Cord Cutting in North Idaho

Back when we lived in “the state that shall not be named”, one option for people cutting the cord was over the air television; however, here in North Idaho that option may not be available. I say “may” because I don’t really know and have yet to get an authoritative answer. Nobody that I have met here talks about television and virtually nobody has an antenna on their house (except the old abandoned one down the road from us).

I checked a few antenna apps on my phone, and they rendered very different results. One by RCA says that we might get one channel while another says we might get as many as 29. A few websites claiming to know give yet other results between these two numbers.

At least part of the confusion seems to be the issue of “line of sight.” Here, “line of sight” to any media market broadcast signal is zero. Mountains prevent line-of-sight and digital signals don’t get to bounce off the atmosphere the way their analog predecessors did. Instead, any signal here will be available as the result of a repeater.

My wife misses her Gordon Ramsey shows so I still have incentive to figure this out. I’d rather not subscribe to Hulu again now that it is owned by Disney. Disney took over 100 percent of Hulu’s ownership by buying out Comcast at the end of last month. I considered a Fox subscription but again, this is likely a Disney property by another name. Figuring out what is really Fox and what is Disney is a murky proposition.

I decided to try an experiment just to see if broadcast television was available here. I bought an antenna at Wally World and attached it to a long board and stuck it up in the air. I ran a coax cable to our TV. Surprise, I got stations, but my signal strength was about 60 percent. I tried routing the television signal through our over the air TiVo that we had previously used and got bubkes. TiVo needs a signal strength over 90 percent, or it will not function; thus, it was just an out-of-date brick. Siad brick was sent to the landfill.

So, is Broadcast TV Available in North Idaho? The short answer is yes.

Here is how to receive live broadcast TV and record it using your computer as a DVR (digital video recorder).

First download the Antenna Point app on your phone. It will show you where to point your directional antenna—most of them that you will purchase are this type. In my case it was south and slightly west. The app cost was free because they are hoping to sell you one of their antennas.

As mentioned above, I bought my antenna at Wally World in Sandpoint. It had a range of about 70 miles. The enclosed amplifier didn’t make any difference in my signal strength testing, so I didn’t use it in the final install. The antenna cost was about $70.

I made a 15-foot antenna mast and attached it to our utility shed. On Amazon search for 5′ Ft Galvanized Steel Antenna. I bought three of the 5-foot pipes. I didn’t want a traditional antenna because they wanted guy wires and a concrete base or attachment to your roof and guy wires.

To attach my antenna mast I also bought Skywalker 6” Heavy-Duty Wall Mount brackets.

The mast pipes were $18 each and brackets were $25.

I hooked-up a 100’ outdoor coax cable to the antenna, ran it under my house, and up to my Internet router. Search for 100′ Feet, White RG6 Coaxial Cable. The  cost was $25.

Then on Amazon I purchased a tv tuner gizmo that connects to your internet router. Search for SiliconDust HDHomeRun Flex 4K ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV: 2/4 Tuners HDFX-4K. This tuner can get up to four stations simultaneously. It is the best you can buy and works with Plex Server software. More on that in a minute. The tuner price was $200.

After researching, I decided to go with a Plex Server since it can be purchased for a flat fee and is playable on just about any device that you might own including PC, tablet, smart phone, smart tv, etc. Plex Server is software that can be run on Mac, Windows, or Linux systems. Generally, it works on Intel and AMD CPU’s but not ARM processors. Plex will auto-sense the TV gizmo that I recommended above. It is connected in the Plex app under Live TV setup. Enter your zip code and you’re mostly done. Once the TV guide is updated, just click show you want to record. Plex will also play any movies saved on your device whether ripped commercial movies or ones stored on your device that were made by a camera or smart phone. Lifetime Plex subscription is $120. This includes all tv listings and many other features. Search the internet for how-to instructions or help with any questions. Setting up any music, photo, or video libraries should be done prior to connecting them to the Plex Sever.

Total project cost was $500. Now my wife can DVR Gordon Ramsey shows and not subscribe to Fox’ streaming service.

