What Do Donald Trump and Amy Grant Have in Common

They both got on my naughty list this month for the same thing, redefining marriage. Sorry culturally compromising people but marriage is between a man and woman. God didn’t make Adam and Steve, or Ellen and Eve as Ole Dave Waddell used to opine. When people in a homosexual relationship want to stay together it’s not a marriage. Anyone that calls it that demeans the institution and the Biblical view of God. There can be no such thing as marriage in a homosexual union; in fact, rightly viewed there is no such thing, its just a convenient fiction, an imitation, a demonic copy.

First Trump. And folks this is likely just a bridge too far for me to enthusiastically support the Orange Man in 2024.

Thursday’s “Spirit of Lincoln” gala was in honor of the “Log Cabin Republicans” a pro-homosexual activist group formed 45 years ago.  The party, held in the ballroom of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago beachfront country club and residence, was a joyous celebration of gay rights and —by coincidence— the historic “Respect for Marriage Act,” obliging the federal government to recognize same-sex marriage, signed into law by President Joe Biden just days earlier, after 12 GOP senators defected and voted with all the Democrat senators (at the urging of the Seventh-day Adventist Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department).

The long-planned event in honor of the Log Cabin Republicans’ 45th anniversary brought in Republican notables like former Ambassador Ric Grenell, Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), former State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus, who emceed the evening in a feathered turquoise gown, and former GOP gubernatorial candidate from Arizona Kari Lake, who was swarmed by guests eager to meet her and take a photo.

“We  are fighting for the gay community, and we are fighting and fighting  hard,”  Former President Trump said. “With the help of  many of the people here tonight in recent years, our movement has taken incredible strides, the strides you’ve made here is incredible.”

Throughout the evening, speakers praised Trump for his embrace of the gay  community. They credited him for his initiatives to combat the criminalization of homosexuality, his work pushing for public heath initiatives to combat the HIV epidemic, and for appointing the first openly homosexual Cabinet member, Ric Grenell, as DNI, Director of National Intelligence.

Trump hosts gay Republicans at Mar-a-Lago

In fairness, Trump didn’t mention Sleepy Joe’s law attempting to enshrine homosexual marriage into federal law, but it was enough of an issue that Politico called the party “a celebration of the same-sex marriage law”.

Next up is Amy Grant.

Seems Amy has thrown in the towel on the Bible being the highest authority in her life. Instead, she has thrown in with the rainbow people and made love—however pervertedly you wish to define it—as the highest value in life. Rev Franklin Graham has taken her to task over this, but shouldn’t her local pastor be leading the charge on the issue? Well local pastors did so well with Covid, by comparison this issue should be a sinch since its specifically condemned in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, but sadly let’s get back to reality. Here’s the meat of the story.

Upon learning that her niece declared her sexuality, Grant openly said her reaction was: “What a gift to our whole family to just widen the experience of our whole family.” “Honestly, from a faith perspective, I do always say, ‘Jesus, you just narrowed it down to two things: love God and love each other,'” Grant said. “I mean, hey — that’s pretty simple.”

In 2013, Grant did her first interview for PrideSource.com, an LGBT news website, where she shared her views on faith and LGBT issues.

“I know that the religious community has not been very welcoming, but I just want to stress that the journey of faith brings us into community, but it’s really about one relationship. The journey of faith is just being willing and open to have a relationship with God. And everybody is welcome. Everybody,” Grant said.

The wife and Christian singer also told “Proud Radio” host Hunter Kelly last year about why it’s important for her to set a “welcome table.” Grant stated that she was invited to a “table where someone said, ‘Don’t be afraid, you’re loved.’ Gay. Straight. It does not matter.”

“[It] doesn’t matter how we behave. It doesn’t matter how we’re wired,” Grant said, according to Church Leaders. “We’re all our best selves when we believe to our core: ‘I’m loved.’ And then our creativity flourishes. We’re like, ‘I’m gonna arrange flowers on your table and my table.’ When we’re loved, we’re brave enough to say yes to every good impulse that comes to us.”

Franklin Graham responds to Amy Grant’s plan to host lesbian wedding: Don’t ‘compromise’ God’s authority

Boy, Amy sure seems to have lost her way. Sadly, she’s not the only one. Enabling people on the way to hell by cheering them on in their spiritual darkness is a much different proposition from warning them of their peril and telling them to turn from the wrath to come.

I have friends that know Amy personally but until I read about Graham taking her to task, I had no idea she was so immersed in heresy and compromise on this clearly stated Scriptural teaching.

Amy once did a song about “love will find a way” but if that Way is not to the Cross then its in vain.

Naiveté like you read about

Had a client of mine come in this week; specifically, to chat about his 22-year-old son.  This son has had 5 moving violation/accidents in 3 years of driving.  The average is about 1 incident per decade by the way.  So as you can imagine his insurance is very expensive and the parents have been paying it.  Usually when you encounter this, it’s the parents saying “get Jr. off my policy, he is too expensive” or they grin and bear it while paying.  In this case they wanted to keep the cost the same, make excuses for Jr. and try to get us to find a solution.

