I’m trying to make sense of this communist uprising infecting American politics.

Mark Twain has been noted as saying, “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than open it and remove all doubt.”

This socialist movement is promising the world and saying things that are completely irrational. They’re not removing doubt they’re fools; they’re confirming it.

The timing of this wave of commies is also convenient. America celebrating 250 years of the Constitution that got us here to a movement that wants to tear it all down.

And replace it with what?

The nonsense about abolishing the Senate, the Presidency and so forth is idiocy and they know that will never happen.

One of the big pushes by these crazies is the defunding of police and the abolishment of prisons.

Democrats and liberals have already made committing crimes mere annoyances by removing bail and “feeling sorry” for a pedophile or murderer because he/she had a rough childhood. Do you personally think you have what it takes to take the life of another human being? Whether planned or spontaneous, our creator didn’t design humans to kill each other. So, when someone does, wires got crossed. Would it then make sense to allow someone who is brain damaged to have free rein to continue killing? Raping? Or dealing drugs to kill your kids?

There’s no way this breed of wannabe policymakers has thought any of this through. This bizarre Utopian lawless thinking is a brainless thing to even consider. And yet, the young minds who only hear free stuff don’t think past that.

Democrats and Republicans are in real trouble if they don’t change how they do business. These young voters don’t watch CNN or Fox. Or read anything if it isn’t on Instagram or TikTok. And it’s almost a free way to campaign for these loons. It’s a new world and the political geezers better get with the new program. These people have a big jump on how to do it.

Foreign countries have funneled hundreds of billions of dollars into our universities to indoctrinate. We’ve heard the stories and yet we’ve allowed it to continue. We’re witnessing in real time this new batch of kids coming out of these schools hating America, supporting terrorists, and now embracing communism. Their brains, along with the professors, are warped with a different perspective of America and life in general.

Their Secret Is Out

Do you think Mamdani, AOC, El-Sayed and all the others even know they’ve been groomed to destroy the country that allows them to say stupid things? Or do they really think what they’re preaching will make America better? I guess the answer is, they don’t want to make America better. They want to get rid of America.

What’s scary is this used to be secret, now they admit to it.

Let’s picture a quick summary if some of their ideas were to befall us.

Once the border was reopened, it would make Biden’s four years look tame in comparison. It would be impossible to stop the human mass migration. There wouldn’t be enough money to pay for 20, 50,100 million more mouths to feed, clothe, educate, and supply medical services to, even after taxing billionaires. America would run out of places for bodies to live. And with free rent, landlords would have no choice but to walk away. Apartment complexes and condos would become slum havens overnight.

With no one keeping up maintenance, water and power would cease. All these millions upon millions would need to eat but would be unable to pay for basic needs of survival. Without prisons and the police being defunded there’s nothing to stop national theft akin to an apocalyptic novel.

Homeowners would have to resort to violence to protect their properties, and the shooting would begin on both sides. And there’s be no one to stop it. Hospitals couldn’t keep up and eventually would fold under lack of income and burnout from doctors and nurses who would no longer be paid.

All the free stuff wouldn’t matter anymore because there wouldn’t be any free stuff left.

There’s a reason we have Stop signs, traffic lights, speed limits.

Even though Mexico is a mess with cartels and their own share of lawlessness, they’re still a functioning country. In a blink, not only the Mexican cartels, but the Chinese, Iranian, and every terrorist across the globe would reinforce their buddies already here. Then watch the real shooting begin.

Those with the wherewithal would flee to places around the world and leave Rome burning behind them.

The socialists will have buried themselves in a hell of their making. They didn’t think about asking themselves to be careful what they wished for.

Hyperbole?

It’s already happening. Look no further than the “Summer of Love,” when everyone was supposed to stay indoors, wear masks, and die quietly. Liberals supported the rampages and burning of cities. The ensuing defunding of police took only a few years, even for liberals, to realize it was an irresponsible action. They too saw the rise in crime was a direct result of ridiculous decisions.

It’s still going on in places like Seattle.

How do we put the brakes on this nonsense?

I wish I knew other than the voting booth. And despite 80% of voters wanting voter ID, Democrats still fight it.

If we can’t be at least, let’s say, 80% certain our election process isn’t corrupted then what are we really doing?

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I’ve been a staunch Republican conservative since I watched Ronald Reagan at the Republican National Convention on July 17, 1980. That’s the moment when I realized I believed in common sense.

One of my worst nightmares is to wake up some morning and realize I had been infected and reverted to not thinking for myself again.

So, the following words are going to throw a lot of you off.

I don’t like how the Iran war is going

I’m 100% supportive of President Trump preventing Iran from having nuclear weapons. No other president had the cajónes to do what the world knows needed to be done. Past presidents wanted to win re-election and were weak in taking decisive action. They all did the Iranian dance. Pretended they were trying. And they all got played.

Donald Trump is being played.

This “war” revealed so much more than trying to prevent fanatics from building nuclear bombs. It revealed the Iranian religious zealots are an astute and calculating bunch. Much smarter than I would have ever given them credit for. These Iranians are masterful manipulators.

In a couple years, Trump will fade into the memory books. All those who have made Trump-hating part of their daily routine, will have to redirect that loathing to something else. Trump doesn’t have to worry about another election, but he does have to worry about not handing the next two election cycles over to Democrats. That includes the rising communist movement.

If Democrats win in 2028, the Iranians will restart their nuclear program, and Americans will begin to relive what Spain recently got a taste of during our own Biden border fiasco.

