Imagine that the cartels took control of Mexico and every year for the last twenty years fired at least a thousand rockets into the United States raining fear and death down on San Diego, Yuma, Tucson, El Paso, and other cities. Then the Mexican cartels conducted a barrage of over 3,000 rockets on American targets. They followed this with an armed invasion. Before the U.S. military could push them out, the cartels killed a total of 1,139 Americans including more than 695 civilians, including thirty-six children, and kidnapped more than 240 hostages. All of that is hypothetical but I ask the reader, what would the United States do if it suffered such an attack across its southern border?

Just over a year ago, I wrote a post titled, Worldview Wars. In that post, I discussed how Tamillia Valenzuela, a self-described “neurodivergent Queer” and member of the Washington Elementary School board in Arizona made national news by opposing the board’s cooperation with a Christian University. Valenzuela opposed cooperating with the university because of the school’s “Biblically-informed values.” Ms. Valenzuela knows her worldview and, through her opposition, defends it. Few Americans can define worldview much less provide support for it.

Conservative radio host, public speaker, and author Eric Metaxas has written a new book titled, Letter to the American Church. This bestselling book calls upon the American church not be silent like the German Church was during the rise of the Nazis. He exhorts the American church to speak out against abortion, gay marriage, critical race theory, and the Marxist ideology that he believes is behind it all.

Every day, the government allows thousands to enter this country illegally. Women and girls are routinely raped and sex trafficked while crossing. Drug cartels move massive amounts of narcotics into the county along the very porous southern border. Over the years, many concerned citizens have urged officials to take stronger action—and now they have. The Biden Administration has ordered a German Christian family to leave the country.

What if the government decided you should only drink two beers a week or that you shouldn’t own a rifle or gasoline-powered car? All of these restrictions and many more have been proposed or enacted, but how could the government enforce them? They could make them illegal, but prohibition and the war on drugs prove that some people would ignore the law. What if the government could make money not work if someone tried to buy a prohibited item? The book of Revelation talks about a time when no one will be able to buy or sell without the mark of the beast. When I was young, the idea that any government could control every transaction seemed impossible to me. But today, with modern computers, digital banking, artificial intelligence, and cryptocurrency it is more than possible it’s almost here.

The Founding Fathers believed that people should be elected to public office, serve for a few years, and then return to their private professional lives. Today, we have a president who has held public office longer than most Americans have been alive. But he is not alone, many politicians make it a career serving in the House, then the Senate, and moving on to other positions in the government. While professional experience often improves decision-making, it doesn’t appear to help in politics.

Lewis County is one of the most conservative areas in Washington State. Sixty-two percent of its citizens voted for Trump in 2016 and Sixty-five percent voted for him in 2020. When Trump supporter Joe Kent ran for congress in 2022, Lewis County voters helped him oust moderate Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler in the primary. But, despite those conservative credentials, it seems that nowhere is safe from progressive nonsense.

While serving her first term on the Washington Elementary School board in Arizona, Tamillia Valenzuela made national news. She describes herself as a “neurodivergent Queer Black Latina,” but that isn’t what brought her to the attention of the media. Recently she stated that the board should consider “where our values lie.” She went on to state how “disheartened” and “opposed” she was to discover that the district had an ongoing contract with Arizona Christian University that enabled their student teachers to be placed in the district’s schools for field experience. The contract opened up opportunities for recruitment and hiring.

Is Angela Reading a security threat to the United States? According to Lt. Col. Christopher Schilling the leadership of nearby Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst believes, “[T]he current situation involving Mrs. Reading’s actions has caused safety concerns for many families. The Joint Base leadership takes this situation very seriously and from the beginning have had the Security Forces working with multiple state and local law enforcement agencies to monitor the situation to ensure the continued safety of the entire community.” What has Angela Reading, a previously law-abiding wife, mother, and member of the school board, done to require such scrutiny from the military and local law enforcement?

When I first heard of the New York Times editorial by American fashion designer Heather Kaye, I thought it would be another looney liberal expression of a misguided desire for authoritarian government control. Her opinion piece is titled, “China Helped Raise My American Kids, and They Turned Out Fine.” I figured the title told me all I needed to know and nearly stopped reading. Then I recalled the old adage, never judge a book by its’ cover, or in this case an article by its title. After reading the piece, I still believe Kaye is misguided—but she made some good points.