It was insane. The father (the one who came into my office) complained how his son has not worked for over 4 years.  He then circled back with “He has a job with Vector but I do not know what he does.”  He says the company is so secretive his son never talks about it, but he works from home.  Obviously, my BS sensors went off quickly, so I Googled them.  Vector marketing…LOL its CUTCO knives.  AKA an MLM Pyramid scheme.  So much so a link provided on their website explains how Vector is not a scam. 

El Oh El!

So, Jr. got a sales job with a pyramid scheme company.  His son, according to his dad when he confronted him, could not produce a pay stub (what are those?) so he doesn’t believe him.  Well Vector makes all of its money off new recruits, not so much actual sales.  The new recruits like his son pay a fee, and then get told, “Here’s your knives. Go get it.”  MLM pyramid schemes are famous for marketing to young people and single mothers.

Enough about scams.

Don’t let your son be a “meathead”.

He went on that his son is a good kid, but smokes weed with his buddies every night after he and his wife go to sleep.  They sneak off to a local park and basically eat all the snack food, and smoke weed.  This seems to be normal behavior for these types.  He spends a late night out and sleeps till around noon.  The parents can’t figure out what gives, and he is unmotivated.  They speak of how he plays video games all hours of the day, but again he is a hard worker and a good kid. 

They kept saying how can we help motivate him.

My thoughts were simple, lay out all of his “costs” i.e., insurance, car payment, phone plan, gym, etc. and make it known if you want this lifestyle, he needs to contribute.  He shot that down saying he tells his kid he we’ll pay till age 26.  So, I guess Jr. has 4 more years of freeloading?

Fatal Error

Archie and the “Meathead”

My business partner said he has a son just like this other fellow’s son, problem is the correct word would be “had” not “has.”  Make no mistake the son is still alive but he has been making a great living for the last 23 years, he was also 22 when he experienced this growth.  The error is now the client felt he was “on a journey” with my business partner.

The client continued to filibuster, and as far as I am concerned, hope is lost.  He wants to be a “cool parent” not a father.  He just doesn’t want to admit it.  Allowing your adult child to sneak out of the house, engage in drug type behavior (I don’t care that CA legalized it) while living in your house is dumb.  It’s your house not theirs.  As far as work goes; if they don’t want to work, they pay rent or move out.  Sorry, this is not a vacation resort, restaurant, nor a hotel.  At a certain point, you must be a parent again, even if the kid is 22.  He lacks motivation and is gaming you.  Sorry, not to be mean, but every move you make, he is 3 steps ahead.

Get a job……Got one at a MLM deal that doesn’t pay

Get your own bills paid for yourself…..sorry I’m good till 26, your words pops.

If you don’t put your foot down, the kids don’t grow.

I can guarantee this kid aint doin nuthin until 26, and calls his father’s bluff, his father won’t budge.  Book it!

Johnnie Does

California’s Employment Development Disaster Continues

I’ve worked at the agency that is the posterchild of government waste, fraud, and fiduciary abuse for almost two years now. This agency is not only irredeemably broken but it’s so far down the sewer (or rabbit hole) depending on which metaphor you wish to employ that it seems beyond reform.

Here is a partial list of systemic problems that no one seems interesting in fixing.

First and foremost, old claims never die, they simply loose their appeal. What I mean by this is that both the claimant—person that filed the claim—or any random staff person at EDD can revive a claim, no matter how old. Like your stereotypical B Movie, there is really no such thing as a dead claim. There is always room for a sequel. I have seen claims as old as ten years be brought back to life again either at the request of staff or the claimant. Claims that died due to lack of authentic documents or California wages years ago are routinely appealed and benefits rewarded. Often these claims were filed with forged documents and when denied, the fraudster simply submits more and different fraudulent documents to someone different and if persistent enough, they often are rewarded not for honesty but for perseverance.

The bureaucratic vehicle for successful fraud is often via the ALJ-Administrative Law Judge. If a claim is denied for whatever reason, it can be appealed to the Administrative Law Judge where a person can try again to become eligible for benefits. The ALJ will accept new documents not previously submitted to the agency. This in theory is OK because some folks need a second chance to get a claim properly submitted. Think of people in public school that can only eek-out a C minus if the class is graded on a curve. These folks can’t abide by the normal rules and need extra babying or babysitting to get to the correct result. This is likely why they are unemployed in the first place. Following certain societal rules is necessary for getting and maintaining a job and some folks just can’t cut it without extra help.

The problem with that ALJ system is that they never check any documents. They do not verify Social Security Numbers. They do not verify Drivers License Numbers. They do not verify U.S. Passports. They do not verify any documents submitted to them at all. Oh, and everything submitted to them is photocopies or scanned. Furthermore, they do not verify if applicant ever lived or worked in California.

