Hamas Was Created by Israel

Yep. Often when countries try playing geopolitics and “help” by putting their thumbs on the scales, things spiral out of control, and they end up getting bit in the butt.

We (the United States) have whole departments of the government dedicated to tinkering in the affairs of other nations. This has been going on longer than I’ve been alive. Using the Cold War as justification, and later the war on terrorism, we have overthrown many governments and typically installed dictators in their place.  

For example, Ferdinand Marco in the Philippines was propped up by us for a long time. Saddam Hussain, yep that one, was propped up by us and armed with American weapons for many years. The Taliban was also armed by the United Sates under President Reagan. Virtually every ruler in South America has been helped or actively opposed by America’s intelligence networks. Some of these rulers were assassinated by agents of our government. Look at the 1950’s and 60’s and all the involvement that we had.

Often what we did was to oppose the Soviet Union or some other faceless villain and always we spoke in terms of promoting freedom. The unspoken part was supporting our freedom, not the citizens in the countries that we tinkered with. We valued “stability” above all else. Heck, nobody in the mainstream media even acknowledges that Barack Obama and Joe Biden overthrew the government of Ukraine less than a decade ago.

Israel has been doing similar things all over the world but especially in their own backyard.

Ever since its establishment in 1987, Hamas has been at the forefront of armed resistance in the occupied Palestinian territories. While the movement itself claims continuous presence in Palestine dating back to the British mandate in 1935 and the establishment in 1946 of the Gaza branch of the Muslim Brotherhood (its mother organization based in Egypt), its rise in the 1990s and in subsequent years owes much to the manipulations of Israeli Intelligence.

Before Hamas (Arabic acronym for Islamic Resistance Movement) established full control over Gaza between 2006 and 2007, Israel had long financed and supported in various other ways the group’s rise as the dominant Palestinian force in the Strip. There is ample evidence from Israeli sources that successive governments in Jerusalem helped build this militant strain of Palestinian political Islam, not only in the form of Hamas but also, years earlier, its Muslim Brotherhood precursors.

The rise of the hardline Islamist movement in Gaza harks back to an uprising by Palestinians that started in 1987—known as the first Intifada—when Israeli leaders decided that the main threat to the country’s security came from the secular Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), led by Yasser Arafat. The Israeli campaign against the PLO in the 1980s ended up enabling the rise of both Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah (“Party of God”) in southern Lebanon. It is particularly noteworthy that the founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, was jailed by Israel in 1984 and received a 12 year sentence after the discovery of hidden arms caches, but was released just a year later.

Hamas is Israel’s Golem

… the government in Jerusalem gave him money to support the Islamists in Gaza. The objective, in the late ’80s and early ’90s, was to prevent what seemed like the growing influence of the PLO and its Fatah party. [Brigadier General Yitzhak] Segev said that the goal of aiding the Palestinian Islamist movement was to create a “counterweight” to the Arafat’s PLO.

It is noteworthy that Arafat himself referred to Hamas as “a creature of Israel.” It soon became an outright adversary of the PLO, as Israel had hoped, and Arafat understood he could no longer restrain them. Any attempt to do so merely would have eroded his standing because, due to the receding prospect of a two state solution and successive parallel waves of expansion of Jewish settlements all over the West Bank, most Palestinians wanted greater militancy.

Oh, please note in the quote above the mention of a two-state solution. It was originally proposed that both Israel and Palestine would occupy the land that you probably know as “the Holy Land”. (They were to divide the area creating two countries.) However, Israel prevented the creation of a Palestinian state, and each war has been shrinking the land controlled by the Palestinians. Also, the surrounding Arab neighbors have not wanted an influx of millions of refugees and thus the areas occupied by the Palestinians are just large refugee camps where generations of people have been confined.

The next portion of this article is even more stunning:

As late as 2019, Israel’s then as well as the current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu urged support for Hamas, albeit for different reasons. He reportedly saw Palestinian extremism, as embodied by Hamas, as a bulwark against the two-state solution which he adamantly opposed. “Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas,” he said at a March 2019 meeting of his Likud Party. “This is part of our strategy—to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.”

