Let’s start with the good news.  And it’s not much.  Locally, the Rs still hold the State House and senate, but lost the supermajority in the House.  While I wouldn’t count on 60 Republicans to agree on tea, let alone override a veto. At least, if they’re smart, they can turn Amy Achtung into Amy Inaction.  Being smart is not the GOP-OH strong point. Absolute best we can hope for is gridlock.

Also in the good news, Ohio passed Issue 3, which helps voter integrity.  I’m not sure how religious exemptions will work.  I’m specifically thinking of the Cam Higby stunt in Minnisomalia, but it should help.  Expect the Dems to fight against the Constitution with the same passion that the Republicans fight to gut our Marijuana amendment.

That’s it.  That’s the good news.

Statewide, in addition to losing the governors house to a fabulist, who made the Joe Biden strategy work, we lost a senate seat.  Yes, Jim Crow Brown is returning to the senate.  More on why later. Looks like some house seats flipped too.  The blue cancer is spreading.  SE Ohio, is it too late to join our brothers in West Virginia?  It would fit, since they split from the slave party 160 years ago.

Nationally, ever know things were coming, and seeing people in denial?  I guess I can take some comfort that both sides were preparing to fight losses, violently in the case of the left.  But the denial on the right was strong. 

The part of graft (Virginia) Terror (Michigan) and incest (Minnisota, again) won last night.  There’s no positive spin. An optimistic view would be the House and Senate being tied up in pointless investigations, but the Democrats can walk and chew gum, as long as they’re walking over the Constitution.  Expect the cries of ‘The Filibuster needs to go!  It’s a relic of Jim Crow!’ to accelerate, since the Jim Crow Democrats only love it when they can use it.  After they do that, they’ll go after making DC a state (unconstitional) giving the state the ability to ban books (Citizens United) more surveillance, more ‘Hate Speech’ laws and a federal assault on guns.  Democrats have never met a right they didn’t like, well except for the Fifth when they use it.

So how did we get here?

Let’s start at the top.  President Trump isn’t the man he was in 2016.  Hell he’s not the man he was in 2024.  He misstepped badly on Iran.  Hitting/Occupying Karg Island, successfully arming the Persians, the Kurds and headhunting would have flipped Iran much quicker, and while there would be supply disruptions, they’d have been shorter. Likewise the dithering on Russia might be strategic (Who knows what a cornered Putin would do?  And he’s much harder to headhunt) but it comes across as dithering.  Since some people still buy the collusion hoax, so whatever the reason, it looks like he’s supporting Putin.  Let Ukraine disrupt Russia, let Europe deal with the cost of their choices and then rebuild.  It worked in the 40’s and 50’s didn’t it?

Next, let’s look at the candidates and campaigning.  We’ll start local. 

Adam Holmes and Al Landis are no brainers.  One they’re both not part of the Terrorist/Fascist/Criminal/Incest party.  Two I’ve met both, well Al virtually, but it was a one-on-one meeting.  Both were approachable and listened to my arguments, even when we disagreed. (Al Landis and I disagreed on Ohio’s abortion law, but he respected my arguments) so my vote for state rep and senator were locked.

Sorry Jerrad Christensen.  You’re a local boy, and friendly and approachable.  But you’ve tied yourself to a party that a large portion of wants me, and the United States, dead.  Don’t believe me?  Read the DSA platform.  So I voted Balderson, he’s at least been responsive.

Vivek was the best of a weak field.  The Republicans pushed back against the Democrat levels of racism, (see Maine) to get him on the ballot, but his messaging sucked.  The desperation in the end sunk him further.  Achtung outran him by hiding.  She also didn’t get nearly enough contempt from the Assassination hoax.  The left is literally killing their opponents for speaking, and threatening people who dare not goosestep with the rest of the party.  So of course they try the ‘look!  They’re trying to kill us!’ thing. But let’s be honest, he sucked as a politician.  This might be a plus, but for the second time, I found myself pulling the lever for the Libertarian candidate.  Yes, DeWhine sucked that bad.

Moreno had two problems.  Weak campaigning with no positive message, and he’s as blah a Senator as we can get.  How can you tell?  He doesn’t have a nickname, though Morono fits in hindsight. Now sure part of the weakness comes from the Ohio GOP sucking diseased moose wang (to quote Harry Dresden) but if you’re the one running for office, you’re a leader. Lead, damnit!  Rather than run on his accomplishments and the GOPs in general, his campaign was ‘Jim Crow Brown’ is scary.  He is, but it’s because he’ll vote in lockstep with the radicals in his party.  He’s no Fetterman, or Manchin for that matter. Sherrod Brown has the ‘kindly old man’ vibe down.  You attack his record, where he voted against the unpopular and successful measures.  Not what he ‘might’ do.