Worse yet, if EDD staff flags something as fraudulent, the ALJ will often ignore their findings.

Doubly worse is that any documents submitted at an ALJ hearing are purposely kept from EDD staff in the Identity Unit. Thus, the people charged with verifying the authenticity of documents have zero input to evaluate the authenticity of new documents presented at an ALJ hearing.

In cases where the fraudulent claim uses the same documents found in the initial application process, ALJ judges have often excoriated EDD staff for not accepting the forged documents as part of their decision to approve claims for people that don’t deserve them. The ALJ judge is often busy grading the quality of art work done on Photoshop and not interested in looking too hard for the veracity of the documents.

The Identity Unit is not formally trained on what to look for when it come to fraud. There are no master or example documents that we know are correct to use to compare with stuff submitted by claimants. The only advice some are given is look up such and such a document on the Internet and compare that to what you were sent. FYI most of what you see on the Internet are forgeries, so this advice is worse that worthless.

For example, try looking up a U.S. Passport on the Internet under images. Most of what you see in this search are fakes, some better than others. If I want to evaluate a passport, I need to get mine out of my fireproof lockbox and compare it to the scanned copy that I’m looking at as part of someone’s application for benefits. Ditto for a California Driver License—except that there are multiple versions, some of which I’ve never seen before.

Different staff are given limited tools to verify certain documents, but these tools are not all equal. Counting me, there are three in my working group and each of us has a different software package for checking the same identity documents. Each software varies in the detail that can be researched.

This is the next issue with EDD and that is that a myriad of different software is used by the department. None of these programs can talk with each other and all serve different functions. As with all California’s government agencies, the backbone of the department’s automation is still the Unix systems that were brought online in the 1980’s. I would guess that about two dozen different programs are used daily by various parts of the agency.

California claims to be the technology capital of the world but has the worst and most archaic computers around.  There is talk of wanting to modernize, whatever that may be, but whatever they decide to do, you know it will be fraught with waste, fraud, abuse, and delays. Also, it will cost several times whatever the winning bid will be. Think, costs of hi speed rail over time.

So, if you’re handy with Photoshop, have lots of free time, and don’t mind shopping on the “dark web” for identity information, you too can join the California gold rush. California’s EDD, where you get money for nothin’ and your checks for free. Multiple entries do increase your chances of winning.

Folks, I’m glad I’m leaving there in seven weeks.

PS I think the ALJ (and the Department) are inclined to ignore identity documents in part because Newsom and the boys at the “bill mill” don’t want to be accused of excluding illegal immigrants from cashing in. Today’s recipients are tomorrow’s Democrat voters.

The New Garbage System in Elk Grove

Folks this year in January a new law went into effect, under the old law we had 3 “Toter garbage cans” one for garbage (brown) one for recycling (Green) and one for green waste (light green).  The garbage can was serviced every week, with the other cans rotating every other week.  The Toter cans were pretty sturdy, made in Mexico and held up pretty well under the test of time.  Here in the central valley of California, it is also north of 100 degrees for months on end.

The new law sees the replacement of the Toter’s with what I call cheap Chinese crap plastic cans.  Seriously I doubt these things will hold up very well and I may be replacing them annually with new ones.  I have a feeling someone in Sacramento (lawmaker) has a family member who owns the company that makes these and used the new law as a vehicle to get $$$.  My other issue with these new cans is the color scheme completely changed.  The trash cart is now black, which I guess makes sense.  The recycle cart is now blue, and the organics (replaces yard waste) is green.

The system works basically the same, but I do have a question, this was billed as a green, better for the environment system, but is it?  The new organics cart now is for yard waste and table scraps; think bones, salad etc.  So basically, anything you previously put in the garbage disposal.  This cart will also be serviced weekly, so now every other week 3 trucks will have to be on the road.  Keep in mind these garbage trucks are a massive apparatus and do not run-on electricity.  I do not see how having a truck on the road every 2 weeks is somehow saving the environment. 

An additional observation of mine, according to the nosy neighbor app, folks have gotten vermin, and maggots in their organics can because of intermixing the food scraps and yard waste, who would have thunk it right?  The cans also do not look like they will hold up to our 100-degree summers. 

Perhaps my biggest beef was in a mailer sent out to the entire populous. It specifically said your trash and organics cart will be inspected periodically to make sure you are in compliance.  Yep, we will now have city personnel inspecting your garbage and issuing a citation if you are not in compliance!  Just like in Berkeley. This law effects both the residential and commercial businesses.  As such the businesses near me got small organic carts that never have anything in them.  My point being people like myself are not able to compost or recycle as much as a business is.  The food scrap recycling?  If that even works, and I have my doubts, wouldn’t it be better to have restaurants all be required to get on board?  I would say the Brickhouse Restaurant near me likely would fill up a dumpster sized cart of just organic waste likely every other day.  Call me a skeptic of this.

Also, you may remember my blog stating the most recycling just goes into the dump anyway, this article I’m linking once again proves we were Really Right.

