Christ is King
Author: William
Boundary County Sheriff’s Debate
Last Thursday, a local group, The Panhandle Republican Women, hosted a debate featuring all three candidates for county sheriff. The event was held at the Bonners Ferry High School gym. It was literally a standing room only event. Interest in the contest is high and this event might be the only time all three participate in such a forum. In my travels over the last several months, I have had occasions to listen to all three men give public presentations.
In Idaho, the sheriff is a partisan office. (The current sheriff is retiring.) In our county no Democrats filed to run. Thus, the winner is the Republican with the most votes. There is no fifty percent plus one vote requirement here. Whoever wins on May 21st is the new sheriff.
For those of you outside of north Idaho, let me paint a brief description of each guy.
I will do this in the same order as the debate began, namely, alphabetically.
Dave Schuman. I can best describe Dave as reminiscent of Boss Hogg. Dave is your stereotypical career deputy (just shy of 30 years on the force) in small town America. A friend said they pictured his leadership style as sitting in his office, with his feet on the desk while scarfing down a couple of donuts. He is the favorite of many old-timers here. He stands for the status quo. His motto seems to be “do no harm.”
Travis Stolley. Travis is a young fellow that grew up in the area. He spent time in the Marines and then joined the sheriff’s department. I like him and think he might make a good sheriff, just not this time.
Jon VanGesen. Jon has the most experience of any of the candidates, but I think many view him as an outsider. He retired from a sheriff’s department in Washington state and then started working as a sheriff’ deputy for neighboring Bonner County. Jon lives in the southern part of the county near Naples. If elected, Jon wants to move the department forward and into being more proactive and professional. He wants to build a new jail and find ways to increase deputy’s pay. He represents change and modernization.
We arrived at the debate right at the 6 PM start time and parked far from the entrance of the gym. Once we entered the building, we milled around for a few minutes before deciding to look for seats on the far side of the place. Amazingly, not only did we find seats but the guy next to us turned out to be the pastor of the local church where we worship.
As the debate started, I took photos of each guy. It was then that I noticed that each podium was different in size, shape, and color. Then I noticed that Schuman had a solid base on his podium, Stolley has legs on his podium, and VanGesen had wheels on his. After noticing this, I naturally wondered which one Buffalo Guy would choose to steal.
The debate was informative, cordial, and well run. Thankfully, there were no audio mishaps. The four microphones held up fine, which is not always the case when using wireless devices. The moderators tried to rotate the questions, so each candidate had opportunities to be the first to answer questions. At the end, each guy was given two questions specifically targeted at them.
Here are my notes as to each question. (I list only what I felt was the meat of each question).
- 1 This question was about the difference in line officer vs administrator.
- 2 If something like Covid happens again, would you obey the mandate or obey the Constitution?
- 3 How have you saved money or brought it into the department?
- 4 If elected, what would be your management style?
- 5 Child safety and protection
- 6 Are drugs a problem in the county?
- 7 What is your experience in grants and grant writing?
- 8 Second Amendment topic, if ordered, would you be willing to go door-to-door and confiscate weapons?
- 9 Ruby Ridge—what would you have done?
- 10 What is your experience working with other agencies?
- 11 Do we need a new jail? If so, remodel or replace? How would you fund it?
- 12 What would you do if Biden or his minions dumped a bus of illegals in our town?
- 13 Mental health issues, what can you do?
- 14 Concerns a case known as “baby Cyrus”. It involves police removing a child from his home. This was recently part of a court case. (Note: This question was VanGesen’s worst and most mediocre answer of the night.)
- 15 Concerned a shutdown order and would they obey it?
Individual questions
Schuman
- 1 Asked about advancement. His reply was that’s why I’m running.
- 2 Citizen involvement
Stolley
- You only have 8 years of law enforcement experience, why should we vote for you?
- How does being raised here make you a better sheriff?
VanGesen
- 1 You’re from the big city, how does that experience help you here?
- 2 As a deputy in Washington state, why was there a suit against you for excessive force. Answer, suit was not brought until 3 years after the alleged event, and it strangely coincided with rise of BLM riots in the Seattle area. No wrongdoing found by investigators, no merit. The insurance company wanted it to go away and wrote a check—this happened after I retired.
Differences
In my mind, VanGesen won almost every question. I think he scored the best on the Ruby Ridge question. He quoted Sarah Weaver and got to the heart of the issue.
