Really Right – Page 41 – Religion, Politics, and Culture: Explained and Defined

Thoughts on QAnon

Folks I keep hearing and reading about ideas attributed to this ethereal group which many on the Left regard as a far-right cult of political/religious conspiracy theorists. The group even has its own Wikipedia entry.

QAnon (/kju???n?n/) is a far-right conspiracy theory alleging that a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles running a global child sex-trafficking ring is plotting against President Donald Trump, who is battling them, leading to a “day of reckoning” involving the mass arrest of journalists and politicians.
QAnon

The only problem is it doesn’t exist. This whole idea is a construct in the minds of people who refuse to believe that those of us on the right that believe in God and country see the world differently than they do. The strawman that they have created because of one dubiously sourced anonymous post on the Internet is used as a basis to dismiss anything they wish to. It’s like Russian collusion, the Left firmly believes in it because they want QAnon to be true not because it is.

I think some folks—especially those on the Left—don’t have a sense of humor and can’t tell the difference between reality and parody; especially, when they are the targets of the humor. The QAnon theory which curiously is only written about by one guy at The Washington Post has grains of truth in it that are exaggerated to ridiculous extremes. This is a cue that its parody not reality.

Take Jeffrey Epstein, his clients such as Bill Clinton, neo-cons, Hal Lindsey books, and Barack Obama’s war on Christianity, mix with Monty Python and Paul Shanklin humor and you’d have a recipe for QAnon too.

Then after stumbling into this recipe you find out that this stuff really gets under the skin of Liberals and you have a formula for its propagation. Think bullying and you might see where I’m going with this. You can say certain things to Liberals and you are assured of getting an emotional, kneejerk reaction that is gut bustingly funny every time it is used. Lather, rinse, repeat.

QAnon is not real but since the Left reacts to it the way your cat does to a laser pointer, you can’t but help play with them once in a while just for laughs.

Some folks may repeat this stuff, I’ve seen enough crazy email threads and memes on the internet to know some crazy stuff takes on a life of its own, but you need to use common sense along the way.

Oh, just to pile on to Conservative stereotypes, the Wikipedia article also singles out opposition to George Soros as somehow being anti-Semitic.

The conspiracy theory’s targeting of prominent Jewish figures like George Soros and the Rothschilds has led The Washington Post and Jewish-American magazine The Forward to accuse it of containing “striking anti-Semitic elements” and “garden-variety nonsense with racist and anti-Semitic undertones”.

The Anti-Defamation League reported that while “the vast majority of QAnon-inspired conspiracy theories have nothing to do with anti-Semitism”, “an impressionistic review” of QAnon tweets about Israel, Jews, Zionists, the Rothschilds, and Soros “revealed some troubling examples” of antisemitism.

Like much in vogue with Liberals, the opposite is the truth. As a group, Conservatives tend to be both accepting of Jews and pro-Israel (especially Evangelicals) whereas, Liberals (at least the ones in office) tend to be anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian.

Our issues are not with Soros being a Jew—which I did not even know until I saw that in this article—but with Soros being anti-American, and pro socialist.

The other thing that that came to light as I was pondering this subject was an article that purported to out a QAnon website owner. The guy worked for Citigroup.

Folks, Citi is a huge supporter of Democrats. In fact, Citi named virtually every cabinet member in the Obama Administration a month before Obama was elected in 2008.

QAnon appears to be a creation from the imagination of some creative people, in the same vein as those that brought us the myth of Russian Collusion. The beauty of QAnon is that it can mean whatever people wish it to, whether they be on the right or left.

I think QAnon is a parody of things in and around the Trump Administration that has taken on a life of its own. Judging by those offended by this mythical group, it seems Liberals are the real targets of the parody. As long as they continue to react to QAnon, others are happy to provoke them for a few laughs.

Ginsburg Exits Supreme Court

In news that was expected, Justice Ginsburg is finally off the US Supreme Court. As predicted at many an editorial meeting of this blog, this exit was feet first in a body bag.

