Ted Hickman, a city councilman in Dixon, CA, has really irritated the Left and made them forget all about their hatred of Donald Trump…at least for a while. You see, on his blog, Ted declared July as SPAM… Straight Pride American Month!
Ted Hickman’s bold declarationNow hundreds of millions of the rest of us can celebrate our month, peaking on July 4th —Ted Hickman
Ted is even on the ballot this November so as you read this, you can marvel as I do at his perky sense of humor. Sadly the Left is not laughing but suffering an aneurism.
…I am proclaiming July as NOT LGBTQ-WTF aka… Straight pride month… You know… I hereby resolve that I proclaim the month of July to be celebrated as… I am proud to be a heterosexual, monogamous, married to the opposite sex, straight individual that knows what goes where and why. But I’m not going to try to shove this down you throat, so to speak, you can be one or not, that’s your choice.
(emphasis and colors in original post)
Ted’s exhibits as to why S.P.A.M. is necessary for our youth
Last Sunday ended LGBTQF-WTF month Yea! (*Don’t get me wrong I support the First Amendment, as much as the next person, and support the rights of grown men to wear skin tight short-shorts and go-go boots and don tinker bell wings with wand and prance down the streets of San Francisco) with tens of thousands of folks dancing and prancing all over American celebrating the fact they are different than most of the rest of us and showing their “pride” in being so.
Now before anyone gets their pantyhose in a knot, this is not really legally anti anything; instead it’s pro-family; and proud to be a straight American, and me expressing a private opinion… So there! If you remember last week I proclaimed the Month of July as SPAM …(Straight Pride American Month)…(as Vice Mayor don’t know if I can, but what the heck). Now hundreds of millions of the rest of us can celebrate our month, peaking on July 4th, as healthy, heterosexual, fairly monogamous, keep our kinky stuff to ourselves, Americans… We do it with our parades in every state and county in this country with families celebrating together. We honor our country and our veterans who have made all of this possible (including for the tinker bells) and we can do it with actual real pride, not some put on show just to help our inferior complex “show we are different” type of crap. We ARE different from them…We work, have families, (and babies we make) enjoy and love the company (and marriage) of the opposite sex and don’t flaunt our differences dressing up like faries and prancing by the thousands in a parade in nearby San Francisco to be televised all over the world… *And yes, before it becomes an issue, I do believe in faries; I’ve seen them in SF for myself. Let’s see if I can remember the Peter Pan story about believing in faries…oh yeal, so according to “Wikipedia” faries are powered “bypiezoelectric” crystals which can be energized by sound waves like made by clapping. So, right now if you don’t want any faries to expire, you can clap your hands. See, I do have a heart I just can’t type and clap at the same time… so I had to make a hard choice didn’t I?
Ted’s response to taxpayer promotion of the rainbow lifestyle
Ted has stones to put this stuff up on the web. As a result, he has the Huffington Post, local and regional papers, television stations, and folks all over the Left upset that he dares to stand-up for the rest of us and mock the “rainbow people” for their moral nakedness.
So be thankful on this Independence Day (‘cause every country has a July fourth on their calendar but only America Celebrates our independence on this day). Thanks to veterans and people that sacrificed to make this country what it is, and still do. And mostly be thankful for regular guys like Donald J Trump and Ted Hickman that believe that America needs to be made great again. So, enjoy the fireworks on the web and in the sky tonight. Oh, and happy SPAM month. Enjoy it, we’ve earned it.
Just as a stopped analog clock can be correct twice a day, we need to give credit where credit is due. Yes, we are hard on Ted’s supporters but we here at ReallyRight are man enough to praise him when he gets it right.
I saw this from Joe Miller today and wanted to let you know that I agree with Ted Cruz.
. .It’s also Democrats’ worst nightmare. If you thought they were freaking out this week over Justice Anthony Kennedy‘s retirement announcement, imagine how they’d react to the Utah senator [Mike Lee] joining the High Court. . .
President Donald Trump has asked his advisers about nominating Lee to replace Kennedy, according to a Bloomberg News report Thursday that cited “three people familiar with the matter.”
Lee’s rock-solid voting record has earned him perfect 100 percent scores from Conservative Review and the Heritage Foundation. In addition, he has the highest lifetime score from the American Conservative Union at 99.43 percent.
The senator also has a strong background in the law. He has served as a federal court clerk, assistant U.S. attorney and general counsel for Utah’s governor, in addition to his private practice work specializing in appellate and Supreme Court litigation. . .
“I think he would be extraordinary ,” [Ted] Cruz said of his friend. “If you look back at Republican nominations to the Court, Democrats have batted almost 1.000. Just about every nominee they’ve put up there has voted the way they wanted on just about every single issue. Republicans at best bat .500. About half of the nominees Republican presidents have put on the Court have turned into train wrecks — have turned into liberal activists.”
