A lot of people I am related to are dyed in the wool liberals. Some of them are even radical progressives. They are wonderful and generous people who would give an arm or a leg to anyone in need. They loved President Obama, could not believe that any sane person would vote for President Trump and thought that Hillary Clinton would continue to implement their progressive vision to fundamentally change who and what America is. They believe the world and America was in the midst of a historic and inevitable metamorphose where enlightened leaders would ensure equality and fairness for all.
November 8, 2016 was thus a tremendous shock to their mental and emotional state. Like what was expressed by liberals and the main stream media throughout the country, there was never for a moment a wait and see attitude as to how things would play out. It was hate Trump from the very first moment and that Trump hate was openly expressed against any who dared to express any kind of support for the new President.
For the last 3 years they have been convinced that orange man bad would be removed, that Republicans would regret ever voting for him and that the next election would return sanity to themselves as well as to the country.
In an effort then to help them avoid any further mental breakdowns when the results are announced early in the evening of November 3, 2020 and instead ease into a grudging acceptance earlier, I thought it would be a loving thing to provide some statistics and information they may not normally be exposed to.
The first thing to mention is that the trend in the Western world today is away from Internationalism and Progressiveism and toward National Populism. This is demonstrated in Great Britain by the Brerxit movement, where the ruling class in Westminster and the liberal press wanted and still want to stay in the EU but 60% of the population voted to leave. You can see it in Canada where just yesterday in their national elections Trudeau's Liberal party, although his collation still retains power, lost a fairly large number of seats and now holds less than the Conservative party. You can see the same trends happening in France, Poland, Austria, Italy, Netherlands, Germany and Brazil. Check out Dr. Steve Turley's YouTube videos for commentaries on these trends.
The second thing to mention is that Moody Analytics, which has been right about every election since 1980 (except for Trump's in 2016, due to large swings in previous voting patterns) foresee a Trump victory in the Electoral College in all 3 of the categories they measure. In 2016 Trump beat Clinton 304 to 226. Now Moody's Jobs metrics predicts Trump will increase his electoral seats to 326 and the Pocketbook metrics predicts an increase to 351 seats. If the economy tanks between now and the election they may have some hope but Moody has already factored some of that possibility into their calculations.
The third thing they should know is that unlike what they may be hearing from the main stream media (MSM) and the Internet sites they frequent, there is not any significant defection away from President Trump. He currently has a 95% approval rating from his base and his base of support has been rapidly growing.
Here is a statistic that is very interesting. A few weeks ago President Trump held a rally in New Mexico. There were 45,000 people who came. Fifteen thousand were able to be inside the auditorium and thirty thousand outside. Here are statistics that were compiled from those 45,000. Forty per cent of them were Hispanic. Thirty per cent had previously voted Democrat. Twenty per cent were people who had not voted in the last 4 presidential elections.
Those numbers reinforce trends that are being recorded nationwide. In 2016 Trump drew in large numbers of people who had not voted before because they believed their vote never counted. That is one reason Congress went Republican in 2016 but lost seats in 2018 because Trump was not on the ballot. I believe it is reasonable to expect that they and many more like them will show up to vote in 2020.
Hispanic support for President Trump has already jumped 10 points since he was elected and continues to trend higher.
For many decades eighty-seven per cent of Blacks on average have voted Democrat and that is about what Trump received in 2016. Several things have happened since that time. The first is the availability and popularity of many outside sources of information which have started to erode the illusion that Blacks have to vote Democrat. I'll mention just two of them.
The first is a movement to leave the Democrat Party, started by young and charismatic Candace Owens, which is also known as Blexit (think Black Exit). The second is the #Walk Away campaign (walk away from the Democrat Party) which shows thousands of homemade testimonials which combined have many millions of views where people (I would say at least half of them either Blacks or Hispanic) tell about their "red pill" moment. Go to YouTube and check out #Walk Away.
Those type of influences, combined with a strong economy, rising wages, historically low Black unemployment and much more are indications that President Trump's support from Blacks may be much higher than the 15% currently predicted for 2020. A Rasmussen poll done in August this year showed a 32% job approval rating from Blacks for the President.
Another factor to consider is the Ecumenical vote. In 2016 we had a situation where there were 3 things about Trump that they had concerns about. Those were his past behaviors including sexual infidelities, his lack of Christian character that he portrayed publicly, and a nagging feeling that he was actually a liberal in sheep clothing. The votes President Trump got from the Ecumenical community were received because those that did vote recognized that there was no chance that Clinton would support any policy that was deeply important to them but there was at least somewhat of a chance that they would be under a Trump Presidency.
But here is the deal you should be aware of. A heck of a lot of Ecumenicals did not vote for president or they voted for a write-in candidate. Today any behavior by Trump that we know about before he got elected is no longer a concern to that group. His brash manner still is but in large part is discounted because of a number of factors. And because President Trump has followed through on all of his conservative promises and has championed religious freedom and pro life positions there will be a huge increase of Ecumenical votes cast for Trump in 2020.
There has also been a sea change of where and how people receive their information. Cable news has been on a long decline but viewership for outlets like CNN and MSNBC have been dropping like a stone. A recent poll showed that only 6% of the population has any trust that the MSM is unbiased. There are now numerous Conservative sites such as The Daily Wire that have razor sharp commentators and millions of more views than an outlet like CNN. The MSM's 95% negative coverage from day one of Trump has greatly contributed to their soon coming death.
One way we can gauge this is by noticing that although impeachment has been a political strategy for the Left since the day of Trump's election, that after 2 1/2 years of their made up Russian accusations and now a month of their Ukraine gambit, impeachment is near the bottom of the average American's concerns. Almost everybody in the fly over states know what the deal is not and many actually suspect that in the end the Left and the DNC are going to end up holding the bag.
Which leads to my last point. Progressives are the loud and vocal part of the Democrat party. My guess is they comprise less than a third of this countries voting electric but that means they have a majority of the influence in their party. It has been noted that the concerns of a large section of traditional Democrat voters, such as those in the traditional manufacturing blue states, has been ignored by the radical Left. A good number switched and voted Republican in 2016 and I would bet that they were just the tip of the iceberg of the switch we will see in 2020.
The lack of any moderate voices in the MSM, or from the leaders of the Democratic Party, or from any of the current crop of Presidential candidates has exposed their true Progressive agenda which I believe in the end will result in either a split or an implosion of the Democrat Party from which it may take them decades to recover.
So get yourselves ready for a visit to a nice relaxing spa. We are not just talking Trump 2020. Get ready for a President Pence 2024.
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Monday, October 14, 2019
Does Solar Power Make Sense For Me?
Today I read an article talking about California's wildfires and their effect on California's energy grid. When the terrible fires happened last year many people believed that a number of those fires were caused by sparks that came from power lines. This led to law suits which led to the main electric provide in Northern California turning off the power grid this year during certain high fire risk periods. Today there are wide areas in Northern California without electric power.
One of the surprises that came from this is that many people who were equipped with solar panels found out that their solar systems would not provide any electricity to their homes during a power outage. That is because the typical solar system does not store the electricity it produces into a battery system from which the house then draws upon but rather transfers produced electricity into the electrical grid of the power company. Thus without an electrical storage system and without the house being wired to directly utilize solar power there will not be electricity for the home to use.
When a home system is producing electricity under the typical system the home's electric meter slows down accordingly and the home owner is only charged for any excess current they use. If the power company accepts what is known as Net Metering and the home system produces more current that what the home uses for a month then the power company will credit that amount to the home owner's electric bill. The one catch to that is that while the electric company charges it's customer a retail rate they often only credit them for excess production at a wholesale rate which is substantially lower.
But finding that out did get me thinking about what would be my cost here in West Michigan to install a roof solar panel system and how long would the actual payback be. I have not talked to any solar provider companies or any actual people who currently have roof top solar panels but I have done a little research and here is what I have discovered.
Checking my electric bill from the local Board of Public Works I found that during the last 12 months I used in my 1300 sq. ft. house 7115 kW hours of electricity. The overall BPW charge for our electric figures out to be .127 per kW hr. My annual electric usage equaled $904. Michigan prices for electric are usually a bit higher than the national average. A little over a year ago our BPW finished building a new power plant and converted from coal to natural gas which is supposed to be much cleaner and less expensive.
According to what I was able to find out on line the average solar customer installs a 6200 kW system which would seem about right if my annual usage is 7115 kW's. In Michigan the average cost for roof top solar panels is $4.11 per kW. That means a 6200 kW installation would cost me if I paid in cash $25,482. I don't know if that is before or after taxes.
For some reason the government has offered pretty big incentives for people to install solar power. This seems pretty much a crock to me for a whole lot of reasons, about which I could write from here to the end of next week. However, let's get back to what my cost would be to install solar.