For Democrats, this is supposed to be some sort of a shock? Folks, this lady has been kept on the Court with a combination of morphine, gauze, and duct tape for many years. Truthfully, she should have left four years ago but she—like many in the Beltway—was cocksure that Hillary Clinton would beat Donald Trump in the 2016 Presidential race. Had she not been a bitter clinger to her seat of power—something the nine in black have a reputation of doing—she could have given Barack Obama a chance to replace her with someone even less beholden to the Constitution and half her age.

Frankly, I’m glad she’s gone. This lady had so much blood on her hands that every day with her on the Court was a mockery of the Almighty. Ruth Ginsburg’s legacy was the moral and judicial decay of our nation. She is celebrated as some sort of champion for women, something which is totally untrue. Ginsburg was a champion of eugenics, degradation of the nuclear family, and expansion of illegitimate power to the national government. Ginsburg did not feel any moral obligation to honor her oath to uphold and defend the Constitution or defend our nation from all enemies foreign and domestic.

However, we know that Democrats vow to never let a good crisis go to waste so expect them to fundraise on this issue like crazy and fight like hell to keep any Trump appointees away from the Court.

Ironically, the biggest losers in all this are the Democrats. George Soros and his ilk have spent many millions to fund the unrest caused by folks like Some Black Lives Matter. Joe Biden will be even less relevant to the political process than he was. Joe’s campaign is remarkable similar to the old movie, Weekend at Bernie’s. Joe is just the figurehead, but the brains are elsewhere in the political machinery. Oh, what happens with Covid now? Will Democrats care about it anymore? Will it silently be pushed aside? Can Democrats fight and win a battle on multiple fronts this close to the election? Especially with a media that can only obsess with one thing at a time.

Joe Biden to star in next Weekend at Bernie’s

Oh, if Democrats had their way, Ginsburg’s corpse would lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda until election day. However, since she was allegedly Jewish, tradition requires a quick burial, so what will they do?

When discussing Ginsburg’s death on the phone yesterday, it occurred to me that the bunch from Planned Parenthood would be holding a vigil at her graveside and hoping like hell that somehow, Ginsburg would remain in the Court longer. To that end, I picture them waiting just in case the bell rang and Ruth wishes to spring forth to adjudicate once again.

Early cross-section sketch of RGB memorial

Amazon already has a sympathetic program about her, no doubt to try to get the Pope to canonize her as Saint RGB.

Given what we know about the current Pope, the fact that she was not Catholic may no longer be a barrier to declaring her a saint. Thus far, we have not had independent confirmation from Father Leatherby that the Pope is likely to do this just to spite the conservatives in his church.

Oh, as for the sainthood thing, a miracle must be documented after the person’s death. FYI Ruth already checked that box. Yep, its true. Can you imagine any 87-year old person with preexisting conditions from New York City living in a hospice setting that died of anything but Covid-19 anytime this year? Yep, the media said she died of pancreatic cancer. That folks is a miracle.

I look for President Trump to nominate her replacement very soon, like maybe before the dirt even hits her casket. If I was Trump, I would put up the very prolife female, Roman Catholic judge from Colorado or another female that has a track record of supporting life. The Democrats always make Republican nominations about abortion, so I saw go for it, Donald. Let’s end Row v Wade now.

I think Trump’s reelection is assured—not that he needed more help—but this will really put it out of reach for Biden.

Just Us Brothers Fined for Tampering in 2016 Election

Word is the Just Us Brothers are so close to hell that they can see Sparks. Oh, and they’re feeling the heat too as the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) has weighed in on their behavior in the 2016 election. Bottom line is they are as devious as Crooked Hillary.

We all know the Placer County Mafia has been up to no good for a long time. Many of their shenanigans have been documented here on this blog. Thankfully, some of their behavior in the 2016 elections has finally caught-up with them.