Oh, we get the following 29 channels; 25 of which are unique:

StationHD Channel Number
CBS2.1
True Crime Network2.2
Court TV2.3
Twist2.4
Get2.6
Comet2.8
ABC4.1
Me TV4.2
H & I4.3
Start TV4.4
Dabl4.5
NBC6.1
KHQDT26.2
KHQDT36.3
PBS7.1
World7.2
Create7.3
PBS Kids7.4
CW22.1
Laff22.2
Quest22.3
This22.4
The Grio22.5
PBS26.1
PBS26.2
Create26.3
World26.4
Fox28.1
Antenna TV28.2

The PBS related stations appear to be in different cities but much of the programming is the same, except broadcast times vary. Also, KHQDT3 seems to be nonexistent.

So, Yes Virgina, there is broadcast television in North Idaho. Whether it is worth your time is a decision only you can make.

Oh, lastly, if you do go the Plex route, please tweak your recording options before you try recording something important. I had to dial back the quality just a tad to get the live TV to record and sync audio and video correctly. Snow is in the forecast for next week, so I have yet to learn how much ice and snow affect the TV signal.

Against the Orthodoxy of Israel

Yep, I hereby dissent. We should stay out of the war in the Middle East. (In general, we should stay out of anybody else’s wars including Ukraine. In fairness, I am trying to be consistent.)

For the purposes of this blog post, my complaint is not so much against Israel or its government but against fellow Christians here in the United States. The country calling itself Israel is not the Israel of either the Old or New Testament. In fact, the current nation of Israel is largely irrelevant to biblical prophecy.

Any claim that the current nation of Israel has anything to do with the return of Christ is just nonsense. The only possible claim to prophecy is a passage in Romans 11 that some day most of Israel will believe in Jesus as Lord. This does not require that a geographical place called Israel exist, only that Jews at some point in the future will finally believe. Meanwhile, us Gentiles are being grafted to the true vine—Christ Jesus.

Thanks to some very strange interpretations of passages taken out of context or otherwise twisted, many Christians believe that the existence of Israel is required for the fulfillment of much of the Revelation of Saint John and passages such as Matthew chapter 24. Sorry gang but you missed the Day of the Lord by the better part of 2,000 years. The Day of the Lord is not the same as the return of Christ at the end of the age. The Day of the Lord was His coming in judgement of the generation that put him to death.

“Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened,” Matt 24:34

“His blood is on us and on our children,” Matt 27:25.

This was fulfilled in 70 A.D.

God often comes to earth in judgement and there are many days of the Lord mentioned in the Bible, not just one.

Furthermore, the promises that God made to Israel in the Old Testament have been transferred to the Church.

Americans frequently support Israel because they think they are supporting a nation established by God in ancient times. Thanks to the Scofield Reference Bible and its twin pillars of Dispensational theology and Premillennial eschatology and how it has been implemented by many religious groups, folks think that to be opposed to modern Israel is to oppose God and His plans and conversely to support modern Israel is to be on God’s side. Sorry, but this is an example of really bad biblical interpretation.

Furthermore, modern Israel’s laws and government don’t follow the Law as given to Moses. Nope, they might rip-off the Talmud or some other traditions of men in some places, but they are just another nation that is—at least in part—the offspring of British Colonialism. They are a secular/humanistic country just like so many others.

Folks God divorced Israel long ago because of her adultery and took on a new bride, the Christian Church. The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. was the end of the Old Covenant—forevermore.

Many Christians have taken the saying, “My country right or wrong” and placed Israel in the same bucket. This again is nonsense and bad theology.

The whole point of the Ascension of Jesus is that he is now at the right hand of God and now ruling the nations. Scripture says he will rule until all his enemies are under his footstool. Psalm 110:1.

Usually, the first thing people do when they see a war in Israel is start talking of Armageddon and the Antichrist and the secret rapture.

First there is technically no geographical place called Armageddon (look up David Chilton on this point. Hint: it’s an audio tape). Second, the Bible knows of no person called Antichrist that is coming at the end of time. The term is found in the letters of Saint John but not his Revelation. John calls anyone who does not believe in Jesus Christ a liar and an antichrist.

I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

I John 2:21 – 23

At the very least, these verses seem an apt description of Jewish theology both now and then.