In other words, only four years ago Israel’s prime minister still believed supporting strong Islamist rule in Gaza would be his bulwark against a two-state, Israel-Palestine solution.

So, Israel created Hamas and supported them as a counter to the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and used Hamas as a tool to stop a two-state solution.

Now that Hamas has bitten their master’s hand and tried to destroy Israel, the gloves have come off. Please note that Israel has been engineering this war for about six years now.

Israel has been taking land from Palestinians and creating Jewish settlements.

Here is an article from June of this year.

Israel’s hardline coalition government has approved plans for thousands of new housing units in the occupied West Bank and given the far-right finance minister sweeping powers to expedite the construction of illegal settlements, bypassing measures that have been in place for 27 years.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ratified the move in the cabinet, allowing pro-settler Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to bypass the six-stage process for building settlements, which are considered illegal under international law, said Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan in West Jerusalem.

Israel to ramp up settlement expansion in occupied West Bank

The plans for the approval of 4,560 housing units in various areas of the West Bank were included on the agenda of Israel’s Supreme Planning Council that meets next week.

Various factions expressed deep concerns that the entire West Bank could soon come under Israeli control.

To approve settlement activity is a “dangerous escalation to complete the annexation of the West Bank”, the Palestinian foreign ministry said.

Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, said the move would only escalate tensions in the region, while Fatah warned that “the settlers will be removed from the West Bank as they were removed from the Gaza Strip”.

Search Israel, annexation, and West Bank if you wish to see some more info on this subject.

Folk, a look at a map is instructive. Gaza is in the southern part of Israel, the West Bank is on east side of Israel but on west bank of Jordan River, and then to the north is Hezbollah operating out of Lebanon. Israel faces the possibility of a multifront war with many nations entering the fray.

Here are a few views of Gaza. The dissenters call this military action a genocide but who are the combatants? Based on these photos, pretty much every human in Gaza is the enemy.

Meanwhile Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal want to bomb Iran.

“It basically says if the war expands, if Hezbollah opens up a second front in the north against Israel in a substantial way, to overwhelm the Iron Dome, then we should hit the Islamic Republic of Iran. There is no Hamas without the Ayatollah’s support. There’s no Hezbollah without the Ayatollah’s support,” Graham said. 

Senators to introduce resolution to strike Iran if Hezbollah attacks Israel

As shown above, Israel supported Hamas but gets a pass. I guess our goal is regime change in Iran and any excuse to do that is a good one for the Swamp Monsters.

On Evangelicals, Israel, and The Bible

Some say that God has approved of their mob

Esteeming their purposes alone

Choosing sides with a definite pride

And taking their cause for His own

Everybody loves a holy war

Draw the line and claim divine assistance

Slay the ones who show the most resistance

Everybody loves a holy war

Oh yeah

Many’s the man with the iron hand

Supposing his own thoughts to be divine

He will break any bond ’cause the other man’s always wrong

It’s a handy excuse for his crimes

from “Everybody Loves a Holy War”
 Mark Heard (1982)

There are two million more Evangelical Christians in the United States supporting Israel than there are Jews in the USA.

Whether folks support Israel or not, is not my point. Instead, I wish to dwell on the reasons why. The short version is these Christians are wanting the Jews to go to Israel so most of them can be killed! This is disgusting but true.

Many Jews know this but keep quiet about it because if they say something then they will be cancelled. Please note that such cancelling occurred before “Cancel Culture” was even a thing. Case in point:

At the 2012 Democratic National Convention, Mark Alan Siegel, who served as the chairman of Florida’s Palm Beach County Democratic Party, told an interviewer the following about what he thought of Christian and Jewish relationships:

The Christians just want us to be there so we can be slaughtered and converted and bring on the second coming of Jesus Christ. The worst possible allies for the Jewish state are the fundamentalist Christians who want Jews to die and convert so they can bring on the second coming of their Lord. It is a false friendship. They are seeking their own ends and not ours. I don’t believe the fundamentalists urging a greater Israel are friends of the Jewish state.

It wasn’t too long before the video of the interview went viral and Mr. Siegel was forced out of his position. Where did Mr. Siegel get such crazy ideas? It’s a prevalent view among dispensational prophecy writers.

