Politics – Page 12 – Really Right

The Road to hell is Paved by Birx

Folks, its not too often that the man (or woman) behind the curtain outs themselves and takes a bow for their skullduggery; but occasionally, the villain has enough hubris to do just that. Enter one, Deborah Birx. This woman is evil incarnate and thinks herself quite the opposite. Everything wrong with the government’s response to Covid 19 was not only her fault but her idea.

Here’s a partial list of things that she did as the lead doctor on the White House Covid task force.

Came up with two weeks to flatten the curve which she knew was a lie
Limit social gatherings to ten people when she really wanted zero
Use federal bureaucrats to give governors cover to lockdown their states
She fought for unending shutdowns
She came up with asymptomatic spread of the virus with zero proof
Brix doctored—sorry about the pun—White House communications with state governors and health officials
Brix denounced any real science as subterfuge
Face masks

The only thing I can’t find for certain is whether it was her idea to keep six feet apart but after everything else I found out about her; I believe it’s likely.

Folks, most of the rest of this post is quotes of others who are quoting the doctor’s book and then comment on it. Please read the source material cited. Lastly, any emphasis within the quotation is from the quoted source and not added by me.

Dr. Deborah Birx, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator for President Trump, launched her book about her one-person attack on our form of government and our economy under the guise of saving us from the Wuhan virus. Though it has been out for a couple of months, it is only now attracting the attention it deserves. The book is called Silent Invasion and, to quote Michael Senger, “reads like a how-to guide in subverting a democratic superpower from within, as could only be told through the personal account of someone who was on the front lines doing just that.”
Former Trump COVID Honcho Birx Admits to Deceiving the White House and Just Making Stuff up to Push Her Personal Agenda

Dr. Deborah Birx, who served as the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator under President Donald Trump, has admitted in a new book that she manipulated data and altered quietly altered Useless CDC guidance without authorization.
In “Silent Invasion,” she confesses she “devised” a “strategic sleight-of-hand” method of reporting she described as “subterfuge.”
“This wasn’t the only bit of subterfuge I had to engage in,” she writes.
Birx insisted, contrary to the White House and the CDC, that the asymptomatic spread of COVID-19 was significant.
She says that “eight months into the pandemic, many at both the White House and the Useless CDC still refused to see that silent spread played a prominent role in viral spread and that it started with social gatherings, especially among the younger adults.”
Birx opposed the advice of then-coronavirus adviser Dr. Scott Atlas to limit testing on the premise that asymptomatic transmission was minimal and not driving the pandemic.
She and then Useless CDC Director Robert Redfield “agreed to quietly rewrite the guidance and post it to the Useless CDC website.”
“We would not seek approval. Because we were both quite busy, it might take a week or two, but we were committed to subverting the dangerous message that limiting testing was the right thing to do,” she writes.
Birx recalls a phone call from White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows: “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You rewrote and posted the Useless CDC testing stuff,” said Meadows, according to Birx’ account.
“Yes, I did, but – ” Birx replied.
“There’s no ‘buts’ here. You went over my head,” Meadows said, according to Birx.
Dr. Deborah Birx admits she deceived Trump to push COVID measures

So just to recap, here we have Deborah Birx—the woman who did more than almost any other person in the United States to promote and prolong Covid lockdowns, silencing anyone who disagreed with her, to the incessant praise of mainstream media outlets—telling us she’d been inspired by all those images of Wuhan residents falling dead and constructing a hospital in 10 days, and still didn’t realize they were fake two years after they’d been proven fake.
And that’s just Chapter 1.
Deborah Birx’s Guide to Destroying A Country From Within

Birx proudly recalls using “flatten-the-curve guidance” to manipulate the President’s administration into consenting to lockdowns that were stricter than they realized.
“On Monday and Tuesday, while sorting through the CDC data issues, we worked simultaneously to develop the flatten-the-curve guidance I hoped to present to the vice president at week’s end. Getting buy-in on the simple mitigation measures every American could take was just the first step leading to longer and more aggressive interventions. We had to make these palatable to the administration by avoiding the obvious appearance of a full Italian lockdown. At the same time, we needed the measures to be effective at slowing the spread, which meant matching as closely as possible what Italy had done—a tall order. We were playing a game of chess in which the success of each move was predicated on the one before it.”

Birx doubles down, inadvertently admitting where that arbitrary number “ten” came from for her guidance as to the size of social gatherings, while admitting her real goal was “zero”—no social contact of any kind, anywhere.
I had settled on ten knowing that even that was too many, but I figured that ten would at least be palatable for most Americans—high enough to allow for most gatherings of immediate family but not enough for large dinner parties and, critically, large weddings, birthday parties, and other mass social events.… Similarly, if I pushed for zero (which was actually what I wanted and what was required), this would have been interpreted as a “lockdown”—the perception we were all working so hard to avoid.

Birx divulges her strategy of using federal advisories to give cover to state governors to impose mandates and restrictions.
“The White House would “encourage,” but the states could “recommend” or, if needed, “mandate.” In short, we were handing governors and their public health officials a template, a state-level permission slip they could use to enact a specific response that was appropriate for the people under their jurisdiction. The fact that the guidelines would be coming from a Republican White House gave political cover to any Republican governors skeptical of federal overreach”
Then, Birx recalls with delight as her strategy led the states to shut down one by one.
“[T]he recommendations served as the basis for governors to mandate the flattening-the-curve shutdowns. The White House had handed down guidance, and the governors took that ball and ran with it…With the White House’s “this is serious” message, governors now had “permission” to mount a proportionate response and, one by one, other states followed suit. California was first, doing so on March 18. New York followed on March 20. Illinois, which had declared its own state of emergency on March 9, issued shelter-in-place orders on March 21. Louisiana did so on the twenty-second. In relatively short order by the end of March and the first week of April, there were few holdouts. The circuit-breaking, flattening-the-curve shutdown had begun.”

In what may be the most damning quote of the entire US response to Covid, in one paragraph, Birx tells us that she’d always intended “two weeks to slow the spread” as a lie and immediately wanted those two weeks extended, despite having no data to show why that was necessary.
“No sooner had we convinced the Trump administration to implement our version of a two-week shutdown than I was trying to figure out how to extend it. Fifteen Days to Slow the Spread was a start, but I knew it would be just that. I didn’t have the numbers in front of me yet to make the case for extending it longer, but I had two weeks to get them. However hard it had been to get the fifteen-day shutdown approved, getting another one would be more difficult by many orders of magnitude.”

Birx frequently emphasizes her fixation with the concept of “asymptomatic spread.” In her mind, the less sick a person is, the more “insidious” they are:
“Asymptomatic, presymptomatic, and even mildly symptomatic spread are particularly insidious because, with these, many people don’t know they are infected. They may not take precautions or may not practice good hygiene, and they don’t isolate.”

In the days before Thanksgiving 2020, she had warned Americans to “assume you’re infected” and to restrict gatherings to “your immediate household.” Then she packed her bags and headed to Fenwick Island in Delaware where she met with four generations for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, as if she were free to make normal choices and live a normal life while everyone else had to shelter in place.
Dr. Birx Praises Herself While Revealing Ignorance, Treachery, and Deceit

Where did she come up with the idea of lockdowns? By her own report, her only real experience with infectious disease came from her work on AIDS, a very different disease from a respiratory virus that everyone would eventually get but which would only be fatal or even severe for a small cohort, a fact that was known since late January. Still, her experience counted for more than science.
“In any health crisis, it is crucial to work at the personal behavior level,” she says with the presumption that avoidance at all costs was the only goal. “With HIV/AIDS, this meant convincing asymptomatic people to get tested, to seek treatment if they were HIV-positive, and to take preventative measures, including wearing condoms; or to employ other pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) if they were negative.”
She immediately hops to the analogy with Covid. “I knew the government agencies would need to do the same thing to have a similar effect on the spread of this novel coronavirus. The most obvious parallel with the HIV/AIDS example was the message of wearing masks.”
Masks = condoms. Remarkable. This “obvious parallel” remark sums the whole depth of her thinking. Behavior is all that matters. Just stay apart. Cover your mouth. Don’t gather. Don’t travel. Close the schools. Close everything. Whatever happens, don’t get it. Nothing else matters. Keep your immune system as unexposed as possible.