By the way, that’s a CBS article not some far right website on the internet.  Seems like a lot of energy is being put into recycling when it doesn’t seem to work.

The Troll

145k Votes to Count In Sac County

Yes, you read that correctly.  In the home county of the world headquarters of ReallyRight.com, we still have around 145,000 ballots to process and count.  You may be asking/wondering about the size of the county we live in, feel free to look it up.  According to Wikipedia, the population is around 1.6 million people.  Compare that to Los Angeles or San Diego that are far larger…. oh yeah, those counties are basically done counting!  Seriously look it up. Los Angeles has about 25k and San Diego around 11k.  Upon further review our home county has the most outstanding ballots by far!  Coming in a distant second is Placer County, with 82k.  Every other county has no more than 35k with many having only several thousand to count.

This guy has a reputation of counting

Y tho?

Well, it is hard to explain; actually, I really cannot.  Our home county, and I will defer to the Blog Father for additional commentary, is mostly 100% urban/big city.  Between Sac City, Elk Grove, Folsom, Rancho Cordova, Unincorporated Sac, Citrus Heights, Fair Oaks, etc. there are very few residents living in rural areas.   Keep in mind that the cities I mentioned above basically all bleed into one another, in essence making it one giant metroplex.  The outlying areas of; Wilton, Galt, Herald, Rancho Murietta and Rio Linda make up a rounding error is terms of total population.  It makes no sense that counting would be taking this long, especially in the capital city of California. 

What can be done about it?

Well, nothing really. The CAGOP contributed to the problem by putting out their own unsanctioned vote drop boxes 1 cycle ago.  So good luck overturning all this mail in madness.  When the state decided to mail everyone a ballot years ago this will be the new normal, we will have “election month” rather than election day.  This is madness!  But apparently only those who don’t affiliate with the GOP out here anymore seem to care.  Sad!

A simple solution

We won’t be getting rid of the “top two” or “vote by mail” likely ever.  So here is a workable way to do this.  The ballots go out 1 month in advance but put a deadline on when it can be mailed in, I would advise 1 week prior to election day.  This gives the local elections office plenty of time to receive, verify, and count the incoming ballots.  Convert these “voting centers” into vote and transport ballot centers.  Make it so if I drop my ballot off at EG Library it is picked up, delivered to the election office and therefore processed and counted same day, the earlier the better.  This process should occur many times on election day.  The goal needs to be getting all ballots processed and counted asap.

While my solution may not be the easiest it’s the best moving forward in terms of election integrity.  I find it hard to believe here in Sac County we still have that many outstanding ballots when our election happened 3 weeks ago.  This is the reason most on the fringes of society claim voter fraud.  The longer this process drags out and the more and more ballots showing up in the mail after election ends gives these people more fuel for the fire.

Once more for the folks in the back

  1.  Ballots out 1 month early
  2. As they are returned the are immediately counted and verified
  3. Stop accepting mail ballots after about a week prior to election
  4. Continue to verify, and count
  5. On days after mail deadline, vote centers will collect and immediately transfer the ballots to election office
  6. Results will update in 30-minute intervals election night, and a count of all uncounted ballots will be provided.

Simple.

The Chief

My Thoughts on Trump 2024

Folks now are accusing Trump of being an Army of One and he is and will continue to be, but let’s suppose that Donald Trump is elected in 2024. What does that Presidency look like?

To win in 2024, Trump will have to cripple or destroy the entire Republican “farm team”. In essence, Trump will destroy all Republican presidential contenders for the next 12 or 16 years to achieve his victory.

Supposing Trump can overcome challenges from his own Party and the Swamp—the Democrats and duplicitous Republicans in the House and Senate—and manages to get in the Oval Office, it’s likely all for naught because from day one he is a lame-duck President. Nobody will care what he wants to accomplish. Washington will be about posturing, backstabbing, and business as usual. Can you imagine Trump finding after clawing his way to the top that he is irrelevant! I think his head will explode.

Ironically, Trump’s biggest obstacle in victory is not Democrats or Republicans, it’s the Constitution.

The 22nd Amendment states: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice …”

If Trump had busted his butt and got those House and Senate candidates elected that stuck their necks out and enthusiastically supported him, I might be singing a different tune but as others on the blog have pointed out, he sat on his thumbs and checkbook doing nothing. If you recall, Trump backed primary opponents of at least six House Republicans that voted to Impeach him. As far as I know, all six challengers won their primaries and zero of them got money or support from Trump in the general election and all lost, WTF Donald.

Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy both worked to undercut conservative MAGA candidates to insure they would lose, often just for voicing support for Trump. Oh, both Republican “leaders” were funded in part by FTX Crypto currency.

Sam Bankman-Fried FTX Crypto funded anti-MAGA Republicans

Donald Trump failed us that have stuck with him thru thick and thin because the rich guy that was President didn’t have a good business plan. Part of any good business venture is hiring and keeping good and talented people. Another aspect is succession. Trump failed in both these areas.