Ted is right in saying that the Dems have a perfect track record with their appointments to the High Court and Republicans get skunked about half the time with theirs.
Folks, Trump will get to have four or five appointments to the Supreme Court during his presidency. Over the next six years; these will include replacing Ginsberg and Thomas. You may actually have the opportunity to see the Liberals loosing in the Court six-to-three or seven-to-two. The dream that began with Reagan may finally see the light of day, a bright future for the city on the hill. Please God, let it be so.
I was contacted by one of the potential candidates for the 2019 CRA President. He was not happy of my characterization of the CRA or the candidate field. At the end of his missive I was told that I am full of bitterness and resentment.
response to yesterday’s blog
Without naming this individual, I would like to respond to his message.
First, I still regard you as a friend whatever you may think. However, my friend, you have a problem. You are obsessed with the CRA. The CRA can’t fix itself let alone the problems facing California. The Republican brand is toxic in California not because they are outnumbered by Democrats but because they have no core values. CRA can’t fix this problem but they helped create it.
Republican leaders learned from the vulnerabilities exploited by Barbara Alby and company back in the late 80’s and early 90’s and have blocked access to the Party apparatus by rank-and-file Party members. Statewide you can thank Charles Munger and Jim Brulte. Locally you can thank Sue Blake, Terry Mast, Duane Dichiara, and the gang in the Sacramento County Central Committee.
If I would be described as bitter and resentful about anything it is this, I let Barbara Alby and her fellow travelers use me—and willingly so much of the time—as a pawn in her grand schemes to take over the California Republican Assembly and later the California Republican Party. The way that she and her posse treated Carl Burton, River City Republicans, and many others who were once involved in CRA is shameful. Doing it in the name of Jesus Christ even more so. Not until I personally experienced this treatment did I begin to question their methods.
Sadly, I’m a slow learner. A few years later, I came back to CRA. By then, the Alby crew had kicked CRA to the curb. In terms of membership, CRA was a shell of its former glory having gone from 80,000 members to about 15,000. I also spent much time in both Yolo and Sacramento County Central Committees. After getting involved in the Sacramento Central Committee, I participated in Support The Platform and was one of the few people to write them a check in their first outing. The next election cycle STP targeted me for removal from the group that I helped to create and fund in the previous cycle. It’s the kind of gratitude I’ve come to expect from the disciples of Alby.
The bottom line is that our people wanted to play power politics in the very same manner as everyone else. They claim that they acted in the name of Christ but the way they treated others proved that they were just being good Pharisees. So, yes, I regret that I was easily duped and treated others in a way that profaned Christ.
While I have come to this conclusion, many that were once in CRA still treat others just like they did back then. Sadly, for many, winning by any means is more important. For them, knowing just how much pressure to put on the scales to win is still very much part of their stock and trade.
As for today’s CRA, the best way I can describe the group is this:
If a person was within the blast radius of a nuclear weapon detonation, all they might see is a flash. They then might seek shelter and try to survive but it’s already too late. You see, the flash exposed them to a lethal dose of radiation. They are dead, it’s just that their body hasn’t caught up with reality and may not for a period of time.
A number of recent events could be pointed too as that lethal blast for CRA but whether that was Tom Hudson and Craig Alexander not pursuing the Park Brothers, CRA endorsing Ted Cruz on the first ballot, Celeste Greig saying if you don’t support Jim Brulte as the next CRP Chairman, “there’s the door”, or something else, the point is that CRA is over. It’s time to move on and spend your time doing something more productive.
Fonzie (Henry Winkler) jumps the shark
We’ve had a lot of good times together but with all due respect, you don’t have the financial security and fiscal independence to be CRA President; neither do you have the sales skills to build the group. You can filibuster as well as Tom Hudson but I don’t count that as a gift. Turning a twenty minute business meeting into a two hour marathon is not the way to boost membership. Your home CRA Unit is hovering below the threshold of a healthy unit and some you count as members haven’t written a check to CRA in a few years. Like the statewide group, your home chapter is on life-support. Sorry but why should this formula be replicated on a statewide basis? What you need is not a position in CRA but gainful employment. Take care of your family and then see what you can do to help in the community. Lead through what you do and then people will listen to what you have to say.
CRA talks a lot about “principles” and the old “conscience of the Republican Party” quotation but they are not now; (if they ever really were). If their support of Ted Cruz or Travis Allen is any indication, they are out of touch when it comes to where Republicans are in this state. Their endorsements have never come with any funds but an army of volunteers to get out votes. Dude, those days were gone a few decades ago. If CRA has 800 active members statewide I would be shocked. Your own unit is luck if they get five members to a meeting and you want to be President of the entire statewide organization? Hubris? In our own ways, we are both policy guys and not the ones qualified to lead.