Here is an example. There was a controversy about how many people should be allowed to gather in one space, as in home, church, store, stadium, or community center. She addresses how she came up with the rules:
“The real problem with this fifty-versus-ten distinction, for me, was that it revealed that the CDC simply didn’t believe to the degree that I did that SARS-CoV-2 was being spread through the air silently and undetected from symptomless individuals. The numbers really did matter. As the years since have confirmed, in times of active viral community spread, as many as fifty people gathered together indoors (unmasked at this point, of course) was way too high a number. It increased the chances of someone among that number being infected exponentially. I had settled on ten knowing that even that was too many, but I figured that ten would at least be palatable for most Americans—high enough to allow for most gatherings of immediate family but not enough for large dinner parties and, critically, large weddings, birthday parties, and other mass social events.”
She puts a fine point on it: “if I pushed for zero (which was actually what I wanted and what was required), this would have been interpreted as a ‘lockdown’—the perception we were all working so hard to avoid.”

Notice her above mention of her dogma that asymptomatic spread was the whole key to understanding pandemic. In other words, on her own and without any scientific support, she presumed that Covid was both extremely fatal and had a long latency period. To her way of thinking, this is why the usual tradeoff between severity and prevalence did not matter.
She was somehow certain that the longest estimates of latency were correct: 14 days. This is the reason for the “wait two weeks” obsession. She held onto this dogma throughout, almost like the fictional movie “Contagion” had been her only guide to understanding.

Birx admits that she was a major part of the reason, due to her sneaky alternation of weekly reports to the states.
“After the heavily edited documents were returned to me, I’d reinsert what they had objected to, but place it in those different locations. I’d also reorder and restructure the bullet points so the most salient—the points the administration objected to most—no longer fell at the start of the bullet points. I shared these strategies with the three members of the data team also writing these reports. Our Saturday and Sunday report-writing routine soon became: write, submit, revise, hide, resubmit.
Fortunately, this strategic sleight-of-hand worked. That they never seemed to catch this subterfuge left me to conclude that, either they read the finished reports too quickly or they neglected to do the word search that would have revealed the language to which they objected. In slipping these changes past the gatekeepers and continuing to inform the governors of the need for the big-three mitigations—masks, sentinel testing, and limits on indoor social gatherings—I felt confident I was giving the states permission to escalate public health mitigation with the fall and winter coming.

So there you have it. Deborah Birx was the witch behind the curtain that inspired and encouraged petty bureaucrats all over the nation to kill the greatest economic boon since Ronald Reagan while flooding the cable news world with crap that people still cling to today which she knew was false before she said it. Truth was the first casualty of the Covid era. We, on the Right were correct that this whole thing was BS.

Her justification was that she knew what was best for others. What an egotistical piece of human garbage. Folks this is the classic definition of tyranny, the “Big Lie”, or whatever name you wish to use.

Her actions cost lives and harmed millions of people.

She cost lives by attacking off the shelf stuff that worked effectively against Covid. She cost lives by keeping people from needed medical care because the healthcare community was all tied up in putting people on ventilators and killing people that could have recovered if she had told the truth. She harmed millions of elderly by keeping them from being visited by the ones that love them. She harmed million of young children that lost two years of school and will be hard-pressed to have normal lives due to the lack of social skills and life skills like reading, writing, and such. These and many others were also inflicted with mental health issues due to prolonged periods of isolation and separation. All this because she lied.

Folks we all saw this and could do little because her lies were “the science” and still are in much of the country. True science was relegated to accusations of fringe nutjobs and conspiracy theorists. Again anyone bringing forth any challenge to her orthodoxy was crucified on social media by her willing accomplices. She went scorched earth on everyone that dared to defy her. She destroyed anyone professionally and personally that got on her way. She silenced all but personal dissent in the United States.

Also this week, we learned that she even made a pact with people at the National Institute of Heath, Centers for Disease Control and other agencies that if their proclamations were ignored, they would quit en masse. Not that I care if they quit but the corollary to that is they purposed to stick together and parrot the leader. No wonder Fauci and company were changing their story every week or two.

Read the attached stuff that I linked.

Birx is the reason that children in southern California schools are about to start wearing masks again. She lied her ass off about risks and invented protocols to treat Covid out of the dark recesses of her ~~mind~~ soul.

As you read thru the articles, look out for a curious throwaway line by Mike Pence. Pence was in charge of the government response to Covid and Birx was on the panel too. Pence was asked where Birx came from and his response was the he “just inherited her”. Let that soak in for a moment; WFT? He just inherited her? That can only mean she was a relic left over from the Obama Administration. Everyone wrongly assumed she must be a MAGA person, but she clearly was not.

I could rant on but you get the point.

Oh, so how did this mistress of science get separated from her powerful government job?

She broke her own rules and for some reason, the media decided to crucify her for it. Had they really known what she was up to, they would have left her alone.

Her “tell all” book never mentions how she was forced to resign.

It goes something like this: after telling all of us not to gather for Thanksgiving but if we do keep it under ten people, she got together with four generations of her family to celebrate the Thanksgiving Holiday. The media went full bore after her. I’m sure they thought they were hitting Donald Trump with one last blow before Biden took office. Little did they know that they were doing the Lord’s work by taking her out.

Folks, please understand that I’m not denying that Covid exists and many people got it. Ok, hold that thought, Birx was also adamant that any story about people having comorbidities being at higher risk of dying from Covid be quashed. She knew it was true but she didn’t want that out in public. She wanted maximum panic. Ok, now where was I? Oh yeah, some people died of Covid but many could have been saved if real science was allowed to happen.

If you recall, when Sleepy Joe took office, one of his first acts was to kill any ability to get off the shelf cures and insure that the government not only denounce them but let it be known that if any doctor prescribed them, they risked loosing their medical license and could face charges for promoting non-government sanctioned cures. By the way, this is why there were more Covid deaths under Joe Biden–who also had the “vaccine”–than under Donald Trump who didn’t.

Lastly, Birx succeeded in something that all others failed to attain, she took-out Donald Trump singlehandedly. Covid was the one time Trump was boxed into a corner and needed to trust “the experts” and look what we got. So now that Birx gets that credit, we can also give her credit for all the unnecessary deaths of the Biden Administration. Let’s start with the Afghanistan Retreat and the Ukraine War. Neither would have happened under Trump.

How to Re-Build CAGOP

I’m a glutton for punishment. I left the CAGOP and here I am giving them advice… of course they won’t listen as I am now an outcast in their eyes. I know this for fact, as I have lost a couple friendships over it, of course they don’t see it my way, they see it as quitting. I see it as sending a message, something they will not/refuse to do. Frankly if I lose your friendship over my political party of choice eat my nuts.

Here is how to fix your Party…. don’t listen you might actually start winning seats again.