What’s Next for Israel (According to Popular Prophecy)

Gary DeMar does a good job ripping this strange brand of theology apart on his blogs and podcasts, but like a monster in a B-movie, this heresy just won’t die. In fact, people that promote it, and are constantly wrong in their predictions, make lots of money off promoting these views.

In part they base their nonsense on twisting verses like this passage in Zechariah.

And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.

And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.

Zechariah 13:8-9

Based on passages like the verses above, Evangelicals that believe this passage speaks of a future event want Jews to go to Israel so 2/3 will die and the remainder will believe in Jesus. Evangelicals believe this will usher in the Return of Christ and that Jesus will then reign on earth for a thousand years. This view of the Bible’s end times was first popularized in the 1820’s and ‘30s. On the basis of this teaching, Christians were calling for a Zionist movement long before the Jews ever did so.

(Zionism is related to Jewish people returning to the biblical lands of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and reconstituting a Jewish State.)

Since A.D. 70, only one guy got close to killing 2/3 of the Jews and setting up a thousand-year kingdom on earth. He was an obscure dude in 1930’s Germany. Funny that this never moved the needle on people rethinking this idea.

On a recent blog post, Gary DeMar, quoted Dwight Wilson’s Armageddon Now! (1977) when Wilson wrote on page 94:

Another comment regarding the general European anti-Semitism depicted these developments as part of the on-going plan of God for the nation; they were “Foregleams of Israel’s Tribulation.” Premillennialists were anticipating the Great Tribulation, “the time of Jacob’s trouble.” Therefore, they predicted, “The next scene in Israel’s history may be summed up in three words: purification through tribulation.” It was clear that although this purification was part of the curse, God did not intend that Christians should participate in it. Clear, also, was the implication that He did intend for the Germans to participate in it (in spite of the fact that it would bring them punishment) . . . and that any moral outcry against Germany would have been in opposition to God’s will. In such a fatalistic system, to oppose Hitler was to oppose God.

In the aftermath of World War II, a Jewish state was setup in Palestine. Yep, that was the name of the place prior to 1948. Evangelicals see the modern state of Israel as the fulfillment or potential fulfillment of biblical prophecy. In order to arrive at this conclusion, they just have to ignore about 2,600 years of history. Evangelicals skip the Babylonian Captivity, the return to the Land, the Roman Empire, the destruction of Jerusalem and a number of other events. This allows them to cherry pick passages that are fulfilled and recast them as future events. Instead of letting the Bible interpret the Bible, they end up with prophecies about Cobra helicopters, rocket launchers, nuclear weapons, Marks of the Beast, SkyNet, and other stuff that somehow can only exist in modern times.

It is a logical fallacy to equate of the modern nation calling itself Israel with the ancient one. This confusion muddies up the water. Modern Israel is a secular state, not one governed by the Law given to Moses.

Modern Jews are not governed by the Old Testament, they are governed by the traditions handed down from the Pharisees, the Talmud. You know, the rules created by the hypocrites that Jesus repeatedly savaged and called dens of vipers, whitewashed sepulchers, and the Synagogue of Satan.

Per the New Testament, the promises to Israel are found in the Christian Church. As Gary DeMar notes elsewhere, the original Christian Church was exclusively Jewish for at least a decade. It is only because of the unfruitful branches being cut from the vine that believing Gentiles could be grafted into the body of Christ.

Are we to believe that one last-days generation will be grafted into the olive tree mentioned by the Apostle Paul in Romans 11 after 2000 years, and that’s what Paul means when he wrote that “all Israel will be saved”? Is that what Paul was describing in Romans 11:26? Absolutely not.

Are We Witnessing the Final Prophetic Generation?

Israelites were being grafted into the body of Christ in Paul’s day, by the tens of thousands! It’s called “the remnant”: “There has also come to be AT THE PRESENT TIME [Paul’s time] a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.” Consider the TIMING and the CONTEXT:

I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? Far from it! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? “Lord, THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS, THEY HAVE TORN DOWN YOUR ALTARS, AND I ALONE AM LEFT, AND THEY ARE SEEKING MY LIFE.” But what is the divine response to him? “I HAVE KEPT for Myself SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO BAAL.” In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, since otherwise grace is no longer grace.