In case you need to refresh yourself on the background of today’s subject, here are my two articles about them leading up to the 2016 general election. As I documented at the time, Park’s behavior was improper and the FPPC has agreed.

Just Us Brothers—Money for Nothing

Just Us Brothers Mailers Hit Roseville Mailboxes

The FPPC has found them guilty of violating four parts of California election law and George Park was fined $8,000 for his conduct as treasurer of Placer County Impact Republicans PAC.

Folks the money guy paying for this illegal activity was and is Placer County Supervisor Kirk Uhler. We will have more to report on Uhler in a few minutes.

Below you will find the text of the document from the FPPC.

Please note a few nuggets contained in it. A portion of page 7 will be of great interest for those current and former CRA members.

Failure to Timely Amend Statement of Organization
The Committee reported receiving $32,145 in contributions between its date of establishment and November 1, 2016. During that time, the Committee’s largest contributor was League.
As of November 1, 2016, League had contributed $27,000 to the Committee which amounts to approximately 84% of the total contributions received by the Committee ($27,000 / $32,145 = 0.8399).
Thus, under the Act, as of November 1, 2016, the Committee was sponsored by League and was required to report the sponsorship within 24 hours by filing an amended statement of organization.
In addition to filing an amended statement of organization to report League’s sponsorship of the Committee, the Committee was required to change its name to include the name of its sponsor, Placer County Impact Republicans PAC sponsored by League of Placer County Taxpayers PAC. The Committee and Park did not file an amended statement of organization to report League’s sponsorship or to change the Committee’s name to include the name of its sponsor, League.

Thus, Placer County Impact Republicans PAC because a subsidiary of the League of Placer County Taxpayers PAC—an organization which didn’t really exist.

In 2016, my sources told me that Uhler likely helped get some of the FPPC reporting documents backdated to try to help Park get around campaign finance reporting laws. At the time, I decided not to go with the accusation, but looking back now it makes me wonder…

Oh, CRA here’s the bonus quote that should frost your Wheaties.

The violations committed here were isolated as the Committee and Park have not had prior enforcement history. –page 10

Isolated my foot!!!!!!!!! If George Park has a clean record with the FPPC or anybody else, you can thank Tom Hudson and Craig Alexander for failing to go after them for their conduct in CRA. If you thought only Crooked Hillary was purging files and deleting servers then you need to take a deeper dive into the antics of the Brothers Park.

Oh, so do you believe George Park actually wrote a check to the FPPC out of his pocket? Not a chance. Enter once lame duck Placer County Supervisor, Kirk Uhler. Kirk help start Impact Republicans and at their end he ponied up the money to bail them out one last time.

Yep, look carefully at the Form 460 below. This is the end of Placer County Impact Republicans PAC. Termination Statement filed June 5, 2020.

On page 3, you can see that Kirk Uhler gave a substantial amount of campaign money to George Park to pay his FPPC fine. ($7,589.27)

On page 4, you can see the disbursements to the FPPC.

Typically, when a candidate is done in political life, they donate the remaining campaign money to charity but not Uhler.

Epilogue

George Park moved to Nevada several years ago, and I’ve been told his brother Aaron finally followed him there.

George and Aaron Park with Jeb Bush on 05-13-2015

As for Uhler, his Rensa Group website is defunct, and Rensa’s Facebook page entries are ancient. Look for Uhler to exit California once his replacement is sworn into office.

California Burning is a Result of Sin Not Donald Trump

With north of two million acres up in flames this year and several deaths, President Trump decided to expand his visit to Nevada by making a stop in northern California. Right on cue, our Democrat Governor and the media decided to use this visit as an opportunity to promote their leftist agenda.