As mentioned above, the Ohio GOP sucks.  Messaging sucks, campaigning sucks, candidate vetting sucks.  They had a chance to purge with the fall of Householder.  Reorganize, reach out to the youth and rebuild.  They failed.  Look at DeWhine’s lack of spine, unless he’s opposing what people want, as the poster child of this.  Amy Achtung’s handlers (and her bartender) will keep her office focused.  She’s also going to be the least seen governor in decades.

Nationally… the GOP dropped all the balls.  @Amuse on X called it months ago.  If with both houses and the White House, the GOP can’t pass popular legislation (SAVE act), they don’t deserve power. Weak Candidates and the cancer that has consumed the Democrats is turning to eat the Republicans. Tucker, Candance and others should be brow beaten, then driven from the right.  They also had weak candidates, and bad economic conditions, see Trump, above.

(Side note, we dealt with being told voting against Barry and Vice President Cock Holster showed we’re racist.  So since Ohio Dems voted against Vivek…)

So the way forward…

Fight.  Not with violence, that’s the way of the left.  Rest and regroup.  Fight locally.  City, County, State.

Volunteer. I’ll still walk up to attend city council meetings.  And I plan to work more with my state senators and congresscritters. Also volunteer in your church, school, community.  Be Seen. Be leaders.

Educate.  Both yourself and others.  My friend (we’ve never met, but I call him a friend) Uri recently wrote that you don’t argue to change the mind of the people who you’re arguing with.  They’re cemented in their values.  You’re changing the audience. Also know that you're voting not just for people, but for what they're going to do.  Idealists get ground down.  Make sure if you're voting for someone despite how much their party sucks, they can take a lot of grinding.

Laugh. This in someways is the *most* important.  The enemies of freedom, and the Democrats (but I repeat myself) *hate* being mocked and the subject of ridicule.   Keep laughing, keep them angry.  They show their true selves when angry. Sadly that true self wants us dead, but it shows who they are.

Those are my thoughts.  Last night was a loss for the Republic, but we can still save it.

Jesus was not a Palestinian, a Turk, or a Brit. Don't fall for the liars justifying murder and rape.

 

How to tell “Jesus was a Palestinian” is an anti-Semitic canard.

 

Ignoring the obvious, that Jesus was a Jew there are very simple ways to tell that anyone who utters this is a moron, or an anti-Semite (or my gene-sister, but I repeat myself).

When talking about the centuries of persecution of the Copts, “Jesus was a Copt” was never uttered.

When the Yazidi were being wiped out by the governments of Syria and Iraq, “Jesus was a Yazidi” was never uttered.

When the Christians in Nigeria were slaughtered, the Vatican didn’t say, “Jesus was a Christian.”

With the ongoing detention, torture and enslavement of the Uyghurs in China, the ELCA didn’t say, “Jesus was a Uyghur.”

When the Armenians were forced to flee their homes from the invasion of the Azerbaijani army, no one said, “Jesus was an Armenian.”

Yet when Israel defends itself.  When they respond to the actions of Hamas, who killed more Jews in one day than the Nazis could manage in a day with their death camps. Suddenly, the lie that “Jesus was a Palestinian” flows from lips in an attempt to erase and justify 75 years of terrorism and murder.

 

On this day, the day before we celebrate the birth of our saviour, remember that Christ is King, he will come again.  And the son of G_d was a Jew.

The hypocrisy of Virtue Signalling.

 

A rant about ‘Appropriation’

So listening to a Real Play podcast for Pathfinder (not saying whom, not calling them out specifically) and in the height of 2020/2021 they went on the cultural sensitivity bit.  It kind of annoyed me, especially as at least two of them are self-professed historians. Two of their tangents went off on really annoyed me, in part because their hairshirts made no sense to me.

The discussion of the Mwangi Adventure Path is the first I’ll address.  They had a discussion of the culture of the Mwangi and how they got ‘Diverse voices’ to write it, to represent the culture. Um, ignoring the fact that you can’t get Pathfinder dwarves to write the dwarf sections, the blog gives a diverse set of voices, but no more diverse than any other book.  Some claim African Heritage, but none were born in Africa.  Using the ‘diversity’ guideline, Elon Musk is more qualified to write about African culture and upbringing.

This doesn’t even count that Africa isn’t some homogeneous group of people because the color of their skin is a darker hue.  Ethiopian culture is different than Zulu, and both are different than Senegal.  We’ll ignore Netflix’s belief that Cleopatra was black as well.  Now Pathfinder does a fairly good job of this even in first edition, Geb, Nex, the tribes in the ‘Mwangi’ jungle, etc.  Now we’re all gamers, stepping into other shoes, but for some reason we have to be ‘careful’ to respect Mwangi culture.  I’d assume they’d gnash their respective teeth on playing Tian characters.