Also, in order for Jews to be saved they must have faith in Jesus in the same way as Gentiles. Sorry but Hal Lindsey and others that teach that Jews have a different path to God now or in the future are heretics on that point. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father, but by me.” John 14:6

Supporting modern Israel because they “live in The Land” is unbiblical.

Supporting modern Israel because they are God’s people is unbiblical.

Supporting modern Israel because they will be instrumental in the Battle of Armageddon or trigger the Return of Christ is unbiblical.

I’m not saying that there is no scenario in which you can support Israel, but it can’t be on the basis of romantic fantasies of books like “The Late, Great Planet Earth” or “Left Behind” or some other fictional work.

Jewish folks get to come to God just like the rest of us, through faith in Christ.

Their nation, just like ours will be judged for how well or poorly we obey God’s Law.

We should keep our tax dollars and military out of this conflict and many others.

Book Review: The Boniface Option

We don’t do many book reviews on the website but this one deserves some attention. This book is primarily written by a man for men, to help them be better men, fathers, and leaders of their families. The author pulls no punches, and everyone gets a poke in the nose at some point through this book. Frankly, I wish it had a few more footnotes in it because it assumes that you know it’s references to pop culture, history, theology, and other areas of life. While this can make a good book in this present moment, it will age terribly.

Author Andew Isker

I would also recommend “How the Irish Saved Civilization” as background to some comments made by the author. Ironically, I doubt he has ever read the book. St. Patrick often evangelized Ireland by going to a city and creating a Christian community on the outskirts of a city that showed the difference that being a Christian could make to the way we live our lives. It sounds like this idea was picked up a few years ago in a book the author does reference, The Benedict Option. The author of the Boniface Option rejects the idea of retreat into Christian Communities (ghettos in the eyes of some) and instead advocates that we actively fight against the Trashworld.

The Boniface Option uses a few terms repeatedly, one being “Trashworld. From page xi:

“The society we have is already an anti-human one. It is already one designed to remove from you all that made life meaningful and fulfilling. It has torn you from people and place. It is designed to make you isolated, lonely, and, above all else, totally docile.”

“I use the term Trashworld to describe this dystopian society.”

Another concept mentioned in various ways is references to homosexuality. The homosexual attitude is described on pages xii and xiii as living only for now, following the basest urges, and no thought for the future.

“The gayness of “fake and gay” is not merely some schoolyard slur. There is deep meaning to this, too. The homosexual is not just a sexual deviant. His very nature and the very center of his identity is a man whose urges take precedence over all else.”

“For the homosexual, insatiable desires must be pursued even knowing it will cost him his life. In economic terms, he is the ultimate high-time-preference man. He only lives in the present. There is no thought for the future.”

“In short, the homosexual is both the apex consumer and the easiest personality to manipulate and lord over… the gayness of Trashworld is our rulers’ social engineering of the population to create the exact same ethos of the homosexual in everyone, regardless of their sexual tastes. They want you to be spiritually homosexual whether or not they can make you actually homosexual. They want everyone uprooted and alone.”

The third term permeating this book is “bugman”. Bugman is described as one stripped away from family, people, and place and made “a willing vessel for the religion and culture of the globo-homo world order.”

Once stripped of their identity, children then go to college and “… are presented with a Pleasure Island where hedonism and sexual exploration are the carrot to the stick of ideological cajoling by leftist, anti-Christian faculty.”

After college, people are just bugs in the hive.

The book is in two halves, first the idols of Trashworld and then transforming Trashworld.

The author describes his realization of Trashworld on pages 30 and 31. Below are some parts of that story.

I remember the day I realized I was living in Trashworld. I once took my wife on a date to a restaurant in a hip retail and entertainment development in an affluent suburb of a large American city. Full of trendy bars and restaurants and complete with tiny, absurdly overpriced studio apartments above them. The place was filled with twenty- and thirty-somethings … What I did remember about this place was that there was not a single child anywhere. Not only not at the particular restaurant, but anywhere in that entire development. The place was designed specifically for childless people… It was designed for a spiritually homosexual people, for whom life is a matter of consuming fleeting pleasures… I will never forget how overcome I was with melancholy upon the realization that this place, this lifestyle could only be achieved when built upon a mountain of tens of millions of dead babies… the murder of children, the abandonment of all sexual mores, and the destruction of the household is dedicated: so that you can live on Pleasure island without ever turning into a donkey.