The mullahs and imams know it’s imperative to ride out the bombing and endure the financial hardship no matter how much it hurts. The alternative isn’t good. They’ve had their way for nearly half a century and have been just cocky enough to think that as long as they played the world while building up their arsenal, they were untouchable. Even the recent reported slaughter and executions of its people didn’t raise the ire enough for the world to step up.

The Pope leaned their way.

Then along came Trump

Like most of you, we know the Iranians strategically stretched things out. They’re using our own country against us. Some Republicans are siding with Democrats and Iran is loving it. They’re using our media as their personal propaganda machine.

Having no idea what’s going on behind the scenes, what we do know is making me nuts. Trump initially said it was going to be an excursion of four to five weeks. Now it’s six months. I give it to those crazy mullahs. They have “negotiations” down to a science.

How much more bombing will convince the Iranian “leaders” to come to the table? I personally think Trump can turn Iran into rubble and the lunatics won’t budge. Just like Hamas. They’re cut from the same keffiyeh. Their hate for America (and its partner, Israel) is in their DNA. They don’t care what your personal beliefs are about anything. They want all of us dead.

Maybe good things are going on behind the scenes, but Trump better hurry up with whatever that might be. And I don’t ever want to see boots on the ground. Not in this fight.

I also don’t like the amount of munitions we’ve used for this “skirmish.” Not just the cost but what it’s done to our stockpiles. I hope it hasn’t placed us in a weakened condition where some other nation(s) decide to test us. Again, I have no way of knowing where we stand but you can be sure China, Russia, and others are keeping a running tally of how many bombs exploded.

The other thing we learned: the world is a bunch of cowards

Europe allowed Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) to infect their decisions. Denying the use of airspace and bases for what reason? Didn’t want to get on Iran’s bad side? Or just to slap Trump around a bit? Israel is about the size of New Jersey and has more courage than all of Europe combined. Of course, Israel has the most to lose and the most to gain as well. Based on Europe’s behavior and lack of support, I wonder if it’s also antisemitic? After all, Iran was only going to blow up Isreal. Right, they would never think of holding Europe hostage dangling nuclear weapons.

European leaders do a lot of talking and chest puffing but stare at the floor, step back and let Daddy do all the hard work. They say it’s Trump’s war, but are inwardly happy having Iran taken off the terrorist table. And it didn’t cost them a thing.

You go girls.

It’s so much easier to do nothing

The short of it: Trump, get your business done and get off the pot. Your cabinet and military are loaded with smart people. If it were not for a possible peace deal pending with Hamas, likely another stall tactic, I would say release the Kraken and let Israel finish it.

As I was submitting this column, Trump called for another pause for more negotiations.

At this point I don’t have a lot of faith but I’m an optimist and will keep my fingers crossed.

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It was 53 years ago when my wife and I went to Las Vegas for our honeymoon. Not the most romantic destination, but the closest and cheapest since we had no money. My father knew someone and got a us a deal at the Dunes, a hotel that people under fifty, maybe older, never heard of and one that long ago has since been imploded. Just like the famous Rat Pack Sands Hotel. Stayed there a couple times too. Just a simple two-story place that would be considered a budget motel today.

My mother loaned us her huge V8 Pontiac to drive across the desert wasteland. Gas was 24 cents a gallon.

Of course, Murphy’s Law stepped in. Somewhere on the Pear Blossom Highway the oil gauge went to zero. I pulled over and checked the dip stick. Dry. Looked underneath and spotted the leak. Not to be deterred from reaching our destination, I bought a case of oil. Every few miles I’d pull over and put more in.

After checking into an already tired hotel even back then, I tracked down a mechanic shop who picked up the massive vehicle for repairs. I called my mom and said it was going to cost $500. That was big money in those days.

Which brings me to one of the points of this column.

Las Vegas Used To Be Cheap

Everything from lodging to food was a bargain. Gambling brought in all the bucks they needed. And if not, it was a corrupt city and probably still is. They made extra income in other ways.

For those in my age bracket we can all recall billboards advertising $2.99 breakfasts. Some even .99 cents. Lunch buffets were $5. Full-blown dinner buffets with everything imaginable cost between $10.and $15. And it was good. Real food in those days. In downtown Vegas there was a place that for just a few bucks, you could eat all the shrimp you wanted. Big time shows were $20.

Elvis Presley was doing his Vegas schtick. It was sold out but I found my way to a side entrance and flipped some mafia looking guy in a tux a twenty-dollar-bill. He looked down and laughed. Okay, I was only twenty years old, and I could gamble all night with that twenty. Legally I couldn’t drink or gamble.

I did both and no one said a thing.

We ended up seeing Neil Sedaka for I’m sure some super low price. At the time I had no clue who he was. My wife did, loved him and it was a good show. I earned honeymoon points.

I recently went back to Vegas with my wife, daughter and granddaughter. We saw the Wizard of Oz at the Sphere. A must see. But even cheap seats for the Wizard are over $200.

Times have changed. Like everything tends to do.

We went to some “fancy” restaurant and one of the chefs said he was going to prepare me a special fish. Made a big deal out of it. It was nothing special. I got my bill and as the saying goes, my jaw dropped. A tiny strip of fish, with bones, cost $103! Cocktails run over $25. You of course can find lower-cost places outside the big hotels, but people come for the massive resorts and all the fufu.

The Future Unfolds

After getting fleeced by the slot machines I walked over to watch a crap table. I used to play back in the day. You could bet for 25 cents. Today it’s 25 dollars. I don’t know how all the people do it. Or why? Everyone knows the house always wins.

