed either. They are embargoed too. In fact, everything having to do with it is embargoed. Curiously, following this vote, the Senior Pastor announced his resignation with two weeks’ notice.

What’s that saying about where there’s smoke …

Oh, due to the resignation of the Senior Pastor, the mediation mentioned in #2—which went on for about seven months—is null.

Some board members claim no causality between the findings of the investigation in number 3 and the pastor’s resignation. Considering that the Senior Pastor is the one that was accused by a multitude of people as the one fostering the hostile workplace stuff, that is laughable. The number of people to jump ship under his leadership is remarkable. The only way to know what the relationship between his resignation and the investigation is if the investigation findings are released.

Following their unanimous vote, the board thought it best to send their minions to various church events to calm the sheep that might be considering jumping ship. Their approach reminds me of my Navy days when we were on the Alaska Cruise. The captain came on the ship’s intercom one afternoon and said, “I can’t tell you what we’re doing out here but you’re doing a great job. Keep up the good work”.

Hint to my blog readers and members of the board, don’t send a known weasel out to try to calm the sensibilities of the masses. Having a person of such dubious character saying “anything you might wish to know is none of your business” can hardly be regarded as a competent strategy. The board’s position is trust us; we know what’s good for you. Wasn’t that Gavin’s line on closing churches during Covid?

When asked about the Matthew quote above, we are told the Bible doesn’t apply in the internal working of the church. Only state law matters. (If you think this sounds like the same rabbit hole that we just went down with Covid, I would wholeheartedly agree.)

Oh, we were also told that to make anything public would be to expose the church to litigation. Better to cover up the offenses. Again, opposite of biblical teaching. Oh, ditto for any type of apology to those that suffered under an unrepentant task master that created the alleged hostile work environment.

Folks, I’m not even on Facebook and the stuff that I know that was posted there is highly corrosive.

I could get into the tall weeds on this topic but why? I think you get the picture. It’s beyond ugly, it’s downright toxic. Irrecoverably so.

In the midst of all this, it did get even weirder. The spokesmen of the board are scared to death about the membership suffering or the weekly offering declining more. People have left the church over this—more on that in a minute. The sermon hymn last Sunday was “They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love”.

Seriously?

The message from the church board is you have no right to know what happened. Its none of your business. But trust us. Stay here and we can go forward together just don’t expect us to do that healing stuff. Oh, and keep tossing money in the collection.

Lost in all this is that Biblical stuff about restitution and reconciliation.

This is a labor law, personnel matter, and you have no right to know even though you are the ones paying their salaries.

Based on my experience, this is how this will playout. A group of people will definitely leave over this mess. People act emotionally not intellectually to such things. Then in about six months, another group will exit. These are the ones that stayed to see if things will get better and they didn’t meet expectations.

Oh, we were told amidst a tidal wave of weasel words that the pastor didn’t have to resign. Folks, this ain’t his first rodeo. He left to save face. Better to retreat and live to fight another day.

Lastly after getting run out on a rail, the disgraced pastor got a going away party sponsored by the church and held on church property. My wife and I went out of curiosity. The number of people that didn’t show up was illustrative as well.

My attitude is that we’re leaving shortly for Idaho so in many ways we don’t have a dog in this hunt. I’m not emotional about the office mismanagement as much as the failure of the pastors to lead during Covid. The pastor needed to go because he lacked a spine to do the right thing. The fact that it’s not his reflex to trust Scripture speaks volumes to me.

Lastly, on the spineless comment, this pastor would occasionally say something right from the pulpit and the very next Sunday he would begin the service with an apology because a few people got offended by his comment the previous week. He would then retract what he said, ask for forgiveness, and promise not to do it again.

Again, where’s the Bible? Jesus said his words would be an offense. Many quit following Jesus because people disagreed with him or didn’t understand his words. At one point he even asked his disciples if they would leave too.

A church that can’t follow the Bible when it might have a cost is not worth defending. It needs to be vomited out. I’m thinking really hard if my money will continue to go there or elsewhere during my remaining time in Elk Grove.

This church has problems because the pastoral sermons stay in the shallow end of the theological pool and don’t give the meat of the Word to their members. So, when times get tough, we get to watch everyone play the baby game because they’ve never matured from the church’s teaching; or lack thereof. “Safe” sermons are worthless ones and sadly way to frequently given.

Just as I was preparing to post this blog, I get an email from the board. Guess the board meeting a couple days ago was not poorly attended like days gone by. Anyway, they sent out a communique tonight. I will redact a few names but let you have a feel for what was sent.

In October of 2021, the Church Council received complaints of hostile work environment from Church staff against a Pastor … In April of 2022, the Church Council retained an attorney … to conduct an internal investigation into those complaints as well as allegations of inappropriate behavior.
… the attorney, worked with a sub-committee appointed by Church Council to establish the parameters of the investigation. The purpose of the investigation was to dismiss or substantiate the hostile work environment allegations. The scope of the investigation involved gathering information from the complainants, the pastoral staff and members of the Church Council. (attorney’s) scope was limited to conducting unbiased interviews, gathering information/fact finding, creating a report and recommendations, and presenting this information to the Church Council appointed sub-committee.
Following an extensive investigation, it was determined this Pastor’s conduct did not rise to the level of unlawful hostile work environment under California or federal law. The investigator did conclude, however, that there was inappropriate conduct.
The sub-committee and Mr. (attorney) recommended a corrective action plan to address the inappropriate conduct and prevent it in the future. Some of the recommendations, by law, are prohibited from being disclosed.

I’ll keep following this situation in case it warrants another post.