Until the end of 2019 the Federal Government will, if you install a solar system this year, reduce what you would owe in taxes this year up to 30% of what it costs you to install a solar system. In 2020 that amount reduces to 26%, in 2021 I'm not sure but I think it's something like 20% and the incentive program expires at the end of 2021. Maybe something else will come up but if I am thinking about solar I either need to do something soon or hope that a breakthrough in technology would make an investment practical.
There also may be local incentives offered by my city or even by the BPW to become more energy efficient. I'm not sure if or what those are but perhaps they can add up to another $4 - 6 thousand dollars. I'm not going to include those numbers below but you are welcome to do the math yourselves later on.
So let's say I decide on installing a $25,482 6200 kW system next year. I would need to pay the full amount, and then to qualify for the 26%, $6000 plus government money, make sure to withhold that much from my 2020 tax estimates which will then reduce my tax owed by April 15 of 2021 by that amount. Thus after a year if I install in the Spring the actual cost for the system would be $19,366.
To figure the length of pay back I multiply 6200 kW hrs per year X my BPW rate of .129 kW hr. which equals an annual savings on my electric bill of $787. And at $787 per year it would take me 25 years to break even. Solar systems are supposed to be good for 25 years so in theory every year after that my electric bill would be only $117 per year.
There are however a few things to consider with solar. On the plus side, what I pay for electric may very well go up during those 25 years which would increase the amount I would be saving and thus reduce the actual payback period.
On the other hand there are a few negatives to consider. Apart from possible maintenance costs, like equipment breakdowns, cleaning, snow and tree branch removal, and the need to spend $10 -12 thousand dollars on new roof shingles before solar installation, there are solar energy efficiency questions when living in West Michigan and where I live in particular. A 6200 kW system might possibly produce 6200 kW's per year in a place like Arizona. But where I live we get a lot of clouds, a fair amount of snow, there are woods west of us across the street which block direct sunlight for the last hour of the day, and the trees near us produce a fair amount of pollen. I don't know how to actually calculate all of this but if my panels produce only 60% of capacity then my annual payback then becomes $472 which would equal a 41 year pay back.
Since I will turn 70 next year solar does not seem to be something that I will get too excited about.
Most of the information I could find on line whether solar is a good investment comes one way or another from companies that want to sell and install their solar panels. Each one assures me how wonderful a system would be. After watching U Tube videos of people who have installed systems I have come to the conclusion that the actual reason, apart from those that live off grid and need solar, or perhaps those who live in very sunny areas where the costs might be much different, is that installing solar makes them fell good about themselves.
They ignore the fact that Chinese miners earning slave wages dig out the dirty materials currently needed for solar panel production. They buy into the claim that man made CO2 is somehow any different than naturally produced CO2 (CO2 being the food that all plants eat) and buy into a claim, despite historic evidence showing the opposite, that any warming of the planet will be a disaster and must have been caused by the actions of man and can likewise be reduced by the actions of man.
But like I said, I'm almost 70. If I could invest now for something that would have a decent return much earlier and reduce what I would need to pay for utilities when I finally stop working it would be worth it. Hmm, maybe I'll check out wind.
One of the surprises that came from this is that many people who were equipped with solar panels found out that their solar systems would not provide any electricity to their homes during a power outage. That is because the typical solar system does not store the electricity it produces into a battery system from which the house then draws upon but rather transfers produced electricity into the electrical grid of the power company. Thus without an electrical storage system and without the house being wired to directly utilize solar power there will not be electricity for the home to use.
When a home system is producing electricity under the typical system the home's electric meter slows down accordingly and the home owner is only charged for any excess current they use. If the power company accepts what is known as Net Metering and the home system produces more current that what the home uses for a month then the power company will credit that amount to the home owner's electric bill. The one catch to that is that while the electric company charges it's customer a retail rate they often only credit them for excess production at a wholesale rate which is substantially lower.
But finding that out did get me thinking about what would be my cost here in West Michigan to install a roof solar panel system and how long would the actual payback be. I have not talked to any solar provider companies or any actual people who currently have roof top solar panels but I have done a little research and here is what I have discovered.
Checking my electric bill from the local Board of Public Works I found that during the last 12 months I used in my 1300 sq. ft. house 7115 kW hours of electricity. The overall BPW charge for our electric figures out to be .127 per kW hr. My annual electric usage equaled $904. Michigan prices for electric are usually a bit higher than the national average. A little over a year ago our BPW finished building a new power plant and converted from coal to natural gas which is supposed to be much cleaner and less expensive.
According to what I was able to find out on line the average solar customer installs a 6200 kW system which would seem about right if my annual usage is 7115 kW's. In Michigan the average cost for roof top solar panels is $4.11 per kW. That means a 6200 kW installation would cost me if I paid in cash $25,482. I don't know if that is before or after taxes.
For some reason the government has offered pretty big incentives for people to install solar power. This seems pretty much a crock to me for a whole lot of reasons, about which I could write from here to the end of next week. However, let's get back to what my cost would be to install solar.
Until the end of 2019 the Federal Government will, if you install a solar system this year, reduce what you would owe in taxes this year up to 30% of what it costs you to install a solar system. In 2020 that amount reduces to 26%, in 2021 I'm not sure but I think it's something like 20% and the incentive program expires at the end of 2021. Maybe something else will come up but if I am thinking about solar I either need to do something soon or hope that a breakthrough in technology would make an investment practical.
There also may be local incentives offered by my city or even by the BPW to become more energy efficient. I'm not sure if or what those are but perhaps they can add up to another $4 - 6 thousand dollars. I'm not going to include those numbers below but you are welcome to do the math yourselves later on.
So let's say I decide on installing a $25,482 6200 kW system next year. I would need to pay the full amount, and then to qualify for the 26%, $6000 plus government money, make sure to withhold that much from my 2020 tax estimates which will then reduce my tax owed by April 15 of 2021 by that amount. Thus after a year if I install in the Spring the actual cost for the system would be $19,366.
To figure the length of pay back I multiply 6200 kW hrs per year X my BPW rate of .129 kW hr. which equals an annual savings on my electric bill of $787. And at $787 per year it would take me 25 years to break even. Solar systems are supposed to be good for 25 years so in theory every year after that my electric bill would be only $117 per year.
There are however a few things to consider with solar. On the plus side, what I pay for electric may very well go up during those 25 years which would increase the amount I would be saving and thus reduce the actual payback period.
On the other hand there are a few negatives to consider. Apart from possible maintenance costs, like equipment breakdowns, cleaning, snow and tree branch removal, and the need to spend $10 -12 thousand dollars on new roof shingles before solar installation, there are solar energy efficiency questions when living in West Michigan and where I live in particular. A 6200 kW system might possibly produce 6200 kW's per year in a place like Arizona. But where I live we get a lot of clouds, a fair amount of snow, there are woods west of us across the street which block direct sunlight for the last hour of the day, and the trees near us produce a fair amount of pollen. I don't know how to actually calculate all of this but if my panels produce only 60% of capacity then my annual payback then becomes $472 which would equal a 41 year pay back.
Since I will turn 70 next year solar does not seem to be something that I will get too excited about.
Most of the information I could find on line whether solar is a good investment comes one way or another from companies that want to sell and install their solar panels. Each one assures me how wonderful a system would be. After watching U Tube videos of people who have installed systems I have come to the conclusion that the actual reason, apart from those that live off grid and need solar, or perhaps those who live in very sunny areas where the costs might be much different, is that installing solar makes them fell good about themselves.
They ignore the fact that Chinese miners earning slave wages dig out the dirty materials currently needed for solar panel production. They buy into the claim that man made CO2 is somehow any different than naturally produced CO2 (CO2 being the food that all plants eat) and buy into a claim, despite historic evidence showing the opposite, that any warming of the planet will be a disaster and must have been caused by the actions of man and can likewise be reduced by the actions of man.
But like I said, I'm almost 70. If I could invest now for something that would have a decent return much earlier and reduce what I would need to pay for utilities when I finally stop working it would be worth it. Hmm, maybe I'll check out wind.
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Impeach! Impeach!
Impeach! Impeach! Well, well, how did we get here, what does this all mean and how will this all play out? Hopefully I will be able to shed a little insight that will make things a bit clearer on what has been going on and what will be happening.
Let me start by taking a quick look at the Obama presidency. Although he ran as a centrist, Barack Obama's voting record when he was in the Senate was to the extreme far left of the spectrum. When he became our President his actions thus proved to be far left. This should not have been a surprise to anyone who would have looked past the nice suits, attractive family and smooth talking blah blah and done a little research.
His father's politics in Kenya were Anti-Colonial. His father believed that Western powers had robbed third world countries like his of their resources and should be punished for such. His politics were also Anti-Capitalist or Socialist/Communist which is reflected by his belief that the rich should pay 100% in taxes and only receive an amount back from the government sufficient to live on. It is interesting that Barack Obama wrote a book that was titled - Dreams Of My Father. Obama's mother also had hard leftest leanings as can be determined by the politics of the church she belonged to in Hawaii.