SACRAMENTO (AP) – With the smell of California wildfires in the air, President Donald Trump on Monday ignored the scientific consensus that climate change is playing a central role in historic West Coast infernos and renewed his unfounded claim that poor forest management is mostly to blame.
The fires are threatening to become another front in Trump’s reelection bid, which is already facing hurdles because of the coronavirus pandemic, joblessness and social unrest. His Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, in his own speech on Monday said the destruction and mounting death toll across California, Oregon and Washington require stronger presidential leadership and labeled Trump a “climate arsonist.”
Trump traveled to Northern California to be briefed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state and federal officials. At one point, state Natural Resources Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot urged the president to “recognize the changing climate and what it means to our forests.”
‘Don’t Think Science Knows’: Trump Spurns Science On Climate Change During Sacramento Visit

Please note the editorializing in this supposed news piece. Opinion is claimed as fact “… Trump on Monday ignored the scientific consensus that climate change is playing a central role in historic West Coast infernos and renewed his unfounded claim that poor forest management is mostly to blame.”

Oh, and Hidin’ Biden came out just long enough to call Trump a “climate arsonist” and upon seeing his shadow, he promptly retreated to campaign for six more weeks from his basement.

Trump’s response was that it will get cooler. As usual, Trump is right. Cooler is usually called “fall” which is typically followed by “winter” except in Roland Emmerich movies—which is about the only place where Michael Moore, Al Gore, or Gavin Newsom have a chance of hell in being right.

Also, the so-called proof of global warming referenced in the Associated Press story was abandoned over a decade ago in favor of climate change because it is less precise and requires even less evidence than evolution for people to believe it. In fact, this whole climate change idea is a matter of religion not science. Those that cling to the climate mantra do so by faith and despite evidence. They cherry-pick their “facts” and refuse to look at all the evidence because in the final analysis, the facts don’t matter. If something doesn’t fit the template it is dismissed out of hand. Like all sacred cows of the Left, the climate argument is an emotional one not a rational one.

I was going to blog on this subject before this article on Trump came out today but since its slightly more timely now, I took it out of my “hope to blog on it someday” pile and went to work on it. What was a slight epiphany on this issue was yesterday’s congregational prayer.

Yep, Trump wasn’t even on my mind when I decided to write on the subject of the California wildfires fires. Contrary to what a few liberals with whom I am acquainted accuse me of doing, I don’t watch Fox News or read Trump on Twitter to get my marching orders.

Yesterday, our pastor prayed that God would cause the fires to cease, protect the firefighters, relieve the victims of the fire, stop lightning strikes, clean the air, make it rain, and generally just make the fires go away. His list was long and thorough, but it hit me as he was going thru it that the fires are a direct result of man refusing to obey the Dominion Mandate all the way back in the early part of Genesis. In a sense, the pastor was asking God to honor and bless our disobedience to one of His oldest Commandments and relieve us of the consequences of our disobedience.

In Christianity we have a word for not obeying God, it is “sin.” Sin is derived from a Greek archery term meaning to miss the mark (or target). To lift a phrase from Campus Crusade for Christ’s most famous tract, they describe a state of sin as people being either passively indifferent or in active rebellion.

This brings us back to the subject of forests. In the Bible, there is no such thing as a “virgin forest.” Man is commanded in the Garden to make the whole world into a garden. We are to tend, nurture, and cultivate all the land in the world. Leaving land in a state of nature is contrary to God’s command.

When man refuses to obey God, it is called sin. Thus, when man (or mankind) refuses to obey God concerning caring for our environment, is it any wonder that the creation goes out of control? If we don’t remove the unhealthy trees, harvest the good ones, and manage the forest as we were told to do, then we will be expelled from the land. Isn’t that about the sum total of what’s happening now? Please note that states with better forest management don’t have these types of fires on a regular basis.

FYI, per Scripture, failing to obey God is also grounds for being expelled from the land.

So, either way California, you have submitted yourselves to God’s wrath through disobedience.

Hey, California Democrats, if you want to see the real culprits of this manmade conflagration, look in the mirror. Or as one of my old pastors used to say, “You get the government that you deserve.”

When Democrats complain that Trump is blaming poor forest management, its ok because Trump is on God’s side. God’s Word is clear that we are to take dominion over the land, not allow it to have dominion over us. We are to tend the Garden not let it go feral and overgrown.