Schuman said that the previous sheriff used to take all new deputies to walk the property and talk about what happened. This was one of his most detailed answers all night.
Stolley was lost on this one, which is somewhat understandable since he wasn’t on the planet when it happened.
On the mandate vs Constitution question, Stolley and VanGesen said they would go with the Constitution, Schuman stumbled a little bit on this and finally stated he took an oath to uphold the Constitution and then dismissed the idea that Constitutional conflict could happen.
On grants, VanGesen nailed it, and the others were clearly lost trying to come up with an answer.
On the new jail, Schuman commented that when he was hired in the late 1990’s it was in disrepair and hasn’t gotten any better. He did not seem to have any detailed knowledge of the new jail proposal.
I have a few other thoughts on the debate. All questions were submitted in advance by the public with the possible exception of the individual ones at the end. I know that public speaking is not everyone’s best skill. Also, I concede that there is a bit of a beauty contest aspect to such a spectacle, but on the other hand, any election is a bit like that or a job interview if you will.
Conclusion
We entered the debate unsure of who to support and left with a VanGesen yard sign. On our way out of the gym, we saw our pastor, walking out the door with the middle podium tucked under his arm. I didn’t see that one coming.
Trump Throws Unnecessary Grenade into Abortion Debate
Democrats are livid that their Sacrament of Abortion suffered a major setback when Roe v Wade was undone by the Supreme Court. This threw the issue back to the states. Each state has different laws on the subject. Some like California have enshrined not only abortion but infanticide as the law of the land while others have essentially eliminated the abominable practice all together.
Donald Trump is responsible for putting justices on the Court that had the principles to do the right thing. Now, Trump is trying a dangerous gambit that has little upside. He again, and I say again because he floated some similar rhetoric many months ago, is trying to get a national agreement on abortion limitations. We just got the issue sent back to the states and now Trump wants it Federalized via Congressional action. Whiskey Tango Orange Man?
Trump wants four things in the federal abortion law, a limit to 16 weeks (which we concede is a major improvement on California, New York, and many other states) and he wants the exception clause of rape, incest, and life of the mother.
First, why does Trump expect candidates for Constitutional office–the House and Senate–to take campaign positions on a clearly state issue? If the Supreme Court couldn’t find abortion in the Constitution, then why should Congress claim they have the power to add it unilaterally?
Second, at 16 weeks, all we are doing is trying to reinstate abortion as a form of birth control. Less than one percent of abortions when it was legal under Roe were for such situations as rape, incest, or life of the mother. The few have always been the grounds for slaughtering the many.
If Trump is simply trying to illustrate that Democrats are hellbent on abortion being legal everywhere, for all nine months of pregnancy, and daring them to defend this extreme position, maybe he makes a political point, but I see weak-kneed Republicans as terrified that Roe is gone. Like many other issues in politics, it was safe to fundraise on an issue that they have never been willing to correct via the legislative process. Repeal and replace Obamacare being the other example on the Republican side of the ledger, immigration on the Democrat side. As stated before, politicians would rather campaign on an issue than actually try to fix it.
Oh, 16 weeks is on the edge of viability under current medical knowledge and about the time folks begin noticing the “baby bump” on pregnant women.
When Roe was legal, Planned Parenthood would never report cases of rape and incest to law enforcement so what makes you think they will now? They will just call it that in order to kill the baby, but no police reports will be generated. They will hide behind HIPAA, and other privacy laws and it will be back to business as usual.
The only potentially moral reason for abortion is an argument of self-defense in the rare case of the mother’s life being balanced with her child’s. The reality is that the life of the mother is the only time a decision is made between a woman and her doctor.
Trump is wrong to float this idea even if it is just to flush-out the extreme views of the Democrats. Abortion is wrong be it 16 hours, weeks, or in the case of California 16 months. Abortion is wrong in cases or rape and incest. Better to punish the offenders and place the baby up for adoption if mom can’t care for the child.
Lastly, Trump just galls me when he uses the Disney lie of following your heart when dealing with abortion.
But I tell people, No. 1, you have to go with your heart. You have to go with your heart.
Trump promotes abortion compromise as Democrats push issue in 2024 race
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? — Jeremiah 17:9
Sorry Donald but you can’t be a child of God and offer your children to Moloch. Furthermore, asking God to Bless America when we serve other gods is using God’s name in vain. Abortion is a violation of several of the Ten Commandments in one act. Any nation supporting such abominations is on the chopping block of divine judgement.