Sometime after Barack's father left his mother to go back to Kenya she married a man from Indonesia where she and her son moved. In Indonesia Barack was educated during his elementary years in a religious Muslim school. She sent him back to Hawaii during his high school years to live with her parents. It was during or shortly after that time that he was introduced to and was mentored by Frank L Davis, a leading African American member and thinker in the Communist Party in America. Later on during his college years in California most of his room mates and organizations he belonged to were politically on the radical spectrum. Not much is known about his politics or associations while at law school at Harvard but then, apart from his being the editor of the Harvard Law Review, almost no one can be found who remembers or is willing to share that they remember going to class with him.
After Obama came to Chicago he is well known for having been a community organizer. On it's face value that sounds like a noble occupation and indeed it can be, helping the poor and disenfranchised to do better with food, housing, clothing, medical care and helping them have a greater voice over their affairs. But there can be a radical political aspect involved in community organizing as evidenced by the methods of famous Chicago community organizer Saul Alansky.
In 1971, the year before he died, Alansky wrote a book called Rules For Radicals. Its ten chapters laid out Alansky's insights about how confrontation can produce desired results. Later on in the community organization community there was debate as to how effective Alansky's rules actually were in practice but the book and its principles did become famous in the world of the radical left. At the University of Chicago Barack Obama taught a course called Alansky 101, so we know he was quite familiar with Alansky's radical teachings. Oh by the way, in the book Alansky dedicates it to someone called Lucifer (no kidding!)
Here is a partial list of Alansky's main principles. Notice two things here. First, the other side is referred to as "the enemy". Second, see if any of these tactics ring a bell when you think of the how the Democrats have resisted form day one and continue to resist the presidency of Donald Trump, the Kavanaugh hearings, the Russia hearings and their constant calls for impeachment.
"Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have".
"Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules".
"Ridicule is man's most potent weapon".
"Keep the pressure on".
"The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself".
"The major premise for tactics is the development of opportunities that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition".
"If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counter side".
"Pick the target, freeze it, polarize it".
Barack Obama eventually moved to the same neighborhood and was on one of the same boards as Bill Ayers, former leader of the Weatherman Underground, a radical 1970's group that among other things bombed the Pentagon and Capitol building. The church Obama belonged to for 20 years had definite leftest leanings. I could on and on along the same vein but I think I've made the point that it seemed to me pretty clear, even before he was elected, that Barack Obama if chosen would try to radically change not only US foreign policy and US domestic policy but would also appoint and place in positions of power men and women with the same mind set as his.
The part of interest for us here is not President Obama's foreign or domestic policies. I think from what we know about his past and from what he showed while being President is that he is at heart a Marxist and was smart enough to have both a short term and a long term plan for how to radically transform our country. I also strongly suspect that despite our hearing almost nothing about President Obama for the last 3 years that he is in fact the key person leading a behind the scenes opposition to President Trump and his administration. You should be aware that there is a select group of power people that meet every day in private, either in person or via devices, that determine both tactics and each day's talking points, that are then relayed to the press and to key Democrat leaders in Congress.
There are some interesting things that happened while President Obama was in office that demonstrate his efforts to ensure that his opponents would not be successful in gaining power.
The main one that comes to mind is how he used the IRS to delay and refuse applications for almost every conservative political group that tried to obtain non taxable status.
Another well known one is the activity of Susan Rice and others toward the last days of his administration to unmask identities of quite a large number of his political opponents so that people in his administration would have access to their private conversations (I think that might be called "spying" on your political opponents).
And a third one that is coming to light is the effort to use the FBI and CIA along with their foreign contacts, to both spy on candidate Trump and everyone connected with him but also to set up sophisticated operations designed to eventually remove him from power in case he would actually win. People have blamed Hillary Clinton's campaign for spending 9 million to finance the fake dossier that the intelligence agencies then used to obtain FISA warrants of Trump's people, but I believe it actually goes much deeper than that.
Let me make this very clear. There were and still are people appointed or hired by President Obama in the intelligence community who are actively opposed to President Trump, not just because he is a Republican but because he is an outsider who is threatening both their power and globalist worldview. Many of these people, previously so comfortable in their arrogance, are now becoming increasingly frightened that their secret activities will be exposed.
There will soon be reports released that will lay a lot of this out. The guilty parties have the full support of the main stream media so everything will be twisted in the news and there will be a full blown attempt to impeach and discredit Attorney General Barr. I would like to believe that all those that have taken part in this coup attempt against the President will get the punishment they deserve. I would like to believe that the main stream media itself will be exposed and eventually be replaced by honest men and women without political bias. Can all of this happen without a revolution or civil unrest? I sure pray so.
Cries for impeachment today are a desperate ploy to circumvent the ballot box. After all we do have another election in about a year. These last three years have pulled the veil off the political faces of the far left, the never Trump right and others in Washington and have totally destroyed any confidence we ever had in the main stream media. By God's grace we now know much clearer their desire for an atheistic utopia that sees Conservatives, Christians and the Constitution as "enemies" that need to be discarded.
The good news is that a light does shine in the darkness and that God is using the events of the day to bring out a deep and widespread spiritual change in this country. There are dark spiritual forces behind all the lies and shouting and their desperation is a sign that they know a change is coming.
Pray for our President for wisdom and grace. Pray for all those in authority over us that they will be sensitive to the direction of the Holy Spirit. Pray for your enemies that His light will shine so bright that their hearts will be open to coming to know Jesus as Savior and Lord. And pray for a spirit of repentance to flood our land as an invitation for the presence of God to fall upon us.
Let me start by taking a quick look at the Obama presidency. Although he ran as a centrist, Barack Obama's voting record when he was in the Senate was to the extreme far left of the spectrum. When he became our President his actions thus proved to be far left. This should not have been a surprise to anyone who would have looked past the nice suits, attractive family and smooth talking blah blah and done a little research.
His father's politics in Kenya were Anti-Colonial. His father believed that Western powers had robbed third world countries like his of their resources and should be punished for such. His politics were also Anti-Capitalist or Socialist/Communist which is reflected by his belief that the rich should pay 100% in taxes and only receive an amount back from the government sufficient to live on. It is interesting that Barack Obama wrote a book that was titled - Dreams Of My Father. Obama's mother also had hard leftest leanings as can be determined by the politics of the church she belonged to in Hawaii.
Sometime after Barack's father left his mother to go back to Kenya she married a man from Indonesia where she and her son moved. In Indonesia Barack was educated during his elementary years in a religious Muslim school. She sent him back to Hawaii during his high school years to live with her parents. It was during or shortly after that time that he was introduced to and was mentored by Frank L Davis, a leading African American member and thinker in the Communist Party in America. Later on during his college years in California most of his room mates and organizations he belonged to were politically on the radical spectrum. Not much is known about his politics or associations while at law school at Harvard but then, apart from his being the editor of the Harvard Law Review, almost no one can be found who remembers or is willing to share that they remember going to class with him.
After Obama came to Chicago he is well known for having been a community organizer. On it's face value that sounds like a noble occupation and indeed it can be, helping the poor and disenfranchised to do better with food, housing, clothing, medical care and helping them have a greater voice over their affairs. But there can be a radical political aspect involved in community organizing as evidenced by the methods of famous Chicago community organizer Saul Alansky.
In 1971, the year before he died, Alansky wrote a book called Rules For Radicals. Its ten chapters laid out Alansky's insights about how confrontation can produce desired results. Later on in the community organization community there was debate as to how effective Alansky's rules actually were in practice but the book and its principles did become famous in the world of the radical left. At the University of Chicago Barack Obama taught a course called Alansky 101, so we know he was quite familiar with Alansky's radical teachings. Oh by the way, in the book Alansky dedicates it to someone called Lucifer (no kidding!)
Here is a partial list of Alansky's main principles. Notice two things here. First, the other side is referred to as "the enemy". Second, see if any of these tactics ring a bell when you think of the how the Democrats have resisted form day one and continue to resist the presidency of Donald Trump, the Kavanaugh hearings, the Russia hearings and their constant calls for impeachment.
"Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have".
"Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules".
"Ridicule is man's most potent weapon".
"Keep the pressure on".
"The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself".
"The major premise for tactics is the development of opportunities that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition".
"If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counter side".
"Pick the target, freeze it, polarize it".
Barack Obama eventually moved to the same neighborhood and was on one of the same boards as Bill Ayers, former leader of the Weatherman Underground, a radical 1970's group that among other things bombed the Pentagon and Capitol building. The church Obama belonged to for 20 years had definite leftest leanings. I could on and on along the same vein but I think I've made the point that it seemed to me pretty clear, even before he was elected, that Barack Obama if chosen would try to radically change not only US foreign policy and US domestic policy but would also appoint and place in positions of power men and women with the same mind set as his.
