Category: Uncategorized

As is my usual modus operandi on Sundays I write about individuals who are heroes. With the recent tragic Lahaina, Maui fire, I am sure that there were many truly heroic individuals. Here are just two examples.

Jubee Bedoya lived in Lahaina. I say ‘lived’ because he lost everything in that tragic Maui fire. Jubee had made it to the beach where he ran into a vacationing family of seven from Fresno. However, the high wind was pushing the fire toward them, and it became apparent that they would not survive there. Jubee Bedoya urged the family to follow him into the water where they were all able to latch onto a drifting piece of plywood which then became a makeshift life raft for the group. They all clung to the plywood, with the family’s two-year-old son tightly holding Jubee’s neck. “It was crazy,” Bedoya told a reporter. For more than two hours they floated in the sea with the fire raging, until a Coast Guard rescue boat was finally able to reach them.

Like most residents of Lahaina, Jubee has lost everything, but he was happy to learn that the family had safely reached Fresno. “Give them my love, tell them I am so happy they are safe and have made it home,” he told a family relative.

From Aleteia:

As Benny Reinicke was fleeing from the fire, he encountered two women in trouble. Lani Williams and her mom, Sincerity Mirkovich, had tried to escape the wildfire in their car, but traffic had been gridlocked. Their only recourse was to try and make it to the Pacific Ocean as burning embers fell all around them.

Unfortunately, Lani’s mother had limited mobility and needed a walker. When they finally reached a seawall, it was clear that Sincerity Mirkovich would not be able to make it over the wall to safety. That’s when a stranger (Reinicke) came to their rescue.

“Auntie, put your weight on me. I got you,” he told the elderly woman. Reinicke carried Sincerity Mirkovich over the seawall on his back. He then remained with the mother and daughter in the ocean for more than eight hours until it was safe.

The two women only learned the name of their rescuer when they were reunited with him on Good Morning America.

8/27/23

From BlazeMedia:

A district court ruled against parents of students in the Montgomery County school district who were demanding to be allowed to opt out of schools teaching LGBTQ propaganda.

The parents, who included many of the Muslim faith, were calling for an injunction ahead of August 28, when school is scheduled to begin again. They were originally allowed to opt out their students until the district changed its policy in March.

This case was in Maryland … Tamar Mahmoud vs Monifa McKay. The district judge in this case was Deborah Boardman, who was recently appointed by Joe Biden. An outrageous ruling by a judge appointed by an outrageous President!

Her ruling is being appealed.

Unfortunately, if these parents are forced to send their children into this hedonistic school, is there any option? Yes! … the parents should aim for the school’s pocketbook.

Schools get reimbursed by the number of students that they educate each day. If the number of students attending is less, then the  reimbursement to the school will be less. Ergo, to me there are two options. Either organize different groups of home schools, or just boycott the school by “being sick” and staying home.

If someone were trying to figure out a way to push school choice, it would seem that angering the parents would be a good first step!

8/26/23

From the beginning there was no way I was going to watch Fox News’ Republican debate. It should have been called the “Republican pseudo-debate,” because of the eight people that were going to be on that stage in Milwaukee, only two are actually realistic potential Republican presidential candidates.

I did not watch it, and I did not read about it. Instead the following day I watched the Tucker Carlson”s interview of Donald Trump on X (the new name  for Twitter). I watched the entire 46:12 of that interview. I have not yet seen the ratings for the Fox pseudo-Republican debate, but at last tally the Carlson-Trump interview had about 75 million views coming in just the first 20 minutes. (Update: The 46-minute conversation amassed about 230 million views so far. According to X, this number includes anyone who who views a post – those who scroll past, watch a little bit, and those who watch the entire interview.)

The Fox News pseudo-debate drew nearly 13 million — plus 1.7 million on the Fox Business simulcast.

Tucker Carlson asked a wide variety of questions, and as usual, Trump stepped up to the plate and answered them all. As we are all aware, Donald Trump does not hold back. He was critical of Bill Barr, Chris Wallace, and Mike Pence, and to this viewer … rightfully so. Neither did he hold back on Joe Biden …”crooked Joe.” In fact he referred to him as a “Manchurian Candidate.” Mr. Trump thinks, as do I, that somebody else is probably running the government, as JB is neither physically or mentally capable of running a government. 

He stressed that anything that the Democrats want to do as far as the elections is only to make it easier for them to cheat …for example, no voter IDs and mail in ballots. I agree 100%!