Windmills in the past
It’s time for you to quit tiling a windmills and join the rest of us in the real world. CRA can’t save themselves, the CRP, or California. Do what is in the best interest of your family; find employment with benefits, save for retirement, and take the wife to a nice vacation in a tropical place. In my opinion she’s earned it.
Rumor has it that the current President of the California Republican Assembly is ready to step aside and let the group pick a successor. The group has reserved a birthday room at a Chuck E Cheese in Fresno for their 2019 spring gathering. Attendees are reminded to get a convention hat from their local Burger King before arriving. Also bring ten dollars for game tokens. The convention venue features entertainment for the whole family. Pepperoni pizza is included in the registration price but cheese or sausage will be extra.
Chuck E Cheese—where CRA happens next
The highlight of the gathering will be selecting a new President. Like any other presidential race, many folks are rumored to be throwing their hats into the ring. Since the candidates have not publically announced their intentions, we have randomly assigned code names to those known to be testing out the electorate via focus groups. Thus far, the top three are Wookie, Sith Lord, and a drunken Jedi.
The Wookie is a faithful follower and companion to the fearless leader—whoever that may be. He is a certified graduate of Sidekick Academy. Always the bride’s maid and ever attending the wishes of his leadership team, he is often seen but rarely heard at public gatherings. He votes right (i.e. with leadership) and is reliable. He seems bereft of any original ideas but parrots those he serves. This brings into question why after decades in the organization as a faithful sidekick does he now fancy himself the hero that can save CRA? You can’t help but wonder who will be telling him what to do? The John Birch Society members in the group or Tea Party or elected officials or … you get the point. His principles are like water and take the shape of whatever vessel that he invests himself into.
Wookie aspires to go from sidekick to hero
The Sith Lord is immersed in the minutia of policy and tactics, always looking for an advantage. He picks a candidate of principle in every Primary but enthusiastically will denounce them if a competitor makes him a more lucrative offer; especially going into the general election. He will declare his benefactor as more electable and throw his former choice under the bus without skipping a beat. He has a track record of convincing his apprentices to strap on bomb vests on his behalf and detonating in public while he sits back and performs bomb damage assessment on the fly. Using this updated information he is able to plot his next move while others are wondering why the apprentices acted as rashly as they did. Over the years, the pool of potential apprentices has grown shallower so he deploys them less frequently than in years past. The Sith Lord has taken a vow of poverty and has no employer to tie him down so he is able to respond with lightning speed to any situation worthy of his unique talents regardless of which part of California it may occur.
Sith Lord stepping from shadows to assert control
The drunken Jedi is a grizzled military veteran with the charm and charism to disarm the unwary that he meets on his way. He is capable of making a great first impression and has beguiled many of the CRA Board and perhaps a few of their daughters. Think of spiders entrapping the unwary in their webs. His past is shady and seems purposely obscured. His political tactics are awkward and poorly thought out. He often acts without reason and causes harm by the rash things that he says or does. He has defacto control of much of the information that once made George and Aaron Park the real powerbrokers of CRA. Foolishly, the Board has repeated history by putting him in sole control of their Facebook page, website, and membership lists. As a result, the drunken Jedi is the most formidable opponent of the three in the sense that no one else can campaign aggressively against his weaknesses without risking that he burns the place to the ground on his way out. Were he sober and on an upward career path, he would be an asset to the group but in his present state, he seemingly has no reason to grow-up.
Drunken Jedi stumbling forward to lead rag-tag band
Truthfully, in the heyday of CRA, all three of these guys would have been red shirts of Star Trek fame, good for one episode and an honorable mention in the credits to mark their passing. However, these are the waning days of the organization and these guys are at least willing to step up and try to prolong the organization. Each man has some ability but I don’t have confidence that any has the skillset necessary to stop the decline of CRA.
Next year, if you happen to be in Fresno one Saturday in March, drop by the birthday room at Chuck E Cheese and you might get to see how this tale unfolds. Unless this convention turns into Second Amendment Saturday, I doubt the results will even be in your local paper.
As lamented in a previous blog, the daughter unit is persisting upon being re-baptized on Sunday. Frankly, I just don’t get it. To me it’s just more snowflake B.S. from a generation that is hell-bent on putting decorum, tradition, and once common sense in the rearview mirror.
The daughter was baptized in the Methodist Church, confirmed in an Anglican Church, and has regularly taken Communion in these and several other Presbyterian and/or Reformed Churches. She left a Presbyterian church last year with much fanfare and a send-off ceremony by the pastor and began attending a dispensational congregation. She has been regarded as a communicant member in good standing in every Church she has attended for the better part of 20 years. A minimum prerequisite to receiving Communion in any Church is baptism—although they may require confirmation or other conditions.