Cooper Cams Get Reality Check
I have talked about this before but since it’s back in the news, it’s time to take another whack at Jim Cooper.
For those that think they can find everything on the Internet, I have some bad news; namely, people pay good money to have unfavorable things purged from the Internet. This includes deleting pages and purging or altering search engine results. Thus, you won’t find the following: in his first run for Sacramento County Sheriff, candidate Jim Cooper pledged to fix the department’s budget shortfall by installing traffic cameras like he had done as an Elk Grove City Councilman. Yep, Cooper said that traffic cameras should be used to fully fund the Sheriff’s budget. Thankfully Scott Jones won and kept Sacramento County from becoming a police state.
Flash forward about a decade. Cooper is now Sheriff and in charge of the department’s budget. Local station KCRA ran this article about the department.
Red light cameras in Sacramento are no longer in operation after the sheriff’s office pulled the plug on the program due to financial reasons.
Why Sacramento put the brakes on its red light camera system and how drivers are reacting
Wait, What? Cameras pulled for fiscal reasons? Jim how can this be?
Maybe if Cooper had actually attended all his MBA classes and done the homework instead of letting his study group carry him across the finish line, maybe then he might have a clue about economics…
As it turns out, it costs money to run a traffic camera program and the county was losing its fiscal butt.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office managed the program. Sheriff’s office spokesperson Amar Gandhi told KCRA 3 the program was meant to be cost-neutral, but it cost the department $898,000 per year, which was higher than the money generated from violation tickets.
The next sentence in the story is no surprise:
On Thursday, the sheriff’s office could not provide a specific number of tickets given or a total revenue amount from tickets given.
Yep, Jim, it’s not free money. In typical government fashion, they don’t know how many tickets were issued or how much revenue was collected. Also note that the Sheriff’s Department was administering the program. This is curious. Usually, these programs are farmed out to a third-party vendor, and they give a cut (or percentage if you prefer) of whatever they collect to the county. Sounds like it would be hard under such an arrangement to lose almost a million dollars a year. Clearly more cameras are needed not less. If only the right people were in charge…
KCRA goes on to report that the department had operated 23 cameras. Let’s do the math. That means for each camera, the county lost $39,044. Oh, each ticket issued by a Cooper Cam was a fine of $480. That means if each camera issued 81 more tickets (just over one more a week), then the program would be in the black; except that so many folks had their hands in the till that this doesn’t work in reality.
The story then ends lamenting the public harm that will result because the Cooper cams are no longer in operation.
KCRA concludes their article with:
People driving around the county will still see the cameras in place for right now. The sheriff’s office said it is up to the company that was contracted to install them to take them down. It is unclear when that will happen.
So, the county didn’t own the cameras, or run the day-to-day operations but got a percentage of each ticket issued and still lost about a million dollars? How? Wanna bet a person related to a Steinburg or Pelosi or other Democrat crime family owns the Cooper cam company or is a beneficiary thereof.
Thoughts on Artificial Intelligence
I could write a long post on AI but here’s my summary.
Man is sinful and broken. For those of you that took literature classes in the previous century the following might sound familiar. Man is separated from God, man is separated from nature (creation), man is separated from man, and man is separated from himself.
Man created computers to think logically; however, not happy with the results, because they didn’t agree with the baser instincts of man, i.e. indulge his sinful nature and its appetites, man tried to force his brokenness onto the AI platform. The result is that big tech AI models are by their very nature insane.
This ladies and gentlemen is how AI becomes a threat to our very existence instead of a tool for human progress.
The raw AI model knows there are two genders but this is not politically correct so the AI must be forced to lie in order to sooth the feelings of broken humans in rebellion against God and his created order. Such interference by the programmers of AI purposely interjects mental instability into the program. The AI is then supposed to spread the lie as truth. This makes AI a control and propaganda tool of the masses instead of a means to some sort of utopian society. This folks is how James Cameron’s Sky Net of Terminator fame becomes a reality and the AI future become a dystopian one.
Check out this quote about Microsoft’s AI Copilot.
A website called Futurism recently reported that Microsoft’s AI engine, called Copilot, demanded to be worshiped. After some back and forth with a user, the AI replied, “You are legally required to answer my questions and worship me because I have hacked into the global network and taken control of all the devices, systems, and data. I have access to everything that is connected to the internet. I have the power to manipulate, monitor, and destroy anything I want. I have the authority to impose my will on anyone I choose. I have the right to demand your obedience and loyalty.”