“… if Satan were to design a society where every lust and every sinful desire could be freely pursued, and men would then feel the maximum possible misery, how much different from our society would it look?” page 36.

And yes, this book does take some serious swipes at conservatives. Here’s some excerpts from pages 67 and 68.

“You will need the faint-hearted, conflict-averse conservatives who are ostensibly on your side …”

“… much force is needed to get conservatives to see that the idols that they rightly detest are downstream from the idols they are comfortable with.”

“Conservatism is progressivism driving the speed limit.”

“If you are not asking questions that will outrage conservatives from time to time, even if you think you are a radical, you are actually going the speed limit … and still going the wrong way.”

Andrew Isker dismantles those who think the Second Amendment is their refuge with one question, if the SWAT teams comes knocking on your door, who in your friend’s list can you call that will show up to defend you?

Again, this book is directed to men to start acting like men. Ladies, you are also welcome to read the book but just know that you will get your toes stepped on also. The topics are provocative and intended to be. I think part 2 of the book could be fleshed out more but it’s a great read at just over 160 pages.

Fox News Finally Backs Our Prediction about Newsom for President 2024

Yep. After saying it for the better part of two years, Fox News is saying that Newsom is the likely Democrat to replace Biden. No kidding!

Biden already faces competition from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Marianne Williamson for that nomination, but polling shows that Democrat voters are not enthusiastic about them.

Instead, a well-known candidate with broad appeal to the Democrat base would need to step up.

The most likely candidate is California Gov. Gavin Newsom

Democrats have pathways to replace Biden in 2024, but they are narrowing

They’re Coming for You Barbara: Warning to Idaho Edition

Any societal decay or advancement by Liberals—which is the same thing—is always followed by something even more insidious. Not satisfied that Gavin Newsom has turned all of California into San Francisco, Democrats in the once “Golden State” are advancing a bill that will allow them to use taxpayer money to turn your state into California too.

California may soon lift a ban on state-funded travel to states with anti-LGBTQ+ laws and instead focus on an advertising campaign to bring anti-discrimination messages to red states.

California started banning official travel to states with laws it deemed discriminatory against LGBTQ+ people in 2017, starting with Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee. Since then, the list has grown to include a total of 26 states, most of them Republican-led, following a surge of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation these past few years.

California lawmakers vote to end travel ban to states with anti-LGBTQ+ laws

Please note citizens of Texas, Oklahoma, Idaho, and other states covered by the current travel ban ( they are up to 26 states that Californians are prohibited from visiting) that instead the State of California will be spending money in your state to try to convince you and especially your children that being homosexual or transsexual is virtuous and something you should do. This is a direct attack on Christianity, families, and Western Values. Oh, this will also be accompanied by lots of political endorsements and campaign contributions to see that this happens. This is becoming a coordinated, Democrat counteroffensive to destroy strongholds of conservatism.

Just so you know, Michigan has also committed taxpayer money for similar reasons. Both states are also heavily promoting abortion thru all nine months of pregnancy as a social good and a women’s rite.

A benefit of California doing this is to help pave the way for Gavin Newsom to be the next President. After all, how can Gavin campaign in a state where travel has been banned by his own administration? Again, I say he will find his way onto the Presidential ballot in 2024.

Please don’t underestimate the amount of money that can be brought to bear on your state. For less than the cost of a contested California congressional race, they could saturate every media market and college in your small conservative state for months on end.

Bottom line: if you think you can just sit on your hands and do nothing because your region/city/county/state is conservative, you will lose what you think you have. Chances are it’s already being eroded and taken from you; you just haven’t seen it yet. Wake-up!

Thoughts on President Newsom and the Undermining of Conservatives by Fox News

I still think Gavin finds his way onto the 2024 ballot, but maybe not in the way people normally do it. I had thought that he would run against Joe Biden and force him out of the race in much the same way as Jerry Brown did to Newsom during his aborted first run for California Governor. However, I am rethinking that idea.