Oh, final thought. Do you remember all those old cowboy and Indian shows where the Indian with the bow and arrow would stalk the deer and shoot it at close range? It can’t happen now because we don’t clear the undergrowth like the Indians did in the days before the National Park Service. Try bow hunting now and you won’t get within a country mile of a deer.

You see, in the fall of the year, before the Indians went out of the mountains to the lowlands for the winter, they lit the forest on fire and burned away all the undergrowth. Because there wasn’t much to burn, only the grass and undergrowth was burned. The trees were not harmed but actually grew better as a result. The benefit for the Indian was better feed for the animals and more food to harvest the following year. Letting fires burn is natural, controlling how much fuel accumulates on the forest floor before it does is our job.

Covid Sheep Continue to Amuse Us

As the pandemic continues, the editorial board met at a new salsa bar, one that made sure we would not be exposed to the ‘rona whilst eating inside. However, we were exposed to the dirty air from the fires burning all over the state but alas I digress. So here are some stories to share about the sheep following the orders of all the different folks they see on TV or whichever article comes up on Google.

The Assistant Dean at a charter school: This one is gold. This person refuses to go into the office due to corona concerns. Keep in mind the schools are 100% distance learning and the staff on campus is very minimal. So, she has been granted a special exemption to work from home. One weekend, back in the old days when the sun was visible, I decided to get out of the house and drive the ole vehicle. After wandering to various places, I found myself at Discovery Park near the river in Sacramento. A cursory search of the parking lot drew my attention to a vehicle decked out in Biden/Sanders stickers, a perfect match as I recognized the car. It turns out that chicken to go to work lady was at the beach, hardly the crime of the century but I figured I’d go have a look. Low and behold, there she was at a large party (over 200) folks down at the beach area of the river, nary a mask in sight, and social distancing of maybe 1 foot. My point being these people are the worst and are the primary reason we are all wearing masks in public. An outbreak likely occurred and as a direct result numbers spike keeping businesses closed.

90-Day Guy weighs in: This was even more rare gold! He comes into the office wearing one of those fancy Darth Vader looking masks with a valve, thinking he is beating the ‘rona. It’s funny because even Fauci and Beilensen have come out and said that mask is literally useless; it protects neither you nor the others around you. 90-Day Guy said it was to protect him from the smoky air…. wow. Then he came in a couple days later with an oddly placed N95 mask that didn’t cover his nose…. again, what’s the point? After I explained most do not wear the mask properly, he said he found the mask on the ground….yes he said that. He showed up with a different mask today and proclaimed he thinks he got the virus from the bad air….yes even though science doesn’t back that claim or basically anyone in the medical field, he thinks he got it from the air. Talk about blowing smoke…

More frustrating is my folks reaction to the teacher at the river. They immediately backed the worker at my mom’s school saying she has the right to be scared of coming into work…yet partying with others isn’t a problem? This makes no sense if we need to “slow the spread.” 90-Day Guy then accused me of being worried about the virus. He claims he watches no television but has panic/anxiety attacks almost daily. Folks if you are wondering, I do not wear a mask at work, never have. I work in a public building that likely see’s 150 people a day at least come through. I work with 1 co-worker he is 72. We are around each other all the time and are both very active in extracurricular activities. My point is neither of us have had any symptoms, nor are either of us worried. We live our lives daily, we comply with Comrade Newsom’s mandate when in a store, and we seem to have no issues with panic or anxiety. These are the types of people, and we all know someone who are irrationally scared of this virus, please wake up, listen to doctors not cable!