The part of interest for us here is not President Obama's foreign or domestic policies. I think from what we know about his past and from what he showed while being President is that he is at heart a Marxist and was smart enough to have both a short term and a long term plan for how to radically transform our country. I also strongly suspect that despite our hearing almost nothing about President Obama for the last 3 years that he is in fact the key person leading a behind the scenes opposition to President Trump and his administration. You should be aware that there is a select group of power people that meet every day in private, either in person or via devices, that determine both tactics and each day's talking points, that are then relayed to the press and to key Democrat leaders in Congress.
There are some interesting things that happened while President Obama was in office that demonstrate his efforts to ensure that his opponents would not be successful in gaining power.
The main one that comes to mind is how he used the IRS to delay and refuse applications for almost every conservative political group that tried to obtain non taxable status.
Another well known one is the activity of Susan Rice and others toward the last days of his administration to unmask identities of quite a large number of his political opponents so that people in his administration would have access to their private conversations (I think that might be called "spying" on your political opponents).
And a third one that is coming to light is the effort to use the FBI and CIA along with their foreign contacts, to both spy on candidate Trump and everyone connected with him but also to set up sophisticated operations designed to eventually remove him from power in case he would actually win. People have blamed Hillary Clinton's campaign for spending 9 million to finance the fake dossier that the intelligence agencies then used to obtain FISA warrants of Trump's people, but I believe it actually goes much deeper than that.
Let me make this very clear. There were and still are people appointed or hired by President Obama in the intelligence community who are actively opposed to President Trump, not just because he is a Republican but because he is an outsider who is threatening both their power and globalist worldview. Many of these people, previously so comfortable in their arrogance, are now becoming increasingly frightened that their secret activities will be exposed.
There will soon be reports released that will lay a lot of this out. The guilty parties have the full support of the main stream media so everything will be twisted in the news and there will be a full blown attempt to impeach and discredit Attorney General Barr. I would like to believe that all those that have taken part in this coup attempt against the President will get the punishment they deserve. I would like to believe that the main stream media itself will be exposed and eventually be replaced by honest men and women without political bias. Can all of this happen without a revolution or civil unrest? I sure pray so.
Cries for impeachment today are a desperate ploy to circumvent the ballot box. After all we do have another election in about a year. These last three years have pulled the veil off the political faces of the far left, the never Trump right and others in Washington and have totally destroyed any confidence we ever had in the main stream media. By God's grace we now know much clearer their desire for an atheistic utopia that sees Conservatives, Christians and the Constitution as "enemies" that need to be discarded.
The good news is that a light does shine in the darkness and that God is using the events of the day to bring out a deep and widespread spiritual change in this country. There are dark spiritual forces behind all the lies and shouting and their desperation is a sign that they know a change is coming.
Pray for our President for wisdom and grace. Pray for all those in authority over us that they will be sensitive to the direction of the Holy Spirit. Pray for your enemies that His light will shine so bright that their hearts will be open to coming to know Jesus as Savior and Lord. And pray for a spirit of repentance to flood our land as an invitation for the presence of God to fall upon us.
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
A Christian's Letter To Our President
Dear Mr. President
Thank you for being the most pro-life president that we have had in my voting lifetime. Your actions to support the rights of the unborn have spoken much louder than all the empty rhetoric of politicians in the past or any political tweets that you have made in the present.
Your first major decision while running for President was to select pro-life Michael Pence as your VP running mate. Your second was to announce a top flight list of possible Supreme Court appointees that court scholars said would be inclined to support both a strict constitutional interpretation as well as the right of the unborn to be protected and valued.
I believe that abortion is THE most important political issue of my lifetime. Because I believe abortion is the taking of a human life given by God and because I believe that one's stance on abortion reflects an inner moral compass that ultimately affects other governmental decisions, including the economy and foreign policy. I voted for you in hopes that your actual deeds in regards to abortion would match your political promises. To me this issue far outweighed any of my concerns about your previous moral lapses or any embarrassment I might have had about how you conduct yourself publicly in the present.
I was thrilled to see that on your very first day in office you canceled the Mexico City Accord which required other nations to provide abortions in order to receive our country's foreign aid
I am also thrilled and encouraged to see that so far during your first term you have appointed two constitutional conservative Supreme Court Justices who will, hopefully along with your next appointment, insure that like slavery Roe V Wade goes to the ash heap of our country's history and will bring the decision of whether to terminate an infant's life back to each individual state
So far during your first term you and the Senate have confirmed more Federal judges than both of your predecessors combined, all of them constitutional conservatives, their average age 10 years younger than those confirmed by your last two predecessors. This will affect the direction of our courts for decades to come and will be instrumental when lawsuits arise challenging state laws restricting abortion.
Along with the above you have done much to restrict the use of tax payer dollars to fund Planned Parenthood, our country's largest provider of abortions who by themselves terminate over a third of a million of lives every year
Your actions to defend the most vulnerable among us has been an answer to the voices of over fifty million innocent lives that have cried out for justice to the heavens since 1972. For this stance alone your name will be remembered and honored for generations to come.
I thank you as well for officially recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capitol. Unlike most of your predecessors who only gave lip service to the idea, you have actually followed through on your promise and have made sure that America remains a great friend of the nation of Israel.
Our country does not need to approve or support everything that Israel does. However God promises in His Word that He will bless those that bless Israel and curse those that curse it. You have blessed Israel by giving international recognition to the fact that Jerusalem is its capital and you have blessed Israel by recognizing their right of sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Thus I believe that the following spiritual principle will play out. Your support for Israel will help insure God's blessing for our country and you as well are being blessed by it.
Thank you for recognizing the severity of the persecution of the Christian Church that is happening today in many countries internationally as well as for truly understanding all the cultural and political pressures that the Church in America is experiencing greater and greater everyday. More than any President in the past you have show a willingness to both seek and to listen to advice giving by respected Church leaders.
I thank you for the courage you have displayed in the midst of the greatest opposition and the greatest attacks any president has ever seen during their first days in office and during their first term. I believe that opposition to your election goes far beyond normal politics and instead reflects a spiritual battle that is going on today. And part of that spiritual battle is that the evil spirits that thirst for the shedding of innocent blood do not want to lose one of their means to their power and influence.
My constant prayer for you is that as you seek God's will for our country you will also humble yourself personally. I pray that you will receive not only the fullness of His salvation but will also experience the gifts of His Holy Spirit as well as the demonstration of the fruits of His Holy Spirit in your life.
May God bless you and may God bless the United States of America.
Thank you for being the most pro-life president that we have had in my voting lifetime. Your actions to support the rights of the unborn have spoken much louder than all the empty rhetoric of politicians in the past or any political tweets that you have made in the present.
Your first major decision while running for President was to select pro-life Michael Pence as your VP running mate. Your second was to announce a top flight list of possible Supreme Court appointees that court scholars said would be inclined to support both a strict constitutional interpretation as well as the right of the unborn to be protected and valued.
I believe that abortion is THE most important political issue of my lifetime. Because I believe abortion is the taking of a human life given by God and because I believe that one's stance on abortion reflects an inner moral compass that ultimately affects other governmental decisions, including the economy and foreign policy. I voted for you in hopes that your actual deeds in regards to abortion would match your political promises. To me this issue far outweighed any of my concerns about your previous moral lapses or any embarrassment I might have had about how you conduct yourself publicly in the present.
I was thrilled to see that on your very first day in office you canceled the Mexico City Accord which required other nations to provide abortions in order to receive our country's foreign aid
I am also thrilled and encouraged to see that so far during your first term you have appointed two constitutional conservative Supreme Court Justices who will, hopefully along with your next appointment, insure that like slavery Roe V Wade goes to the ash heap of our country's history and will bring the decision of whether to terminate an infant's life back to each individual state
So far during your first term you and the Senate have confirmed more Federal judges than both of your predecessors combined, all of them constitutional conservatives, their average age 10 years younger than those confirmed by your last two predecessors. This will affect the direction of our courts for decades to come and will be instrumental when lawsuits arise challenging state laws restricting abortion.
Along with the above you have done much to restrict the use of tax payer dollars to fund Planned Parenthood, our country's largest provider of abortions who by themselves terminate over a third of a million of lives every year
Your actions to defend the most vulnerable among us has been an answer to the voices of over fifty million innocent lives that have cried out for justice to the heavens since 1972. For this stance alone your name will be remembered and honored for generations to come.
I thank you as well for officially recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capitol. Unlike most of your predecessors who only gave lip service to the idea, you have actually followed through on your promise and have made sure that America remains a great friend of the nation of Israel.
Our country does not need to approve or support everything that Israel does. However God promises in His Word that He will bless those that bless Israel and curse those that curse it. You have blessed Israel by giving international recognition to the fact that Jerusalem is its capital and you have blessed Israel by recognizing their right of sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Thus I believe that the following spiritual principle will play out. Your support for Israel will help insure God's blessing for our country and you as well are being blessed by it.