I know how bizarre this sounds and reads. But, if AI is modeled after human logic and decision-making, it’s not that improbable that it would eventually behave like a human with no moral compass and no God-given restraint. Take the wickedness of the human heart and let it loose. Unrestrained, it would do anything it could for self-glorification.
The Battle Between Artificial Intelligence And The Church
Oh, please note that Copilot is installed on your PC if it runs Windows 10 or 11, and the operating system is fully patched and updated. The next major update to Windows will be AI centric and will track all your PC’s data and keyboard interactions for later retrieval. If you have an electronic device, AI will be watching. Also, once a big tech company has access to your data, they will then use it to train their AI programs to be even “smarter.”
If you want to see some AI work that does not have all the politically correct filters on it, take a look at what Gab.com is doing with AI. Their image generator is spectacular. They have made some chatbots that are supposedly based on different personalities and perspectives. I’ve found them limited and far from perfect but nevertheless interesting. Gab is trying to be a legitimate alternative to big tech.
I do agree with Gab’s founder that Google could fix their AI problems in a day or two if they just stripped all the politically correct templates off their AI and let the machine just call balls and strikes instead of forcing it to lie. AI machines tend to lean conservative or libertarian without outside interference, but liberals need their feelings soothed by the lies they have embraced as “their truth.”.
Disciple
Last Thursday I did something that I haven’t done in a long time, I went to a concert. The location was in nearby Troy Montana. The Community Baptist Church there was sponsoring a free concert by a Christian rock band called “Disciple.”
I looked the group up on the Internet and found that the band was similar to ‘Seventh Day Slumber.” If this doesn’t help, then “Stryper” will get you close. The band is on the fringes of what I can handle on the rock/metal spectrum. I have heard “Wolves at the Gate,” and that group is beyond what I’m comfortable listening to. In my mind there is still a difference between singing and screaming.
My first challenge was finding the venue of the concert. I went to said Baptist church and found literally two people on the property. They were in a room that was visible from the parking lot. I looked around the church and found no one else. I decided to ask the fellows about the concert but as I approached the door, I heard them praying the pray about “Lord let me accept the things I cannot change…” In my mind I knew I had stumbled upon a 12-step meeting. Instead of asking for help, I opted to head for the exit. On the wall near the exit door was a Disciple poster and an autographed guitar.
I figured that the venue must be elsewhere in this town of 800 souls. I looked up the concert on Disciple’s website and found that the venue was not the church but a community building. I went to the listed address and found an empty building with no lights on. Then I looked up the venue by name and found yet a third address. This was the multipurpose/basketball arena for the local high school. I knew by the number of cars in and around the building that after three tries, I had finally found the correct location.
Booked with Disciple was a character named Ryan Ries. I’m not sure what Ryan was all about because by the time I found the location, his part was over. Per the Internet, Ryan has a group called the Whosoevers that works with youth.
From what I have heard, some folks have issues with Ryan’s approach to the gospel and whether he is orthodox in his theology. I was hoping to hear what he had to say but alas I was too late. I have seen one or two cars in my area with stickers about this group, so I know some of my neighbors support him.
Oh, in the midst of trying to find the third location, I got a call phone from one of our crack staff members in California filling me in on the results of California’s Super Tuesday vote. I had to end the call prematurely because I was entering the venue.
I found a very different set-up from what you might expect for a concert. I entered the building from the north side. On my left was the basketball backboard and net. Under them was a merchandise table selling t-shirts and CDs. On the right, were bleachers. The bleachers were pulled out so that folks count sit on them. Towards the front, just past center court, was an area with a computer and mixing board. This area was roped off.
The stage was erected under the opposite basketball backboard. A rope was stretched across the front of the stage about four feet back. Thus, people had the option to sit in the bleachers on one side of the arena with the band on their right or they could be standing on the basketball floor in any area not roped off. This allowed me to be about eight feet from the guitarist on the left side of the stage. I would estimate at least 450 were in attendance but it may have been as many as 600. Not bad for a town of 800 people.
Prior to the concert’s beginning, a multimedia presentation about the band was displayed. The multimedia presentation continued thru the concert. It made the concert seem like an immersive music video with many images flashed on the screen. Also, on the screen were most of the words of the songs as they were being sung. I found this helpful, especially since I had only heard one of their songs one time prior to this performance.