Admit you are weak kneed: this is the first step; you have no fight in you. You are all a bunch of donkeys braying about “the good ole days.” You enjoy your conventions each year and talk a great game about opposing the chair or certain candidates, but it never comes to fruition as none of you are brave enough to call the question or make a motion.
Get the G-d D**m endorsements in the voter guide: You love to blame the chair for this; bull. You are long in the tooth and mostly graying/balding, you guys know the ropes/rules etc. Get your act in gear, a voter guide that maybe no one reads is your excuse. I was looking at races with many candidates on the GOP side looking to get castrated in November, at least endorse one and get it in the damn guide!
Get out to parts of the state not friendly to you. This is obvious but I feel I must point it out. Some voters/people in this state have never even heard from a Republican, and as such have no way of refuting the Lefts lies about your Party, It won’t be fun, but if you show up, there will be curious folks. Even more so now with the homeless/crime/inflation issues. Stop preaching to the choir, if you are blind, I’ll fill you in, the Republican Party is shrinking drastically in CA.
End the consultant class: Aaron Park takes a W here; he was really right and still is. These consultants have a franchise territory they are gifted by the Party and as a result, they get to play god in the primaries. Don’t believe me? Check out the safe GOP state senate seat we lost as a result of the party/consultants playing there.
Vet the candidates you endorse: Aaron takes another W. He pointed it out perfectly about the embrace of being pro-choice. The consultants gas these clients up prior to their client meeting your group, the message changes depending what room they are in. Rather than asking if life begins at conception… ask what 3 things they would push for in Sacramento/DC. Ask what committees they want to sit on. Throw them off their game and get them off their talking points (and yours) Trust me, if they sound like Sean Hannity, they are likely a Democrat in disguise. I know so, as the CRA has endorsed several questionable GOPers in my day. Or just keep asking if they love Reagan, are they prolife, or do they want to ban same sex marriage? Heck that playbook has worked great for the last few decades, huh?
Term limits for county chairs, and state party chairs: This is a no brainer. Sadly, I hate term limits as it causes a massive shuffle of elected officials every so often, but its needed. The state party has the same faces just in different places. The county parties have folks that I swear have been in charge for a couple decades. Move on, get a life, let someone else lead the fight.
Quit bringing up Reagan for G-d sakes. Reagan likely wouldn’t get the nomination in your party today as he would be seen by you as a liberal squish. Keep in mind, most under 36, give or take, have zero memories of “the Gipper.” Move on, you sound like a person who peaked in grade school for josh sakes.
Drop the social issues: Put them on the back burner, as I mentioned earlier, you are preaching to such a limited universe NASA may need to start exploring it soon to find out if it actually exists. Gay marriage is law of the land, abortion is up to the states, rest assured CA is not banning abortion anytime in my lifetime. Emphasize what you can do, not what you want to take away.
Stop calling yourself “true conservatives or the conscience of the Republican Party.” Many of you opposed Trump in the 2016 primary to the extent that you wanted a brokered convention AKA the “original stop the steal” so you could put “Lyin Ted” Cruz as the nominee. You didn’t just make yourselves look like idiots, you proved it beyond a reasonable doubt … to the entire country btw. But its ok, Donald once gave money to democrats….as I am sure no GOPer y’all endorsed ever has. Harken back on the 4 years of the Donald’s term, you will see the most conservative president since Reagan. And to think you opposed it. I’d bet a good bunch of money most of you voted Biden or stayed out of the last election just because of what he did to your idol Ted. Rather than blow out the people who don’t pass your “conservative” litmus test grow the party.
Actually, stand for something: This will be hard as you would rather use words like “repeal” or “wait ‘til we take over.” If you have no plan, you get no votes. Yes, raising copious sums of money off a Hillary presidency would have been great, but the country would have been a disaster…. much like it is now.
Remove the crazies: This will be the hardest part. CAGOP and its affiliated groups are seen by most as a haven for whack jobs because a few apples have been allowed to spoil your bunch. When you let crazy take the center stage, or don’t isolate it, your entire group gets the crazy label. I doubt many of you see crazy in your party, so I’ll point you toward it: Jorge Riley and any associate.
Send a message at the convention: I know this will be hard to do, as it would out you as a true conservative and a rabble rouser, but if you really hate Jessica Patterson, here’s is a thought; during her speech, stand up in unison and walk out of the chamber. You say the vote to re-elect her was close…. it really wasn’t, but rather than do nothing, a.k.a. the usual, show a pulse. The liberal newspaper writers covering the event will have a story to write about and you can tell your story about her as a failure as chair! You may just make a difference, and you would send a message. She may not hear it, but her officers will, and people who are part of the problem will sense unrest brewing among the natives.
Hold 1 convention: it’s an insult to working people, having to find transportation, housing, and meals for multiple conventions a year where nothing gets accomplished. Rather than catch up about the good ole days of trying to deny Donald the nomination, you could laser focus on growing the party. Actually, never mind…. keep whacking Donald. But it’s cheaper to do this at a local speakeasy than at Knott’s Berry Farm or Palm Springs, just my $.02.
Lastly Reflect on just how conservative you are: It ain’t much. You hated Donald, look at what he did; tax cut, 3 judges on the court, ended Hillary. Yet you cheered on the houses of Congress who opposed him. Only after his first 3 years did you decide you liked him. Who is the true conservative? It’s no one in the CAGOP.

The Chief

Stanislaus County Proclaims Lets Go Brandon

I was minding my own business today when I saw this story. Personally, I think it’s funny, but the feigned outrage is priceless. How dare anybody challenge the orthodoxy of Liberalism, especially here in California.

Here’s the story:

MODESTO (CBS13) — A Stanislaus County resident is demanding answers after she and hundreds of others received an official tax letter in the mail stamped with “Lets Go Brandon.”
‘Lets Go Brandon’ Mistakenly Stamped On Hundreds Of Official Tax Letters In Stanislaus County

“This is taxpayer’s money, and they’re using this derogatory stamp to show what somebody thinks about it, and we’re paying for it. It’s just not right,” Boese continued.
County officials say the slogan ended up on roughly 544 pieces of mail. But how does a political slogan end up on official county business envelopes?

He says ABS Direct, a contractor, printed the envelopes in error and has since apologized. Gaekle says the county not only doesn’t condone such messages, but he says they don’t belong on official government business.

“How could this be a printing error? It’s stamped on every envelope on the back,” said Boese. “Somebody needs to realize this was illegal, and it’s just not good.”

Even the Modesto—formerly McClatchy—Bee has chimed in:

It’s hard to believe this statement needs saying. But the recent, incredibly embarrassing “Lets Go Brandon” gaffe — stamped in red ink on official correspondence from the Stanislaus County Assessor and Treasurer-Tax Collector’s offices to more than 500 residents — suggests otherwise.
“Let’s go Brandon” is a euphemism for the most vulgar put-down you might imagine aimed at President Joe Biden. The accidental slogan was quickly adopted by his critics on the right smirking at what they deem to be a clever insult lacking profanity while evoking it. The left is understandably appalled.
How the slogan ended up on the backs of tax-related envelopes from our own county offices is almost beside the point. It’s enough to say it was a carelessly egregious mistake, one made by a firm contracting to send mail on the county’s behalf.
Well, that was stupid. Stanislaus must prevent future `Let’s go Brandon’ blunders

So, if one part of government attacks another, even by accident or via a rogue contractor, we get outrage but if government wants to attack the most innocent and vulnerable in our society, or refuse to punish criminals and protect citizens, or solicit money to fix water storage and spends the money instead on bike paths and carpool lanes then we get crickets?

Folks, what’s the lesson here?

I get that even if I agree with “Lets Go Brandon” which I do, I have even worn a shirt with the statement to church on a few occasions, it probably doesn’t belong on official correspondence. What is surprising to me is how widely this story is circulating (it is theoretically a national story now since it’s carried on MSN.) Again, the outrage is greatly disproportionate to the offense of having it stamped on 544 pieces of mail.

By the way, what kind of county tax mailing goes to only that amount of people?

Are they deadbeats that didn’t pay taxes?

I can see this going two ways; first, the Lets Go Brandon controversy might bring more attention to the tax letter causing more people to pay and thus increasing county revenue or perhaps, since this is California, a taxpayer goes to court and gets the warning letter tossed as unofficial government correspondence due to this unauthorized message on the letter and thus they are given a pass on having to pay any tax associated with the letter.

Why not, Gavin gave free water, sewer, electricity, and rent to renters in California for 18 months with no compensation to utilities or property owners just because he said so. This is an offense that no media company has taken up or made any serious complaint about.

BTW Gavin still has all emergency powers given to him at the beginning of Covid and can shut everything down again on a whim anytime he pleases. Thus, he is essential, all the rest of us are not. Oh, sorry, no media outrage over this abuse of power either.

This latest iteration of Lets Go Brandon is yet another illustration of the brokenness of our people and institutions in the dystopia of California.

Britney Griner is a Hero? I guess???

I came across this tweet from an ESPN twitter account quoting WNBA basketball star Nneka Ogwumike (you win scrabble if you get that word) the other day after Griner pled guilty to a crime in Russia. It calls Griner a hero, and says we need to bring her back to the USA.