In closing here is a conversation I had with an aunt of mine who is a specialist doctor in Chicago. (for context, she is very liberal…thinks Sanders is a moderate). She said the masking idea is pointless for most as it creates a false sense of security; especially those wearing the Darth Vader or N95 mask incorrectly. She astutely points out 95% of those not in the medical field don’t know how to wear them, reason being medical folks need to take a class on how to properly wear them! She says most are treating them like underwear figuring, well I guess it goes this way? That said, she figures we will be masking until June because too many folks are scared of misinformation! We have come a long way in treating this, no longer will you be taken to a nursing home, or immediately put on a ventilator. We have converted most hospitals so they have a “Covid wing” as opposed to just grabbing any available bed, you will be served by a staff also isolated from non-Covid patients. It is not the death sentence it once was even for high risk people. In addition, in regard to vaccines, do not take unless it is absolutely mandated for your livelihood! Most don’t know but vaccines need to pass 3 phases, which equates to roughly 3 years, even with a fast track. While it is a good thing that we have about 7 companies competing and she is happy Trump is trying to push a vaccine quicker; however, this could be a recipe for a complete disaster. Not to scare anyone but typically the first one to the open market gets all the market share…. buyer beware.

Johnnie Does

Bill Gates Funds Polio Outbreak

Yep, not a typo, Mr. Microsoft is reintroducing polio into many Asian and African countries. In the name of prevention, the Gates funded Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has been giving people a live version of the polio virus that is infecting mostly children and killing and maiming many of them.

This latest pharma-induced pandemic has broken out in the African countries of Chad and Sudan, and the culprit has been identified: a vaccine-derived polio virus type 2. Officials now fear this new dangerous strain could soon ‘jump continents,’ causing further deadly outbreaks around the world.
Shocking as it sounds, this Big Pharma debacle is not new. After spending some $16 billion over 30 years to eradicate polio, international health bodies have ‘accidentally’ reintroduced the disease to in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and also Iran, as the central Asia region was hit by a virulent strain of polio spawned by the corporate pharmaceutical vaccine distributed there. Also, in 2019, the government of Ethiopia ordered the destruction of 57,000 vials of type 2 oral polio vaccine (mOPV2) following a similar outbreak of vaccine-induced polio.
It’s important to note that the oral polio vaccine being pushed on to the African population by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a consortium which is supported and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
UN Forced To Admit Gates-Funded Vaccine Is Causing Polio Outbreak In Africa

So why should you care? What does infecting millions of children in third-world, backwater countries have to do with you?

The author of the article goes on to point-out that this convergence of the World Health Organization, United Nations funding, the Bill and Melina Gates Foundation, and others is the same gang that is promising to bring the world a vaccine for Covid-19.

All of this should be a cause for concern, especially with western governments and transnational pharmaceutical giant all rushing to roll-out their new Gates-funded experimental coronavirus vaccine for the global population.
Currently, the first experimental COVID-19 vaccine is being tested on the African population through GAVI Vaccine Alliance, another organization funded by the Gates Foundation. A large round of human trials will take place in South Africa, locally managed by the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg—yet another Gates-funded institution.

Is the “cure” worse than the disease? Makes you wonder. Oh, and if you have doubts then you’re not alone. A large portion of the public is wary of any offer of a Covid vaccine.

A recent survey from NBC News/SurveyMonkey Weekly Tracking Poll showed that more than half of American adults either wouldn’t get a COVID-19 vaccine once one is available or are unsure whether they’ll get immunized. The poll found 44% said they would get the vaccine, while 22% reported they wouldn’t get one and another 32% remain uncertain.

A Gallup survey earlier this month indicated that 35% of Americans would not get a free vaccine against COVID-19, if one were available and approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Another 65% responded that they would get the shot, with those identifying as Democrats far more in favor than Republicans.
A COVID-19 vaccine still hasn’t emerged — but some are already wary of it

Again, I don’t plan on being in the front of any line offering a Covid vaccine and if I learn that tissue from aborted babies was used to develop the vaccine—which many companies have been using the “jump-start” their research—then I won’t ever be in the line.

Society’s Problems in One Photo

While browsing television options in an Idaho hotel last week, I ran across this juxtaposition of programming.