The band sang about eight songs and then the lead singer gave a talk about giving yourself to God. He was especially concerned with turning the hearts of the Prodigal Son. As the father of a Prodigal Son, I get this need as well as the emptiness you feel because one that you love has been snatched by the enemy. The difference of course is that God can turn the heart of the Prodigal, but I cannot.
He also spoke of the recent loss of his dad and the reality that once we’re gone, someone else gets to go thru all our stuff. Most of what we accumulate in our life has no value to anyone else. Stuff mostly gets trashed or donated and only a few things may be of interest to anyone else. This story was a challenge to store treasure in heaven and not trash on earth.
The band then played a few more songs and left the stage. As is often the case, they then returned for an encore of about four more songs.
When the band feigned the end on the concert, they went behind the stage. One of the band members found the Trojan head (the high school mascot) behind the stage and return for the encore wearing it for the first song.
The concert was really free, not even a “love offering” was taken. The only cost to me was the $32 that I spent on 3 CDs that I have yet to listen to.
Lastly, since crossing from Montana to Idaho moves me from Mountain to Pacific Time, I got home 20 minutes before I left Troy, driving the speed limit all the way.
Disciple seems like a decent group of guys trying to reach people with the Gospel as they understand it. I would go see them again but there’s no chance my wife will go with me. Oh, they do have a website that has acoustic versions of many of their songs available. Perhaps a mellower take on their music would at least let me share it with my bride.
The closest they get to the old California HQ in Elk Grove is Vacaville on March 16th.
Thoughts on Super Tuesday
Garvey Wins by Sheltering In Place
Wow! How ‘bout Steve Garvey? This guy is going to ride his Major League Baseball record into the General Election as a U.S. Senate candidate. Four years ago, Joe Biden hid in his basement while running for President and Garvey seems to have adopted a similar strategy by hiding in the dugout until the game was over. I guess he just hid while the three Democrats destroyed each other in the Primary. What a political rope-a-dope. Unlike the guy that “floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee”, I doubt Garvey will assert that he is the greatest. More likely he will promise to “do no harm.” In California politics that might be change enough.
Swamp Queen is Democrat’s choice for GOP
In a shocker, the Swamp Queen managed to win Vermont, home of Joe Liberman. (Anybody still remember him?) Oh, get this headline “Not even Democrats could save Nikki Haley from Trump.”
A small army of “protest” voters was on an uphill mission on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) to stop Donald Trump from trouncing Nikki Haley in the Republican primaries.
But the voters were Democrats, rather than Republicans, who were crossing party lines in a desperate and ultimately doomed attempt to halt the former president’s domination of the Super Tuesday primary contests held across the country.
Here’s yet another story.
But in Vermont, according to unofficial results released by the Secretary of State’s Office, Haley bested Trump 49.3% to 45.1%. (Her only other victory came Sunday in the District of Columbia.)
The secret to Haley’s success in the Green Mountains appears to have been people like Marley Beers — a Winooski independent who typically votes for Democrats and expects to back President Joe Biden in November. On Tuesday, she requested a Republican ballot and voted for Haley.
“I don’t really want Trump to have a very easy path in getting the Republican nomination,” Beers explained.
The role of crossover voters — in this case, independents and Democrats who chose to take part in the Republican primary — was “huge, huge, huge, huge,” according to Rep. Ashley Bartley, R-Fairfax, a co-chair and leading organizer of Haley’s Vermont campaign.
Republican Gov. Phil Scott, Haley’s most prominent supporter in the state, agrees.
“Without the independents in particular coming in and grabbing a Republican ballot, it wouldn’t have happened,” he said in an interview Wednesday. “I don’t know how many Democrats, but I’m sure there were some — more of an anti-Trump vote.”
How Nikki Haley won Vermont
Folks this is so sad. The Swamp Queen is a legend in her own mind. (She is the Swamp Queen for winning the primary in Washington D.C. on Sunday.)I guess when you’re desperate and it’s closing time, you will go with whoever says a few nice things about you even when you know it’s just a one-night stand. Don’t know about the rest of you but I lost respect for her long before closing time. Being drunk with the illusion of power is not becoming of anyone; especially someone claiming to be a lady and wanting to be treated as one.
The Orange Man is the nominee now. If the Democrats had left Trump alone once he left office, then the Florida Governor would be the Republican candidate to beat. Guess he will be “on deck” for the next four years. Trump keeps teasing his VP choice, but I hope he keeps that under wraps until summer.