The daughter decided to be re-baptized in the new congregation not due to any spiritual change in her life or theology but simply to be a part of the group. My wife is calling this farce of a ceremony an initiation.
Baptism: Covenant symbol of Church membership
Lest you need proof, just ask her, my wife did. The daughter was asked if she had remained at the Presbyterian Church where she was taking Communion weekly would she feel the necessity to be baptized and she replied, “No.”
Knowing that she was a communicant member in other churches, why is the pastor of this new church persisting in letting this go forward? It would be proper for them to accept a letter of transfer from the previous congregation and/or require the daughter to attend a new member class just so she learns the distinctives of their church but re-baptizing is unbiblical—not that they seem to care.
Baptism is a binary thing, either you have been baptized in the Trinitarian formula of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit or you have not. As stated in my previous post on the subject, there is no such thing in the Bible as being re-baptized—the only exception being those in the New Testament that received John’s baptism and later that of the Apostles.
The chasm of logic required to justify re-baptism in this case cannot be bridged with any amount of verbal and semantic gymnastics. Nothing short of disdain and willful repudiation of the Holy Scriptures and Historic Church justifies this act.
Had someone left the faith in rebellion and subsequently repented and desired return to the Church, I would still think it wrong but at least understandable due to a change in heart. However, in this case no change of heart is alleged thus the act is one of initiation not into the Body of Christ but to be accepted into the Sunday clubhouse.
This act is one of excommunicating the vast majority of the Church on earth and the Church Militant. It also begs the question of what other theology is defective in this group which daughter thinks is so wonderful that she can chuck her birthright for a cup of water.
Oh, her pastor will tell you that baptism doesn’t save you; so again, what purpose does it serve in this case? Nobody can answer that question. What’s more disturbing is that no one thinks to even ask it.
The house that I live in was constructed in1989. It was decorated by the builder’s wife. The predominant color of the interior is pink. Light pink walls and matching trim, pink tile, pink carpet, and pink is a dominant color on the wallpaper too. The house was originally purchased by my wife’s grandparents. My wife came into possession of the house and was living there when we were married. Since she had no intention of moving into my one bedroom apartment, we opted to live in her house; thus I didn’t have a choice in the color scheme.
Anyway, the wife decided that we needed to paint the hallway and living room. She requested that I take a week off in June to help her with the task. Folks, any opportunity to purge pinkness from our home is too good to pass-up. So I jumped at the chance.
My budget was $500 for paint and supplies. We knew that we needed a special primer because the trim work in the house was a glossy oil-based paint. We both spent much time searching on the Internet for just the right primer. Sadly, like any other buying decision, what we found was lots of opinions and anecdotal stories but very few facts. We decided to go with an oil-based primer that claimed it could go over any surface-latex or oil—without sanding. Once applied, the product also said we could cover it with either oil or latex paint.
Zinsser® Cover Stain® Oil-Based Primer is an all purpose oil-based primer designed for interior or exterior applications where an oil-base primer is desired. CoverStain provides excellent penetration and flexibility and has excellent adhesion and stain blocking properties. CoverStain has excellent adhesion to dense, glossy surfaces such as enamel paints and varnishes, paneling, laminates, and ceramic tile without the need for sanding or deglossing.
Cover-Stain is recommended for application on interior and exterior surfaces that have been damaged by fire, smoke or water. Interior surfaces include new or previously painted drywall, cured plaster and cementbased coatings, wood (including pine fir, cedar, redwood, and plywood), metal (including aluminum, iron, steel, and cooper), vinyl, PVC, masonry (including stucco, concrete block, poured concrete, and brick).
Based on the description above, we went with Cover Stain. However, being that we live in California finding this product was our next obstacle. Per internet information, we found two gallons in Ceres California. That was all that was available from the big box stores in the northern part of the state. It was cheaper and available in large quantities at all Reno Home Depot stores and at a lower price than anyone offered in California. My wife wasn’t keen on me driving to Reno and wanted me to wait. We found that Kelly-Moore Paints had some buried in the back of their store. Eventually we bought a five gallon bucket from them.
The Cover Stain that we got was more like syrup than paint. It also dried a light brownish green color not white as we were led to believe from their internet information. After applying, we had to use at least two coats of latex paint just to cover it and get a white color on our walls. We painted the wood trim after finishing the walls. Because we were painting our hallway, almost every door jamb in the house received paint as part of our project.
Once the hallway was done, we began putting hinges back on door jambs and removing the Frog Tape that we had used to control where paint was applied on door jambs. We weren’t painting both sides of the door jambs, just the part visible from the hall. The rooms connecting to the hall were being save for future projects or had been done previously.