I like to spend money at places that appreciate my business. Often these are shops where I know the owner or, businesses that I hear of through my network of family and friends. Since I’m a conservative Christian, my friends tend to move in those circles. Redirecting my meager funds to support like-minded companies has been a slow-growing, but natural, part of my economic philosophy for years. However, I’m not the only one that has moved in this direction. The idea of a conservative Christian parallel economy has grown in influence over recent years. This has led to a surge of interest in creating a more distinct economic structure that reflects the values of this movement.

Cracker Jack announced last week the 126-year-old company will be packaging special-edition Cracker Jill snacks to support American female athletes through the Women’s Sports Foundation — and reworked the old song “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” to include lyrics about female athletes.

Girls love sports as much as boys — softball, soccer, basketball, volleyball, wrestling, swimming, tennis, golf, etc. And they probably like to nibble on the all-American treat of caramel popcorn and peanuts — and find the prize inside.

But it took more than a century for them to earn a spot in the world of athletics, a struggle outlined in vivid detail during an excellent St. Helens Club presentation Wednesday in Chehalis by Corene Jones-Litteer titled “Overcoming Hurdles: Women in Sports.”

I’m old enough that I should know better. Many pundits declared a Republican red wave would sweep the nation on November eighth. I allowed myself to be caught up in their pre-election enthusiasm. I thought we had good candidates and that the issues were on our side. I continue to believe that defunding the police, cashless bail, and open borders are bad ideas. I felt certain that people would see that and vote in a massive way for change. More people did vote and an assortment of America First candidates did win but, more progressives were also elected.

For years I’ve said that school tax dollars should flow through the student to the school the child attends. Allow the family to choose a public or private school that meets their needs. I believe most families would continue to choose their local public school but, the competition would force all schools to improve. This concept is gaining ground however, the teachers’ unions and their political supporters vigorously fight against the change. I found evidence for this in a pair of recent news articles.

Recently an FBI whistleblower reported that the agency has lowered the priority of child sex abuse cases. This was done to allow the agency to focus on the January 6th probe and cases of domestic extremism and white supremacy. This shift of priorities would be disturbing enough but, we should not forget the recent cases that the FBI has chosen to ignore. These include the protests around and attempted assassination of Justice Kavanaugh, the Hunter Biden laptop, the political intrigue of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and the mishandling of classified documents on Hillary Clinton’s email server. Beyond that, there are allegations that FBI Director James Comey, Agent Peter Strzok, and Lisa Page had engaged in political misconduct regarding the Russia probe and the Trump administration. None of this has had a thorough investigation.

Since I’m certain to disagree with them, I don’t usually listen to speeches by Democrat politicians. If I need to, I can always find the text online. However, on the first of September President Biden walked out of Independence Hall in Philadelphia and, flanked by Marine guards, delivered what was called, Remarks on the Continued Battle for the Soul of the Nation. When the president speaks about a fight for the very essence of our country I thought I should listen. I wish I had stuck with my practice and looked it up later.

The FBI raid on the Mar-a-Lago home of President Trump may have poked the conservative bear one too many times.

In 1969, President Nixon popularized the phrase “silent majority,” for Americans that worked and paid taxes, but didn’t demonstrate or often engage in public discourse. Maybe they didn’t even regularly vote. This group of largely middle-class, right-of-center, Americans were often overshadowed by the left-leaning media and the radical students of that time. I believe that the left has poked the silent majority one time too many with the raid on former President Trump’s home.

What are the minimum duties that a government is expected to perform and is our government meeting those minimal expectations?

First of all, it is the duty of government to protect the life and property of law-abiding citizens. As a Christian conservative, I would include the life of the unborn in that declaration. If government cannot or will not protect the citizens and their property from harm what purpose is there in having it?

I’ve been pondering this meme.

My oldest son forwarded this one to me and it has got me thinking. Most social media memes aren’t worth the time it takes to create them but, occasionally there is one that stands out.

Many think that Christmas, not Easter, is the most important holy day of the Christian year and many of them don’t know the story of Barabbas.

Yesterday, my phone rang and a mechanical voice informed me, “Due to unusual activity, your social security account had been frozen and you will not receive future deposits. To correct this issue stay on the line and speak with a representative.” I slammed the phone down.