They say Las Vegas is in distress. That tourism is down; the city is hurting. I was there on a Tuesday in July at 105 degrees. The Venetian was sold out, and the casino was packed. If America is having a difficult time dealing with inflation and gas prices, it was surely not evident in Vegas.

You can easily spend thousands in forty-eight hours just on food, lodging and drinks. You don’t have to gamble to have your pockets emptied.

I wonder if the costs today will be looked upon as inexpensive ten, fifteen, twenty-five years from now? Cocktails for $200? Dinners $400 a plate? Gas at $150 a gallon?

Well maybe in California.

Will a place like Las Vegas have AI robots running the blackjack tables? The crap tables? Machines already exist for those games. Could the casino floors turn into an exclusively non-human gaming operation? As it is, they have machines where you type in the cocktail you want, and a robot mixes it for you.

Those things could, maybe, bring costs down. Would thousands of jobs be lost? Would Las Vegas return to sand and lizards?

The world of machines is beginning to happen everywhere. We all see it in self-checkout. Self-driving cars. I have a friend who drives to L.A. and back every week. I asked if it doesn’t bother him going down there all the time? He said, Heck no; my Tesla does all the driving. He dials in the destination, kicks back and listens to books on tape and whatever else he needs to get done. The Tesla makes all the freeway changes and turnoffs. I’m not ready for that, but he’s very comfortable and has done it for years. That doesn’t mean I don’t love the idea of letting a computer deal with traffic. Hopefully it won’t curse the way I do.

Back in the day I loved Las Vegas. Not anymore. Today my granddaughter does. Especially when the credit card follows her around. Ironically, she’s the same age I was on my honeymoon. The circle of life.

If Vegas is hurting, I don’t know where the wound is.

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It’s been said during the Civil War as many as 750,000 white men gave their lives in large part to end slavery. That’s the equivalent to the population of Seattle, Denver, or Nashville.

Ancient Egypt, Greece, Africa, all throughout Europe practiced slavery. Still do. Brazil imported a larger number of African slaves than America.

There’s a form of “slavery” that continues today that bothers me the most, child trafficking.

Why do we seemingly ignore over three million kids, children who are used as slaves around the world as we sit everyday enjoying our morning coffee? And that number is likely much higher because how do you accurately count?

Place yourself in the mind of a child who is ensconced in some hovel, or a home, being exploited for sex and/or making a pair of Nikes. We can’t even imagine the horror and hell so many young people are living through at this very moment. No parents, no school, no freedom, no life. How many just die off or wish they were dead?

I saw a recent story about an Iraqi ISIS couple who had been sentenced to prison in Germany. They bought a five-year-old and 12-year-old-girl who they held captive and repeatedly raped and tortured for years. They made the purchase at a slave market in Mosul! We still have slave markets!

And it’s not just kids.

I have a nephew who recently visited Monaco with his girlfriend. They had ordered two cocktails at a bar. His girlfriend accidently tipped over her drink, so my nephew drank hers. He was roofied. Nearly took him down. I going to assume both drinks were tampered with. Had they drank both, they could have entered the European slave trade.

Closer to home, a female relative left a bar in the Funk Zone with her girlfriend. The street they were on was devoid of people. They heard footsteps and looked back. Two men were following. They started running and the men took up chase. They ducked into a small business establishment. When they looked outside a car had pulled up and picked up the would-be kidnappers. What do you think the plan was for two young girls? This was in Santa Barbara!

When the Biden regime opened America’s southern border the obvious was staring in our faces. And yet Democrats and media kept deflecting and trying to make us look the other way. We need to be compassionate for the poor who are looking for a better life. Bull crap!

We witnessed how the cartels ran an organized, aided and abetted trafficking operation with the help of our own democrats and leftists who ignored the massive exploitation they were allowing to happen. Always pointing to the poor children being separated from their families. You bet they were. By the cartels.

Nearly half a million kids entered the United States under Biden’s watch. Over 300,000 just flat out disappeared. Since them Trump’s efforts have found about 145,000 of those unaccompanied minors. Again, all these numbers are fluid. No one really knows. What we do know, under the failings of the Biden’s administration, is hundreds of thousands of kids are likely still living in hell and/or dead already. Or have traded hands. Was that compassion?

We also know the new wave of socialists trying to undermine America, want to go back to the very same Biden practice by opening the border again. I can imagine the cartel’s sitting with lawn chairs on the border ready to line their billionaire pockets even more.

I just finished reading a trilogy of books (fiction) whose main character lost a daughter to child trafficking. He teamed up with a guy who invented a computer program able to utilize all the cameras around the world; CCTV, cell phones, satellite images, home security systems and stitch them together. Creating a digital time machine to the past. He then used those images to track down child traffickers to bring them to justice. Far-fetched? Maybe not.

The protagonist gives the parents the option to deliver justice on their own terms. Some choose to impose the ultimate sentence. Others don’t have it in them and turn it over to law enforcement.

What would you do if your child had been enslaved, sexually abused, turned into a drug addict and ultimately killed? Would you have the strength, the guts, the courage to impose the death penalty yourself? Knowing there is a good possibility the person(s) responsible in today’s crazy support the criminal climate that the scum bag(s) could walk or get a light sentence.

Governor Walz of Minnesota is the latest glaring example of protect the criminals run amok. He pardoned an illegal from Laos even after the guy admitted he sexually assaulted a ten-year-old for years. Walz could have been vice president.

Growing up, milk cartons displayed the faces of missing kids. I remember as a young boy eating my cereal and absently studying the faces wondering where they were. Today there aren’t enough milk cartons for all the children lost to the ether.