Yep, the Crave channel is offering More Sex, Less Stress followed by Boy Scouts: The Sex Abuse Coverup.

Gee, what’s next Bill Clinton: the Monica Years followed by Jeffrey Epstein’s Weekend Getaway? No wonder people in our society are so confused about morality.

Exiting California–Here’s My Real Estate Recommendation

For those of you planning to flee California, here’s some advice that will save you time, money, and frustration.

I can tell you from firsthand experience that getting recommendations for a realtor via a friend or word of mouth is a waste of time. Both realtors that my wife and I have found in Idaho by this method have been colossal disasters. Neither person that was recommended to us knew the market or cared to take time with us to find what we wanted. Don’t be fooled by flashy websites or other marketing tools.

Oh, by the way, Zillow is the least accurate website that we found. Often its lot locations are wrong, sometimes by a factor of miles, especially in rural areas. Sometimes listings aren’t shown because they don’t have a street number. Also, Zillow is many days behind in terms of showing listings and their current status. The site does have some value but if you rely solely on it, you will not have accurate and up to date information.

So, if you can’t trust recommendations or the Internet, where should you look? Lucky for you that this is the purpose of today’s blog. If you want a realtor that cares about you as a person and doesn’t see you as just as another commission then you’ve come to the right place. Oh, my advice is free and nationwide, so you have no excuses. Also, the people that I’m about to recommend have all been vetted to the same high standards.

Go to Dave Ramsey dot Com, click on Dave Recommends, and select Endorsed Local Providers (ELP). You can pick from Real Estate, Insurance, and Tax Services. Both people that we worked with from the ELP list took lots of time with us as I will briefly explain below.

In order to be in a position to purchase real estate in Idaho, we had to do a refinance of our California home. Strictly speaking, this probably is not a Ramsey approved method; however, due to our closeness to retiring and the rising costs of real estate in desirable areas in Idaho (in some parts of Idaho, prices are increasing at over 15% a year) this is what we ended up doing.

We found a finance guy in Roseville that spent about two hours with us on the telephone going over our financial situation. This person was fully aware that he probably wouldn’t make a dime off of us but was willing to help us anyway. He said that he had enough paying clients to make a living so that gave him the flexibility to help others. In Evangelical terms, he viewed helping us as a ministry opportunity.

Through him, we were referred to another person that helped us do a cash-out refi of our house. She was able to knock about two percent off the interest rate of our mortgage and get us $130K out of the house. The net was a mortgage payment increase of about $300 more each month. With this “seed money” we were then able to try purchasing a property in Idaho.

The ELP real estate lady that we found in Idaho was fantastic. She spent most of three days with us driving around to various properties in the Treasure Valley area of Idaho—think within a one-hour radius of Boise. We learned a lot about Idaho that you won’t be finding on the Internet. We put in an offer for a piece of land with a terrific view. Sadly, we couldn’t agree on a price within our means. (The property owners have had the property listed for two years and weren’t willing to flex too much on their price which is why it’s still for sale.)

In contrast to a great real estate experience, is the one we have been living for the last few weeks. A few hundred miles away from the Treasure Valley area, a property was listed that checked a lot of the boxes that we were looking for. We had a relationship with another realtor thru a recommendation. Since the listing was exclusively on his website, we contacted him. (FYI the listing showed up on RedFin a few days later and Zillow on the fifth day after it was listed.)

The realtor was a California refugee that had been in this part of Idaho for over two decades. On the surface we thought we had found a great realtor but as time went on, we discovered otherwise. This guy had very little idea what he was doing, was extremely passive, and failed to be proactive on our behalf. Much of the time when we asked him questions, we were either referred to someone who gave us bad information or found that the realtor just didn’t know and didn’t want to find out for us. Were he a newly licensed individual, this would be understandable but for a guy doing this for a living for many years, it was profoundly disappointing. It got so bad that last week, I literally had to take time off from work and fly up there just to see for myself.