“BG, Brittney Griner, is an American hero," said Nneka Ogwumike, an All-Star forward for the Los Angeles Sparks. "She is ours and she is yours, and we must get her home."
https://t.co/0migHuLxtY
— ESPN Women's Hoops (@ESPN_WomenHoop) July 9, 2022

First some backstory here. Griner was arrested in Russia after landing at the airport and trying to bring hashish oil (aka cannabis) through security. This was around 17 February. Cannabis, unlike in the USA, is illegal in Russia. She was detained, and from there held under arrest until her trial was supposed to begin July 7^th, but she pled guilty instead. Her trial now is in the “penalty phase” think death penalty vs life in prison as far as the USA system is concerned. Very likely she will garner a 10-year prison sentence in Russia.

When a young Johnnie Does was growing up, he learned right from wrong, he also learned to be accountable for his actions. When I made a mistake, I too pled guilty in a court of law. My point? I was not a hero that day, nor am I a hero now. I took responsibility, and won’t go down that road again, and my crime was far more political than Griner’s.

So, what makes her a hero?

Well just her celebrity status. She is a WBA star who plays in Russia to earn extra money. The WNBA doesn’t pay much because… well no one cares. As Troll joked to me “the July 4^th hot dog eating contest got more rating on TV than the WNBA all-star game.” So, the joke from Troll was “people would rather watch men shove a hotdog in their throat, versus women who refuse to shove a hot dog down their throat.” Ironic! Just think about it.

(Oh, Johnnie Does was Really Right even while being sarcastic, see note on TV ratings at conclusion of this post.)

I want to come off somewhat empathetic here as I have no idea what Griner is facing in what is likely deplorable conditions. Her “wife” has spoken out about how she is terrified and thinks she may spend the rest of her life in jail. However, Griner should have known better.

She has spent enough time in Russia to know hashish oil is illegal in Russia, she is also very lucky she wasn’t charged as a trafficker (aka drug dealer) as the penalty would be far harsher. Griner also needs to get with the real world. A war was going down between Russia and Ukraine, with the US essentially playing as Ukraine’s proxy. This likely didn’t make Russia happy, and likely made any US citizen or US/Russia dual citizen a bigger target. The world essentially cutting off Russia’s economy likely didn’t help with any leniency either. She is now a pawn in a nasty geo-political war. It also doesn’t help that her supporters are building her into a large celebrity. Russia is using her as a trade chip, but we are now going to have to pay a premium in order to get her back. To make my point, Russia seems to want convicted arms dealer Vicktor Bout in return, think of this as trading our queen (Bout) for their pawn (Griner). One plays basketball, the other is an arms dealer and likely terrorist financier.

Griner’s supporters have made her out to be something she is not, so the chances of securing her early return are likely moot. The US State Department calling her “wrongfully detained” also isn’t smart. This is akin to annoying the prosecutor’s office. This type of saber-rattling works in US politics, not foreign relations. Also why are we paying so much attention to Griner when there are likely hundreds of other Americans detained abroad? Fake celebrity status.

Griner knew Russian law, she knew she shouldn’t have had the oil. She has tried to say she didn’t know it was against the law, but this ain’t the USA we are talking about; no politician to pay your bail, no soft on crime DA to let you leave without charges. Griner and her supporters also need to have some self-awareness. Griner and her group may think the USA has a horrific human rights record, be racist, transphobic, and homophobic, but she is witnessing first-hand what it’s like to be in a country that is quite literally against that lifestyle. Griner is black, a woman, and in a same sex marriage. Like it or not, that’s 3 strikes in that part of the world.

Maybe the US isn’t all that bad?

I hope Griner gets out and learns a valuable lesson. I hope all the detained Americans are released, but like or system or not, we are more than fair criminally to anyone detained here.

Johnnie Does

Oh, may I offer a suggestion? Since Trump was so “connected to Russia” maybe Biden should send the Donald to negotiate with Putin? Just a thought but maybe rather than spit fire at Trump, put him to use as a past president?

Editor’s Note: On July 4, 2022, Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest had 1.03 million viewers on ESPN and the WNBA All-Star Game broadcast July 10, 2022 on ABC had 734,000 viewers. The hotdog contest was tape delayed due to Covid rules and the basketball game–amid Brittany mania–was live and experienced a 53 percent increase in viewership over 2021.

My take on the Russia and Ukraine War

Folks I have been holding my powder about this conflict, but I feel like I’m past due to comment on it.

First and foremost, I don’t trust the American media to tell the truth about this war. They lied for six years about Donald Trump; they’ve lied for over two years about Covid. They always lie about abortion, and doubly about people that oppose it. They hate Christianity, Western Culture, and everything else I hold dear but somehow, they get a pass on this war?! NO WAY.

Joe Hidin’ Biden is an evil and corrupt man. Don’t take my work for it, look at what his own children say about him. Whether it be Hunter’s laptop or the daughter’s diary about showering with her father, there’s no way this guy is someone deserving of power, respect, or the benefit of the doubt.

Biden & Company has been in bed—fiscally and otherwise—in Ukraine for years. Hunter is fronting for “the big guy” and giving papa a cut. By the way, besides Hunter, who pays hookers with checks? Don’t forget that it was in Ukraine that then Vice-President Joe Biden told them they had six hours to fire the prosecutor, or they wouldn’t get the billion dollars. Oh, part of that quote was that if they doubt Joe, call Barack and he would tell them the same thing … funny how that part gets overlooked ever by most conservative media.

Oh, lest you still think Biden should get a pass—you are irredeemable if you do—don’t forget that it was the United States that overthrew the Ukrainian government when Obama and Biden were running the country last time (word is Obama is the man behind the curtain now). So, Biden overthrew Ukraine’s government, he has been systematically shakingdown the government and businesses there and out of the blue this war just happens?

Now Joe rides in with the American checkbook in hand so he can pass out aid and arms like candy while propping up the corrupt government he installed. Folks Joe is the James Bond villain in the story not Putin.

Here’s an example of the media lies told in the United States being retracted five months later.

Two weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Russian forces assaulted a nursing home in the eastern region of Luhansk. Dozens of elderly and disabled patients, many of them bedridden, were trapped inside without water or electricity.
The March 11 assault set off a fire that spread throughout the facility, suffocating people who couldn’t move. A small number of patients and staff escaped and fled into a nearby forest, finally getting assistance after walking for 5 kilometers (3 miles).
In a war awash in atrocities, the attack on the nursing home near the village of Stara Krasnyanka stood out for its cruelty. And Ukrainian authorities placed the fault squarely on Russian forces, accusing them of killing more than 50 vulnerable civilians in a brutal and unprovoked attack.
But a new U.N. report has found that Ukraine’s armed forces bear a large, and perhaps equal, share of the blame for what happened in Stara Krasnyanka, which is about 580 kilometers (360 miles) southeast of Kyiv. A few days before the attack, Ukrainian soldiers took up positions inside the nursing home, effectively making the building a target.
UN: Russia and Ukraine are to blame for nursing home attack

Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk, declared in a March 20 post to his Telegram account that 56 people had been killed “cynically and deliberately” by “Russian occupiers” who “shot at close range from a tank.” The office of Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, said in a statement issued the same day that 56 elderly people died due to the “treacherous actions” of the Russian forces and their allies. Neither statement mentioned whether Ukrainian soldiers had entered the home before the fighting began.

I promise you that the American media dutifully reported the war crime of Russia attacking a rest home full of elderly people but the correction to the story either never saw the light of day or ended-up on the back page of the classified section.

But Ukraine also must abide by the international rules of the battlefield. David Crane, a former Defense Department official and a veteran of numerous international war crime investigations, said the Ukrainian forces may have violated the laws of armed conflict by not evacuating the nursing home’s residents and staff.
“The bottom-line rule is that civilians cannot intentionally be targeted. Period. For whatever reason,” Crane said. “The Ukrainians placed those people in a situation which was a killing zone. And you can’t do that.”