If you figure maybe 20 million illegals were allowed to flow into the United States, even at 1% there could be as many as 200,000 cartel members, gang bangers, Chinese spies, Iranian terrorists and human traffickers in America. We’re all not stupid and did not succumb to CNN’s propaganda. We saw with our own eyes how the migrants over time transitioned from families to young men. We have no idea who they were or where they are. We do know many have taken up the hobby of rape, murder, drug dealing and human trafficking.

Slave labor, prostituting children by these pieces of garbage is a hidden crime.

Searching for stats, even ChatGPT gets flustered. The United States blends forced child labor with human trafficking and can’t, won’t separate them. The last real numbers were in 2023 when over 2,000 child traffickers were “referred” to various U.S. Attorneys. Only about half were charged.

In 2026, you would think we could do much better than that.

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As an old boxer (which I’m not) might say, “I’ve decided to throw in the towel.” I’m going to go all in and will vote Democrat to support the party’s new socialist movement.

“How nice it would be,” I told myself, “to no longer worry about wanting to live the American dream.”

No more pressure.

For example, owning a home is overrated. I won’t have to worry a…

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A recent poll shows pride in America has fallen off. Not something to be proud of for our upcoming birthday. It’s primarily the Democrats, less than 30%, which is no surprise since many have veered so far off course from American values.

Socialists are taking over the Democrat Party and that crowd really hates America.

We’ve all been watching who would be…

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We Have Become a Nation of Slobs

Angry fellow human beings are saying things I never would have thought would be uttered so openly in public.

They’re admitting they have no problem with murder.

Apparently, it can be justified.

They’re declaring it’s okay to execute someone or something they don’t agree with. They brazenly condone assassination if it advance…

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“Okay students. Settle down. We have a lot to get through today.”

The college professor was an AI image on a 50-foot Tron. The classroom comprised images of the students attending on screens around the perfectly coifed brunette instructor dressed in a dark blue pant suit. An image of human perfection.

The “professor” continued, “Thank you all for signing up for this all-important recount of a time in America’s history where; to put it bluntly, the country had lost its mind for about ten years. Four years in particular.” The female image transitioned to a male and added, “I have been programmed to insert some bias and emotion in my class to further advance my points. What I’m about to communicate is well documented and many who lived during those dark days are still shaking their heads in disbelief even today.”

The male image paused and watched everyone lean in to listen.

“It was the year 2020. No one could have foreseen how so many diverse forces would collide simultaneously. It began with a global pandemic. I’m sure many of you are fully aware of COVID 19 and when it made its first appearance. It began in China and spread around the globe in a raging fury. The political argument to hide its true source suggested it came from a bat, a pangolin. Nearly all reputable health organizations refused to admit it leaked from a Chinese lab. A lab that the very person who had been given full power to decree American policy concerning the virus was also involved in was in pursuit of enhancing the effect of the virus to make it more dangerous.”

The AI was female again, walking back and forth in front of a simple oak desk, hands behind its back. Then stopped and stared straight ahead. Boring her deep blue eyes directly through her students. “Anyone who disputed the storyline was chastised, lost their jobs, cancelled, and black balled. Their lives threatened.”

“Anthony Fauci kept preaching it was the science and demanded everyone take an experimental vaccine and guaranteed it was perfectly safe. Many refused. Thousands subsequently did lose their jobs; including health care workers, military, first responders and those in multitudes of careers because it didn’t stop at the virus, it infected minds and removed all common sense.

A “New Weapon” Emerges

“Politicians, nearly all what they called ‘Democrats’ at the time, used the virus as a Machiavellian weapon. You were not allowed to worship in a church, and in many cases not even outside, but you could watch women disrobe in strip clubs. Small businesses had to close their doors with no means of financial support while large box stores remained open with hundreds of people walking around. Masks became mandatory everywhere and quickly became a political issue.

You were forced to maintain six feet of separation from each other no matter where you went.”

A number of gasps emanated from the students.

“Yes, according to Fauci’s science, staying six feet apart would protect you. I know, stupid, right? Schools were shut down, in some cases for nearly two years. Health clubs were shuttered but ‘Democrat’ politicians would sneak off on vacations or out to restaurants while everyone else became prisoners in their homes.”

The image morphed into two, a Hispanic male and black female both speaking in perfect unison.

America’s Cities In Flames

“If that wasn’t enough. A drug addict and small-time criminal was pulled over by police. When asked to step out of the car, the individual resisted arrest. That irresponsible action released a chain reaction of events that quite literally set the United States on fire. George Floyd was wrestled to the ground where he accidently died. The optics were not good and because President Barack Obama had reconstituted racism, a white police officer was charged with murder. Some in the black community along with anarchists, using the financial help of dark money, systematically burned down cities and murdered dozens. The chaos went on for months and became a license to attack anyone white. Even while eating in restaurants. A very biased media labeled the turmoil as “The summer of love.” The reverse racism was ignored.

“Democrat politicians made things worse by siding with the rioters and joined in taking a ‘knee’ for the cause. The unhinged infection spread into sports, television, and the media. And a new era labeled, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – DEI – cloaked the American landscape.

Pregnant Men, Children’s Testicles Removed, Parents in Jail

“Merit no longer held any value. The color of a person’s skin, gender, and sexual preference, became the new measurement.

“Children were having their genitals removed and you couldn’t inform the parents. Children were being mutilated. Parents were imprisoned because they merely wanted to retain their rightful authority over their children.”

The AI professor blended into a single Asian man. It stopped talking allowing the students to catch their breath and absorb what they had just been told.