Trump’s four indictments came up, and as Tucker Carlson pointed out Trump’s poll numbers are not decreasing.

From I&I:

“If being thrice-indicted for alleged felonies is fatal to one’s political career, you couldn’t tell by former President Donald Trump. He’s still riding a wave of popularity within his party, and continues to maintain a comfortable lead over potential rivals for the Republican Party nomination in 2024, the latest I&I/TIPP Poll shows.

In recent months, I&I/TIPP has polled members of both major political parties and independents on their nominee preferences. What is surprising is not only has Trump held on to his lead among likely Republican voters, he has expanded it.

8/25/23

 In February, 2022 Russia initially attacked Ukraine, and Joe Biden decided to embark on a proxy-war. This war has been going on ever since. 

Way back before the fighting actually began, I opined that Biden should do something to try to avoid war. To my way of thinking in a matchup of Biden vs Putin, Putin would always win. The only way to avoid the upcoming embarrassment to Biden (USA), was to do the utmost to avoid war. Back then there were some of my readers who thought that I was much too harsh on Biden, but let’s look at what we have after eighteen months. 

The devastation has been enormous as has been the cost.

From the Council of Foreign Relations, the cost to the U.S thus far has been $7.71 billion …humanitarian = $3.9B, financial = $26.4 B, military = $46.8 B.

But more important has been the devastation that has been wrought on the people of Ukraine.

From Reuters · Updated 7 days ago

Deaths

At least 62,295 people

Non-fatal injuries

At least 61,000 people

Missing

At least 15,000 people

Displaced

Approximately 17M people

Buildings destroyed

At least 140,000

Property damage

Approximately $411B

And these stats do not include what has happened to the children of Ukraine. How many orphaned? How many displaced? How many homeless?

As was succinctly stated in a recent opine from the Washington Times:

“You have to give President Biden credit for consistency. Unfortunately, he has been consistently wrong. As Robert Gates, former defense secretary in the Obama administration, once put it, Biden has ‘been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.’”

At this point one might ask, “What is the after? How does this Ukraine debacle end?

Apparently, many many months ago there was the potential for a peaceful resolution, but rumor has it that Joe Biden said no to the peace proposal, and kept his foreign policy streak intact!

As best I can tell there is no end in site. 

Mea culpa! There may actually be an end on site, as there is an upcoming election, and while Joe Biden is far from a foreign policy guru, he and his handlers are first and foremost politicians. Going into an election with a seemingly non-ending war is not a winning strategy.

8/24/23

Sometimes when I write a blog I am tempted to use the same title that I have used once before. Almost always I decide not to plagiarize the old title, even though I don’t think that ‘plagiarism’ is technically correct when you steal from yourself. However, today I am reusing a title that I used back in January, 2021 because I thought it was a perfect fit to describe Joe Biden’s speech in Lahaina, Maui on 8/21/23. 

Really Joe, how low can you go?

After joking about the ground being hot and a cadaver dog’s boots, Biden then delivered a speech in Lahaina in front of the devastated town’s ancient banyan tree, which survived the worst of the fires.

First of all, this was certainly not the time for a single joke. When the tragic Lahaina fire killed well over one-hundred with hundreds still missing

to say anything that would even crack a smile is far, far from apropos … “how low can you go?”

But just when I suspected that Joe had bottomed out, it got worse! His spiel about how his house fire fifteen years before was somehow comparable to Lahaina’s devastation was beyond the pale, well outside of respectable.

“To make a long story short, I almost lost my wife, my ’67 Corvette, and my cat,” said our President.

How is almost losing anything comparable losing your house, your car, your town, and most likely friends and relatives? It’s hard to believe that anyone could empathize with Joe Biden after his horrific and disrespectful speech.

Predictably those in Maui did not appreciate Biden’s visit.

From BlazeMedia:

A restaurant owner in Kihei, Maui, told the Daily Signal that Biden’s comparison was “the most despicable thing this president has ever said,” adding, “How do you compare almost losing your f****** Corvette to the children burned in their f****** homes, man?”

Newsweek reported that other residents who confronted Biden along the way held signs that read “F*** Biden” and “Trump Won.” Others held signs near Kapalua Airport, where the president touched down, that read, “It’s too late.”

The New York Post noted that there were additional signs amid the ash and ruin in Lahaina that said, “Action speaks louder than words” and “FJB,” as well as “No comment,” in reference to Biden’s Aug. 13 refusal to address the tragedy while vacationing in Delaware.