So, five months later, the truth come out to a collective yawn because it doesn’t fit the script. The only thing missing from the original report was the PowerPoint presentation from Colin Powell.

2003, Colin Powell testifying at the United Nations making the case that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. A claim that was never proven.

The stories of Ukraine using people as human shields are legion. Remember that shopping mall that exploded a few weeks ago? Russia says that Ukrainian troops purposely placed a large cache of weapons and ammunition next to the mall so this would result in the mass killing of civilians. Given the level of destruction to the place, I think the Russians were probably correct.

Folks, this use of civilians as human shields is a common tactic in many parts of the world. Iran does it with their nuclear research facilities. They are literally located under schools and hospitals to ensure bloody videos to distribute to a willing media should we or Israel ever attack them directly.

The other issue going on in the background of this war is one over homosexuality. Ukraine’s government promotes it vigorously while Russia opposes it. The WNBA chick is likely in trouble because she is loud and proud … of her sin. Putin has a background with the KGB but in recent years he has gone out of his way to promote the Russian Orthodox Church. Is he just a chameleon or has he seen the Light? I’m not sure but I hope it’s the latter.

From a geopolitical perspective, we have no reason to be doing anything in Ukraine. We have set in motion a series of events that will eventually come back to haunt us.

Biden has such a tainted relationship with the region that he should recuse himself, and by extension the United States, from any military involvement in this conflict. We are enabling the death count to go up by arming the Ukrainians and as more people die, we provide yet more arms. Its literally a death spiral.

Democrats Off-Load Joe Biden

Things are not great right now if you’re a Democrat; record inflation, soaring debt, a war in Ukraine, record high gas prices, and soaring food costs are making it not fun to be Joe Biden. That’s ok though as all will be well for the Democrats after the mid-term elections.

You may have seen David Axelrod and a couple other pundits remarking about Joe’s age, and possible cognitive slippage. This is because the Democrats have no further use for Joe, he was needed to beat Trump because they needed a “moderate/likeable guy.” Now they have no use for him as the world is quite literally burning. This was the plan all along. You see, Joe was shepherded through the primary (you may remember the bizarre events after the South Carolina primary. Joe won and suddenly the top delegate leaders all bowed out of the race. Maybe the Clinton’s made a few phone calls?) Anyways Joe won and the rest is history.

The Democrats have gone so woke they have no use for an old white guy who has zero original thoughts, so he will be replaced prior to the presidential primary in 2024. They do not need or want him anymore; he will be blamed for all these issues and any other problems in the world that confront us. His policies are not woke enough or hip enough anymore. The Squad and others now control the Party and will be picking the replacement on the ballot. People like Axelrod don’t start rumors unless there are serious rumblings going on about Ole Joe behind the scenes. The Democrats will get smashed in the midterms and reality will set in, they need a new/younger leader with fresh new ideas.

Enter Gavin Newsom.

Gavin survived a recall, actually getting around 60 some odd percent to keep him in office. This is despite record long lockdowns, emergency powers that he still hasn’t given up by the way, high taxes, and a homeless problem that is destroying our state. Gavin is working on a stimulus check to CA residents with a target delivery date of October…. magically when the ballots will be dropping for our “all mail in election.” He won’t drop the cash earlier because he wants that check fresh on your mind when your ballot appears. We won’t be suspending the gas tax out here either (plus this tax went even higher beginning July 1^st). Taxes are important to Californians, ours tend to be record highs.

In November, Gavin is going to run the numbers up big time, running on a hyper-woke agenda of closing 3 prisons, sending out that rebate check, defunding police, homeless shelters on all corners of vacant land, abortion thru all nine months plus several months after birth, legalizing female slavery (prostitution), and rampant crime and drug use. Most folks in CA, the GOP included, don’t really care about any of this, as such this place is going completely to hell. Gavin will be facing a GOP legislator from Lassen County (no one lives there) Gavin will run this thing up; I expect a margin of around 68% in favor of him. After he wins big, I have a feeling he announces to challenge Biden. Biden will be announcing he wants to spend more time with family. Someone needs to provide Hunter with $$$ for the hookers and blow.

Joe bows out, and Gavin coasts to the nomination, CA is already moving up its presidential primary in earnest. Gavin will run the numbers up again and no one will be able to stop him. Kamala will be told to run for the Governorship Gavin vacates and the race will be on. The Squad will be happy, and the hope will be the GOP primary will be a knockdown, drag out, bare knuckle brawl. Gavin will have a huge advantage coupled with a favorable map as far as electoral votes go.

The best hope we would have as the GOP is to nominate Ron DeSantis and have a CA vs the rest of the USA on the ballot. Then we will finally get an idea of which direction the country wants to go.

This is the belief held by the entire editorial board here at the blog. We firmly believe Joe is just a stalking horse waiting to be put out to pasture (or sent to the glue factory).

Please note that the Chief wrote this before Newsom ran his political ads in Florida trying to attack DeSantis. DeSantis’ response can be found here.

I Left the GOP

The rumors are true, this past week I re-registered to “Libertarian.” If you know me, you already know I am a Libertarian, but I caucused with the GOP. I only voted for 1 Democrat in my life prior to this election, that was Sacramento County Supervisor Don Nottoli. I am not going to grandstand and claim the party left me.

Truth is there is no Republican Party in California.

For years the party has been in a free fall. Tribalism took over and poof, we are now a super minority. I see that Chad Mayes, the former GOP leader, is still in the Assembly as an independent. Mayes is known for being a sorta Republican who loves tax hikes. Would be nice if the GOP could beat him, but why bother. Frankly he fits in perfectly. On each vote there is inevitably 3-4 GOP members who vote with the Democrats so it can be called a “bi-partisan bill.” Barf.

The party brand is toxic here. Just look at Sac DA Anne Marie Schubert. She used the party to get elected, then dropped us afterward. She got obliterated running for AG, but the point is, she used us until it was no longer necessary. Ditto for Pat Hume, the lazy EG councilmember, who will get slaughtered in November because he never wants to put in the work. The GOP endorsed him, but he refuses to use the logo. He was in a 4-way race with 3 Democrats, and if he achieved 50% plus one, he could have won outright. Hume also supported the tax measure on the ballot, and supported the sales tax increase a couple cycles ago. But that’s ok…. he is a Republican!

Looks like the hedgehog is a symbol of Libertarians

The county party here is a joke. I mean Sue, Terry (RIP) and others were a circus, but this crew is a straight up joke. I got an email the night before Election Day saying Sac County GOP recommends you vote this way. Yup, I got my ballot 6 weeks prior at least, and had already returned it. We do all our voting by mail in CA, these idiots just do not get it. It told me to vote Barnes for sheriff, he lost, write in Sue Mason for her race, and that if I couldn’t drop my ballot off someone could come pick it up. Yeah, read that again, the GOP called that ballot harvesting a couple cycles ago. Good luck trying to sue over that now.

The top 2 primary has killed off all non-democrat parties. I don’t even need to say anymore here. Too bad the GOP supports it. I think a lawsuit involving all non-democrat parties gets the top 2 overturned. Congrats on being on the wrong side of history GOP! In November I get the choice of Stephanie Nguyen or Eric Guerra in one race, and Dave Jones and Angelique Ashby in the other. Neither race features a GOP.

The GOP had zero endorsements on my voter guide. See the troll blog for more on this disturbing factoid. Bonus, the GOP voters are crying as very few of their “candidates” made it through to November. Shocking I say, shocking.

Recruiting failures. Let’s look at BOE district 4, a former GOP seat, there stands a very high likelihood 2 Democrats make the run-off. 5 GOP folks split the vote, allowing this debacle. In SD 4, 6 GOP folks allowed the Democrats to both advance to a run-off. Minority leader Scott Wilk (a GOP) spent money on one of the Democrat candidates that won in this highly Republican area. Face it, minority and leader are two words that never belong together. Idiocy rains supreme here. The GOP has one option to win in November, Lanhee Chen is the best chance. I have it on record that in a couple statewide races the establishment GOP recruited a challenger just to deny someone the chance to be in the top 2. WTF?