I find this darkly humorous (yes, pun intended); most players casually treat Europe as the same homogeneous group.  No one worries about offending the people of Scandanavia when they roll up a Ulfen Skald. Or lament the bad Russian accents for Irrisen characters, or bad Italian accents for Cheliax, etc.  Do players feel they aren’t ‘white enough’ to play an Ulfen?  That’s ignoring the absurdity of playing a non-human.  Do you have to be “This tall” to play a halfling?

The other grumble I have is a well tread one, Agents of Edgewatch.  While Paizo put on their sensitivity glasses and muttered the platitudes of “Black Lies Matter” The fact remains that the hypocrisy of Paizo is hilarious.  They published, prior to this, an AP where the protagonists were Evil (Hell’s Vengeance), Pirates (Skull and Shackles) Admittedly Sanctioned Tomb Robbers (Mummy’s Mask) and outsiders conquering lands (Kingmaker)  Let’s not get into some of the less than good actions you have to take in the others APs (Freeing Baba Yaga, deceit, espionage, etc) and that the core conceit of the game is killing people and taking their stuff.  But despite that, making the heroes of one AP police officers was a step too far.  The podcasters have played Skull and Shackles and Mummy’s Mask yet they gnash their teeth that the good guys might be police officers. 

Side note, did Paizo make a statement and donate money to Uncle Hugo’s? If they did, I missed it.

Maybe they will call a pirate, a tomb raider, or a Pathfinder (but I repeat myself) next time they’re faced with a situation where a police officer is needed.

Virtue signalers forget… This is a game. Playing bad guys or even questionably good guys doesn’t mean you’re a bad person.  Unless you want to argue all GMs are as evil as the NPCs they portray.  But if you’re clamoring to play Hell’s Vengeance; if your favorite nation is Nidal; and then if you argue that playing police officers is a bridge too far, then really, what does that say about you as a person?

In Memoriam: Eric Flint

  Life comes at you fast.

It must have been 25 years ago that I'd heard of Eric Flint.  I got him confused with Kenneth Flint, who's Riders of the Sidhe I read as a kid.

Of his works, the two series I was/am most familiar with were the Ring of Fire series, and of couse the Belisarius series.  The later because of Baen Books and David Drake.  

I'm working on a pure gaming blog for my world and creations inspired largely by the works or Eric Flint and David Drake.  It was just this morning, in a burst of creativity that the world got its name "Davric" taken from their first names.  I was hoping to have more content on the blog before I wrote to both men to thank them for its inspiration.  Not to ask them to read it, I don't feel pretentious enough to ask professional authors to read my scribblings. Just to say, "You inspired this.  Thank you." Today was the day I started.  The day I moved from notes in a facebook group to actually organizing the thoughts and dreams.

Now I will never get to send him that e-mail.  

The world is wonderful.  I've corresponded with various authors over the years, and a few actors as well.  I'm sure their replies are minor to them, but that they took the time to reply means a lot to this old hermit.

So rest in peace, Mr. Flint.  Your work inspired me, and I am sure countless others.  The world is lessened by your passing.

Losing the battle, but the war continues.

 

I lost the battle today.  Had a PTSD flashback after a call yesterday. Shook me up, but I kept going. 

Woke up this morning feeling ‘off’.  Dove into work hoping I could get my head right.  No joy, took a couple of my emergency ‘anti-panic attack’ meds and it didn’t help either.  I kept working and trying to push it away, but my heart kept racing and I started shaking.

I had to bail out and take the attendance hit.

This hasn’t happened in over a year.  Last time it was when I was in the hospital, in the dark, and became obsessed with how scared Becca must have felt being alone without me there, losing the battle with the melanoma.  That’s when I discovered that hydroxyzine helped. 

But not today.  I got out of the house and drove.  I didn’t even know what time it was when I left work.  Picked up Tea and then we drove some more.  I’m still not at 100%, heck, I’m at 10% maybe.  I’m hoping and praying this weekend will allow me to build up some strength and I can hunt down and kill what ever is triggering the anxiety. 

And yes, rage can override the anxiety for a while, but it isn’t good for me, and not constructive at work, or at home.  Tea and Tank both can tell when I’m running on rage, and it doesn’t do them any good.  So I have to rely on will.  Something I’m short of, having spent most of it today.

That’s the problem with chronic mental illness.  Somedays I lose, most days I win, for now.  The battle is over, the war goes on.

So, the election.

 

My prediction was pretty much on the nose.  President Trump would win election night, then enough votes would be ‘found’ to pull Biden over the finish line.

Sure enough…  Those votes were ‘found’.  Larry Corriea, who was an accountant among other hats before he became a professional author, lists a number of them here.  In case it was missed, all these statistical anomalies point in one direction.  So not only are there an improbable number of anomalies, they all benefit Biden.  To someone who isn’t a screaming partisan, it should raise eyebrows. That’s before the videos… Tangent, let’s not forget why the Democrats wanted the Green Party off the ballot.