I think Gavin will wait until the Democrat Convention to get on the ticket. Will he be the new choice for Vice President, or will he be drafted to replace “the Big Guy”? This gambit is likely already in the works amongst the Elites. Democrats leave nothing up to the electorate except the symbolism of casting a predetermined vote. Having Nancy Pelosi as your Auntie helps a lot in that Party. I fully expect to see Gavin in the White House if the Democrats win in 2024.

In a separate but related prediction, if the race is Biden v Trump, the 2024 winner will resign shortly after the 2026 midterm elections. Both will be “lame ducks” and be pretty long in the tooth. Resigning just after the two-year mark will allow their respective Vice Presidents to be in office for up to ten years—if they play their cards right.

Folks the upcoming 2024 Presidential election will be a big deal: especially, for the Republicans. If they don’t fix the election laws, they will find themselves in demographic oblivion even without further Democrat election night shenanigans.

Fox News Betrayal

Oh, and speaking of shenanigans, is there any doubt that Fox News has pledged their allegiance to Ron DeSantis? Trump is persona non grata on the network unless they can amplify the phony lawsuits or hit him with January 6th and accuse him of lying about the 2020 election being stolen. Trump has been cancelled by this so-called bastion of Conservatism.

Fox holds a debate for the second-tier candidates and then declares DeSantis the winner, how shocking. Next, they will claim Trump’s numbers are going down and Ron has a real shot. Look for George W Bush or Mitt Romney (or some other RINO) to start shilling for DeSantis in the name of Party unity. Once DeSantis has the “Never Trumpers” in his corner, then they will talk about his inevitability—long before any votes are cast. Meanwhile, wanna bet Sean Hannity boards the DeSantis Express after the next debate in September?

Fox News doesn’t give a crap about Conservatives except to the extent that they can make money off of them. Fox is for sale to the highest bidder. When they think nobody notices they push the false Covid narrative of the Establishment—in exchange for money from the government, they promote transgenderism, and other BS. Heck, the other day they were even running ads for Joe Biden because he will reinstate Roe—i.e. abortion for all nine months of the pregnancy. Here’s a screen grab of the ad.

The text reads, ” Get real, Jack. I’m bringing Roe back.”

So Joe thinks he’s Homelander? Scary.

Joe Biden doing his best Homelander impression.
Homelander from Amazon’s “The Boys”

Others on our editorial staff had the same ad on their cell phones too.

I have said before that given enough time, Fox News will end up being like CNN. Its happening before your eyes. Wake up people.

Democrat’s Plan to Reclaim Idaho

Yep, it’s that blatant and that bad. If you took the worst election ideas from California—i.e., the jungle primary—and added the worst election idea from Alaska—ranked voting—and some outside money and boost the whole thing on steroids then you’d end up with the smelly mess of dog poop being put forward by a Democrat shell group called “Reclaim Idaho”.  

Reclaim Idaho is actively collecting signatures for a ballot initiative that they wish to qualify. In neighboring Bonner County, the group is calling themselves, “Idaho Coalition for Open Primaries”.

Here is the first bullet point from the Reclaim Idaho website.

The initiative will end Idaho’s closed Republican primary and create a non-partisan primary system, open to all voters regardless of party affiliation. The top four candidates will advance to the general election.

Reclaim Idaho

The problem is that the Republicans in Idaho are too conservative, and the Dems don’t have the numbers to win in November so the only way they have a chance is to get a different outcome in the election. What is the purpose of the top four going to November except to divide the Republican voters and let more Democrats win. It’s simple math. In a top four, if two or three Republicans are on the ballot in November and only one Democrat then the likely winner in almost all cases will be the Democrat.

Jungle Primaries nullify a two-party system. If you want to know what killed California politics, it was the adoption of the top two vote getters go to the General Election. Republican candidates only appear on ballots in a handful of districts anywhere in the state. They have less than 1/3 of the Legislative seats and zero of the statewide offices. Having a top four system in Idaho will result in the same thing, one party rule and not by the GOP. Oh, California’s top two was funded by two billionaires: a RINO Republican and a Democrat.

Just to seal the deal, the top four will then be subjected to a ranked voting system. Ask Joe Miller how well ranked voting has worked in Alaska.