Thank you for recognizing the severity of the persecution of the Christian Church that is happening today in many countries internationally as well as for truly understanding all the cultural and political pressures that the Church in America is experiencing greater and greater everyday. More than any President in the past you have show a willingness to both seek and to listen to advice giving by respected Church leaders.
I thank you for the courage you have displayed in the midst of the greatest opposition and the greatest attacks any president has ever seen during their first days in office and during their first term. I believe that opposition to your election goes far beyond normal politics and instead reflects a spiritual battle that is going on today. And part of that spiritual battle is that the evil spirits that thirst for the shedding of innocent blood do not want to lose one of their means to their power and influence.
My constant prayer for you is that as you seek God's will for our country you will also humble yourself personally. I pray that you will receive not only the fullness of His salvation but will also experience the gifts of His Holy Spirit as well as the demonstration of the fruits of His Holy Spirit in your life.
May God bless you and may God bless the United States of America.
Sunday, July 14, 2019
Trump Wins Bigly In 2020
Here are 7 reasons President Trump will win reelection in a landslide in 2020 (not necessarily in order of importance)
1. It's The Economy Stupid.
As of today the stock market, where 10's of millions of average Americans invest a good portion of their money, is at an all time high, a whopping 49% higher than it was on the day before the 2016 election. Odds are there will be one or more major market adjustments between now and the next presidential election but the economy is roaring now and confidence in the economy is reflected in the stock market. This is due in large part to Trump's pro business policies (think for example lower corporate tax rates which have drawn back to the US trillions of overseas dollars to be invested in creating more US jobs).
Unemployment levels are at record lows and employment levels are at record highs and the number of jobs including higher paying manufacturing jobs have been growing since Trump's election at rates most experts thought were not possible anymore (Obama/Biden/Clinton told us we must forget those jobs) At the same time, because of the competition for qualified workers, average wage rates have been sharply growing as well.
Although dismissed by East and West coast elites as a tax cut for the rich (because (a) that's the standard leftist trope and (b) an extra $20 or $40 dollars per paycheck doesn't mean anything to them), the tax cut has been appreciated by the average American worker.
2. When Attacked The Tribe Unites
Oh, how many ways can I make this point? Think of "RESIST" from day one until now by the mainstream media where 93% of their coverage toward Trump was and still is negative. Think of "RESIST" from day one with all of the hate Trump posts, comments and vulgar language by supposed "friends" on social media immediately after the election and probably continuing today (finally not being able to take it and wanting to remain civil and "friends" I blocked most of them).
I and almost everyone I know who voted for Trump was shocked at the failure of one side to do what has always been done and acknowledge with grace when their side lost. Most of us were not happy with the ultra liberal policies of President Obama and we expressed our disagreements in many time tested ways and then voted for change. We did not expect the circus that followed and were shocked by the other side's behavior.
Think of the 2 year long "Trump is a Russian stodge" debacle which was obvious from very early on to anyone not affected by the "Trump derangement syndrome" that this was both a set up of Trump and a cover up of actual Clinton/Obama efforts to effect the election.
And then think of the Kavanaugh hearings with the vicious accusations, outright lies and character assassinations of an outstanding jurist and human being. These had nothing to do with judicial philosophy but everything to do with trying to destroy a person with whom you disagree.
RESIST, Kavanaugh and to a lesser sense Russia were emotional slaps in the face to conservatives which worked to unite them and will not soon be forgotten.
3. Trump Is A Money Magnet
The Republican Party was not united behind Trump in 2016 and for awhile after wards and that included many of the big money donors and certain of it's elected officials. Perhaps you are not aware of this but while President Trump is an America first person as are most of his base there is a large portion of the GOP who consider themselves globalists. Globalists seek international solutions and are willing to give up national sovereignty and treasure in order to achieve that. The Bushes were globalists. So was Obama. So is Clinton/Biden.
Without getting into a long discussion of exactly how that affects the way a President governs let me give you a simplistic generalization. There are very large and powerful international businesses and personalities who have a common goal and who invest a lot of money with politicians and activist groups around the world which includes men and woman from both parties here in America. That is a large reason why Washington is filled with swamp creatures, many who do not really have the best interests of our country in mind.
A large part of the hatred of Trump from the GOP side was that he was not one of them. He did not go to their private parties (attended by both sides), did not behave in the acceptable manner and did not have the same globalist goals. Not only that but he pledged if elected to go to Washington to drain the swamp.
However, an interesting thing happened as stated in point number 2. Although globalism is a strong interest many on the Right also actually have sincere conservative leanings and when Trump came to Washington he has governed as a true conservative. This they noticed.
But they also noticed the daily attacks, lies and misrepresentations about Trump and the effort to destroy anyone who is associated with him. It turns out that their tribal instincts are now outweighing their global instincts. In 2016 fundraising for Trump and fundraising for the GOP were separate. Today they are combined.
In 2016 Clinton raised a record billion dollars toward her election. Trump raised 600 million. This year when President Trump announced his intent to run again in 2020 he raised a million dollars an hour on the first day alone. It is estimated that his reelection war chest will equal 2.5 billion dollars. Although social media companies are almost totally controlled by young male progressives who actively work to silence conservative voices on their social media platforms the Trump campaign does have a well funded team who know how to use it to fund raise and how to get their message targeted.
4. Open Borders Is Going To Crush The Left
Illegal immigration was the major issue driving the Right in 2016. The situation has become ten times worse since then. The Left as with most issues argues emotions over facts and logic but here that is going to backfire. The African American community and the established Hispanic community, traditional Democrat voting blocs, do not want the huge influx of unskilled workers competing for some of their jobs and lowering those wages. Suburban white woman do not want to see pictures of children in cages but they are going to finally realize that the Dems because of their hatred for Trump refused to vote for any funding that would help solve a crisis caused by the overwhelming of our facilities at the border.
Populations in many countries in Europe, fearing they are losing their national identities, are rebelling. England had its Brexit vote to leave the EU and a Prime Minister who recently resigned because the globalist elites at Westminster did not want to deliver it, Greece and Italy's new governments are making sweeping immigration policy changes and Europe is rife with immigrant populations who refuse to adapt to national cultural norms and behaviors and because of that traditional national populations are rebelling.
The issue in American of course is not whether immigration is good and healthy. Most people believe it is. The issue is not whether we are a compassionate people. Most people believe we are. Instead the issue is - do we have a right to control our borders, enforce our immigration laws, decide who and when they are allowed to enter and have a chance to become citizens, willing to learn the language and adopt traditional American values. The issue also should be, are there jobs available for the new arrivals and do we have the ability to stop drugs from being smuggled in, criminals and gangs from moving in and dangerous diseases from infection our population.
These are not policies driven, as the Left tries to portray everything, by racism or xenophobia. Most Americans know this in their gut and they have noticed that one side does not even come close to believing the same way they do or trying to provide a solution, other than accepting open borders.
5. Karl Was Not One Of The Funny Marx Brothers
OK, but Bernie highlights can be pretty amusing. But when every presidential candidate from one party is competing to see who can offer the most free stuff, the craziest ideas, the highest tax rates, the most anti-Christian tropes, the most woke stance on gender, LGBT, race and abortion, the most green anti-capitalist environment, they have indeed energized the most radical of their base but have left the rest of the country far, far behind. Their push toward achieving an atheistic Marxist global utopia run by an enlightened few is an idea that because of human nature cannot and never has worked. However, for some reason their masks are now off all of them are on the record.
Partly because of abandoning either/or religious sensibilities, family values and traditional work ethic, African Americans, Latino Americans and Asians Americans are starting to leave their old party in large numbers. The rust belt is starting to turn red and you are going to see before the election defections from some major politicians and perhaps even a split in the Democrat party.
6. The Push For Reparations Is A Gift From God
Which leads to my final point.
7. God Blesses Those Who Bless The Jews
Now the Lord God said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's house to the Land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And will bless those that bless you, and the one that curses you I will curse. Genesis 12: 1-3
You may not like to hear this but here it is. God chose this moment in time to place Donald J. Trump into office. He did not choose who I would have chosen. He did not choose a man with a pristine past and a refined air. And he did not choose a politician who says one thing but believes in his heart another.
He chose a man who would take the timing away from the plans of the evil one so God could accomplish three things.
First, there is a timing for the nation of Israel. The evil one has always planned and worked to wipe that nation off the face of the earth. A Clinton presidency in 2016 after the 8 years of Obama or any of the current Democrat candidates for 2020 would have or would be a disaster for Israel. Trump is widely seen in Israel as a modern day Cyrus, a gentile king who saved the Jewish people from disaster and then issued a decree for the Jewish people to return to their land, rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and eventually rebuild the temple.
Trump was the only one running on the 2016 Republican ticket who would have had the guts to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, thus giving defacto international recognition to Jerusalem as Israel's capitol. He is the only one who would have recognized Israel's control of the strategic Golan Heights. If only for those two actions God is going to bless the Presidency of Donald Trump. Who knows what may come out his so called deal of the century regarding Israel and it's neighbors but what ever way it goes I believe it is part of God's plans for this point in time.