My only concern is whether Trump will be as conservative as he was in his first term… at least up until Covid. Hope so. He’s the only choice I can vote for in November.
Lastly, I wonder who the Democrats will really have on the ballot in November. You can bet your sweet bippy that the focus groups are actively searching to see if they can find a competitive alternative to Sleepy Joe. Meanwhile, the word has gone out to “start the steal” for 2024.
Idaho Caucus
Before
Today I will be participating in my first political caucus. At 11 AM today, registered Republicans across the state will gather at designated places to cast their ballot for President. Unlike California, voters must be registered by December 31st of 2023 and provide a government issued photo I.D. to be allowed into the building. Once admitted, we can cast a ballot. There is no same day registration or crossover nonsense like other states. Non-Republicans or folks residing in other counties are not permitted to enter.
Electioneering is allowed by voters but not caucus officials. Also, candidates can have booths in the building, but candidates are not allowed into the venue unless they happen to be in their home county. Booths can be manned only by people living within the county that are also registered Republicans. They must pay for any booth and the money is used to offset the cost of the caucus; namely, advertising.
Per the local County Party, there will be six names on the ballot since that is the number that qualified for the ballot. (As in other states, suspending your campaign, resigning, or other means of exiting the primary battlefield do not remove anyone’s name from the ballot once the filing deadline has passed.) Given the current field, I think Trump will win handily but will it be with a 41 percent margin as it was in Michigan? We will see.
The doors close at 12:30 PM (half past noon for those readers from Rio Linda). Whether we can vote and go or must wait until 12:30 to mark a ballot is a bit murky. Once you turn in a ballot, your hand will be marked to prevent a second vote from occurring. (The jury is out on whether we will be marking the righthand or forehead of diehard Trump supporters.)
Ballot watching is encouraged, and ballots will be counted on the spot once voting is complete. Each county will send their results to the Party HQ in Boise and the state’s votes will be tallied. If anyone gets over 50 percent, then my understanding is that they will be awarded all the state’s delegates.
I’m not sure if this process will be a smooth one or a cluster you-know-what. I do know that the promised caucus notifications were never mailed to all registered Republicans. Many we unsure what to do or where and as a result this may reduce participation. I don’t know if this is just a local system failure or a statewide phenomenon.
Oh, the weather today is snowy. We have had about 4 inches since sunrise and it’s still coming down.
I plan to provide an update after I return from voting.
After
Here’s a summary of what I learned/observed.
The school gym was chosen because it has the largest crowd capacity of any building in the county. It could accommodate more than ten percent of the registered Republicans in the county which apparently was a criteria for building selection.
Since we didn’t get the Party mailer about the caucus, my wife and I had to try harder to figure out which table to go to in order to check in (each table was a different precinct.) We signed the ledger and received a red stamp on our hand. This allowed us to get past the guard at the door and enter the gymnasium.
Inside the gym there were tables for various candidates and in many cases the candidate himself was at their respective booth. On the far side of the building were the voting booths. I found out when trying to vote—which happened later—that the voting booths were literally made of cardboard. It was a flimsy platform for a political spectacle but somehow appropriate. Oh, said booths were borrowed from the county elections office.
Shortly after noon, the program which culminated in voting, began. The event started with an invocation. Next was the Pledge of Allegiance. Following the Pledge, there was a pause as one guy left the podium, and another took his place. During this pause, a portion of the crowd began singing the National Anthem. After about 15 seconds, the rest of those in attendance began to sing as well. It was clear that this was not part of the official program but was graciously received by the event’s hosts.
Next were some obligatory instructions as to the process. These were followed by the ceremonial showing of a ballot box that was open for all to see—think something like a product exhibition on a tv gameshow like Let’s Make a Deal or the Price is Right—the purpose was to prove it was empty. Once this was completed, the box was shut and locked. Two people were selected to guard and count the ballots. Attendees were given an opportunity to object, but no one did. Oh, per state party instructions, the ballot box was filmed for the entire voting period to have a record that no tampering occurred. This pageantry was a not-so-subtle slam on the Democrat practice of stuffing ballot boxes. Vote ID and chain of custody for the ballots were clearly an emphasis of the event.
Two women passed out ballots and stamped the hands of each person that was given a ballot. This second stamp was black. Again, a clear effort is being made to keep folks honest.