The two party system is broken

So, to conclude, the GOP is dead here, so I won’t be wasting anymore of my time on it. I still vote GOP as the lesser evil, but I cannot continue supporting a party that is lost. It’s sad. I voted for Democrats; Steve Glazer (he lost), Dave Jones, and Steve Ly this time around. I won’t be doing that anymore unless the GOP requires it. In the races between Jones and Ashby, Nguyen and Guerra, I will have to.

See Ya,

The Chief

Skip the Votes and Let Me Lead Part 2

Folks let’s take the library model from part one of this article and apply it to another body, the Republican Party.

Imagine a Republican Party that has no Central Committee elections. Instead, with a few exceptions, the Chairman appoints all the district representatives. If you think such a scenario is farfetched, its not. Oh, said Chairman rules with an iron fist and allows no new business from the floor. Instead, any new business must be approved by the Executive Committee which is composed of the Chair and a few close and likeminded friends. Anything they don’t like is automatically dead-on-arrival. Oh, members of the public are not notified about Committee meetings and will often not even be allowed in the room to watch the proceedings. Those few lucky enough to get on the Committee must pay dues (typically north of $100 per year) or they are barred from voting.

Lest you think the above is a bad dream, its our reality in California and has been for over a decade.

Folks in Republican strongholds such as Idaho better take notice because your turn is coming unless you stay vigilant.

So how did we get here? It took only two things: namely, Charles Munger Jr. and the San Diego bylaws.

First Mr. Munger. Charles Munger Jr. is the son of a mega-billionaire. Jr’s dad is described on Wikipedia as, “Charles Thomas Munger (born January 1, 1924) is an American billionaire investor, businessman, and former real estate attorney. He is vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate controlled by Warren Buffett; Buffett has described Munger as his closest partner and right-hand man. Munger served as chairman of Wesco Financial Corporation from 1984 through 2011. He is also chairman of the Daily Journal Corporation, based in Los Angeles, California, and a director of Costco Wholesale Corporation.”

His son, Charles Munger Jr. is a California physicist that lives in Palo Alto.

As of 2015, Munger Jr. had spent 78 million in California politics.

Munger is the architect of the “jungle primary” in California. He was also one of the principal funders of the 2010 ballot measure, Proposition 14, that created a top two primary system. Under this system, the top two vote getters, regardless of party, then face-off in the November General Election. The argument to pass this measure was that it would allow moderates (or centrists) in both parties to dominate at the ballot box. Look at how far to the Left politics has gone in California since then. We were sold a bill of goods; the real result was the death of the Republican Party in the State.

Republicans died for two reasons.

First, Democrats held the majority of offices in the state when this measure was passed. If you live in Rio Linda or under a bridge, you might not know that in most cases, Democrats handpick their candidates in smokey backrooms long before the filing date for an office is opened. In short, the fix is in before the process even begins. Having already picked a candidate, they don’t tend to waste funds fighting amongst themselves in primary elections. Republicans can do nothing cooperatively and usually field many candidates in a given race which defeats any chanced of advancing to November. This allowed Democrats to systematically pick off weaker Republicans. The net result is that Democrats have succeeded in reducing Republican numbers in the Legislature each election cycle. They also, were able to redraw political districts that made Republicans a minority in almost every electoral district in the State. Since passage of Prop 14, Republican registration has declined to the point that they are now in danger of being the number three party in California. No-Party-preference is close on their heels. (Voter registration as of 04/08/22, Dems 46.75 %, Rep 23.92 %, & NPP 22.77 %)

This disparity has resulted in Democrats holding a super majority in both legislative houses—actually much more than two-thirds of the seats in each house.

The second reason that this killed the Republican Party was via a decision by the association of county clerks. They, along with the Secretary of State, decided that it was unrealistic to have partisan ballots for the General Election when in many districts, both parties were no longer represented in the General Election. They decided if Republicans (or Democrats) wanted to continue Central Committee elections that the Parties would have to pay for the printing and distribution of ballots. They wanted hundreds of thousands of dollars per county to continue printing ballots. Of course, the parties balked at the bill that they were threated with and stopped having Central Committee elections. Yes, the Legislature could have forced the bill on taxpayers, but the Parties wanted to be rid of average people getting on the Committees, so they did nothing. Grassroots activists were thus cut-off by both parties and have no access to representation in county committees and thus no access to the state party apparatus. This leaves the current crop of elected officials running the state parties in perpetuity.

Concurrent with the implications of the top two primary being felt was the introduction of the San Diego bylaws. These were model bylaws for running central committees which were first adopted in San Diego and a few other Committees in southern California. They decided that the Central Committee was a private organization and thus not open to anyone but members. Even in the days when central committee elections were going the way of the Mastodons, if you were duly elected, you were not allowed to vote or participate in central committee business without paying dues. It was literally a type of poll tax. The fact that you were elected by voters in district was irrelevant. I know. I was one of the people that they refused to seat. Furthermore, the bylaws, as they were implemented, vested all power in the Chair and the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee cleared everything in advance of the general meeting including endorsements, resolutions, speakers, etc. Oh, under this scheme, meetings were no longer publicized, and members of the public were often barred from attending. It’s a private club, remember?

So how did Munger get his hooks in the Republicans?

Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Charles Munger Jr. began dabbling in Republican politics when Arnold rose to power. He liked Arnold and was a big supporter. His big opportunity happened like this: on his way out the door, Arnold stripped the Republican treasury and left the party over four million dollars in debt. (In his second term as governor, Arnold raised money for himself but not the Party.) Into the midst of this fiscal vacuum, Munger rode in like a white knight and started buying influence and central committee seats. Munger paid the party’s debt and started funding almost exclusively RINOs candidates. He ran whole slates of candidates for county committees and persisted until he ran the State Republican Party. 40 or 50 thousand dollars in a Central Committee election goes a long way in getting a slate elected. It just so happened that central committee elections ceased about the time he gained control of the party. Surely this was coincidence.

In summary, Munger was responsible for the top two primary which has resulted in Democrats controlling all levers of power in California and has resulted in California veering far to the Left. Concurrently, he oversaw the decline of the Republican Party by forcing conservative voices out of the Party. The cessation of Central Committee elections, when combined with the San Diego Bylaws, sealed the Party from grassroots influence and made local committees good ‘ole boys clubs where only “the right people” could become members.

Concluding Remarks

For those in other states, learn from us in California or you will get seduced by the dark side and loose your grassroots access to the party as well. If the Establishment can, they will do this to you too.

I know that pockets of the Boise area of Idaho are adopting their own version of the San Diego bylaws—or at least some of its principles; especially, the Executive Committee Command and Control structure. Bad move. I also know that many elections, meetings, and activities are poorly or selectively publicized in hopes of controlling the outcome.

Sorry to tell you, but Democracy in any form, even a Representative Republic, is not about efficiency but about letting all voices be heard and then decide, as a group, what is best for the people that you represent. Its not to have a slick, one hour, carefully scripted meeting followed by another hour eating shrimp cocktails and drinking adult beverages at the local watering hole while reliving past victories.

Having competitive Central Committee elections is a vital part of a healthy committee. Then after you get elected, find a way to work with other people when you can and respectfully disagree when you can’t. Its easy to make and take things personally. Don’t. Its unhealthy for you and the committee.

Lastly, don’t demonize the RINOs in the group. They are made in God’s image too. You need to show them with actions that Conservatism works—at least to the extent that it conforms with biblical teaching. Show them you can disagree with them without hating them. Love the hell out of them and you just might bring a few into the light.

Heed this warning: if you steamroll the moderates like we did in California in the 1990’s, when the tables are turned (2010’s), they will find a way to lock you out from ever taking over the party again. Conservatives took over the California Republican Party for a time and then lost it. When the Munger moderates took over, they promptly sealed all points of access to the party that conservatives had previously used to gain control. When forced into a corner, moderates would rather defeat Conservatives than Democrats. If you don’t deal with them honorable this will happen to your state’s Republican Party too.