Frog Tape recommended by Consumer Reports online reviews.
It was at this point that our best laid plans and internet research all confronted reality and the results were ugly.
Here are photos of the results.
Typical results of peeling paint following application of Cover Stain and two coats of latex paint.More peelingAll ten door jambs peeled just like this one.
Remember all the claims of sticking to any glossy surface with no sanding, yeah right. Dream on baby. So guess what? We had to scrape and sand every door jamb; all ten of them. We took them all down to the wood, primed them, and then painted. This took two sanders because we killed the first one, lots of sweat equity, and five days of labor by two people. We spot checked some of the base trim and had to redo a few of them also.
We spent twice the amount of time on this project as we had estimated and three times the money. We ended up spending $500 with Kelly-Moore Paint, and split the paint supplies between Home Depot and Lowes. As the color went on the living room walls, mama began wanting to make other changes so we had to buy a new ceiling fan and lights. Since the walls were now white and not a dark pink color, we needed to change the plugs, switches, and cover plate colors from almond to white.
Finally the carpet installers arrived to replace our 29 year old floor coverings.
The finished product looks nice.
Room during carpeting process with pad installedFinished room
Sadly, the front room and entry way don’t match the new paint job so guess what mama wants us to do in July. Now that we have more experience working with the pink paint from hell, I hope we knock this out quickly.
As X and I have painstakingly documented on this blog, both the State of California and the California Republican Assembly (a.k.a. CRA) are in a death spiral. In the unlikely event that the State hits bottom before the CRA, what should the last vestiges of this once great organization do for our state? Clearly, since voters overwhelmingly rejected Travis Allen as their savior (9.55 % of the vote), traditional methods are not working. CRA’s endorsements are more ineffective than campaign phone calls and going door-to-door on precinct walks. Who will deliver us from the wrath to come? (Garvin Newsom)
Most of us instinctively know that the economy of California will be crushed by the burden placed on the people and economic engine of this once prosperous place. We are transforming ourselves into a third world banana republic. No middleclass will remain; only the very rich and very poor. We will be a veritable warzone of crime, chaos, and tyranny.
Gavin Newson waiting to crush California’s economy
No state has ever filed bankruptcy but under Jerry Brown, we are on the short list of those likely to do so. With Garvin, we should rise to the top of that list very rapidly. Who will clean-up the mess that will be created by eight years of Newsom? If the Trump-Pence Administration is running the country, Democrats won’t be successful getting a bail-out from the Great White Father in Washington. (Sorry, just trying to relate to Elizabeth Warren supporters in the audience.) CRA secretly hopes Newsom & company screw things up so bad that voters will be begging them for relief. Clearly such drastic times will need drastic measures. What will happen when California becomes financially insolvent? What is CRA’s solution?
First, we here at ReallyRight feel your pain. We’ve been warning you for years that this is coming. However, instead of just a sarcastic “told you so”, we would like to offer a humble solution and message of hope for our friends at CRA.
If Democrats turn California into a warzone then it will need reconstruction, right? Well twice before our great nation needed reconstruction, once after the Civil War and once after the Great Depression.
Looking back, we can see how screwed-up that FDR and the New Deal left the country so this Democrat model of more big government is clearly not what California needs. We are turning into the Soviet Union just fine without another push in that direction.
FDR gave us the Raw Deal of socialism
But the post-Civil War era was started as a reconstruction effort by Republicans lead by Abe Lincoln. Clearly CRA can draw inspiration from a guy like Honest Abe. However, reconstruction did have its drawbacks, ask any Southerner. So how can CRA stay true to their principles while avoiding the pitfalls of Southern Reconstruction?
Honest Abe will inspire CRA to greatness
When California files bankruptcy, a Federal Court will appoint a Receiver to oversee the financial health of the State. Think of this as a czar of fiscally responsible spending and a check against the excesses of the Legislature. A Federally appointed overseer with this amount of power must be a guy who can balance several things, namely he must respect the Constitution, know the inner workings of government, and protect us from the Trump-Pence Administration.
Perceiving both the peril and opportunity that California Reconstruction will offer the CRA, clearly only one man is qualified for the job. CRA needs a proven leader that can stand-up to the Washington establishment while knowing the legacy of misfortune created by Reconstruction wrongly done. This man also has intimate knowledge of the workings of California because half of those fleeing the tyranny of California are moving to his State. Ladies and gentleman, I humbly suggest that CRA draft Senator Ted Cruz to lead California thru Reconstruction and to a new era of prosperity. With so many undocumented refugees from California in his midst, Ted won’t even have to resign as the Senator from Texas to save us.