In too many instances, Trump hired weak people that he could bully. Those that he could bully, he did not respect and thus would not listen to them. Many others were opportunists that never believed in his vision of America. In many cases, the career politicians that took posts with Trump were bottom feeder, Mitt Romney types, that were there to thwart him.

Trump also never had a plan of building on MAGA – which by the way was a slogan stolen from Ronald Reagan.

Reagan 1980 election poster

Had he spent the last several years promoting likeminded candidates as I had hoped, the Republican Party would have been remade and would own all levers of power in the country. Now however, the Swamp Creatures in both Parties know that Trump is toast no matter what he does. They may not follow the Constitution with how they govern but both Democrats and Republicans know that the 22nd Amendment makes Trump irrelevant and for that they rejoice. They only differ on whether to “move on” or totally destroy him.

Trump should have followed Ronald Reagan and brought people into his administration that knew Madison Avenue and technology. Getting his Twitter account cancelled was a huge blow in his efforts to communicate. I will not debate mean Tweets too much except to say that Trump put all his communication eggs in that basket. To stick to the business analogy, he should have diversified in this area, so Twitter didn’t have him by the short hairs.

Trump also should have groomed a successor and promoted the hell out of them. If not Mike Pence, then someone else like maybe Kari Lake. Oh wait, he never wrote her a check, did he?

The Donald F***ed up this election cycle and will pay a steep price for his hubris; as will we all.

Oh, thanks to Trump’s failure, Democrats are going for the demographic kill shot on the Republican Party. Yep, Democrats don’t want any more squeaky elections so they are prepping for the nuclear option in the lame duck session of Congress in December. They want to baptize many or all the illegal aliens in the United States in hopes of inducting millions into the Democrat fold of government dependence. This will give them an insurmountable majority and make the United States a one-Party nation forever. Think turning the United States into California for the next 200 years.

Sadly, there are enough shortsighted Republicans in office that they may accomplish this in a few short weeks. I once stated on this blog that due to changing demographics there is a real chance that Donald Trump will be the last Republican President this country will ever have, and right on que this is about to happen right before your eyes.

Sometimes being Really Right is a huge burden.

Why I Can’t Support Donald Trump

President Trump had a good run, and in just four short years of his presidency he showed me how bad the GOP is corrupted by swamp creatures.  Similar to the CAGOP, the national party has the same types of folks; they talk a great game, then vote differently.  Case in point, healthcare. Trump upon being elected said “let’s get a plan ready and pass it once I am sworn in.”  That never happened.  The fire breathing conservatives never had a plan. In fact, I figure most of them likely voted for Hillary, figuring they could fundraise off her presidency and make millions.  In fact, I think most would agree Trump fought more with his own Party than the liberals. 

Everything was going well until the last 8 months of his presidency.  Then it all un-winded in spectacular fashion.  He “lost” the presidency. I use air quotes because I want to throw a bone to the mouth breathers who lurk on this site who keep talking about conspiracy theories.  Trump lost, I am sorry but folks it’s been 2 years now, get over it.  No one on this blog is happy he lost, mostly because of the way he lost, but most importantly what Trump did next was awful in my humble opinion. 

In the Georgia Senate runoff, he made bizarre statements and made that election all about him, as a result we lost 2 seats in the Senate we should still be in control of.  Rather than help the Party, Trump decided to make it all about him.  Again, we lost both seats, handing Chuck Schumer control.  Trump never let’s go of a grudge, and in this case, it decimated the Party. Look at what happened to the economy and the record spending on domestic and military programs by the Left.

His destructive persona continued with the January 6th shenanigans.  Frankly neither myself nor any other blogger on this site cares about January 6th, it happened, if you want to investigate the capital police etc. go for it.  It’s over.  Much like the Trump loss, get over it.  A group of whackos stormed the capital, see blogs about Jorge Riley for more details.

My biggest issue is how Trump acted this election cycle.  I will mention again that he raised 200 million this election cycle, with most donors likely thinking this would help his slate of candidates: Dr. Oz, Kari Lake, Herschel Walker, Blake Masters, Adam Laxalt, Don Bolduc, and JD Vance.  Of those candidates, none got any support from him, and only Vance won, underperforming big time, check out how the governor did in Ohio and compare.  Trump spent no money he raised to help his own slate of people! 

Worse yet he announced he had “an announcement to make 11/15 about his future plans” about 3 weeks prior to election.  This, in my opinion, wound up the liberal base all over the country.  We as conservatives must face it, Trump is to the liberals what the Clintons are to us, we will turn out in large numbers at the mere mention of the word “Clinton”.  The Democrats did the same.  They want no part of Trump, he is the anti-Christ to them.  He did more than the Dobbs decision ever could.  His announcement went off the same way we all figured it would, he is running.  We barely controlled the House and will at best be 50/50 in senate.  No red wave.