Anything that restricts rank-and-file members of your Party from getting involved in the activities of the County Central Committee is bad. Open and well publicized elections and committee meetings are necessary to have a vigorous organization. When you decide to ignore or cancel elections or think the Party is a private organization, then have broken faith with voters. At that point you have become just another enemy of the people not their advocate.

Learn from California or share its fate.

Oh, just to prove my point, right after I posted this, I saw this article from another website. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being funneled into Idaho politics from out of state PACs to thwart Conservatives. These folks are pro-abortion, pro gun control, and hoping to block any influence or support of candidates that like President Trump.

REVEALED: Anti-Trump Shadow-Money Fueling Idaho Politicians — Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars Pouring in from Out-of-state

Skip the Votes and Let Me Lead Part 1

Just so you know, this will be a two-part article. Let’s see if I can unpack this article and its implications the way I see it in my head. In part one, I’d like to unpack the actual news story and then in part two, I’d like to try to apply this to the Republican Party.

First the news story. This gem is from a website that caters to news in the far north of Idaho. (FYI per the people that live there, its North Idaho not Northern Idaho.) In the interest of fairness, the proprietor of the news site is a pro-abortion liberal that hates Donald Trump. Trust me when I say that with his politics, this guy’s truly a minority in his county of residence. I only point this out because the line between news and opinion is blurred somewhat in the article that I’m about to cite. Also, I wish to stay out of the personalities and personal accusations in this article. As Jack Webb used to say, “Just the facts”.

A tort claim on behalf of four whistleblowers was delivered to the Boundary County Free Library District Board at its May meeting this morning seeking the immediate resignation of the entire board and the immediate discharge of two library employees as a show of good faith so as to enter federal mediation requested about six months ago to resolve an array of issues and alleged crimes.
“For the sake of this community, as well as the brave four I am privileged to represent, I urge you to abandon the tactics of falsehood, threat and bluster, and act in the interest of the public you claim so fervently to faithfully serve,” attorney Jeff Boiler wrote on behalf of his wife, librarian Dana Boiler, and librarian Cari Haarstick, who are both still on administrative leave with pay since the library reopened July 23, 2021, after a three month emergency closure, and librarians Christine “Mac” Withers and Eric Lindenbusch, who were also placed on paid leave July 23 until February 28, when both were fired.
The tort claim itself can be read here. The accompanying documentation is too lengthy to post.
Library’s woes not over yet

Specific and detailed allegations include manipulating elections.

“The library was run by Sandra Ashworth for about 20 years, from approximately 1997 through her full PERSI retirement in about 2017,” the claim reads. “During her tenure as Director, public records attached prove that not a single election was actually held for any position held by a Trustee. A plan was developed and implemented by Ashworth and others during her directorship, whereby the public was not given lawful or meaningful notice of vacancy or that Trustee positions were up for election. Instead, Ashworth selected people from the community who would allow her to control all aspects of library operations without any public accountability. During this time, estimates from available budget records suggest Ashworth controlled about $10.5 million in public funds made available from property taxes levied by the County and provided to the District in a lump sum.”

The tort alleges that none of the trustees who served during Ashworth’s tenure actually stood for election, notices of vacancies seldom posted as required, one handpicked candidate urged to file notice of candidacy right before deadline and elections called off because only one candidate had filed.

That candidate was then named a trustee.

“In short, she ran the library as though it were an organized criminal enterprise, violating elections laws subject to criminal sanction, and did so for an extensive period of time,” Boiler wrote. “Perhaps worst of all to a community so rich in faith, she concealed all these actions under the meek clerical garb of a devout Mennonite Christian, while her conduct summarized in the attachment is better described as the activity of a ravenous wolf.”
The claim also details allegations of deliberate, willful and systematic violations of open meeting laws to conceal fraud, waste and mismanagement, retaliation and personal attacks on his clients, “whistleblowers” who, “without making any claim of personal damage,” sought constructive resolution of all the issues broadly outlined as part of the then-management crisis.
“The sad truth is that this public agency has been used by a small cadre of men and women to further unlawful means, and to avoid public accountability for massive breaches of public trust to the voters and taxpayers of this county, for many years,” Boiler concluded. “The specificity chosen to be included here is so that these citizens may finally know the truth, and be given a clear choice on how and where accountability for these unlawful actions will be imposed. It is the choice of the Board and its insurer on which is in the public interest, and which is in the personal interests of a select few who have caused, allowed or concealed this gross abuse of public trust to exist, flourish and continue. Whether that choice is public and involuntary, or private and voluntary, is entirely up to the District, its legal representatives, and its insurer.

Folks, as I said before, I don’t know the people and personalities in this mess so I will refrain from commenting on them and stick to the issue that caught my eye, this public board went 20 years without any elections which are required by State Law.

The lawsuit details more about elections and public records violations. For the sake of brevity, I am leaving out other charges not related to what I wish to discuss. Here is a partial list of alleged wrongdoing:

Elections fraud or other criminal violation of State law regarding the conduct of District elections;
Unsworn falsification; Crimes relating to official misconduct and self-dealing of public employees;
Unlawful alteration, falsification or destruction of public records;
Creating, altering, making, destroying, falsifying, or conspiring to so do, any public record;
Unlawful creation, maintenance, destruction, sale or alteration of public records or public property, including without limitation records of all Board proceedings and all other actions of any member of the Board of Trustees of the District undertaken under color and pretense of law relating or pertaining to any Claimant or attorney for any Claimant, all without limitation;
Crimes relating to the conduct of any District election, or relating to recordkeeping for such elections, at any time;

Further on in the text of the lawsuit is an extensive narrative related to elections.