Ted Cruz—American needs you more than ever
Think about it. Cruz is the perfect guy and he doesn’t even have to move here to do the Receiver job. Look at the precedents that already exist in our state. California no longer requires that you be a citizen of the country to vote or have a driver’s license. You no longer must be a resident of the state to have the privilege of collect taxes for our state (thanks Amazon). You no longer have to be a California resident to buy a car meeting our fuel emissions standards. You no longer have to live in our state to be the police chief (thanks Elk Grove) I could go on but you get the point. California is a state of mind not a geographical place.
Given all the above, what can prevent Ted from saving us? The candidate that the voters rejected will be the cornerstone of our recovery. Friends in CRA you now have a reason to hang tough, your renaissance is coming. When the time comes, Ted will vindicate your trust in him. Eighty percent of you trust him implicitly, it’s just taking the rest of us time to get up to speed on this reality.
Earlier this year, my Lumia 950 LX began having a series of unexplained issues related to phone calls and messages. I began having to reboot my phone not because of any obvious error but because I would become aware that I was not getting text messages from my family. Upon restarting, my phone would suddenly receive three or four days’ worth of text messages in a matter of seconds. After dealing with this irritation for a while, my phone began missing calls. The phone would not ring or show a missed call. When someone dialed my number, it would ring four times and send the caller to voicemail.
Let me tell you, when mama bear calls and you don’t answer the phone then mama ain’t happy. I tried it myself with the wife’s phone. I literally set her phone next to mine and called myself. Her phone rang four times and then went to the voicemail. No ring or missed call ever appeared on my phone. However, using my phone I could dial and get right thru to her.
I tried the wife’s old phone, Lumia 950, and experienced that same problems. I went to the cell carrier and bought a new sim card. This too failed to resolve the problem.
Neither my wife nor son had problems calling each other on their Android phones. I had my son try to call me and his call failed. I then took the wife’s phone and put my sim chip in her phone and had my son dial me. His call rang with no problem. Thus the sim chip was not the problem.
I did some Internet research and while not conclusive this is my best guess as to what was happening. The problem seemed to be relate to cell phone carrier frequency and signal changes. When I dialed the wife’s phone, my phone would hunt thru a series of available frequencies until it found one and then it would dial. However, the reason the wife couldn’t call me is because the carrier’s preferred frequency was not available in my coverage area. The cell network would try to reach me on a frequency that my phone couldn’t receive or in a way that my phone didn’t recognize and then it would time-out and send the call to voicemail. This behavior was intermittent and seemed to depend on which combination of cell towers that each of our phones was using.
Whether the phone hardware or Window Mobile Operating System is partially to blame was something that I couldn’t determine. My conclusion was that the cell provider did some change earlier this year that wasn’t compatible because they assumes nobody was still using Windows phones. Visual Voicemail was broken on Windows phones about three years ago and the carrier was moving on without supporting the feature on Microsoft’s platform.
I researched a bunch of different phones. I wanted a large screen, good camera, fast CPU, and reliable Bluetooth. Amazingly enough, per user reviews, most phones failed in one of these areas. Either the screen resolution or framerate were crappy, camera was poor, or Bluetooth connection was subject to failure or intermittent. In other words, manufactures took shortcuts in hardware or had poor designs that didn’t work in the real world.
Another feature that I wanted was the ability to store apps on the SD card. While the Android operating system supports this feature, many phone manufactures disable this feature. For example, my son is using my old ASUS phone. ASUS treats the SD card as an external drive and will only allow photos and music to be stored on the SD card. My son’s 32 GB phone is full of apps and he has to delete existing apps to install new ones. He likes games and many are over 2 GB each. Can you say Pokémon Go? The phone will not allow him to move apps to the SD card. As a result, he has a 64 GB SD card sitting virtually empty in his phone. This is stupid.
My wife has a phone by Sony. The Sony Bluetooth is terrible. If her phone goes on internet, the Bluetooth will disconnect. If the Bluetooth connects to her car it will disconnect from her Samsung health band. The phone cannot support more than one radio connection at a time. She can only have internet or one Bluetooth device connected. The phone will not multitask or support multiple simultaneous radio connections. Her phone also will randomly uninstall apps every time she restarts the phone, which she must try to identify and reinstall. We did a factory reset of phone and found the SD card was identified as bad but the reset did nothing to resolve the Bluetooth issues. I love the traditional six inch format of her phone but the internals are crumby.
After much research I decided to get a Samsung Galaxy S8+. It checked most of the boxes that I wanted except screen size. I don’t like their “candy bar” screen format, I would like a bigger size. The phone is long but narrow. I would prefer a wider screen but they just aren’t available on high-end phones.