Kristen Goodwin, a former teacher on the island, similarly expressed contempt for Biden, noting, “I’m not voting for him again — that’s for sure. I’ll vote for Trump. I will never vote for him again.”

Goodwin characterized Biden’s visit as nothing more than a “photo op.”

Hopefully, when it’s time to vote again, Hawaiians will think back to how low Biden went in Lahaina.

8/23/23

I am going to start out today with the complete generalization that older people are more conservative than liberal. At this point I cannot prove that to be the case, but it would seem that with experience comes wisdom, and the older one is, the more experience one has, and ergo, someone with increased age and experience would be more likely to view things as they really are (logically) and not how ideally they could be (emotionally).

Youthful individuals often think how nice it would be if we had zero pollution, but do not envision a workable plan on how to get there. They just go along … La-de-dah!

They never consider either how to actually achieve this ideal zero pollution goal, or what it would be like, if and when that is attained. 

The dichotomy here is that those among us who are older will not have to deal with the discord and chaos that will occur when the pie-in-the-sky consequences of these ideal, but non obtainable, plans hit the fan.

From Issues and Insights:

While campaigning in 2019, Joe Biden guaranteed “we’re going to end fossil fuels.” What he didn’t say is that eliminating fossil fuels will create a troublesome scarcity of electricity.

Output cuts that will be required under the proposed regime “are so stringent,” says the Committee To Unleash Prosperity (CTUP) that “fossil fuel plants – which supply around 65% of America’s power – would be technologically incapable of complying.” The only way they will be able to stay open and generating power is if Americans’ utility bills are raised “dramatically.” If not, they close, and the power they produce is gone.

Similarly in California, where progressive politicians are committed to an unachievable target: As 2045 expires, all retail electricity sold in the state and used in government buildings must be produced by renewable resources, which are effectively limited to solar and wind.

The White House’s plan isn’t the same as California’s mandate, which bans the sale of new internal-combustion engine cars and trucks beginning in 2035. Biden is instead placing emissions limits on car makers that are so strict that they will have no choice but make sure that two-thirds of their sales by 2032 will be EVs.

Interesting ideas, but not achievable! However for many of us older folk … “no me importa,” (“to me, it is of no importance”) as most of us will not be around in 2032, 2035, and certainly not in 2045!

Perhaps some of us who are older, wiser, and experienced should remind the younger folk that Ida Auken, the Social Democrat member of the Danish parliament, who in a World Economic Forum essay insisted that in the future we will own nothing and be happy. The headline – “Welcome to 2030: I own nothing, have no privacy and life has never been better.”

8/22/23

Throughout the Covid saga, I just could not understand why “those that know best” were advocating for children to get the vaccine. It made little sense to me! The chance of an otherwise healthy child dying from Covid was minuscule, and yet many were demanding that they be vaccinated. The same very good odds persisted through the age of college students, and yet colleges wanted proof of vaccination in order for them to set foot on the campus. As I repeatedly said, “in the long run, the best thing that could happen to an el-hi student was for him/her to get Covid, be sick for a few days, and then have the advantage of natural immunity” … and that was back when “those who knew best” thought that the vaccine was safe and effective.

Recently I read about someone whose thoughts on this subject were close to mine … Dr. Renato Moon. She is a board certified pediatrician and Pediatric Hospital Medicine  physician in Spokane, Washington. She has over twenty years of experience, and was fired from her job at Washington State Med School, because she had the audacity to speak out!

Form Intellectualtakeout.org:

Dr. Moon’s unique family background has informed her decision to speak out: Her parents grew up under communism in the country formerly known as Czechoslovakia.

“My parents were new immigrants, and I grew up a proud, freedom-loving American,” she said. “As a kid I traveled to behind the Iron Curtain (to what is now the Czech Republic). The way my relatives and others were living under communism was awful. Every aspect of their lives was controlled by their communist government. There is a reason that millions of people have fled from communism—these horrible systems never work.”

So, when the pandemic and forced masks and mandated vaccines happened, Dr. Moon recognized the rising authoritarianism.

“The pandemic and masks and vax mandates was all pure communism,” she said. “My family were tracked back then—you had to sign in with the village police just to visit relatives 60 kilometers away. I saw how they were living under communism: terrible lives.”

The red flags started to fly on the COVID-19 vax for Dr. Renata Moon in 2021. She’d been watching the data on the vaccines, and then she watched the hearings on the vaccine being used in children.

So different that she spoke out at the risk of her employment. And in December 2021, despite a clean history of caring well for patients, she was fired from her job. Her employer wanted to know if she’d gotten the vax, and when she wouldn’t tell them, she was fired.

