“In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.” —George Washington (1796)

“Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives.” —John Adams (1808)

“If we move in mass, be it ever so circuitously, we shall attain our object; but if we break into squads, everyone pursuing the path he thinks most direct, we become an easy conquest to those who can now barely hold us in check.” —Thomas Jefferson (1811)

“War is not fair. The rules of war are to win.” —Fred Mayer

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” —John 15:12-14

“There is nothing so unruly, so insubordinate and disobedient, as a fallen human heart. It is deep, ethereal, and irrepressible; the subtle poison of sin has vitiated all its fountains, and many of the streams it has been sending forth since the Fall, have been deep and black as hell. Human power cannot touch it, law cannot reach it, force only increases its activity, and the grace of the gospel alone can subdue it to the sceptre of Christ. Warriors and kings may subjugate nations and empires, but the Lord alone can rule the heart.” —Irish minister William Graham (1810-1883)

“The main thing is to have a soul that loves the truth and harbours it where he finds it. And another thing: truth requires constant repetition, because error is being preached about us all the time, and not only by isolated individuals but by the masses. In the newspapers and encyclopedias, in schools and universities, everywhere error rides high and basks in the consciousness of having the majority on its side.” —German novelist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

“Every mass shooting in the United States must fit into one of two media boxes: gun control or white supremacy. If it does not fit into those boxes, it simply disappears from the national scene. This is not a recipe designed to promote actual solutions.” —Ben Shapiro

“Policies that enable & encourage people to abort or abandon their kids & their responsibilities are immoral and contribute greatly to the cultural rot that’s eating us from the inside. The government cannot raise your sons, but they can do a great deal that enables fathers to walk away. Stop foisting the hard work of raising young men on moms & grandmothers. Stop electing people who enable this deplorable behavior.” —Anna James Zeigler

“An adult man that wants to dress up like a female is a glaring symbol of mental disease. A society driven by cowardice prevents this topic from being discussed honestly and openly. ALL of our children are at risk [because] we refuse to acknowledge — and instead encourage — mental illness.” —Candace Owens

“The world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it.” —Albert Einstein

Chat ya later…

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

With all that has happened in the illegitimate results from the latest election, perhaps it’s time:

The Patriot Post

Chat ya later…

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

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Here in Arizona, we are about to reap what we have sown. By not spending money where it needed to be spent, we have teachers walking out on Thursday for an indeterminate amount of time. They are walking out becuase they are not being paid enough, there are not enough resources for their classrooms, and the promised funding voted on by the people of this state has been misdirected.

I am not going to take a side on this one. Yes, the teachers need resources to do their job. No, I have not voted for any bonds, ever, because living within your budget is a need, not a want.

However: by walking out, and forcing the schools to close, there is a storm brewing. Nowadays, due to leftist economic policies, you will find most families are required to have both parents working outside the home (when there are two parents – that’s another post, for another day) which means that unless they have free daycare lined up, one of the parents may be forced to take time off, or, if they can find daycare on such short notice, they will be adding to their expenses for this time period.

One less person working, or more outgo than income budgeted, means less money in the hands of the consumers. Less money in the hands of the consumers means either increased credit card debt, or less purchasing. Less purchasing means less taxes being paid for goods purchased. Less taxes collected means less taxes going to the education programs in this state.

Less Money to the education programs means fewer resources to the classrooms. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Totally unrelated note – did you know that all those nifty, tax-free purchases made on line are supposed to be reported on your tax forms? That’s right, so you can pay the state sales tax when you file your state and federal taxes. It’s on the honor system. How does asking Amazon to collect the tax appeal to you now? You know, all those sales taxes that are supposed to benefit the state programs (like, say, education) that are not being collected because it would be too haaaaarrrrrdddd for the online retailers (who can store and lose your personal information so quickly and easily) to keep track of sales tax transactions for each state …

Totally unrelated note: the FAIRTax replaces the income tax, corporate tax, etc (penalties for working hard and doing well) with a consumption-based national sales tax, which means that you get all your income every payday and you only pay taxes on items that you buy – with a pre-set prebate for income up to the poverty level. Buying more/better/higher priced stuff means you pay more taxes (talk about making the rich pay their fair share!). Taxing consumption based purchases means that even those who have somehow evaded being tracked for their income, end up paying the tax. The plan is applied equally to all (please check out This Link for details) and needs to be passed sooner than later. Call your representatives and tell them to support H.R. 25, the FAIRTax initiative of 2017.

Fooled you. Those last two points are actually what are known as “solutions” for the current situation, where there is not enough revenue being generated or collected. Under the first step, getting on-line retailers to collect and pay taxes, the revenue stream will fill up again. The second step, taxing purchases instead of penalizing earnings, will get people interested in making money again – which leads to a more robust economy, which means that people will be making more income, which means that one of the parents can go back to being a house … spouse.

Chat ya later…

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

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Those of you who have clung bitterly to this blog, reading when I write (less and less often these days – social media seems so much more … immediate … doesn’t it?) and even better – those who interact through comments, know where I have been. I am a Marine Veteran (Cold War Era), my younger brother is a Marine Veteran (Gulf War I), my older brother is an Army Veteran (Cold War), our Dad was a Marine (Korean Era), we have nieces and nephews currently serving, we have a family history of service to this nation going back before there was a nation. We had ancestors on both sides of the Revolutionary War and the War Between The States/War of Northern Aggression/Civil War. In short, my family has stepped up and said “This is our Constitution; this we will defend.”