I went into my neighborhood Best Buy and looked at the phones. They had a Samsung Galaxy S9+ with a price tag of $719. That isn’t much different than the S8+ was on the Internet. I thought to myself, what a bargain, maybe I will get the S9+ instead. I waited in line and when my turn came, asked for the Galaxy S9+ from the lady in the phone area. She rung it up and asked for $906 and change. Then I knew I’d been played. They had purposely put the wrong price in front of the phone just to dupe folks like me. I’m holding the S9+ in my hot little hand and they are now asking for more money. I went ahead and bought it at the higher price. After the transaction, I went back to the in store display and checked. The Galaxy S9 has no price in front of it but the Galaxy S9+ had the Galaxy S9 price tag on it.
Illustration showing Galaxy S9+ shape being more like candy bar
Best Buy does have a two week return policy for the phone and I ended-up putting that to good use as I will now explain.
After I got home from buying the phone at Best Buy, I went onto Amazon to order a case for my phone. In my experience, Best Buy marks up phone accessories like crazy and I wanted to pay less, especially after breaking my budget like I did. As a Prime member, I knew I could get two day delivery on the case. I would have to survive only Sunday and one day at work in order to save some money. Well, amazingly enough, even with a tracking number, Amazon lost the order.
After five days of waiting, I went on the internet to see if Best Buy had a case similar to the one that Amazon lost. Best Buy actually had a similar case for five dollars more than the one I had previously ordered and not received. While on their website, I checked on the phone price just to see if what I paid was the correct price. Well guess what? Best Buy was selling the phone for the same price that I had paid but they were offering the phone with a wireless charger and 128 GB SD card.
The next day, Saturday, I went on Amazon and cancelled my missing order and got my money refunded. Oh, the Amazon service rep was Kuldeep. Thinking that I was probably dealing with an ESL (English as a Second Language) person, I used full sentences and was very polite in the chat session.
I then went to Best Buy with my receipt and asked for a charger and SD card. Best Buy did not have a charger or SD card in stock but they ordered them for me. The sales lady also helped me set-up and use the Samsung Pay app. I even got a $5 credit for using Samsung Pay for buying the case. The charger and SD card arrived three days later. I felt better for at least getting something extra for having paid cash for the phone a week earlier.
I love the Galaxy S9+. It is a great phone. I did have to hunt around for a few things.
On Windows Phone, my favorite app was Earthquake Watch. I was hoping that the developer had made an Android app. I tried to find out but unfortunately, all the contact info for the programmer and his website are stale. Most of the earthquake apps in the Google Play Store are crappy. After several days of researching, the closest that I could find to Earthquake Watch in the Google Store was My Earthquake Alerts. After using the app for about a month, Google game me a credit for $2 for no apparent reason. I used it to upgrade to the Pro version which is identical except ad free.
My other issue was getting my address book to download into my car so I could make hands-free calls. I was able to connect my Google and Outlook accounts to my contacts but they would not download to my car. Connecting my Outlook account to the built-in Calendar app in the phone seemed to solve this issue.
My only remaining and unresolved issue is will Cortana read my text messages to me while I’m driving? Windows phones have had this ability in them for at least the last five years but Android…? If so, I can send text replies via voice commands. TBD.
Given: The following logical propositions are true:
• Actions have consequences.
• Ideas have consequences.
• Elections have consequences.
Therefore, as we approach the anointing of Gavin Newsom as the next governor of California, I promise that you will see the attacks upon thought and personal beliefs accelerate in ways never seen before in the history of our nation.
Two harbingers of this have already been seen in the legislature—and be warned—they are just the beginning.
California Senate Bill 1146 (2016)
This threatens religious institutions ability to require that students attend daily or weekly chapel services, keep bathrooms and dormitories distinct according to sex, require students to complete theology classes, teach religious ideas in regular coursework, hold corporate prayer at events such as graduation, and so on. In other words, it threatens every practice that makes religious institutions distinct from secular institutions.
“The bill effectively eliminates the religious exemption under current law that allows Christian colleges and universities to operate in accordance with their beliefs, including the freedom to hire only Christian faculty and staff. If passed without amendments, the new law would also very likely disqualify students attending California Christian colleges and universities from eligibility for Cal Grants, a key state-level student aid program.”
Religious leaders and colleges in California claimed victory this week after deflecting a proposed California bill that would have jeopardized state funding for students at religious schools that did not conform to state policy on gay rights.
At stake were hundreds of thousands of dollars in state tuition subsidies for tens of thousands of low-income students attending private religious schools. These subsidies come in the form of Cal Grants that provide substantial subsidies for poor students at private and public colleges.
The bill would have required any school whose students receive Cal Grants to comply with state nondiscrimination law and provide housing for same-sex married couples on an equal basis with heterosexual couples and to provide bathroom access to transgender students based on their chosen gender identity.
As amended, the bill would now be limited to two types of disclosure. First, colleges would have to publicize if they have requested a religious Title IX exemption from the federal government. Second, they would have to report to the state if a student is expelled for morality code violations.