“I pulled out the Nuremburg Code to remind myself what it says—because this vaccine is a medical experiment. It’s unethical to force people to undergo medical experimentation,” Dr. Moon said. “And if an employer mandates what you have to do with your personal health care, you have become a modern-day slave. I said, ‘No,’ and they pulled me from a fully booked clinic.”

Keep in mind that she was fired because she resorted to “the science!” The death rate from Covid in the pediatric population is near zero, and Dr. Moon began noticing an increased number of myocarditis cases in her practice. The risk/benefit ratio favored not giving the Covid shots to children. (BTW, A recent study demonstrated an elevated troponin level [a cardiac enzyme that is released into the blood stream with myocardial injury?]  in 1 out 35 patients that had received the Covid vaccine.)

“I took an oath to ‘do no harm,’” she said. “As the data rolled out on the vaccine and COVID-19, it became clear that children had basically a zero risk of death from infection by COVID. They have potential serious risk from taking the COVID-19 shots.”

“Ronald Reagan said [that] we’re one generation away from losing our freedom,” Dr. Moon said. “We are Americans, and we are tough—we have to peacefully fight and overcome this. We are fighting for a meaningful future for our nation’s children.”

Amen to that!

8/21/23

As some of you may know, on Sunday I write about someone that we can all look up to and admire. This Sunday I have a double feature. When you read this story, you will agree that person A, Themba, is certainly someone we can look up to and admire. In that same light when you hear what person B, Dwayne, did for Themba, you will likewise be blown away.

First the story of Themba Gorimbo, who is a UFC fighter from Zimbabwe. 

From BlazeNews:

ESPN about Themba Gorimbo, a fighter from Zimbabwe, that showed a Bank of America statement of just over $7 along with a comment from Gorimbo saying, “This was the money left I had before the fight and now God granted me a good win.”

“If it wasn’t for the free UFC meals I started to receive after I signed the fight I would probably be singing a different story,” the fighter wrote on Twitter.

Gorimbo had been sleeping: on the second-floor couch of his mixed martial arts gym. On the wall in front of the couch, the fighter wrote a list of inspirational reasons to fight. “I fight for my kids smiles.” “I fight for hope & change.” “I fight for those who believe in me,” and “I fight for my village” were among a lengthy list.

According to the Daily Mail, after a May 20, 2023, victory in the UFC, Gormibo sold his fight gear and made $7,000.

“Instead of using the money to find a place to live, he built a bush pump so his village back in Zimbabwe can have clean water,”

Then steps in person B … Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Johnson said. “He never asked me for anything, but I just wanted to help the guy out. $7 Bucks ya know.”

Not only did the actor surprise Gorimbo at his gym, he had another shocking reveal for him. Johnson took the 170-pound fighter to a house in Miami that was secretly stocked with signature clothing, shoes, food, and even photos of the fighter’s family.

He then handed Gorimbo the keys and told him he will pay for all expenses relating to the home for as long as Gorimbo wants to live there.

Johnson added, “The guy works his ass off. He has such a singular focus and a goal, and he’s sleeping on the couch in the gym. He’s so committed. I am lucky and blessed to be able to shake that man’s hand and be a very small part in his seven bucks journey.”

So there you have it. The story of Themba and Dwayne. 

Should one be admired more?

Does it really matter?

8/20/23

Three days after uploading a backyard video performance of his protest anthem “Rich Men North of Richmond,” Anthony read from the book of Psalms before an overflow crowd gathered to hear him sing.

This is how Oliver Anthony opened a free concert on Sunday, 8/13/23 in Currituck, North Carolina:

“The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them,” Anthony said, Bible and guitar in hand. “But the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.”

Jason Whitlock (“Fearless”) implores us to pray for Oliver Anthony. A month ago, he fell to his knees and asked God to deliver him from drinking and depression. He cried out for a purpose. It appears God gave him one: speak truth to power.

In just a few days, Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond” has racked up millions of views on YouTube, Twitter, and other streaming services.

Rich Men North of Richmond” shot up the iTunes music chart, reaching No.1. The video has nearly 9 million views on a tiny West Virginia radio station YouTube page. In a matter of days, his social media following exploded. He has 425,000 Instagram followers and 300,000 followers on Twitter.

“Rich Men North of Richmond” calls out our nation’s political elite, the politicians in the nation’s capital, just a two-hour drive up I-95 from Richmond, Virginia.