“It didn’t stop there; it was propounded that men could have babies and that there existed a multitude of genders. We’ll go into those another time. No longer was it just male and female. In fact, men were allowed to compete against women in sports. Obliterating science that men by nature are physically stronger than women.”

The image blended back to the original brunette and displayed a very subtle, what might be considered a touch of emotion.

“Class, these are just some of the highlights that had occurred during a transitional period for America. Over the coming weeks of this course, I will go into more detail how some Americans were unable to function properly because of a vehement hatred for President Donald Trump. And the divide it created.

“Your assignment for next week is to research what impact the Biden administration had on the country when the southern American border became non-existent. Millions of people had been allowed to enter America, unimpeded. It cost taxpayers $150 billion a year to support all the illegal immigrants. A lot of money in those days. The subsequent attempt to send them back to their homes launched another abnormal period in American history.

“As an old saying goes, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

“See you all next week.”

The Tron went black. The faces around the screen appeared stunned.

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I had written in a previous column when, at eighteen, I had driven across the country in a VW bug with no heater in the middle of winter.

My wife and I recently completed a near full cross-country journey from Solvang to Paducah, Kentucky. This time in a full-size pickup with heater and AC. Camping in our RV trailer. You may ask why? I did too. My wife is an avid and excellent quilter and Paducah holds an annual massive quilt event.

I swore I would never drive a long trip like that again, but she wanted to give it a go. Nearly three weeks of road-tripping for a two-day visit seemed a lot. Am I complaining? Well kind of. It’s one thing when you’re 18, quite another when in your 70s.

And rather than fight the cold of winter this time, we had to dodge tornadoes. I’ll take my chances with an earthquake any day.

Always looking for the positive, I put together a montage of our encounters along the way. I call it “tidbits” because for the most part they were brief, but it opened windows to people across this great and vast land. And I’m only touching on a few of them.

KOA Comfort

When we pulled into our KOA campground in Albuquerque, we were exhausted. There was no place to eat within walking distance. I didn’t want to unhook the truck for our one-night stay. The campground suggested an Italian restaurant would deliver to our site. I called and the young man that answered was super kind and helpful. He said our meal would be delivered in sixty minutes. He arrived on the dot. He was very pleasant and cheerful. We talked for a bit, and I tipped him $25. You would have thought it was a thousand dollars. He kept thanking us and said it made his day.

Their food made our day, it was fantastic.

The 4-½ Pound Burger

Our next stop was in Amarillo, Texas. The campground shuttled us to their restaurant down the street. The Big Texan Steak House. Holy cow, and I mean cow. This place was the Disneyland of restaurants. The décor was right out of an old Western saloon but massive. And the steaks were enormous. If you could eat their 72-ounce steak in under one hour it was free. I took a photo of that thing.

It wasn’t normal.

Our waitress was a bit aloof, but I never let something like that go. I engaged her every time and asked where she was from. Before long she softened. She was from Las Vegas. Her parents moved to Texas, and she loved where she ended up.

I made a commitment to myself a few years ago to engage everyone I met. To leave a good impression, even if it was just a smile.

We departed as friends.

Thunderstorm Central

One of our first experiences with spring weather in the Midwest was at a campground outside Tulsa, Oklahoma. Upon checking in I was told to keep my ears open for security in case we had to get to the shelter. Shelter! She said they were expecting “some” weather. I sat outside before it got dark and things looked okay to me. Holy poop stain! It wasn’t an hour later the sky unleased rain like I’ve never seen. The wind blew so hard trees were laying sideways, and the trailer was rocking back and forth. Then the thunder and lightning arrived with a vengeance. I couldn’t sleep. I kept looking out the window waiting for security to make the call. There was enough rain that night alone to take care of California for five years. If California had a place to store it. Next morning, blue skies. Like nothing ever happened.

On Stage in Branson

Our next stop was Branson, Missouri where we slowed down for a couple days. I equate Branson to kind of like a mellow Midwest Las Vegas without the casinos. We attended a couple shows. One was a country comedy variety show. During intermission the actors made themselves available at the front of the stage. I engaged in conversation, as I always do. You can be in Montana, Florida or Missouri, the country is bursting with amazing people. During the second act I was called on stage to be roasted. The lead man told the audience we had driven out from California, and I must have lost a bet or something. When asked where I came from the second comedian looked at me and said he knew the place. As we were leaving the theater the comedian called out my name. He was from southern California and knew Solvang well. He and his wife used to always visit. We had an enjoyable conversation and departed as new friends.

Pulling Into Paducah

At our destination, Paducah, Kentucky, there was a BBQ guy set up next to our camp site. First night I went over and sat on the bench with him. For the next three days we grew to know each other. He was a well-known local BBQ chef and was good! I ate three nights in a row; pulled pork, ribs, brisket. His wife would join him and along with my wife, as well as other campers, would sit with them for hours.

I’m going to miss Mark and Nora.

A Hundred Miles From Nowhere

The most fearful and yet most wonderful experience occurred on one of the most desolate roads I’ve ever driven in America; highway 57 from Dodge City, Kansas to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I’ll admit I was stressed out every day filled with “What ifs?” Well, the What if happened. Somewhere on Mars, the trailer had a blowout. As far as you could see there was absolutely nothing. No buildings, no trees, no shrubs. Just dry dirt. The tire iron from my truck didn’t fit the trailer lugs. I was stranded. The few cars that drove by just kept on going. Then a pickup truck swung back around. Two gruff looking men, dressed in well-worn dirty overalls approached us. I went on high alert.

“Do you need any help?” They asked.

“All I can get.”