Romans 11: 1-6 (NASB)

DeMar is not alone in his views of biblical prophecy being fulfilled as past events.

Concerning Zionism, I found an interesting article chronicling Zionism and the relationship between Evangelicals and the Jews. I highly recommend that you read it.

THE UNTOLD STORY OF CHRISTIAN ZIONISM’S RISE TO POWER IN THE UNITED STATES

Most Jews in America vote for Democrats so why do Republicans in such large numbers stand with Israel? This article will answer this question and many others. The article was written in 2019 but still holds up well in its presentation.

If we get involved in the current war in Israel, it will be because of bad theology.

Does Trump Still have “Big Hands”?

Yep, this is one Supreme Court case that holds “big” implications for the 2024 election. So, what’s the big deal?

Well, back in 2017, some lawyer in California (why is it always lawyers and California?) tried to register the phrase “Trump Too Small” with the Patent and Trademark Office. The government agency denied the request—probably because they knew it was not true.

This lawyer, having an inflated view of his self-importance, decided to litigate this crucial issue in hopes that he could enlarge his stature and that of his personal wealth. (Again, typical Democrat, wanting to get rich off the hard work of others.)

This guy is arguing that it’s his First Amendment right to falsely claim “Trump Too Small”. On appeal, a federal court ruled that the government was wrong to deny his trademark application, and this lawyer could print t-shirts that impugned Trump’s manhood. The Patent office has appealed this case to the US Supreme Court.

The Justice Department arguing on behalf of Katherine Vidal, under secretary of commerce for intellectual property, eventually appealed the case up to the Supreme Court, arguing that the Lanham Act, which is a federal statute aimed at protecting intellectual property in trademark designations, gives the PTO constitutional authority to block Elster’s trademark request.

“When registration is refused because a mark ‘[c]onsists of or comprises a name…identifying a particular living individual’ without ‘his written consent,’ ‘[n]o speech is being restricted; no one is being punished,’” the DOJ’s petition to the high court says.

Size of Trump’s hands at center of Supreme Court trademark case: ‘Trump Too Small’

I’m sure this case is one sticky mess that the Court would rather avoid in these divisive political times. Its implications on the 2024 political cycle are out there for everyone to see. The government is right that living folks do have some protections to their name and reputation. (Perhaps some barn doors in this life are best left unopened.)

Folks the truth is that this guy can print the t-shirts and sell them all he wants; however, for him to own the phrase that we all know belongs to Marco Rubio is criminal. Claiming a legal right to spread falsehoods clearly belongs exclusively to the mainstream media.

We here at Really Right stand with President Trump. We trust that the Court will rise to this challenge to our great President (and his manhood) and send this lawyer shrinking back into the shadows of obscurity. We all know that such false claims can’t stand up to public scrutiny. It’s embarrassing that any Democrat would dream of comparing themselves with President Trump.

Anyway, this vital case will be heard by the Court tomorrow and their decision will be out just in time for the beginning of the Presidential Primary season.

On Trump, Litigation, and the 14th Amendment

Donald Trump is leading the Republican field by 60 points and no votes have even been cast for the 2024 Republican Primaries. When even Mike Pence is folding his tent then it’s over. In 2016, Pence was the guy that gave Trump gravitas. Today Pence is an “also ran” that, like the rest of the field, can’t even get above single digit support. In a parallel universe, Ron DeSantis would be running away with this thing but …

If the Democrats would leave Trump alone, he would go quietly into the good night of history, but they just can’t. They have failed to destroy Trump and that just galls them more than anything. It goes back to an observation once made by Rush Limbaugh which essentially said, if the media didn’t create you then they can’t destroy you.

Democrats have decided that Trump should be the Republican nominee. They thought Sleepy Joe beat Trump once without leaving his basement so the rematch would be more of the same, but Joe has a record to run on now and its horrible. Joe Biden makes Jimmy Carter look good and that’s really had to do.