Trump made it all about himself, and the party was crushed.  He never went after lock-down governors like Whitmer, Evers, or Walz.  Didn’t go after any democrat senators either.  It was classic Trump., I’m sorry to say this, but he is a narcissist, and the party is now going to be held hostage by him.  Sadly, because Trump wanted to overthrow the election, among other odd beliefs, and our senate candidates were tied to him, they were torpedoed. Republican gubernatorial ones were able to slightly differentiate themselves and survive. 

In closing.

Trump is running, he has already started going after Ron DeSantis (Ron Desanctimonius) and Glenn Youngkin (saying it sounds like a Chinese person).  This will be found as funny to his devout supporters, but to me I’m turned off.  Petty name calling and personal attacks have place, it’s called family court.  DeSantis won big and is the frontrunner in my opinion, I will be supporting him or Glenn Youngkin (VA Governor) most likely.  DeSantis turned a purple state bright red, Youngkin a former businessman who turned a blue state red, we need folks like this.  Conservative governors are where the turn-around will start.  Both of those are great choices, I like Abbott from Texas as well.

Sorry Donald, but your erratic behavior has turned me off.  You could learn a lot about yourself by reading the room at your “announcement” where were the electeds?  Celebrity GOP types?  Even your allies from your presidency sat it out.  I saw the My Pillow Guy, and Roger Stone, this hardly moves the needle.  Now big money GOP donors are fleeing you and supporting anyone but you. You had six years to help elect Republicans that you could work with, but instead you sat on your thumbs doing nothing but self-promotion.

Mostly my disappointment is looking at what could have been.  The Senate could have been 52-48 leading up to this election.  Pick up AZ, NV, NH, which were all likely pickups by realclearpolitics.com on election day by the way. In addition to holding the open seats, we could be looking at 55-45 right now.  The map looks bad for the Democrats in 2024, with seats in Montana, West Virginia, and Arizona up, all 3 of the current office holders are on the outs with the far left of the party, primary challengers perhaps?  Also seats in the upper Midwest are up, if things go right, we could be looking at 60 seats!  But no, we will be digging out of a hole due to Trump.

The Chief

Last Thursday Night was a Wreck

As has been my habit, this week I went to the twice monthly Theology on Tap. It’s a Thursday night men’s gathering at a local watering hole that is sponsored by my church and usually attended by our pastor. The Pastor decided to read a passage in Psalms about trusting in God as opposed to men. I’m not sure of the reference—not that it matters—but it was something like one of these verses.

Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. Psalm 146:3

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. Psalm 20:7

He used the verse as a springboard to bring up government and politics. As you might expect, things went really sideways from there. Folks, it was the most horrific display of biblical illiteracy that I’ve seen in many years.

Those in attendance maintained that government was an invention of men and God could care less about it or what it does. It was just another societal institution composed of corrupt men. Which by the way is ok, as long as they leave us Christians alone and don’t force us to do stuff we disagree with; not that anyone could cite an example of what that might be. (Apparently closing churches, telling us whether we could sing songs during a worship service, or when and how to have Holy Communion is not crossing that line.) Furthermore, they asserted that the Bible is mute on how we should be governed by the State.

Folks these were not a bunch of pagans in the local biker bar trying to tell me why religion is dumb, these guys are the leaders of the church and regularly attend weekly services, and most have done so for years on end.

Wow. Truthfully, I got so angry that I left before it was over.

I thought every Sunday School kid knew that God created government. Its right there in Genesis 9, if you know what you’re reading. The proposition that man created government is usually credited to Thomas Hobbs or Jean-Jacques Rousseau. That this idea was allowed to stand for the hour and a half of discussion that I endured is shameful.

Most were in agreement that the Bible has nothing to say about “How should we then live?” (title of 1976 book by Frances Schaeffer). To say this group was antinomian and hostile to what the Bible has to say is no exaggeration. Any believers that would look to the Bible—particularly the Old Testament for guidance as to what God expected of government—were denounced as advocates of tyranny, inquisition, theocracy, and Roman Catholicism. Aren’t those the accusations normally leveled against Christians by liberals, pagans, and humanists?

I couldn’t get anyone to agree to the proposition that God is sovereign, ruling the nations now, and that all authority is under Christ. I said that God has appointed all authorities and will judge them and hold them to account. Not one agreement from anyone in the room.

I also stated that we don’t live in normal times. We are under God’s judgement. One person asked if that was the nation as a whole or Christians in particular? I said both.

Oh, the other zinger that was loudly and repeated stated, the United States was not founded as a Christian nation. I guess the first 200 years or so of our history were irrelevant, at least to this know-it-all public school graduate.

Finally, they got around to bashing Donald Trump—who last I checked didn’t claim to be a roll model of virtue or Christian excellence. Trump was bad because he called people names and had been married more than once. Zero complaints about the Party of the KKK, Jim Crow, Trail of Tears, abortion, homosexuality, slavery, etc.

Other than to invoke a Lutheran prayer that the government leave us alone—“That we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity” —and a reading of Romans 13, there was crickets from the pastor.