After assessing my predicament, they said they’ll be right back. And true to their word, some twenty minutes later they returned with a hydraulic jack and impact wrench. Five minutes later the spare was on. I pulled out cash; they said no. Pass it along.

If I never believed in angels before, Ben and Charles, father and son cattle ranchers, were truly angels. If it had not been for them, we could still be there. I’ve never felt more blessed and that lucky in my life.

Ben and Charles affirmed my belief that America is a great land with great people.

Moral of the Story

Love your country. It’s wonderful place to be a part of and is filled with wonderful people. I have sympathy for the marchers and America haters who need to remind themselves of just how good they have it. How good we all have it.

There’s so much to be thankful for and a lot of good people to be thankful with.

•••

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On my recent journey across the country, I can firmly report California is viewed as one big nut case.

These common-sense states have something you will also never see in California: Trump stores. Retail stores filled with everything Trump, sweatshirts, hats, bobble heads, flags and more. Tons of things patriotic. And the stores are busy.

I told the store owner we had just traveled from California and her face lit up. She said, “Wait right there. I have something for you.” She returned with a red baseball cap that read, “Make California Great Again.” She handed it to me and said it was a gift. It was the sixth one she gave away that day. I said my home state can use all the help it can get.

When I left, I paid $8.00 a gallon for diesel. Three states over, diesel was in the low $4’s. The people I spoke with were complaining about $4.00 a gallon and I told them we would love to be paying that. We’ve been paying that and much more for years.

I encountered people who had never visited the loony state. They said they weren’t even interested. Peel away all the crazy environmentalists, the whacky woke, the progressive nut case leftists and one-state party rule that have plunged California on life support and it’s a very pretty place.

Sweet Land of Liberty

After driving for days when all you can see is well, nothing. No mountains, no hills and in many cases no trees, California is blessed with the largest trees on the planet, the highest mountain in the low forty-eight and the lowest point in the land. From beautiful beaches to magnificent mountains covered in lakes and pine trees. And yet people are fleeing what the first settlers thought to be paradise. And it can be again.

We have a slim chance to try and right the ship as they say. Two Republicans are holding their own to become governor. The problem is they make sense and say things that a are logical and offering great plans to work toward healing the open sores of California.

Democrats can’t get a handle on that.

The morons on the left will continue to vote for rinse and repeat out of hatred while we morons with common sense have always let them.

Can a Republican governor go head-to-head with liberal legislators who are determined to keep defecating in their backyard? We saw what happened to Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was stripped of his manhood trying to go against the liberal machine. Eventually he became one of them and now identifies as a eunuch.

Maybe, just maybe, a guy like Steve Hilton or Sheriff Chad Bianco can make the dramatic changes that need to be done to end the insane gas taxes and the squandering of billions of dollars on the homeless industrial complex. Perhaps one of them can start up oil production and allow the state to become self-sufficient and powerful again.

In other words, Make California Great Again.

Of Thee I Sing

We have the resources, and we have good bones. Democrats have always claimed to be there for the little people. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Their policies are decimating the poor. I can afford to pay extra for gas. It’s another story for those who work at McDonald’s or myriad other lower paying jobs. Even a fireman friend who lives in Orcutt but works in Santa Barbara is now paying $80 to fill his truck every time to drive to work. It’s not a Trump problem; it’s a moronic California problem. All the taxes imposed on fuel have done squat. Our roads should be like glass, instead it’s a game of dodging potholes. Not all roads in the country are perfect but certainly much better overall and they’re not reaming the taxpayers an extra $2.00 a gallon to line someone’s pockets with false promises of saving the planet.

You would think California leading the country with the highest fuel costs would be an eye opener for the cultist climate-clouded left, but no. Trump used federal authority to allow offshore oil drilling again and surprise, surprise, the hippies are suing Sable to stop from helping Californians. Their mind-numbing obsession against dinosaur goo causes their brains to hemorrhage. They put their own lunacy ahead of the populace.

I apologized to people east of us before I answered them when asked where I was from (tongue in cheek). Some of the Californians who have fled the crazy poop coop were infected with wokeness and TDS and feel the need to contaminate their new communities. You would think their new neighbors would have none of it, and many places don’t, but then look at Texas. A state that had been blood red since forever has been infected with liberalitis and is swinging in the wrong direction.

Morons, and I mean that in the kindest way.

The thing is the entire country is filled with morons. Again, I’m not excluding myself.

Land Where Our Fathers Died

We’re celebrating 250 years by electing socialists and communists across this great land.

What the heck are we doing?

The men behind writing the Constitution – love them or hate them – were super smart and covered most of the bases. I don’t believe that back in 1776, Jefferson, Hancock, or old Ben Franklin thought there would be politicians determined to undermine everything they tried to protect, that the Constitution could be infected with political smallpox.

We morons better get our act together and stop the crazies from destroying what makes us the greatest country on the planet.

If the lunatics gain control of the House, and God forbid, the Senate, the wheels on this bus are going to go round and round in reverse.

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Suffering Through the Biden Regime

The Twilight Zone (those old enough to remember) had a famous opening to the show. Rod Serling, the host, would say in his deep mysterious tone, (there were variances of the opening) “You are about to enter another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imaginat…

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I was trying to hold back my gag reflexes as I was writing checks to the government. Giving them my money in the form of taxes. Why am I even still paying them?

The story of Zorro helping the oppressed in early California, or Robin Hood stealing from the rich to give to the poor were both based upon the peasants, us, paying too much tax. Something famili…

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Long Live the King

I’m wondering when King Charles visits the Donald at the White House, will all the used signs be reconstituted and marchers gather yet again to protest “no kings?” Will the protestors march outside Christian places of worship on Easter as Christians celebrate the rising of the King of the Jews?