Veterans Memorial on grounds of Bonner County Library

I. The District Manipulated Elections to Conceal Violations of Idaho Election Law
• The library was run by Sandra Ashworth for about 20 years, from approximately 1997 through her full PERSI retirement in about 2017. During this time, she presided over an election process for Trustees of the District, who stand for election at statutorily set 13 intervals of 5 or 6 years, given statutory changes to the process made in 2011. After 2011, the County Clerk presided over these elections. Prior to that, the Director of the library did. Ashworth was the Director for a period spanning application of both statutory schemes.
• During her tenure as Director, public records attached prove that not a single election was actually held for any position held by a Trustee. A plan was developed and implemented by Ashworth and others during her directorship, whereby the public was not given lawful or meaningful notice of vacancy or that Trustee positions were up for election. Instead, Ashworth selected people from the community who would allow her to control all aspects of library operations without any public accountability. During this time, estimates from available budget records suggest Ashworth controlled about $10.5 million in public funds made available from property taxes levied by the County and provided to the District in a lump sum. She also urged and unsuccessfully attempted to pass a public bond issue for creation of a “People’s University” building facility for her library legacy. Public records show the bond election for this proposal was soundly defeated, but would have given her control over another $8 million in public property tax money to spend in furtherance of her legacy.
• As the attached election records and graphs produced for assisting public understanding of how this principle worked clearly show, all Trustees serving during her tenure actually did not stand for election. Instead, typically the records inspected show that, usually with one day of the deadline for public declaration of candidacy, a chosen ally of Ashworth, or someone acceptable to her, was urged to file a notice of candidacy. One day later, applications would close. The statutorily required notices of vacancy were typically never posted as required by law, a criminal violation under Idaho Code. Under that Code, if only one person filed (and typically no one was given public notice of any vacancy to insure this would be the case), Ashworth would advise the Commissioners a week prior to the scheduled election that under another Code provision, no election need be held, and the sole candidate would be sworn in for a five or six year term without any public knowledge or input.
• This plan worked well, and was used to such effect she apparently grew overconfident in her ability to dupe the public using this method of control of public funding. In 2010 she wrote the Commissioners that an actual election was held (see Election summaries attached) and she even named the winner. In fact, it appears this was a complete fabrication. No election in fact occurred, no certification of election was made by the Commissioners, and no one said anything about it.
• As a result, this practice continued long after the statutory amendments to the elections law of Idaho, which were substantially revised to prevent such manipulation of the process by small Districts, which were until that time not under County Clerk supervision. In fact, Ashworth so completely ignored the statutory scheme instituted by the Legislature that virtually all elections that are memorialized by any records whatsoever (see charts and public records of election, attached) were “held” in the wrong year. In the alternative, she installed ineligible candidates without being sworn in, so as to make their participation at least outwardly lawful; she altered Zone maps to allow individuals not eligible for the position due to their place of residence to sit as Board members for others outside their District; she threatened one whistleblower with termination if her father, intending to run for Trustee, in fact served, stating “it’s him or you”; she used physical force on the same whistleblower with concealed, painful arm holds to make her point sincerely.
In short, she ran the library as though it were an organized criminal enterprise, violating elections laws subject to criminal sanction, and did so for an extensive period of time.
Perhaps worst of all to a community so rich in faith, she concealed all these actions under the meek clerical garb of a devout Mennonite Christian, while her conduct summarized in the attachment is better described as the activity of a ravenous wolf.
When she returned to “save” the library as a “humanitarian” in 2021, her hypocrisy continued and grew with open encouragement from a Board of Trustees who show by the evidence attached perhaps the most grossly mismanaged and arrogantly lawless, in virtually all respects, of any reported case on the subject in the history of the State of Idaho. Examples abound, see attached.
• The elections summaries attached clearly establish beyond doubt also, that as a result of these practices, virtually no Trustee of the District has served lawfully during their tenure, having been installed by manipulation of the process, having applied for sole candidacy in the wrong year, serving from the wrong District, or having never been sworn in as required by law. Taxpayers of the county were deliberately kept unaware of this situation, which was tolerated by the County Clerk even after the statutory changes. The excuse given by the clerk to date on investigation: “Nobody cares about the library, anyway.”
The facts attached and discussed in part above establish that the District, while under the control of Sandra Ashworth’s Directorship, has violated Idaho Criminal Code 18-23, relating to elections, in the following ways:
• Served longer terms than designated by statute
• Failed to hold a scheduled and notified election
• Failed to run elections in their proper years
• Failed to give statutory notice to the public of elections
• Failed to give statutory notice to the public of filing deadlines
• Failed to give statutory notice to the public of trustee vacancies
• Failed to notify the Clerk of trustee appointments
• Knowingly installed Trustees to allow their service outside their voting zone
• Failed to notify the Commissioners and properly certify elections
• Falsely represent to Commissioners that elections held, and reported false results
• Engaged in practices designed to avoid holding free elections under Code
• Failed to swear in trustees according to statute
• Falsified election results when the Library District ran their own election prior to 2011
• Engaged in intimidation tactics to deter potential candidates from running for office, including use of physical force and unlawful retaliation against Cari Haarstick for her father’s participation as candidate for Trustee office
• Actively encouraged District employees from public participation in elections process or public meetings on own time, punished employees for exercise of rights of free speech outside the workplace on matters of public concern summarized in part above.
By operation of Idaho Criminal Code 18-23 discussed above, each of the listed acts or omissions constitutes a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison, among other things.
The attachments relating to elections are particularly helpful in understanding the nature, scope and subsequent impacts caused by this pattern of unlawful activity. It directly relates to the retaliation against the Claimants herein, and provides motive and context for the relentless and unexplained hostility of the District, and virtually all its representatives mentioned specifically in the attachments to this Notice.
The short conclusion to be drawn from all the evidence attached is simply this: Sandra Ashworth and other representatives of the District named in this Notice have presided over a deliberate and concealed abuse of public trust involving manipulation and control of millions of dollars of taxpayer money, over a period of decades. As a result, a culture of lawlessness and concealment of all forms of wrongdoing complained of in this Notice and evidenced in part by the extensive evidence summarized in the attachments and discussed here, has flourished and grown.
It is that culture of lawlessness and concealment that has created the dangerous atmosphere itemized in this Notice, including danger to children, and acts in aid of terrorism summarized in the attachments. The retaliation against the four employees giving this notice of claim is a reflex reaction to protect all involved against public disclosure of what has truly developed into an ongoing lawless enterprise, using taxpayer money to fund it’s purposes and goals, while concealing the truth from the taxpaying public.
That this is the case is reinforced by the deliberate and systematic disregard of public records and open meetings laws of the State of Idaho, summarized below.

Folks this situation stinks; however, many are defending the librarian and her posse. Why? Because she’s a nice lady.

Yep, my wife—who is the one that showed me this article—told me that she saw the original article as a Facebook post. So, I took a look on Facebook and almost to a man, nobody cared about the substance of what was done or not done. Furthermore, nobody is denying that the elections were never held.

Here’s a few examples

Our library ran for decades without drama ( a big thank you to Mrs Sandy)

**I’m mostly incensed for the legal fees this witch hunt has cost us, not to mention baseless accusations towards innocent people who have done so much for our community.**

The orchestrators this claim have been a hugely disruptive force to a community service that has received major national awards, under the leadership of Sandy Ashworth and the staff who have served the community for decades.

one of this nation’s Best Small-Town libraries.

Folks this is happening in self-declared Trump Country of Idaho.

I can’t tell you how angry this makes me that a public employee can just ignore the law and do what she damn well pleases, and nobody cares. Instead, citizens are angry at the nasty lawyer picking on the nice little old librarian.

Librarian Sandra Ashworth ignored election law, handpicked her governing board—you know, the people that were supposed to provide public oversight of how she ran the library and spent public funds—and she even gerrymandered district lines or outright ignored them, again without proper oversight, in order to get her handpicked board members seated. She continued this behavior long enough to get a public pension from her 20 years at the library. During her time running the library, she controlled and spent about 10.5 million dollars.

Again, nobody is disputing these charges (can we just call them facts?); instead, Sandra was nice so we should not apply the law to her. Folks when there’s one set of laws for your friends or nice people or folks like you and a different set of rules for others then you believe in tyranny. Whenever you encounter such a situation, its tyranny, we are just arguing degrees of difference between the people in charge and everyone else.

Troll takes on the Voter Info Guide

So, I was bored stiff at work today with quite literally nothing to do, so my office partner handed me the voter info guide and I took a gander or two. Here is the Troll flaming hot take awards from the voter guide. Enjoy.

The We Will Sit this one out award: The American Independent Party, literally endorsed no one up and down the ballot. Truly a wild strategy.

The you can’t lose if you don’t endorse award: The Grand Ole Party a.k.a. The Republicans. Take a gander, they literally endorsed no one for a statewide office run. I guess you cannot lose if you do not endorse right? Like see no evil, hear no evil?

The staying true to their roots award: The Libertarian Party. Got to have mad respect for this bunch, they want limited government so no endorsements at all. They should just become the abolitionist party.

The give me full time employment award: Myrlys Stockdale Coleman – running for judge. Gotta love a man running for full time judge when he lists his occupation as Temporary judge.

The I have no chance award: Eric Rigard – literally his first sentence says he is a Christian and a conservative…In CA…. NEXT!

The Why did I let my intern write my ballot statement award: Pat Hume, literally his first sentence “Sacramento County doesn’t need more partisan politicians thirsty for the spotlight or the next rung up the ladder.” Lists his occupation as Councilmember. Oops.

The biggest liar award: Jim Cooper. Lists his occupation as a peace officer. What a phony, he is the least peaceful person I know.

The do I really need another job award: Steve Ly. Occupations: farmer juvenile hall school counselor, civil rights non-profit manager. Now he is running for Supervisor?

The look at me award: Tecoy Porter, first of all he calls himself “The Rev” that’s like referring to yourself in the third person. He runs a church in Meadowview, built an elementary school that bears his name…. quite a humble little dude this “rev” is. And finally, he is endorsed by Stephon Clark. Clearly a Democrat, yet honest enough to admit that dead people vote for him. You have my vote! Social justice activist being his occupation stuns no one with an IQ above that of a piece of meat.

The you are fooling no one award: Angelique Ashby. Occupation is city councilwomen, goes on to claim she will work with Democrats, Republicans, Progressives and Moderates. You are fooling no one and I hope Dave Jones curb stomps your lying a**. Full disclosure I have a disdain for this woman because she is a proven liar.

So, there you have it. Troll on the ballot.