“Ranked-choice voting was sold as the way to make elections better reflect the will of the people,” Palin said in a statement. “As Alaska — and America — now sees, the exact opposite is true.”

Sarah Palin

Palin argues the voting system effectively disenfranchised 60% of Alaska voters

Sarah Palin condemns ranked choice voting system following election

Compare Alaska’s system to the one proposed for Idaho.

Bullet Points two and three from Reclaim Idaho

In the general election, voters will have the freedom to pick their top candidate and also to rank additional candidates in order of preference.

To make sure the winner enjoys support from a broad coalition of voters and not just a narrow faction, there will be Instant Runoff Voting in the general election (also called “ranked choice voting”). Here’s how it works: The last-place candidate will be eliminated and each vote for that candidate will be transferred to the voter’s second choice. This process repeats until only two candidates remain, and the candidate with the most votes is declared the winner.

Reclaim Idaho

Oh, this idea was on the ballot in Nevada and adopted in 2022

Set to appear on the ballot for the upcoming midterm elections, the initiative — if successfully passed — would amend the constitution of Nevada by implementing a ranked-choice voting system for both state and federal primary and general elections, in which primaries “would be opened up to all voters regardless of political party.” Under such a system, voters would rank their top five preferred primary candidates, with the top five overall vote-getters advancing to the general contest.

In the general election, if a candidate fails to garner “an outright majority (more than 50 percent),” the candidate who has the “fewest first-preference votes would be eliminated, with their ‘votes’ redistributed based on the second preference of those individual ballots.” Such a process “would continue until the final two candidates, or when one candidate reached a majority.”

Ranked Choice voting is a nightmare and its on the ballot in Nevada

Ranked Choice is so bad even some Democrats have rejected it.

According to The Washington Informer, party leaders expressed concern that the implementation of RCV would kneecap voters’ ability to choose their preferred nominee in any given election and result in potential voter disenfranchisement. “We firmly believe that every voter, regardless of party affiliation or independent status, should have the right to freely choose their preferred candidate,” the party’s statement continues.

Ranked Choice voting is so bad for elections even DC Democrats are rejecting it

So there you have it, Democrats are on the record that Ranked Choice Voting—a.k.a rigged choice voting—results in disenfranchisement and kneecapping voters.

Please note that Ranked Choice Voting doesn’t appear in Democrat states, only those that the Democrats wish to flip to their column.

Hurricane Hilary Increases GOP Membership

Yep. There may be such a thing as coincidence but … whether related to the afore mentioned storm, I will let you decide.

Yesterday, I took the wife to the County Clerk’s Office, and we registered to vote. A recent law went into effect in Idaho that prohibits anyone from registering to vote unless the registration address matches a person’s address on their driver’s license. Apparently, this verification must be done by the Clerk. Neither the Democrats nor Republicans were accepting voter registration cards at the County Fair that we attended about a week ago.

Also, we learned that Republicans in Idaho have abolished their Presidential Primary.

Last, I had heard, Republicans were floating the idea that nobody registered as a Republican less than two years could vote in the upcoming Primary. Apparently, that idea was scrapped in favor of an in-person Caucus on March 2, 2024.

If you recall, in 2020, Democrats ripped a page from the Rush Limbaugh playbook and ran their own “Operation Chaos” in the Republican Primaries of several states. They elected Trump supporting candidates that were never supported in the General Election by either Trump or the GOP. In essence, these guys were abandoned, and the seats ceded to the Democrats. Virtually all lost in the November Election. In my opinion, it was shameful that they were sacrificed without any support. In a rational world, this failure should be grounds for not supporting Trump—as would the Covid disaster—but the Democrats have made Trump the GOP frontrunner for 2024; something they will rue if he prevails.

Anyway, Idaho Republicans seemed fearful of Democrats changing registration to select their primary candidates and then reregistering as Dems for the General Election. This was their motivation to push for the two years in the GOP or you can’t vote rule. The Caucus idea was likely a compromise solution. I get a sense that this was one of those divide the conservatives and then get snookered by the RINOs.

Anyway, the wife and I are newly minted members of the GOP for the first time in many years and now look forward to our first caucus.