Second, God wanted to stop our countries march toward Marxism and globalism and in doing so He also wanted to bless our land because of all of those who have prayed, because of those who have given their time and shed their blood for the freedom and well being of other lands and because of those who have gone out from here to proclaim the good news of Jesus.
We as a nation have sinned greatly, have shed the blood of sixty million of our own innocents, and we deserve judgment. But God in His grace is giving us a period of time where those investments will return ten fold home, where globalism will be set back for a time and where the prayers of the righteous and the blood of the innocent will rise up to Heaven and Roe Vs Wade will be overturned.
What we are seeing in the public square today is the reaction of evil principalities and powers in and over this land, the loud cries of foul spirits who know they are being unmasked and in a battle for position and power, who are and will be cast out so the land may be healed. God chose Donald Trump because he has no fear of man and has no obligations to other parties.
The orange man, rough as he is, has boundless energy, loves America and understands at a deep level how people think and how there are multiple ways to look at a problem and find a solution that your normal politician could never even begin to grasp. He has God's blessing and anointing and even at times, probably without even knowing it, speaks prophetically (stories perhaps for another day).
Third, but most important. God is doing this all because of souls. I believe that it is His will that many peoples and many countries at this point in time will be led into believing that Jesus is Lord. The financial blessings that have come and are coming about are meant to be used to finance and send out the gospel. The spiritual blessings that have come and are coming are meant to evangelize, to heal the sick and mend the broken hearted, to rebuild and reinforce all that has been lost.
That is why Trump will be reelected in 2020. There is still much more to be done and perhaps after Trump God will raise up another one to take his place. That said, while I believe this is God's will it also means that the opposition may even be greater in the days ahead, the enemies cries even louder, and our need to pray for God's will to be done even greater. But as one prophet has seen in a vision, we are to declare to the screaming enemy hordes, "You have lost, we have won!"
1. It's The Economy Stupid.
As of today the stock market, where 10's of millions of average Americans invest a good portion of their money, is at an all time high, a whopping 49% higher than it was on the day before the 2016 election. Odds are there will be one or more major market adjustments between now and the next presidential election but the economy is roaring now and confidence in the economy is reflected in the stock market. This is due in large part to Trump's pro business policies (think for example lower corporate tax rates which have drawn back to the US trillions of overseas dollars to be invested in creating more US jobs).
Unemployment levels are at record lows and employment levels are at record highs and the number of jobs including higher paying manufacturing jobs have been growing since Trump's election at rates most experts thought were not possible anymore (Obama/Biden/Clinton told us we must forget those jobs) At the same time, because of the competition for qualified workers, average wage rates have been sharply growing as well.
Although dismissed by East and West coast elites as a tax cut for the rich (because (a) that's the standard leftist trope and (b) an extra $20 or $40 dollars per paycheck doesn't mean anything to them), the tax cut has been appreciated by the average American worker.
2. When Attacked The Tribe Unites
Oh, how many ways can I make this point? Think of "RESIST" from day one until now by the mainstream media where 93% of their coverage toward Trump was and still is negative. Think of "RESIST" from day one with all of the hate Trump posts, comments and vulgar language by supposed "friends" on social media immediately after the election and probably continuing today (finally not being able to take it and wanting to remain civil and "friends" I blocked most of them).
I and almost everyone I know who voted for Trump was shocked at the failure of one side to do what has always been done and acknowledge with grace when their side lost. Most of us were not happy with the ultra liberal policies of President Obama and we expressed our disagreements in many time tested ways and then voted for change. We did not expect the circus that followed and were shocked by the other side's behavior.
Think of the 2 year long "Trump is a Russian stodge" debacle which was obvious from very early on to anyone not affected by the "Trump derangement syndrome" that this was both a set up of Trump and a cover up of actual Clinton/Obama efforts to effect the election.
And then think of the Kavanaugh hearings with the vicious accusations, outright lies and character assassinations of an outstanding jurist and human being. These had nothing to do with judicial philosophy but everything to do with trying to destroy a person with whom you disagree.
RESIST, Kavanaugh and to a lesser sense Russia were emotional slaps in the face to conservatives which worked to unite them and will not soon be forgotten.
3. Trump Is A Money Magnet
The Republican Party was not united behind Trump in 2016 and for awhile after wards and that included many of the big money donors and certain of it's elected officials. Perhaps you are not aware of this but while President Trump is an America first person as are most of his base there is a large portion of the GOP who consider themselves globalists. Globalists seek international solutions and are willing to give up national sovereignty and treasure in order to achieve that. The Bushes were globalists. So was Obama. So is Clinton/Biden.
Without getting into a long discussion of exactly how that affects the way a President governs let me give you a simplistic generalization. There are very large and powerful international businesses and personalities who have a common goal and who invest a lot of money with politicians and activist groups around the world which includes men and woman from both parties here in America. That is a large reason why Washington is filled with swamp creatures, many who do not really have the best interests of our country in mind.
A large part of the hatred of Trump from the GOP side was that he was not one of them. He did not go to their private parties (attended by both sides), did not behave in the acceptable manner and did not have the same globalist goals. Not only that but he pledged if elected to go to Washington to drain the swamp.
However, an interesting thing happened as stated in point number 2. Although globalism is a strong interest many on the Right also actually have sincere conservative leanings and when Trump came to Washington he has governed as a true conservative. This they noticed.
But they also noticed the daily attacks, lies and misrepresentations about Trump and the effort to destroy anyone who is associated with him. It turns out that their tribal instincts are now outweighing their global instincts. In 2016 fundraising for Trump and fundraising for the GOP were separate. Today they are combined.
In 2016 Clinton raised a record billion dollars toward her election. Trump raised 600 million. This year when President Trump announced his intent to run again in 2020 he raised a million dollars an hour on the first day alone. It is estimated that his reelection war chest will equal 2.5 billion dollars. Although social media companies are almost totally controlled by young male progressives who actively work to silence conservative voices on their social media platforms the Trump campaign does have a well funded team who know how to use it to fund raise and how to get their message targeted.
4. Open Borders Is Going To Crush The Left
Illegal immigration was the major issue driving the Right in 2016. The situation has become ten times worse since then. The Left as with most issues argues emotions over facts and logic but here that is going to backfire. The African American community and the established Hispanic community, traditional Democrat voting blocs, do not want the huge influx of unskilled workers competing for some of their jobs and lowering those wages. Suburban white woman do not want to see pictures of children in cages but they are going to finally realize that the Dems because of their hatred for Trump refused to vote for any funding that would help solve a crisis caused by the overwhelming of our facilities at the border.
Populations in many countries in Europe, fearing they are losing their national identities, are rebelling. England had its Brexit vote to leave the EU and a Prime Minister who recently resigned because the globalist elites at Westminster did not want to deliver it, Greece and Italy's new governments are making sweeping immigration policy changes and Europe is rife with immigrant populations who refuse to adapt to national cultural norms and behaviors and because of that traditional national populations are rebelling.
The issue in American of course is not whether immigration is good and healthy. Most people believe it is. The issue is not whether we are a compassionate people. Most people believe we are. Instead the issue is - do we have a right to control our borders, enforce our immigration laws, decide who and when they are allowed to enter and have a chance to become citizens, willing to learn the language and adopt traditional American values. The issue also should be, are there jobs available for the new arrivals and do we have the ability to stop drugs from being smuggled in, criminals and gangs from moving in and dangerous diseases from infection our population.
These are not policies driven, as the Left tries to portray everything, by racism or xenophobia. Most Americans know this in their gut and they have noticed that one side does not even come close to believing the same way they do or trying to provide a solution, other than accepting open borders.
5. Karl Was Not One Of The Funny Marx Brothers
OK, but Bernie highlights can be pretty amusing. But when every presidential candidate from one party is competing to see who can offer the most free stuff, the craziest ideas, the highest tax rates, the most anti-Christian tropes, the most woke stance on gender, LGBT, race and abortion, the most green anti-capitalist environment, they have indeed energized the most radical of their base but have left the rest of the country far, far behind. Their push toward achieving an atheistic Marxist global utopia run by an enlightened few is an idea that because of human nature cannot and never has worked. However, for some reason their masks are now off all of them are on the record.
Partly because of abandoning either/or religious sensibilities, family values and traditional work ethic, African Americans, Latino Americans and Asians Americans are starting to leave their old party in large numbers. The rust belt is starting to turn red and you are going to see before the election defections from some major politicians and perhaps even a split in the Democrat party.
6. The Push For Reparations Is A Gift From God
Which leads to my final point.