Now Trump is polling ahead of Biden in almost every swing state, and they are panicked. Enter the 14th Amendment litigation. This will fail for a simple reason; Trump has not been convicted of anything worthy to keep him off the ballot. The so-called January 6th Insurrection was not an insurrection. The truth is we were hoping that John Eastman was right, and Mike Pence would punt the election to Congress for a decision. Pence turned out to be a swamp monster and caved to the Elites. (Took path of least resistance.)

Folks they may crucify Eastman and company now, but I promise you that were the shoe on the other foot, they would argue the exact same legal arguments and would likely get a different result were it to benefit them. Eastman wasn’t wrong, just ahead of his time.

Historically, the courts are very reluctant to get involved in political decisions, including by the way, Bush v Gore. Trump will win on appeal. The only question is whether it will be at the Appellate level or at the Supreme Court. You see, Trump is not the ultimate target of this phony 14 Amendment argument, the Supreme Court is. The Democrats want to bolster their turnout by campaigning against the Supreme Court after they rule to keep Trump on the ballot.

Remember that Democrats play 3-D chess and Republicans can only play checkers, and very badly. (See recent efforts to select a Speaker.)

You see they lost The Court. This was Trump’s fault, and they want it back. Biden can’t win against Trump so you create a strawman that they can beat. The Court can’t defend itself so why not beat them like a pinata?

When this strategy fails, the Dems have Gavin Newsom waiting in the wings to save them. They always have a backup plan. If it takes keeping the black woman or Sleepy Joe off the ballot to maintain the White House, they are willing to toss either of them under the bus.

The Republican Playbook is stale, and the Democrat’s is no better. Their tactics are predictable. However, neither side can control all the variables. This will be fun to watch in an edge of your seat, white knuckle kind of way.

My Thoughts on Israel/Hamas

What the Hamas terror group did is horrific.  I use the present tense because they are still holding/torturing hostages, American citizens included.  No matter your political or religious beliefs cutting people’s heads off, killing babies, and torturing people is wrong. 

As a sidebar, I do not agree with Israel cutting off the water and power supply to Gaza.  As I will explain later, this helps create a narrative that Israel is committing war crimes as well.

The dirty little secret in that part of the world (Middle East), I trust nothing that comes out of there as far as news goes.  Pretty much every country over there double deals and values their own interests/religion over anyone else’s.  Israel is our only true ally in that space. I say that in a literal sense because Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, and Bahrain typically have been found to be pretty weak allies of ours depending on the enemy.  Sure, we have a large air base in Qatar, I’m sure we likely pay a heavy price in dollars to have it there.  Yes, Egypt and Jordan seem to come down on our side when it comes to Israel and not letting Gaza refugees cross their borders. Oh, Egypt is allowing us to use the Suez Canal; at least for now, but again at what cost?  Don’t believe me?  Check out the foreign aid sent to these countries each year! 

In addition, many countries in that region are aligned with China, Russia, and North Korea, three countries who either legit hate us (Russia and North Korea) or have no real use for us in this conflict (China).  They love nothing more than to see our military spread even further.  Think about it, Russia knows we would prefer to supply Israel than Ukraine, so they win on that front.  China wants Taiwan, and us moving our carrier strike groups that way lessens our ability to help Taiwan.  North Korea?  Well, they get to taunt us even more.  Add Iran, Yemen, Lebanon, and Afghanistan to that list as well, who are actively supporting the Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthi terror groups in that area.  Groups who hate Israel. The Mid-east is a web of competing interests that are being united in their opposition to Israel and the United States.

Add a wild card, Turkey.  Turkey is the 2nd biggest army in NATO (ally of ours) in the region.  They have been very vocal about us sending all those aircraft carriers, destroyers, and cruisers to the area. 

Turkey is correct about wondering aloud why we are sending all those ships.  It does from afar look like a provocation.  While I do not agree with Turkey’s president about us/Israel committing genocide, and completely disagree with him saying Hamas is a liberation group, I do think he misspoke.  One thing about Turkey they have the ears/eyes of both sides all over this region.  They have open dialogues with Russia, while supplying Ukraine with drones.  They are also in talks with Israel, while being able to speak to Hamas.  I know he cancelled his trip to Israel this week, but he wants to negotiate a peace deal.  I believe him.

Back to the war.