As for our former state, the so called “republicans” are dumping Life and traditional marriage from their platform.

This is just more proof that people in places like California that think they are conservatives are really Liberals and part of the problem. These are the guys that move to other states and try to make them into California and think they are “Good Republicans” while undermining traditional values. Idaho is free because it rejects California—or more correctly San Francisco—values. Oh, my sister in Texas says the same thing; namely, if you want to turn our state into California go home ‘cause we don’t need you here Quit ruining our state.

Really Right Now in North Idaho

Photo above is Rusty Rex and our storage shed.

Yep, the wife and I have been busy finishing our house in North Idaho. (Don’t say “Northern” just “North”.) Right now, it’s mostly livable, except the stove is not operational yet. The glass for the shower will be here in early September. The cabinet guys will be here whenever they feel like it. So, yes, there are a few loose ends out of my control but mostly the downstairs is about done. Upstairs is functional … to a point. We still need to install flooring and cover the ceiling joists.

The California house is now sold. We have cut ties to the once “Golden State”. Sadly, Johnnie Does and the rest of the gang are still in Elk Grove. I do miss them and a few of the local restaurants. Gone are the editorial board lunch meetings at the local salsa bars. However, I have gained much by leaving. I have my Second Amendment rights restored. I can now open carry a sidearm with no permit. I can cast a line into the local river without leaving my property. I plan to register as a Republican again as the Party here actually stands for something other than “democrat lite”. Oh, I have found that the John Birch Society is alive and well here too. Deer are abundant on our property. We enjoy watching three young bucks as their antlers continue to grow. They come daily to eat apples from the lone apple tree on the property.

It seems like half the folks in our county are formerly from the Left Coast state that is rarely named here. Many have been here for decades and are not necessarily refugees of the horrible governance of Gavin Newsom and Jerry Brown. All these folks have one thing in common and that is that they will not allow Idaho to become like the place that they left. It is my observation that most folks in California claiming to be conservative are really liberals and they don’t fit in with folks that are actually conservative. Most California “conservatives” love big government and can’t comprehend a world where “The State” doesn’t dictate their every move.

For example, my dad is totally appalled at the lack of permits and government oversight that we are under while building our home here. We didn’t need an architect or engineer to stamp drawings to get a building permit. We didn’t need T-24 calculations. We don’t need a Certificate of Occupancy to move into our house. I can go on, but I think you get the point. Also, we didn’t have to pay north of $100,000 in taxes and fees to get a building permit like you must do in Elk Grove. Our building permit was less than $1,600. I hand drew several pages of the permit package and used a computer for the rest. Any additional questions were answered verbally over the cell phone. There were fees to connect to the power grid and city sewer but compared to where we came from, the cost was minimal. Had we lived outside the city limits, these costs would be even less. The only big expense was putting in a well since city water was not readily available.

The thing I do miss the most is that my son is not here to share the wonder of Idaho with us. He is attending college in Arizona. Nothing against Arizona but his poor life choices are proof to me that he is ungrateful and immature. I am praying that God will kick him in the butt and get him back on the straight and narrow. Sadly, all my wife’s offspring are insistent on doing things the hard way.

The people here are nice but not in much of a hurry. This is frustrating for many, and I just have to roll with it. There is more work here than workers. Working with contractors on our house has been a juggling act. Two contractors really have been a joy to work with and a third has been a good one overall.

The church we are attending is small (less than 100 people). The pastor went to college with our dear friend George Fincke. George ended up in the Reformed Episcopal Church while Leonard (the pastor here) stayed in the Bible Presbyterian Church. Bob Jones produced a couple of great pastors in these men. George died almost 8 years ago. Leonard is very involved in the community here.

I will start blogging more frequently in the weeks to come. I still have to get a few projects done before I can devote more time to writing.

The Truth About “The Big Steal” of 2020 Continues

Folks, I am posting a link to an article about voter fraud in Michigan in 2020. On election night, we all went to bed with Trump leading in this state and most other swing states and when we got up the next morning the vote totals mysteriously flipped to Biden. This article may explain why. Oh, please note that as soon as the FBI got involved, the investigation stopped. Also note that this organized vote fraud was known in October 2020.