Oliver Anthony is from nowhere, a small farm in Farmville, Virginia. He knows he’s picking a fight with the devil. You wonder if he truly understands all the different ways Satan seduces.

We better pray for Oliver Anthony.

His walk with God is just beginning. By his own admission, he’s been dancing with the devil for much longer. The music industry will offer him the best drugs, alcohol, and women the world has to offer. If that doesn’t work, the industry will loose its puppets in corporate media to comb through every aspect of Anthony’s personal history.

He goes on to explain the meaning and purpose of “Rich Men North of Richmond.” He feels the working class has been forgotten. The song is directed at the political elite on both sides of the Democrat-Republican divide. Anthony believes in the uniparty. He sees himself as neither left-wing nor right-wing. He’s also bothered by the normalization of sexualizing kids.

He sounds like someone who finally realized America’s problems and solutions are spiritual, not political.

Whitlock continues:

“Not by choice or design, he’s the Donald Trump of folk music. Anyone, regardless of color, geography, or economic standing, who speaks or sings on behalf of the average American risks persecution.

The wicked shall plot against Oliver Anthony. Let us pray that his enemies vaporize into smoke as the fat of lambs.”

As this was written a few days ago, here is the latest update on Oliver Anthony:

The big news was Oliver Anthony is his grandfather’s name. The viral sensation is actually named Christopher Anthony Lunsford. He published a long Facebook post this week providing a lot more biographical information, including dismissing any interest in a music contract:

People in the music industry give me blank stares when I brush off 8 million dollar offers. I don’t want 6 tour buses, 15 tractor trailers and a jet. I don’t want to play stadium shows, I don’t want to be in the spotlight. I wrote the music I wrote because I was suffering with mental health and depression. These songs have connected with millions of people on such a deep level because they’re being sung by someone feeling the words in the very moment they were being sung. No editing, no agent, no bullshit. Just some idiot and his guitar. The style of music that we should have never gotten away from in the first place.

Based on his autobiography, the singer seems to be exactly what he advertised, a blue-collar Appalachian struggling to make ends meet. It says a lot about the state of our culture that, despite his economic struggles, he already isn’t interested in what the music industry is peddling.

Wow! Quite a story!

8/19/23

Just last week I again thought about Ron DeSantis, the present Governor of Florida. He is obviously a smart guy … Yale undergrad, Harvard Law, a Naval officer who served in Iraq, an elected member of the U.S. House, before serving as the elected Governor of Florida since 2019.

He is obviously a very smart man.

During his Republican primary, back in 2018, DeSantis emphasized his support for Trump by running an ad in which DeSantis taught his children how to “build the wall” and say “Make America Great Again”. Asked whether he could name an issue on which he disagreed with Trump, DeSantis declined.

President Trump had said the previous month that he would support DeSantis should he run for governor

In April, 2020 Governor DeSantis was in the White House discussing Covid with then President Trump.

It sure seemed that DeSantis and Trump were on the same page.

DeSantis was masterful at managing Florida during Covid, and consequently in May, 2023 he announced that he was running for President.

But here recently I have been surprised that this political thoroughbred appears to be more like Beetlebomb. He has gone though two changes to his campaign staff, and from my point of view, is not acting like the smart person that I thought him to be.

Let’s think about the present situation logically. In “losing” the 2020 election, Donald Trump got over 70 million votes. A lot of those 2020 Trump voters will indeed vote for him again. At present in the polls Trump is leading DeSantis by a very large margin. The other Republicans who are “running for President” have actually entered themselves in the VP derby, as none of them will beat out either Trump or DeSantis to be the Republican nominee for President.

Now it is possible that something will change after all of these ludicrous legal charges have worked the way through the system. But I’m from Missouri.

What I cannot understand is why the DeSantis campaign sometimes says things that I find offensive when referring to Donald Trump. Let’s be clear. At the time that DeSantis declared that he was running, to me, it was clear that basically he was entering into the aforementioned VP derby. Okay, I get it … if for some reason Trump is not the Republican candidate, DeSantis is positioning himself to be the pinch hitter. But is he forgetting that Trump garnered 70 million votes back in November 2020. I wonder, “Is DeSantis’s campaign purposely trying to p.o a fair number of those 70 million?”

Why would such a smart guy be doing such dumb things?

After the recent Trump indictments in Georgia, DeSantis had to opportunity to come out strong, but instead  made a milquetoast statement. Why be La-de-dah! when he had to opportunity to be strong? 

8/18/23