(I would expect this discussion from a female Methodist priestess and her congregants but a supposedly conservative clergyman and his leadership team, yikes!)

The only thing others said that I agreed with last night was if you don’t like it then move to another state. Thankfully I’m doing just that in a few months, God willing.

Folks, please understand that these guys see themselves as Godfearing Christians, good fathers, and Conservatives. If you want to know why your state is moving liberal and you have California Conservatives in your midst, maybe you can see a pattern here. They would rather be ruled by godless humanists, atheists, and pagans than by anyone using the Bible as their standard of Law and Ethics.

I got to see a microcosm of what’s wrong with the Church in America, or some of it anyway. It was heartbreaking. I’m not sure that I have much interest in going anymore.

Red Ripple Thoughts

Well that kinda sucked last night.  I was told by the media, even the left-wing ones, a red wave was coming. It was just a matter of how big.  The talking heads were saying GOP House with a 30 seat majority minimum, and a GOP Senate with a majority of 3-4.  Well, here we sit Wednesday at around noon, and we are at a House gain of 7, and a Senate loss of 1, and losses at the governor level of 2 so far.  This is the opposite of a wave; in fact it should be deflating.

Sadly, as a former card carrying CAGOP member, I am quite used to this feeling.  The wave never touches CA yet we were always told about the great hope that it would.  Our guys were going to do it, this was the year…etc.  So, the feeling, like I said, was nothing new.

So I will break down my commentary on winners and losers from last night.

Winner:  Ron DeSantis.  No question he is the frontrunner to take on whomever the presidential nominee is from the Democrats.  A 20 point win in Florida is what he needed.  Keep in mind 4 years ago he won by about 1%.  He also became the first GOP governor to carry Miami-Dade County since Jeb Bush.  Miami-Dade is mostly Spanish speaking mind you.

Loser: Dr. Oz.  This guy lost to a clown who can barely speak after having a stroke and who spent most of the campaign in his basement.  Oz also has a very questionable background of supporting; gay rights, lbgtq, puberty blockers, and just flat out being a shill who lives in New Jersey. Oh, also isn’t he a citizen of a Muslim country (Turkey)? This was a loss we couldn’t have, and he lost it.

Winner:  Lockdown governors.  Whitmer, Evers, and Walz all from the Midwest, all won fairly convincingly.  I guess these folks like being in a nanny state?  Amazing to highlight the difference in DeSantis winning by 20% supporting freedom, and these folks winning while locking down.

Loser: Certain down ticket races.  More on this in a minute, but look at those Midwestern states mentioned above, add PA, GA, AZ, and a lot of House seats were left on the table.

Winner:  Partisan politics.  No major wave in either direction, major politico types sent packing over Roe v Wade or other far out policies. This country is evenly divided, and it appears the Senate and House will reflect that as well.

Loser:  Trump.  I am actually starting to get off the Trump train.  Before you call me a bandwagon type or a fair-weather fan, I’m getting tired of his act.  He raised over 200 million and spent almost none of it.  This was a chance for him to get a coalition started for his next run.  He missed badly.  Even worse he endorsed and shepherded through some very average candidates.  Pure speculation on my part but I think any other candidate than Dr Oz, Herschel Walker, Blake Masters and Dan Bolduc (ME) would have done much better.  Even Trump supported folks who won badly underperformed.  Look at OH, the governor won by about 26%, Trump endorsed JD Vance won by 7.  In NC, Ted Budd won by about 5%.  In AZ Blake Masters is tracking about 10,000 votes less than the governor nominee is currently getting.  In PA his governor nominee flopped so badly it likely took Dr. Oz down in the undertow, at time of this writing the GOP governor nominee was at about 42% of the vote.  Oh BTW in Colorado Trump was so angry at nominee Kevin O’Dea in the weeks leading up to the race he said O’Dea shouldn’t win and called him a RINO.  O’Dea lost big, and Trump crowed on his Twitter clone, not a great look.

Winner: liberal policies.  Crime and law and order were on the ballot everywhere, and the Democrats won all the left leaning states.  So look for more homeless and more crime in these regions.  It is what it is I guess.

Loser: GOP messaging.  Which was what exactly?  I’m being serious.  It sounded like the same old same old, no taxes, less spending, put us in charge and you will find out.  I heard no answers to the crime issue, none on the inflation issue, and I think the vote reflected that.  You wanted to have your own congressman/senator back and let them continue the fight.  If the GOP doesn’t figure it out on a national level and soon, they will be like the CAGOP, essentially a regional party who serves as “loyal opposition” as opposed to new ideas.

Chief

Editor’s note: Trump’s endorsement of DR. OZ was the stupidest endorsement that he ever made. He lost much credibility with me on that one. It even caused me not to contribute money to him anymore. Left that sink in just little. I’ve been supporting him since before he won the Presidential nomination, something few in California can truthfully say. I haven’t been a major donor, but I have given a few contributions since he became a candidate. Endorsing Oz really crossed a line for me.