Israel needed to strike back at Hamas, they always do.  Most of the time they strike back 3-4x harder.  However, this time it’s different.  The killing of innocent people at a concert, beheading babies, old people, taking hostages, torture is a horse of a different color.  Israel is going to militarily attack the Gaza strip.  They want to wipe Hamas off the globe.  They have had enough. 

What is happening now is the cause of dividing the world in that region.  Jordan and Egypt say no refugees are welcome from Gaza.  This is because they don’t want the terrorists firing from their countries because this pisses off the USA and next thing you know Israel is lobbing rockets into their countries.  Turkey is warning us to back off the ships we sent into that area.  Iran backed terror groups are firing missiles/drones at our bases in Syria and Iraq, so far, we know 21 military folks have been injured.  Iran, Yemen, and North Korea are going to supply Israel’s adversaries with all they need for this war. 

The heart of the problem here is that Israel has no allies in the area.  Egypt and Jordan merely tolerate them.  All the Muslim countries basically hate them, they are in affect isolated. 

Enter Lindsey Graham, Joe Biden, and the globalists. 

So, we started sending our military might to this area.  The ships are already there.  Our bases in Syria (I do not understand this at all) and Iraq are getting more troops.  We supposedly activated 2,000 troops; I believe this is closer to 20,000, but I digress.  Our meager involvement thus far has evoked a response of laughter from the world.  Israel basically told us F-off.  Iran, North Korea, and Russia are daring us to do something stupid.  The terror groups love this.  Turkey is now likely questioning its role in NATO and all for what?  No one respects us anymore because we are not a superpower.  Our military cares more about pronouns and vaccines than training.  It’s sad.

My solution?

Hard to say.  Israel seems hell bent on going in with tanks and troops and “cleansing Hamas off the earth.”  If they want to do it, I say go for it, but with caution.  There is a reason I think Turkey has ratcheted up the rhetoric.  The area is unstable and is likely going to turn into a powder keg if the tanks move into the Gaza strip.  Put simply, if Israel moves in, I think Iran and their terror friends turn Israel into a microwave.  It will get really ugly, really quick.  Knowing the USA, we will somehow get ourselves right in the middle and WW3 will break out.  We will find out who our friends are, and I think more people dislike Israel than like us. 

Simply put, we shouldn’t be operating in that region.  Haven’t we lost enough young people already?  Also, at what stage do we have to worry about our own stockpiles?  We have given a ton to Ukraine and Israel.  Let Turkey decide on a solution in that area.  They do not want missiles flying over their country.  Dirty little secret is the other oil producing states don’t want that either. 

The Chief

Despite What You Hear, Gender Matters on Government Forms

Yep. Many government leaders make claims that you can pick your own gender, but have you ever tried filling out government forms for these guys? Fact is they still wanna know your gender and only give you two choices male and female.  (OK, your pets get to choose spayed or neutered when you sign them up for their license.)

Anyway, if you check the wrong box, guess what? Your application gets stopped until it is resolved. I got to experience this firsthand about a week ago.

I’m about to turn 62 and decided to apply for Social Security. I figured I should apply once I get within 90 days of my birthday. Well sure enough there was a problem. I found out after ignoring a phone call with a 301-area code. Of course, I ignored the call since I have no idea where 301 is and don’t have the number in my address book. A voice mail was left from someone claiming to be from the Social Security Administration. I called the number and extension that I was given and left messages on three separate occasions over the space of about 10 days. Of course, nobody has called me again. Oh, the number left on my voicemail did not match the one on my caller ID.

Finally, I got a letter from SSA which stated that there was a problem with my application. In typical government fashion, the letter never said what the issue was that was causing all the fuss. They asked me to complete a form SS-5 (it was an application for a duplicate Social Security Card). FYI you can only apply for a duplicate Card in person and the local Social Security office will not let you make an appointment to do this. (It took more than an hour of persistent dialing to my local SSA office to learn about the no appointments thing.)