7. God Blesses Those Who Bless The Jews
Now the Lord God said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's house to the Land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And will bless those that bless you, and the one that curses you I will curse. Genesis 12: 1-3
You may not like to hear this but here it is. God chose this moment in time to place Donald J. Trump into office. He did not choose who I would have chosen. He did not choose a man with a pristine past and a refined air. And he did not choose a politician who says one thing but believes in his heart another.
He chose a man who would take the timing away from the plans of the evil one so God could accomplish three things.
First, there is a timing for the nation of Israel. The evil one has always planned and worked to wipe that nation off the face of the earth. A Clinton presidency in 2016 after the 8 years of Obama or any of the current Democrat candidates for 2020 would have or would be a disaster for Israel. Trump is widely seen in Israel as a modern day Cyrus, a gentile king who saved the Jewish people from disaster and then issued a decree for the Jewish people to return to their land, rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and eventually rebuild the temple.
Trump was the only one running on the 2016 Republican ticket who would have had the guts to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, thus giving defacto international recognition to Jerusalem as Israel's capitol. He is the only one who would have recognized Israel's control of the strategic Golan Heights. If only for those two actions God is going to bless the Presidency of Donald Trump. Who knows what may come out his so called deal of the century regarding Israel and it's neighbors but what ever way it goes I believe it is part of God's plans for this point in time.
Second, God wanted to stop our countries march toward Marxism and globalism and in doing so He also wanted to bless our land because of all of those who have prayed, because of those who have given their time and shed their blood for the freedom and well being of other lands and because of those who have gone out from here to proclaim the good news of Jesus.
We as a nation have sinned greatly, have shed the blood of sixty million of our own innocents, and we deserve judgment. But God in His grace is giving us a period of time where those investments will return ten fold home, where globalism will be set back for a time and where the prayers of the righteous and the blood of the innocent will rise up to Heaven and Roe Vs Wade will be overturned.
What we are seeing in the public square today is the reaction of evil principalities and powers in and over this land, the loud cries of foul spirits who know they are being unmasked and in a battle for position and power, who are and will be cast out so the land may be healed. God chose Donald Trump because he has no fear of man and has no obligations to other parties.
The orange man, rough as he is, has boundless energy, loves America and understands at a deep level how people think and how there are multiple ways to look at a problem and find a solution that your normal politician could never even begin to grasp. He has God's blessing and anointing and even at times, probably without even knowing it, speaks prophetically (stories perhaps for another day).
Third, but most important. God is doing this all because of souls. I believe that it is His will that many peoples and many countries at this point in time will be led into believing that Jesus is Lord. The financial blessings that have come and are coming about are meant to be used to finance and send out the gospel. The spiritual blessings that have come and are coming are meant to evangelize, to heal the sick and mend the broken hearted, to rebuild and reinforce all that has been lost.
That is why Trump will be reelected in 2020. There is still much more to be done and perhaps after Trump God will raise up another one to take his place. That said, while I believe this is God's will it also means that the opposition may even be greater in the days ahead, the enemies cries even louder, and our need to pray for God's will to be done even greater. But as one prophet has seen in a vision, we are to declare to the screaming enemy hordes, "You have lost, we have won!"
Sunday, June 30, 2019
Yes Walt Whitman, America Still Sings
From longshoremen of Baltimore and Seattle, moving containers of steel or teaming plastic bins filled with ocean harvest, America still sings
From the uniform wearing brave and loyal, who pledge their time and risk their lives to guard, defend, extinguish and restore, America still sings
From sons and daughters of men and women, those many generations who have plowed and milked and sent out their harvest in good years and hunkered down in bad, America still sings
From those who work the 7 to 4, or 3 to 11 or 10 to 6, who mill and grind and assemble and ship then find time to share meals and coach games, America still sings
From doctors and nurses, teachers and social workers, who have pressed extra hours into each day and spent their own money to offer help and hope, America still sings
From visionaries and bosses who have no set hours but who risk, create, build and train, providing thousands of opportunities in ten thousands of communities, America still sings
These are the families watching fireworks sitting in the local park on hundreds of spread out blankets eating hot dogs and drinking soda pop or an ice cold beer, because America still sings
These are the young and old gathered together on wooden pews or metal folding chairs in a million weekly gatherings to worship and share and encourage and learn, because America still sings
These are you and me who work hard and seldom complain, who trust in God and love this land, who know in our hearts that through all the busy chatter there is still a sound of hope, because America still sings.
From the uniform wearing brave and loyal, who pledge their time and risk their lives to guard, defend, extinguish and restore, America still sings
From sons and daughters of men and women, those many generations who have plowed and milked and sent out their harvest in good years and hunkered down in bad, America still sings
From those who work the 7 to 4, or 3 to 11 or 10 to 6, who mill and grind and assemble and ship then find time to share meals and coach games, America still sings
From doctors and nurses, teachers and social workers, who have pressed extra hours into each day and spent their own money to offer help and hope, America still sings
From visionaries and bosses who have no set hours but who risk, create, build and train, providing thousands of opportunities in ten thousands of communities, America still sings
These are the families watching fireworks sitting in the local park on hundreds of spread out blankets eating hot dogs and drinking soda pop or an ice cold beer, because America still sings
These are the young and old gathered together on wooden pews or metal folding chairs in a million weekly gatherings to worship and share and encourage and learn, because America still sings
These are you and me who work hard and seldom complain, who trust in God and love this land, who know in our hearts that through all the busy chatter there is still a sound of hope, because America still sings.
Monday, May 27, 2019
Memorial Day - Stories From My Father
My father, William LaBarge, was a fighter pilot during WWII, flying Spitfires out of Northern Africa. After 6 months of combat his war ended in December of 1944 when he was shot down over the Mediterranean Sea, barely surviving a bailout at 400 feet during a snowstorm with winds at 25 mph.
Flying combat missions in WWII was extremely dangerous . While he was there his unit experienced a casualty rate of 150%. Rookie pilots were the most likely not to make it and the veterans would usually wait a couple of weeks before they would even try to get to know the new guy. Just as in the book Catch 22, a pilot had to complete a certain number of missions before they could get transferred out. The number was 50 when my father started and bumped up to 80 missions later on. Bill did not know one person who achieved that.
Here are three stories my dad wrote later in his life about the war which reflect not just the dangers but also the craziness of it all.
GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE
Early in 1943 I was flying P 39's out of Santa Rosa, California. Five of us had been told that we were being sent over to North Africa as replacements. We also were told that we could fly as much as we wanted until our orders came.
The P 39 was made for strafing and dive bombing. Neither of these were habit-forming occupations. One Friday I led a flight of three planes and we flew down to San Francisco. We flew under the Golden Gage Bridge and then put a real buzz job on the Navy ships in the harbor. (The three of us were married and were hoping we would be grounded so we could spend more time with our wives until our orders came).
Strangely, nothing happened and that night Eileen and I drove down to San Francisco for the weekend. My uncle , Vincent LaBarge, lived in Berkley (across the bay from San Francisco), and we were having dinner at his house. Who was also there, but my uncle, the Navy Commander. He said, "Bill, what are you flying?" "P 39's, sir." "Well", he said, "I'm sure it wasn't you, but three 39 's put a buzz job on me today, and those damn fools were below me and I was on the bridge. It must have been that yellow nosed squadron out of Oakland. Those ships are full of ammunition", he said. "I have the whole squadron out on the ramp, standing at attention until the guilty ones confess".
I almost choked, and when I looked at Eileen, she was looking in her lap, trying not to grin. I said, "I'm sure they didn't know you were full of ammunition". I didn't know what he would have done if he had known it was me, and I sure wasn't going to find out!
FIGHTER TRAINING BASE, AFRICA
When we arrived in Africa we were sent to a distribution center for fighter planes. There were P 40 's, P 39's and P 38's and Spit Fires. We soon learned that the P 39 was a real dog compared to the other fighter planes. We were based about 20 miles outside of Casablanca. They had a rule that you must not dog fight under 10,000 ft.
One day while flying alone I was hopped by two P 38's at about 10,000 feet. I couldn't out turn them so my only chance was to hit the deck. While trying to get away my head set came off. Suddenly I realized I was shaking the P 38. I put on my headset and heard, "The P 38's and P39 that have been dog fighting on the deck land immediately".
When I landed and parked the plane there was an M P and another Officer waiting. I was informed that I was under arrest and to go to my tent and await further instructions.
Shortly a general assembly was announced and we all went to see what was going to happen. The C.O. was very dramatic. He told about a pilot that had crashed about a week ago and his parents were just getting a telegram announcing the news. It had happened because he was disobeying orders. He said that the pilots on the base would never again have to look at us as we would never again fly for Uncle Sam. He said we would be court marshaled and sent home in disgrace. Then he said that the three of us should decide how we wanted to be punished and report to his tent when we decided.
Needless to say, things didn't look too rosy. However, I thought anyone so dramatic as this C.O. might fall for a good story so what did I have to lose? So I went and knocked on his door. He said, "It didn't take you very long to make up your mind." "No Sir" said I. "What have you got to say for yourself?"