 Kevin McCarthy is not, nor ever has been, a conservative. He has a multi-decades long track record of opposing us and our ideas. He is the RINO’s, RINO. He is on the wrong side of almost any social issue that I or fellow Christians believe or care about. He’ll change his spots to appear our ally but beware. Mitch McConnell seems the same type of political animal; just enough change of beliefs to stay in power. For men like them, its about gaining and expanding power not doing what’s best for the country.

There was no GOP coalition to oppose Biden. All we got was the same old crap (smoke and mirrors) as “repeal and replace” with a lot less believability and only after internal polling showed the insiders that there was no Red Wave. It was a psyop to keep the Fox News faithful on the reservation.

The best we can hope for is two years of gridlock.

Midterm Election Predictions

By Chief & Troll

Long standing traditions on this blog: Troll chasing any skirt that walks past him, Johnnie Does ripping small businesses, and Chief making predictions about elections.  So here we go!

Starting nationally

Blogger note:  Keep an eye on New York Governor race, if it’s very close, the GOP will way outperform my predictions. Also be aware of the “3 am ballot discovery” or “ballot counting will take months to complete” California has mastered the later, most swing states the former.  We saw the new Democrat playbook last election.

House elections:  The GOP will pick up 35-45 seats, it would be much higher if we had better folks running for governor in certain states.  In CA, we will pick up a couple seats…that’s my bold take.  A comfy GOP majority.

Senate:  Here is where my takes get even hotter, and predictions get bolder.  We will hold: PA, WI, OH, FL and NC.  These races won’t be close enough for the fraud to matter.  We pick up: AZ, NH, NV for sure, again these will likely be outside the amount of fraud that the Democrats will need.  Toss ups:  CO and WA, these will be tough, but if NY Governor race is close, dominoes will be a fallin’.  GA will go to a runoff and the GOP will win it next month.

The senate races remind me of a few years back, the Democrats put up average candidates, but they prevailed because the GOP brand was so bad, it’s going to be the reverse this time.  Let us not kid ourselves; Dr Oz, Herschel Walker, JD Vance, Blake Masters, Dan Bolduc, and Ted Budd are average candidates, but in a wave year they get pushed across the finish line.  I look for a 52-48 edge as a minimum advantage after Tuesday.

Governor: We will have a decent night, we hold GA, FL, TX, and VT.  The Democrats will pick up Maryland and Massachusetts, but who cares, those were on borrowed time.  The red team picks up: KS, WI, MI, NV, and I’m calling it, OR.  New Mexico will be close, and I think MN could be a barn burner.  Again watch New York, a little-known congressman from Long Island could keep it very close, Obama, Biden, and Harris have stumped for her recently.

Overall, a good night for the red team. On to CA

Not a lot of good to report here, I’ve heard rumblings Lanhee Chen will win Controller, no surprise, he is running as a Mitt Romney type.  Nathan Hochman could make it close for Atty General.  Look for Newsom’s results closely, if its close we could pick up about 4 seats in CA, a big blow out (68% plus) and I doubt it.

The statewide propositions will mostly all fail, the abortion one will pass big, I predict 68% in favor.  Blogger note:  This prop and Newsom should track fairly closely because the lack of any opposition from clergy, church or powers that be, make it a lost cause.  I’m disappointed the CAGOP didn’t endorse Prop 27, as I believe sports wagering should be allowed from your phone, but the CAGOP is owned by the Indian Casinos, so such is life.

Let’s turn it over to Troll shall we….

Well, well, well, here I go torching the Democrats……

Anyone seen that John Fetterman guy?  Running for senate in PA?  He looks like anyone at a CA state prison yard, just look at him.  Sweet holy moly is that the only outfit you own!

Oprah Winfrey supports Fetterman in PA…. well, if you want anyone to throw their weight behind you, Oprah isn’t a bad one to do so.

Speaking of weight, Stacy Abrams is running for GA governor again. Jesus, do her and Beto O’Rourke run for something new each cycle?  I do not know what Beto brings to the table, but I do know Abrams brings two things to the table, A KNIFE AND A FORK!

Speaking of ugly, has anyone seen Congress person Rosa DeLauro?

Hey Troll, is this genetically male or female? At least 3 bags either way

Wow hubba hubba baby baby, you must hate Alexander Graham Bell for inventing electricity.  Good god could you imagine if she married James Carville?  Oh god, my eyes, it’s like someone threw bleach in them.

IM ON MY SECOND WIND……

Tulsi Gabbard leaves the Democrat Party….no shock; have you seen Democrat women lately?  No one on their side is winning a Miss America pageant, no wonder they hate Trump!

DeLauro, Pelosi, and Hillary Clinton squaring off against: Lauren Boebert, Sarah Palin, and Nikki Haley is the definition of no contest.

Troll

In closing Troll has a new GF, Olympic bobsled and hurdler Lolo Jones.  Check her out.