I believe the Second Amendment to the constitution is very important, as regulars here can attest. Without the Second, the rest would fall like a row of dominoes. The First Amendment is a close second in my mind; you must have the unfettered ability to address what you consider to be a wrong in order to make it right.

That being said, ALL citizens of this nation have the right to freely express their closely held beliefs. They also have the right to consider other points of view without being forced to agree with them, and they have the right to change their closely held belief if they are properly convinced. Yes, this includes actors, comedians, professional athletes, and the people who shill for them announce their actions, introduce their appearance, or award them for their performance.

I will never take a knee while the National Anthem is being played. I will not willfully avoid showing respect for this nation while the anthem is played. I will do my best to model what I believe is correct behavior for citizens of the United States: come to attention, hand salute (as a veteran, I m permitted this action; civilians would place their hand over their heart), and standing quietly until the end of the anthem. If another country’s anthem is played, I will stand at attention, arms to my sides, and stand quietly until the anthem is complete. My loyalty is to this country, I will not salute another country’s anthem or national ensign.

I served in order to preserve the right of people to freely express themselves. You, me, everyone. Including the jerks who don’t know how good they have it for being so well paid to play sports or to act or to entertain (although they are all the same – entertainers, at heart). Yes, I called them jerks – because that is my opinion. I’m allowed to have one. So are you. I empathize with what they are trying to say, but they are using the wrong ways to get their point across. Yes, it’s tragic that there are a few (out of the hundreds of thousands of daily non-violent interactions) police episodes where a person is the victim of bad circumstances and terrible choices. Yes, it’s awful that the perception is that blacks are the major recipients of these interactions.

(Numbers say otherwise – and there are plenty of search engines out there to prove that. Point of fact – number one killer of black males between 16 and 35 is – other black males. Point of fact – allowing citizens the right to defend themselves, instead of removing or restricting the most effective equalizer (hand gun), would reduce murder and other crime rates. The more weapons are in the hands of citizens, the fewer crimes there are. Criminals may not be the smartest cookies, but the do figure odds, and the more armed citizens there are the fewer helpless victims there are. Please see Chicago for the latest proof of this statement.)

While they are free to express their opinions, I feel it is not appropriate to do so on the stage. By allowing the performers to continue to make these personal statements from a professionally supplied pulpit, the owners/managers/agents of those performers are giving their implicit permission to continue. They are free to express their opinions, I am free to not buy their wares. I am not required to spend money to watch or listen while someone tells me I am wrong. Just as they are not forced to listen to me, I am not forced to listen to them. When the revenue dries up the message will be plain enough to them. With great freedoms come great responsibilities, and great consequences.

To allow the continued disrespecting of our nation is to allow the further eroding of our nation. Once all the statues have been removed, and history has been revised, and no one hears the Star Spangled Banner on a regular basis anymore, what will have been solved? People are still the ones who’s hearts have not changed. If anything, every time a statue is removed; every time an historical event is glossed over , rewritten, or removed; or every time a professional entertainer is allowed to disrespect the National Anthem without repercussions, this nation is moved another step away from a Representative Republic, and closer to a Socialist Enclave.

For this reason, We the People must protest right back. We must also be heard – our voices must be included in the “National Dialogue” that those who are pushing for the enslavement of all by the removal of our rights keep insisting on. I find it odd they insist on a National Dialogue and then don’t allow any one to speak who disagrees with them. If We, the People (and we are a majority, I refer you to the 2016 Presidential Election results) will not continue to make ourselves heard, then We, the People will be people without our nation.

I stood up to defend our Constitution. I stood up so jerks can prove how ignorant, willfully or otherwise, they are. I stood up so every one could continue to voice their opinion, including those who don’t agree with the rest. This doesn’t mean that I have to stand quietly by and let those opinions go unanswered, it means that those with dissenting opinions – from BOTH sides – must be allowed to present their case, their beliefs, and their reasons. Common Sense should prevail, but that’s a post for another day.

One thing I am sure of – no matter who is in the White House, God is on His Throne. I already know how this story ends. What I don’t know is how it plays out along the way. As a God-fearing Christian, I place my trust in the Lord. As a citizen of this nation, I will defend my Constitution, using the First and Second Amendments as needed. Yes, peace in our time – but not at the cost of our freedoms and responsibilities as citizens of this great nation.

Chat ya later…

P.S. – All these protesters are free to take their complaints on the road. There are literally hundreds of countries in the world; they should do their research and find one that more closely aligns with their belief system – and move there.

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

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Saw this in the Woodpile Report of June 20, 2017 – credited to Taki’s Magazine:

“We would love to cut a deal with the noble indigenous peoples across the Earth — you can have your Navajo panties and aboriginal dot paintings and every last freaking burrito on the planet so long as you give us back our computers and cell phones and cars and indoor plumbing and electricity and air conditioners. Deal?”