This disclosure-only shift was hailed as a victory by religious schools and their advocates, but the victory may be a fleeting one.
Kristen Soares, president of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities, which opposed the bill in its earlier form, said she expects the bill’s author to be back next year.
“This gives us more time to work on this issue,” Soares said. But, she says, she is under no illusion that this compromise is anything more than a pause .
A new bill passed by the California Assembly on Thursday would classify the selling or advertising of gay conversation therapy as a fraudulent business practice.
Assemblyman Evan Low (D) said the practice of trying to change someone’s sexual orientation is ineffective…
A supporter of the concept of the bill, Conor Friedersdorf, wrote in the Los Angeles times, “…to settle what the law really is saying will require a decade of court battles .”
Both the above pieces of legislation (and others I could cite) would be passed under Newsom. Governor Brown may or may not sign the one on Conversion Therapy. The thing you must remember is that all such legislation is just the next step to something else not the end in itself.
Folks, if you are a traditional, orthodox Christian whether you call yourself Roman Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant, the State of California has placed you in their crosshairs for the purposes of extinction. You will conform or be persecuted. Sticking to your beliefs and teaching them to your children will have a cost.
They’re coming for you brethren
The logical next step after private colleges are denied access to the Cal Grant program will be this: if you graduate from an institution that is not eligible for Cal Grants then you will be denied employment in any level of government. This may happen via the backdoor and the State may word the denial in terms of accreditation of institutions or some other weasel words. Perhaps they will require an affirmation of your support for homosexuality or abortion or whatever social issues they wish to attach. It will effectively be a Test Oath to swear allegiance to the power and wisdom of the State.
Truthfully, I’m surprised that current State employees don’t have to do this in some form already. I guess the assumption is that we really believe all the B.S. that they tell us or it just never occurred to them that many of us dissent from the wisdom of the rainbow people in government.
For example, State employees are subjected to sexual harassment training on an annual basis. Employees are required to sign-in at the training but currently no document is required with a signature saying that we agree, support, or affirm all the stuff the legislature says we need to do or believe. If you tune-out about 90 seconds of the one hour presentation then you likely just skipped the token rainbow pug for the year. I foresee the day coming when sitting in the room will not be enough, we will have to sign a pledge to tow the Party Line.
Most folks don’t understand that those elected to the Legislature are not bound by their consciences or oath to support and defend the Constitution; instead, their attitude is if you don’t like what we do then take the issue to court. Otherwise, shut-up and hold on.
The tyranny of the majority is here and they’re coming for you. The ideological version of the zombie apocalypse has begun and it’s an inside job.
Two thousand years from now, some poor child in a history class is going to be presented the following three headlines from today and then asked to explain what caused to downfall of the United States of America.
NFL considers proposed 15-yard penalty for kneeling
The National Football League did this to themselves by allowing politics into the game. The San Francisco Forty-Niners and then the NFL Commissioner allowed this to happen much to my amazement. I watched zero NFL games last season and will watch none until this practice is outlawed. A penalty is not enough. It is a half measure from a group of spineless owners that have been given billions of taxpayer’s money for the sole purpose of playing a stupid game. The owners should have their government protected monopolies removed and be forced to seek only private funding in the future.
Parents can kick their 30-year-old son out of their home.
As I have written about before, “The compassion of the wicked is cruelty.”
The man in this story is selfish and by all accounts has failed to honor his parents. The Commandment doesn’t say honor your mother and father only when you agree with them or when they deserve it, it is not qualified by such weasel words.
A verse in Proverbs comes to mind but it doesn’t really mean what you think it does.
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
Accordingly, Prov. 22:6 is not so much a promise, as it is a solemn warning. Parents, if you train up your child “according to his way”—in other words, if you quit the hard work of loving discipline and just give in and let your child have his own way—you will reinforce his sinful proclivities to such a degree that, apart from supernatural intervention, “even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Dr. Crenshaw is a smart guy and the article that I quoted above is well worth the time to read it.
Publix wouldn’t write Summa Cum Laude on graduation cake due to profanity
For those of you on the Left Coast, Publix is a grocery store chain which apparently has a bakery with employees that were given average publix-school educations. Since Latin is no longer taught, I’m not that surprised. Most folks now-a-days only think in terms of bodily fluids and how to satisfy their base urges. The thought of these words being associated with academic excellence is clearly beyond their comprehension. Clearly Publix employees only use that word in another context when messaging their friends on social media.
So, student of the future, what did you conclude about the state of our Republic and its demise?
We had a saying in our era that “Hindsight is 20/20”. But sadly, the people living during this time never comprehended the peril that we were in. The Good Book warns us that “As in the days of Noah…”