In some respects, we all live in our own b…

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Santa Barbara lays claim to being the birthplace of Earth Day. Just a heads up: every day is Earth Day. The “earth-savers” love nothing more than to put on a display and show how they care more than anyone else about the world upon which we all walk.

I think old SB has perhaps the largest concentration of wannabe environmentalists clustered in one place. Though there are certainly other coastal cities that would take exception. Santa Cruz could be one.

Recently, the same enviro gang re-emerged to exhibit their distaste for, guess who, Donald Trump, for reopening oil drilling off the coast of Santa Barbara and moving the stuff through the evil pipeline. I don’t know where they find their toys, but this group created a black tube depicting an oil pipeline inscribed with all the usual platitudes.

What I would like to know is how many filled up their cars to drive to the beach to protest? And, if they had electric cars, I’d like to know how using coal plants in Utah to charge those cars makes it okay. And before they left their houses, they charged their phones, turned off the lights and the coffee pot. After their procession through the sand, perhaps they converged on a restaurant that used natural gas to fire the stoves and ovens, electricity to keep the AC running so they could cool down from all the excitement.

Back home they flipped on the lights, turned on their own AC if they have it (t’s been hot; climate change, you know), and sat down to watch the local news, beaming with pride showing the public how much they care about the environment.

The truth is none of those marching could go a couple days without power. Wind wouldn’t do squat and solar is great during a sunny day, but it won’t put gas in the car or charge your EV enough to drive to another No Kings march.

It’s well known by now, but bears repeating. These self-absorbed environmentally concerned individuals close their eyes to the reality that all their luxuries are provided courtesy of filthy oil-filled tankers waddling across the oceans. The recovery processes in the country where the oil comes from is, let’s just say, not as Earth-friendly as it would be if it were drilled in, say, California. But then, the enviros couldn’t chest thump about what a clean and virtuous state California is.

Iran isn’t blowing up windmills. The world will come to a crawl if dinosaur sludge stops flowing. Meanwhile, California continues with its stupid-is-as-stupid-does nonsense suing the Trump administration yet again. California liberals are determined to remain morons just to keep things as expensive as possible.

While the rest of the country is panicking that fuel prices are getting up to $4 a gallon (some states were bragging about below $2), Californians wished for years it was down to four dollars.

I want to see the Earth Day crowd go to rallies on donkeys and pick up the polluting poop along the way. Even little Greta Thunberg has moved on from climate change to “Free Palestine” to Serbian corruption protests.

It’s whatever the flavor of the month is that gets under the skin of activists to keep finding paint and cardboard to whip up more signs.

For the moment the dust has settled a bit over ICE, but there remain strong embers ready to explode into flames as soon as the next round of exporting criminals’ fires back up.

All these people are on the wrong side of common sense.

The left continues digging their Birkenstocks in the sand demanding it’s their way or no way. The result? The poor must suffer on their behalf by way of sky-high fuel costs, exorbitant rents, and trying to create extremely costly energy sources from out of thin the air.

I’m not against new forms of energy to keep Mother Earth healthy. I just think there needs to be a level of honesty and a pause in the hypocrisy for all the “causes.” I ask myself, why don’t we see these silly displays in Nebraska, Missouri, or Arkansas?

The answer is simple; most people work for a living. Away from the coasts live the Americans who keep America’s heart beating strong. They don’t have time for silliness.

They’re the ones who put the steak or hamburger on your plate. Or if you’re a vegan, the corn and the grain used to make bread or granola bars. They provide the milk for your cereal.

Those are the real environmentalists. They nurture and take care of the land. Their lives and livelihoods depend on it. For them, Earth Day truly is every day. They’re not marching against the oil that keeps their tractors running, or the fertilizer required to make the plants grow. They don’t look for accolades or a “Thank You” for doing their part to protect the planet. Because it goes without saying. They’re just doing their job. They get up in the morning, put their head down and get to work.

I can only venture a guess when they settle down at night to catch a little news and see a bunch of people screaming about this or that they shake their heads. Probably grateful they don’t have to put up with such irresponsible behavior.

They’re exhausted and need rest to do it all over again the next day.

The self-appointed Earth watchers are all the same actors rotating roles in the same movie.

Time to change the script.

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I recently flew to Bozeman, Montana to visit my grandson. It was 80 degrees when we left Solvang and 20 degrees up there. For a couple days winds reached over 90 mph. However, weather is not the only difference.

My first exposure to Montana was 55 years ago. I was eighteen. A friend and I bought a used VW bug for $400. It had no heater. We drove across the country to Washington, DC, in January! We didn’t pay attention to things like weather. We were kids. We encountered one of the worst ice storms in years.

We had to keep two tires off the edge of the highway so we could maintain some traction and wouldn’t slide off the road. Semi-trucks would fly by and splash slush on our tiny windshield. The miniature wiper blades barely kept it clean enough to see where we were going. We were wrapped in blankets nearly freezing to death. Our AM radio picked up nothing. We had no such thing as a cell phone or GPS.

We had a map.

We also had little money and no credit cards. We saw signs along the road where farmers and homeowners rented garages and sheds for $2.00 a night. That was luxury, sleeping with the mice. Even worse, we wanted to enjoy a beer (yes, we were only 18) after our harrowing day on the open road and discovered there were places that were called dry counties.

It was devastating.

To this day I’m still amazed we managed to pull it off and survive.

We spent six months in the District of Columbia where we studied to become dental technicians. We finally had enough of the foreign land of the east.