In an attempt to learn more, I called the generic 800 number on the Social Security Administration website. Amazingly, I was able to speak with a real human. After extensive grilling to try to verify my identity, I was finally able to ask someone what the dire problem was with my application. Back in 1980, when I applied for a duplicate copy of my Social Security Card; allegedly, I accidently checked the box for female. Whether this is true or not I can’t say because I have never been offered a copy of this errant form. Ironically, this was the same time that I was registering for Selective Service—a  male only requirement—and two years before I went in the military to serve in a male only occupation. At the time, this error never bothered anyone. However, it is a big issue now.

I find the Federal government making an issue out of checking the wrong gender box on a form 43 years ago laughable. I thought under the enlightened leadership of Joe Biden that nobody cared about gender. I thought nowadays that gender could change on a whim; like maybe which restroom had the shortest line when you need to pee.

Anyway, I dug through my box of important documents and prepared to go to the nearest SSA office the next day.

The next morning, I got out of bed, got dressed, and then drove the hour and a half to the nearest SSA office. I arrived about 8 AM and was proudly the first in line. When they opened at 9 AM, I was admitted into the office and took a number. A few minutes later I was called to one of the four windows serving customers. I showed my letter from SSA and my documents. The lady was satisfied that I was in fact male without resorting to a package check. I was assured that the information would be forwarded to the SSA case worker that was holding up my application. Oh, and I will also get a new SSA card in the mail in a few weeks.

Please note that this was supposedly resolved over a week ago, but as of today, per the SSA website, my application is still on hold pending further review.

My wife is glad this happened because she was able to laugh at my predicament and then load me down with a list of chores to do when I went to the big city. As a result, we now have a barn door on the downstairs bathroom. What took three minutes in a YouTube video actually took two days to accomplish but that is a story for another day.

With my manhood secure and my pride recovering, I just wanted to share my story to let you know what I’m doing in my spare time.

Watching the Mid-East War Unfold

One axiom of American Politics is that when both parties agree on something; the rest of us should be very nervous. Such is the case now concerning the Mid-East war. Both parties—or at least majorities of each—desperately want us involved in this war. It has been reported that American soldiers are already on the ground in the Gaza area. From the sounds of things, we are going to support Israel in a prolonged urban warfare situation. The danger is that this may very well be genocide disguised as urban warfare; it’s not like Hamas combatants will be wearing uniforms and abiding by the Geneva Conventions of Warfare.

Folks in some parts of the Internet have been saying that the war in Ukraine was the beginning of World War III. We have forces in Ukraine helping as military advisors just like the early days of Vietnam. If we continue down the path that we are pursuing, it may be that we end up fighting wars on three or four fronts simultaneously. The war in the Mid-East is very close to becoming a regional war that has the potential to escalate to the point that it may involve deployment of nuclear weapons.

At the very least, because of this war, Europe will be experiencing severe energy shortages as much of their oil and natural gas supplies will quit flowing. It will be a cold and miserable winter for them. At most, Europe may find that being a member state in NATO means getting involved. Will we and our allies end-up fighting Russia, Iran, and Turkey (also a NATO member) as well?

Once we commit to fighting there, look for China to take Taiwan by force. Oh, we will not help Taiwan. Look for us not to commit any serious resources to their defense. This may embolden China to try taking further territory in the East.

This scenario is frightening but possible. Sadly, what the Swamp wants, it often gets, usually to our detriment.

Community- Another Reason to Live in North Idaho

Saturday, the wife and I were on our way to eat lunch at Good Grief. Per their t-shirt, Good Grief claims a population of three people, two dogs, and one grumpy guy. The restaurant at Good Grief is about 45 minutes from our house.

We got about a mile down the road when we ran upon an accident on Highway 95. On a steep downhill grade, a guy pulling a load of hay spilled bails over all four lanes of the road. (Truck in photo above is not subject of this story.) Traffic stopped and then folks got out of their cars and started moving the hay out of the way. In less than five minutes, the road was open in both directions. Below are several pictures that my wife took while I was helping with the others.

Only one guy tried to get thru the mess. He was on a motorcycle. Everyone one else waited and/or helped.

At one point a person said, “I’d like to see this happen in New York City.”

My response was, “They’d just call 9-1-1 and wait for help.” 

Yep, I can picture some guy trying to help in New York and finding that his vehicle was stolen while they were helping.

It was spontaneous and just what you’d expect in this part of the country.

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.