Just as a for instance, the land we are trying to purchase has never been developed before and was on the outskirts of the city limits. We were told that we would need to get water on the property, but the realtor didn’t know whether connecting to the city water (about 500 feet from the property) or drilling a well would be cheaper. After two days of looking, I found out that the city required us to hook-up to the city’s water supply and it was illegal to drill a well within the city limits. Shortly after I found the regulation stating this on the city’s website, the well drilling contractor—recommended to me by the realtor—told me the same thing. Oh, said regulation stated that the city would provide service up to the property, whereas the realtor and his buddy at the city told me that it was on me to figure out how to get water on the property.

This is just one example of several that we have experienced while working with this guy. The only reason that we didn’t use a Ramsey ELP was that we felt we already had established a relationship with this person. In retrospect, we should have sought an ELP anyway.

If all goes well, we may end-up property owners despite our realtor and not because of him. Please learn from our experience. Whether you always agree with Dave Ramsey or not, use his Endorsed Local Providers program and save yourself from tying your fate to some clueless individual with a slick website.

My Experience with Dead People on Social Media

Yep, you’re minding your own business and just living your life when Facebook, Linked-In, or some other social media alert is sent to you reminding you that you’ve been friends with Aunt Martha for ten years or Uncle Bob has been on the job for 12 years. The only problem is that you distinctly remember going to Uncle Bob’s memorial three years ago or Aunt Martha met her untimely end back when you were still in high school.

In my life, I have two people that I know are dead that kept popping-up several times each year in my email alerts. I finally got mad about it and took action. The platform that I went after was Linked-In. Here’s my experience. I’ll use only one person as my example in this post.

George was one of my old pastors back when I was attending a now defunct parish of the Reformed Episcopal Church. When he transferred out of the area I kept in touch. He loved the Internet and social media. My only gripe with him was that he was an Apple user. Apparently when he died of a heart attack, he left no master list of accounts and passwords for his wife to delete his digital footprint.

I went to his memorial service several years ago but Linked-In kept sending me reminders on his behalf such as these.

Congratulate George XXXXXX and 2 others for work anniversaries

Congratulate George XXXXXX for 6 years at XXXXXX the XXXXXX Church

The last reminder about George was received this week. I finally got tired of these messages and contacted Linked-In. Amazingly, they actually wrote me back.

I certainly appreciate you taking the time to contact us about this.
Due to the gravity of the situation, we have a formal notification process to address the death of one of our members. Please complete the following form and we can proceed with our confirmation process:
https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/ask/ts-rdmlp

The form was simple which surprised me; however, you do need a Linked-In account to access the form. Linked-In asked for your contact information and then that of the dead person.

Information about the Deceased Member:

Name of the Deceased Person:
Please copy and paste the URL of the LinkedIn profile from your browser: linkedin.com/in/XXXXXXXX
Your Relationship to the Deceased Person:
Additional Information:
Email Address of the Deceased Person:
Date They Passed Away:
Link to an Obituary or Relevant News Article:
Do You Have Any Additional Information to Add?:
Digital Signature:

I submitted the form and 12 hours later I got a response that the account had been closed.

George still has active pages on Facebook and other social media locations. As recently as yesterday, I found another active account that he had opened on yet another website. George made quite an impact on me and I don’t need to be reminded of his contributions, at least not by Linked-In.

If you have similar links for Facebook or other sites, I’d be glad to post them on the blog.

Today’s Miracle at Church

Today our church decided not to subject its members to the heat and humidity of the current heatwave so they opted to let us meet indoors. As timid as these folks have been about all the Covid-19 rules, this is a big deal. I think my church’s leadership was emboldened by John MacArthur standing up to Los Angeles County and the Governor and then winning the first round in court.

Newsom’s rules are arbitrary and capricious and the sooner that folks tire of his pompous BS the better off we will be. In the meantime, we are singing at church and at least occasionally meeting in the building built for that purpose. Its progress in my mind and I’ll take part of something over hiding in place for another six months and doing nothing.