"Sir", it was all my fault. I was losing the dog fight as a P 39 cannot turn with a P 38. My only chance was to hit the deck. This desert all looks alike and I didn't realize I was over the field. Naturally they followed me. There is no reason to court marshal the P 38 pilots".
"My boy, I couldn't court marshal a man like you. It took a lot of guts to come in here and say what you did. Come over here and sit down. You stick with the 39's. At Kaserine Pass the Germans were coming thru in force. We sent 12 39's out in the morning and 3 came back. Ten more went out at noon and 2 came back. There are only 5 left. They went out and none came back, but they plugged the gap. You stick with that aircraft. But what will I tell the 38 pilots?" "I said, they are trained to be killers. Don't do anything to them".
About a half an hour later the 38 pilots came by the tent. They said said they didn't know what I told the C.O. but it must have been good. Later they came back with a bottle of good Scotch.
The next morning I went out and transferred to Spit Fires.
EARLY MORNING
One day I was scheduled on an early morning recon flight with flight officer Montgomery. We had information that something was going on around Cannes and were supposed to check it out. We flew over on the deck so the radar wouldn't pick us up. We flew right into the harbor and it was absolutely quiet. But then all hell broke loose. They were not only shooting at us, but would lob shells into the water and the spouts were murder if you flew into one. Only my laundry man would know how scared I was. "They're mad at us Willie, let's get the hell out of here", came from Monty. Fortunately we got out without getting hit in a vital spot. When we landed back at Calvi, both Monty and I had from forty to fifty holes in our planes and while I was there neither plane was able to fly again.
When we were briefed afterwards the C.O. wanted to know what we saw. We said that all we saw were tracers and water spouts and there was no doubt something they didn't want us to see. Later we found out that Hitler was there on a yacht. That was never confirmed, but obviously, there was something they didn't want us to see.
Monty was one of the finest men I knew. He had the ability to lead the whole group into combat. If they had been able to get his promotion from flight officer to 2nd Lt. he would have been promoted to a least a Major as fast as possible. He had been shot down (mostly by flak) several times but always survived.
They tell the story about when he was in Naples on leave. He was stopped by a group of M.P's and had to show the color of the underwear he had on. Army regulations said everyone had to wear khaki colored underwear. Monty's underwear was white. This was a Major that stopped him and started to write up a penalty of some type. Monty grabbed him by his collar and actually shook him and said, "Sir, if you don't have anything better than this to do, why in the hell don't you go home!"
The following week Monty was killed in combat.
The week following that the C.O. received a letter from M.P headquarters in Naples instructing Captain Huston (he was our C.O. and should have been a light Col.) to court martial Flight Officer Montgomery for being disrespectful to a superior officer, etc. Captain Huston wrote back that he could not comply with request, Montgomery had been killed in action and he was putting him in for the D.F.C.
Flying combat missions in WWII was extremely dangerous . While he was there his unit experienced a casualty rate of 150%. Rookie pilots were the most likely not to make it and the veterans would usually wait a couple of weeks before they would even try to get to know the new guy. Just as in the book Catch 22, a pilot had to complete a certain number of missions before they could get transferred out. The number was 50 when my father started and bumped up to 80 missions later on. Bill did not know one person who achieved that.
Here are three stories my dad wrote later in his life about the war which reflect not just the dangers but also the craziness of it all.
GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE
Early in 1943 I was flying P 39's out of Santa Rosa, California. Five of us had been told that we were being sent over to North Africa as replacements. We also were told that we could fly as much as we wanted until our orders came.
The P 39 was made for strafing and dive bombing. Neither of these were habit-forming occupations. One Friday I led a flight of three planes and we flew down to San Francisco. We flew under the Golden Gage Bridge and then put a real buzz job on the Navy ships in the harbor. (The three of us were married and were hoping we would be grounded so we could spend more time with our wives until our orders came).
Strangely, nothing happened and that night Eileen and I drove down to San Francisco for the weekend. My uncle , Vincent LaBarge, lived in Berkley (across the bay from San Francisco), and we were having dinner at his house. Who was also there, but my uncle, the Navy Commander. He said, "Bill, what are you flying?" "P 39's, sir." "Well", he said, "I'm sure it wasn't you, but three 39 's put a buzz job on me today, and those damn fools were below me and I was on the bridge. It must have been that yellow nosed squadron out of Oakland. Those ships are full of ammunition", he said. "I have the whole squadron out on the ramp, standing at attention until the guilty ones confess".
I almost choked, and when I looked at Eileen, she was looking in her lap, trying not to grin. I said, "I'm sure they didn't know you were full of ammunition". I didn't know what he would have done if he had known it was me, and I sure wasn't going to find out!
FIGHTER TRAINING BASE, AFRICA
When we arrived in Africa we were sent to a distribution center for fighter planes. There were P 40 's, P 39's and P 38's and Spit Fires. We soon learned that the P 39 was a real dog compared to the other fighter planes. We were based about 20 miles outside of Casablanca. They had a rule that you must not dog fight under 10,000 ft.
One day while flying alone I was hopped by two P 38's at about 10,000 feet. I couldn't out turn them so my only chance was to hit the deck. While trying to get away my head set came off. Suddenly I realized I was shaking the P 38. I put on my headset and heard, "The P 38's and P39 that have been dog fighting on the deck land immediately".
When I landed and parked the plane there was an M P and another Officer waiting. I was informed that I was under arrest and to go to my tent and await further instructions.
Shortly a general assembly was announced and we all went to see what was going to happen. The C.O. was very dramatic. He told about a pilot that had crashed about a week ago and his parents were just getting a telegram announcing the news. It had happened because he was disobeying orders. He said that the pilots on the base would never again have to look at us as we would never again fly for Uncle Sam. He said we would be court marshaled and sent home in disgrace. Then he said that the three of us should decide how we wanted to be punished and report to his tent when we decided.
Needless to say, things didn't look too rosy. However, I thought anyone so dramatic as this C.O. might fall for a good story so what did I have to lose? So I went and knocked on his door. He said, "It didn't take you very long to make up your mind." "No Sir" said I. "What have you got to say for yourself?"
"Sir", it was all my fault. I was losing the dog fight as a P 39 cannot turn with a P 38. My only chance was to hit the deck. This desert all looks alike and I didn't realize I was over the field. Naturally they followed me. There is no reason to court marshal the P 38 pilots".
"My boy, I couldn't court marshal a man like you. It took a lot of guts to come in here and say what you did. Come over here and sit down. You stick with the 39's. At Kaserine Pass the Germans were coming thru in force. We sent 12 39's out in the morning and 3 came back. Ten more went out at noon and 2 came back. There are only 5 left. They went out and none came back, but they plugged the gap. You stick with that aircraft. But what will I tell the 38 pilots?" "I said, they are trained to be killers. Don't do anything to them".
About a half an hour later the 38 pilots came by the tent. They said said they didn't know what I told the C.O. but it must have been good. Later they came back with a bottle of good Scotch.
The next morning I went out and transferred to Spit Fires.
EARLY MORNING
One day I was scheduled on an early morning recon flight with flight officer Montgomery. We had information that something was going on around Cannes and were supposed to check it out. We flew over on the deck so the radar wouldn't pick us up. We flew right into the harbor and it was absolutely quiet. But then all hell broke loose. They were not only shooting at us, but would lob shells into the water and the spouts were murder if you flew into one. Only my laundry man would know how scared I was. "They're mad at us Willie, let's get the hell out of here", came from Monty. Fortunately we got out without getting hit in a vital spot. When we landed back at Calvi, both Monty and I had from forty to fifty holes in our planes and while I was there neither plane was able to fly again.
When we were briefed afterwards the C.O. wanted to know what we saw. We said that all we saw were tracers and water spouts and there was no doubt something they didn't want us to see. Later we found out that Hitler was there on a yacht. That was never confirmed, but obviously, there was something they didn't want us to see.
Monty was one of the finest men I knew. He had the ability to lead the whole group into combat. If they had been able to get his promotion from flight officer to 2nd Lt. he would have been promoted to a least a Major as fast as possible. He had been shot down (mostly by flak) several times but always survived.
They tell the story about when he was in Naples on leave. He was stopped by a group of M.P's and had to show the color of the underwear he had on. Army regulations said everyone had to wear khaki colored underwear. Monty's underwear was white. This was a Major that stopped him and started to write up a penalty of some type. Monty grabbed him by his collar and actually shook him and said, "Sir, if you don't have anything better than this to do, why in the hell don't you go home!"
The following week Monty was killed in combat.
The week following that the C.O. received a letter from M.P headquarters in Naples instructing Captain Huston (he was our C.O. and should have been a light Col.) to court martial Flight Officer Montgomery for being disrespectful to a superior officer, etc. Captain Huston wrote back that he could not comply with request, Montgomery had been killed in action and he was putting him in for the D.F.C.
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