Right Back Where We Started From

So once again these two stupid surfer kids headed back to California taking the northern route this time. This put us square in the middle of a late massive blizzard in Montana. The landscape looked like huge piles of marshmallows. And of course, Murphy’s law arrived. The Bug hit a rut and the front axle broke. I can’t recall how we managed to get to a small town with one sketchy hotel, a church, a coffee shop and a bar. We had to wait four days for the roads to open back up and get the part to fix the VW. During our stay we went back and forth from the hotel room to the bar. We discovered Lone Star beer. I know, it’s a Texas beer, but at least it wasn’t a dry county.

Once back on the road we made a beeline for Washington state to visit my buddy’s old girlfriend who ended up shunning him. We said screw it and drove eighteen hours straight back to Santa Barbara.

One thing for certain, Montana is not California. Even though Bozeman is now being nicknamed Bozeafornia.

It was quite a treat in a Walmart to see a man open-carrying a handgun on his hip while checking out with his young daughter in the cart. No one gives it a second thought or bothers paying any attention to such a thing. And you won’t be pulling any crap on the guy either. And that’s as it should be. It isn’t the dads, the farmers, the honest folks who do the killing. And it isn’t a gun that comes to life to do the shooting. It’s crazy people who over the years liberals have felt sorry for and either don’t send to jail or let them out of prison to rape and kill again.

In Montana you can get a permanent plate for vehicles over 11 years old. No more registering again, ever. California not only charges a fortune for registration, but we keep paying more every year. Compounded further because we pay even more for our cars to get smog checked on top of it all.

Another money-making joke.

When we went shopping or out to dinner, I kept noting things were cheaper. No sales tax. There isn’t a tax a California Democrat hasn’t created to squeeze the people for more money. They keep coming up with taxes on top of taxes and yet they still don’t have enough and can’t balance a budget. Fraud numbers are running over $48 billion. and I bet its tons more. Expose these thieves, Nick Shirley.

Our state won’t do it.

Opening Up the Pipeline

You can bet the Democrats are loving the Iranian conflict because it gives Newsom and company cover to raise gas prices even higher. They’ll never take responsibility for their idiocy and ineptness. It will also increase the state’s tax coffers giving the Democrats even more money to piss away. Making life that much more difficult in a state with good weather but corrupt, incompetent politicians.

However, there is a glimmer of hope for the state. Trump flexed his presidential muscles and ordered offshore drilling and oil delivery to resume off the Santa Barbara coast. Of course, the enviros are having a conniption fit; the sky is falling. The downside is that it bails out Newsom where he can have it both ways. Get the much-needed oil production he knows the state requires while at the same time fight it and look like an oily hero to the hippies.

I almost feel sorry for Montana and other states getting overrun. I spoke with an older woman waitressing. She said she had to work again, earning entry level wages, because things had gotten so expensive. Others said the same thing.

Maybe it’s time for states like Montana to put up a border wall and keep out the riff raff. Neighboring Idaho has been a lost cause for years.

The Moral of the Story

California is a beautiful place. It’s the people who have been running it who screwed it up.

Something must change.

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This has been the longest dry spell for me that I can ever recall. I usually have half a dozen columns swirling through my head. Some completed sitting on my desktop for further review. Others waiting to be finished.

These past weeks I’ve been unable to write anything.

Why?

That’s what I’ve been asking myself every day.

As soon as I start to approach writing a national or world topic, the situation changes. I can’t ever recall seeing such a flurry of activity going on all at once. Massive fraud, the Epstein saga, Maduro, Iran, and every step of the way Democrats take the wrong side.

Yet that shouldn’t be enough to make my mind go blank. So, I opted for a bit of rambling.

We all have personal things we deal with. Our own demons or family problems. A lot of the times for many it’s financial. You combine external, political, and personal, things swirling in your head and you can become that deer in headlights.

That’s where I am right now.

And I know I’m not alone. Many, if not all of you are or have been in similar situations.

No matter how hard you try to compartmentalize and move forward, your head can be clogged to such a degree, it’s impossible to clear it.

As Americans, we’ve got it made. Plenty of energy to keep the lights on, gas to warm the homes, grocery stores filled with everything we can possibly ever need, and freedoms other countries can only dream about.

So why do we worry so much? Why are so many people on anti-depressants, take calming drugs, drink alcohol and require therapy to get through their daily lives?

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I am now a senior citizen.

Have been for quite a while.

Three giveaways: my hair is as white as snow; I really enjoy reading my AARP magazine; I eat dinner at four.

I feel fortunate to have lived 72 years and honestly, I’m quite surprised that I have. As a teenager I was a pot smoking, beer drinking, surf punk. I got married two weeks past my teens. I was …

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I’ve been tinkering with a political hypothesis. I don’t want to label it a conspiracy theory because that could be taken as not being true.

My wife and I will be celebrating 53 years of marriage this summer. I reminded her the other day how we met as teenagers and now, we’re senior citizens.

When we were young(er) we went on a couple cheap cruises. Each …

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I had written in the past how my life was threatened because of expressing my opinion. The intolerant left hates when you don’t agree with them. So much so, they’re willing to kill over it.

The upside is that it got me a Concealed Carry Weapons permit (CCW) in a county where they’re as rare as a red-legged frog.

I love having the right to carry arms. Howe…

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How does one go about deprogramming the human mind once it’s been infected with a derangement syndrome? Deprogramming is made even more challenging when the patient isn’t aware he is ill. The individual needs to concede he’s not thinking clearly before he’s open to becoming healed.

The first line of treatment is having patients completely detach themselv…

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