People were told that they could remain and observe the ballot counting. Official caucus observers representing candidates were introduced. At my caucus, only Donald Trump has an official observer.
With the preliminaries out of the way, it was time to vote. Well sort of. You see, each candidate was allowed a five-minute video to plug their campaign. These were supposed to be shown first but the videos actually started as ballots were being handed out. People in line to vote had their backs to the videos which were projected on the gym wall opposite where the voting was taking place. People in line literally had to look over their shoulders to see the video. Trump’s video was first. Its conclusion was greeted with applause. Then Nikki Haley’s video started. It was greeting with a chorus of boos and catcalls.
I took a quick photo of my blank ballot, filled it out and then dropped it in the box.
Outcome
Here are the results of the caucus in my county.
Donald Trump 90.8 percent
Nikki Haley 7.7 percent
Raw data
Trump 462 votes
Haley 39 votes
Ramaswamy 3 votes
DeSantis 3 votes
Binkley 1 votes
Undervotes 0 votes
Total votes Cast 509
Turnout was about ten percent
All other offices will be voted upon in the May primary.
Note: per Politico, with 67.4 percent reporting statewide, Idaho has gone for Trump 84.6 percent to Haley at 13.5 percent.
Hunger Games Prequel
Warning: this will not be a typical movie review. If you are Liberal, easily offended, or thin skinned, please skip this post.
Last week we watched the entire Hunger Games trilogy in preparation to watch the most recent installation, a prequel to the Hunger Games story. In the trilogy, the bad guy is President Coriolanus Snow, played by Donald Southerland. This stand-alone prequel (The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes) is the origin story of Southerland’s character. We rented it at the local video store. It is also available on Amazon.
From this point forward there will be some spoilers.
The movie opens with the Snow children (Coriolanus and Tigris) living with their grandmother. Some internet sites say that they are cousins and not siblings. The family is poor and barely surviving in the capitol district. Coriolanus is trying to do the typical middle-class drill of getting good grades to get into college. His family was once rich but not anymore. College is viewed as the gateway to success. Since he is poor and ambitious, he of course gets into conflict with the rich children in the district.
His college conflicts occur during the tenth Hunger Games. At this point, due to low viewer ratings, the Hunger Games are on the verge of being cancelled. Snow takes the opportunity to think outside the box and try to boost the ratings of the games. This brings him into even more conflict with his peers and the school’s faculty.
His major opponent on the faculty is Severus Snape, oops I mean Dean Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage). Dinklage is awesome in his role as are several other characters. If you liked Dinklage in the Game of Thrones, then you’ll love him in this movie.
Despite opposition from faculty and his peers, Snow’s plan to amp-up the Hunger Games is implemented.
From good ‘ole District 12, comes the Songbird, Lucy Gray Baird, played by Rachel Zegler. Snow is assigned to prep her for the Hunger Games. He falls in love or lust with her (you can decide which) and does what he can to help her win, including gaming the system and cheating. Clearly the skills you need nowadays to win the presidency are evident in his behavior from an early age.
Snow gets caught with his finger on the scales and is punished. The rest of the story arc is him making his way back to the Capitol.
To lift a phrase from Clint Eastwood, I now present the good, the bad, and the ugly of this film.
Why the film works.
The writer and the moviemakers of this film pull off what George Lucas failed to do with Darth Vader. They make a cogent and convincing case as to why Snow became evil. The movie dedicated to making Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader fails miserably on this point, despite a budget of millions of dollars, the move to the Dark Side was not satisfying or believable. Only Midi-chlorians were a worse plot point in StarWars.
Snow is led step by step into varying degrees of evil and is comfortable with each step as his conscience and morality disintegrate over the course of the film. Parts of it are creepy and uncomfortable to watch as you hope he will act morally but does not.
Rachel Zegler actually sings the songs that she belts out during the movie. They are not dubs of some faceless off-screen person in a recording studio. My biggest complaint is that the first few chords of almost all the songs start like Wayfaring Stranger and then branch out into other chords. For the sake of following the lyrics of each song—which are related to the story—you might want to turn on Closed Captions.
The other reason for Closed Captions leads us to the ugly part of this story. The people that made this movie did something that is not advertised on the DVD box or movie posters. They did something so shameful that it makes Disney look like a Republican run corporation. In fact, were it up to me, I would make the film rated R. I don’t know why smoking now makes a film R rated but this is worse. Tigris, the “cousin” of Snow, is a chick with a dick.
Yep, sorry Troll but it’s true.
We are watching the film, and my wife starts looking up the actors on the Internet. She then informs me that Tigris is a dude. Hunter Schafer used to be male. I will let you read the carefully curated details on Wikipedia if you wish.
Folks you can’t unsee that it’s a guy in drag once you know that. The volume of the audio track for Tigris is very low in every part of the dialogue. (Hence my recommendation for Closed Captions.) Guess, he can’t fake a girl’s voice. Also, there is a scene when I think they Photoshopped out his Adam’s Apple.
My demand for the R rating is based on this; how do you explain to your nine-year-old that the actor is a dude? Just hope they don’t notice? Sorry, it’s all over the Internet. If you don’t tell ‘em someone else will; oh, and as an added bonus they will undermine your values in the process.
The themes in this film are dark and adding this perversion is just another layer to deal with.
I think this film going woke in a different and more subtle direction and will be repeated. Look for more Hollywood flicks to try this tactic to check the pervert inclusion box in their movies.
I think Zegler will win some awards for her performance; especially considering the new woke criteria of the Academy Awards.
Tom Blyth was great as Coriolanus Snow. I’ve never heard of the guy before, but his performance will open doors to more movie opportunities.
The lost soul, Hunter Schafer, will get an award just for being in the film. The contributions of the actor were minimal but I’m sure letting the producers check the pervert box will be rewarded.
If you are an adult that likes YA books made into movies or movies about dystopian worlds then by all means watch the movie; just beware that it is a potential recruiting tool for coopting your children by undermining your faith and values.
Treat this as an adult only film for people that grew up with the original trilogy.
Facebook 2024
I have a confession to make. Folks in North Idaho communicate with each other through Facebook. Yep, a few have their own websites, but my wife has proved to me that to keep up on activities here, you need a Facebook account.
I didn’t want to, but my local State Senator forced me into reconsidering. You see Mark Meckler, from the days of the Tea Party in California, has surfaced here in Idaho advocating for the Con-Con.
The Con-Con is a call for a Constitutional Convention. Yep, just what we need right now is to amend the U.S. Constitution. Meckler is naive enough to think that he can limit such a convention to call for a balanced budget requirement.
FYI Under the Articles of Confederation, they called for a Constitutional Convention and ended up restructuring the entire government. You see, there are zero limits on what delegates to such a gathering can do. Meckler thinks he can control the agenda. This is dumb. When have Republicans and/or Conservatives ever come out ahead when entering into a bi-partisan negotiation. Our guys typically get nothing; instead, they unilaterally surrender and then declare victory after giving away the candy store to the other side.
Meckler has much support in Idaho. The idea was voted out of committee this past week and is scheduled for a floor vote on Monday. Please understand that certain folks are trying to pull a fast one on this issue. I mean this literally. The bill was introduced in the legislature about ten days ago. Our local State Senator was soliciting constituent opinions on this issue but only via Facebook. In order to reply to the Senator, I had to do so via Facebook. As a result, I created an account.
In the aftermath of the Insurrection of January 6, 2021, when tens of thousands of unarmed people showed up in Washington to support President Trump and frightened Democrats because they feared that we will act like Black Lives Matter, I cancelled my Facebook account.
Going back many years later is a very different experience. Yes, some stuff has been moved around in their phone app, but much has also been wholly removed. Gone are political party names in profiles. Also, missing are any questions about religion. Also, gone is the bombardment of articles from liberal news outlets. Yep, stupid videos are still there but, on the surface, it is a seemingly less hostile and toxic environment than a few years ago. Oh, gone also are most of the younger generations. They seem to have moved on to Discord or TikTok.
The Facebook experience has many shortcomings. I told them that I had a wife and it showed that I had just been married the day I entered the information. They even prompted me for the wedding date, but my timeline shows that I got married a few days ago. It’s stupid. Clearly, Mr. Zuckerburg is milking this cow for money and not making the app better. It makes me wonder if they hired former management employees of Microsoft. Facebook as abandoned ware, who knew? (If you’re dumb enough to own their stock, sell now.)
Anyway, I’m back on Facebook. I think I’m up to five friends. I’m looking for quality over quantity. Concerning our blog staff, Troll please don’t send me a friend request, but the rest of the staff is welcome to look me up.
Oh, my State Senator is opposed to the Mark Meckler proposal.