Figures don’t lie, but liars figure.  So these anomalies need to be investigated, will they?  OF course not.  The 105% precinct for Obama weren’t contested by Mitt Romney, the GOPe bends over.  That’s why people voted for President Trump he fights.  Proving fraud is easy, we’ve the affidavits and the video.  Proving fraud enough to shift popular opinion?  That’s hard enough when the media and your own party aren’t wanting you out of office.  So I think we’re stuck with President Harris.

Or as I’ll call her, “President Cock Holster.”  Hey, no one was outraged when Bill Maher called President Trump that.  Fair’s fair.  Of course that she actually was Willie Browns mistress…

Some people have compared President Trump to Ronald Magnus, but I think a historic President has some more similarities, President John Tyler.

Both President Trump and President Tyler came to power unexpectedly.  Both were not accepted by their party.  In President Tyler’s case he was cast out, in President Trump’s case, he was just held at arm’s length by the establishment, what has been called “GOPe”.  Both men were States Rights, and, ironically, like President Tyler, President Trump’s greatest victories came from foreign policy.  Getting NATO allies to pay closer to their fair share, sanctions against Russia, tariffs on China, and spreading peace, both in Europe and the Middle East, are examples of President Trump’s successes.  Notice how they didn’t make big news?  President Trump changed the world, for the better.  Also how many conflicts have been initiated in the past 4 years by the US?

So what do we have to look forward to with President Harris?  Nothing good I fear. 

• We’ll see the removal of due process in universities.  Young men like Paul Nungesser will continue to be persecuted with no process, no right to see their accusers or evidence on university grounds.
• We’re already seeing a return to “No worse ally, no better enemy,” foreign policy.  The talk of treating the PLO like they aren’t a terrorist organization, rejoining the farce of an Iran treaty.  Terrorists are celebrating.
• Due process is just the beginning. President Cock Holster is on record to wanting to use EOs to seize guns, her persecution of journalists as AG in California is well documented, as is the left’s assaults on religious freedom.  From singling out churches in California, to the persecution of the Jewish citizens of New York, the only amendment the left likes is the 5^th.  If (big if, considering the efforts by the Democrat machine) the Republicans can hold Georgia, then  at least the destruction of the Republic can be slowed.
• Enemies lists.  We’re already seeing the howls from elected officials, and others, to ‘hold accountable’ people who worked in the current administration, or even supported them.
• Rewriting of history.  Already the Media is pretending that 2000 and 2016 never happened. Gay groups are erasing Richard Grenell and falsely claiming Biden is the first President to support gay marriage before taking office.  Celebrities are pretending there was no vitriol aimed at President Trump

So we’re facing fraud, persecution and gaslighting.  What can we do?

• Stay engaged.  Both with each other and with your local politicians.  The ones you can reach, be civil, even when you strongly disagree.  The ones who don’t reply, to quote Maxine Waters “get in their faces, make them uncomfortable.”  My former congressional Rep, Joyce Beatty, is an anti-Semite and won’t denounce her fellow bigots.  My former state congresswoman, Mary Lightbody is a liberal democrat, but one who will at least listen to her constituents’ concerns.  This holds true down to the town level.  Get involved!  Go to tow meetings, meet and greets with politicians.  Be visible, but polite.
• Stay engaged with each other Facebook and Twitter are compromised, so make sure you keep other methods, MeWe, Parler, Gab are all less censory than FB or Twitter.  Plus there’s phones, Keep circulating the tapes.  Don’t let the victors get away with rewriting history.
•  Guard your privacy.  Now more than ever, VPNs and encrypted e-mail are a boon.  I use Protonmail and ProtonVPN and fully support their efforts.
• Remember, we’re not alone.  70 million people voted for peace and prosperity, in the face of a relentless onslaught of how a dementia patient and an anti-free press, anti free speech, anti-Constitution VP pick would be better.  Be a warrior, but a happy warrior.

Well, we’re two weeks into the new home, and no regrets.

It still needs a lot of work, we had to replace the stairs on the deck, good enough to fool the FHA inspector, but they fell apart and almost took out Tea’s good ankle.  Guy did good work though.  We’ve some issues with the plumbing we’re going to address, and the electric is going to be overhauled to get up to my specifications. (I run a lot of electronics of course and want an upgraded fuse box to handle the load.

We’ve had some setbacks, we didn’t realize the garage was all on one circuit, so we lost some meat in the chest freezer.  Also, Jasper seems to have a skill for stepping on Tea’s bad ankle, though he feels bad about it later.  He’s also been a bit less social towards the neighbor dogs, I’m planning to work more on socializing him.  We’ve a playground next door I can take him to run around and work on the nails.

We’re slowly getting the place into shape.  In having the electric done, I’ve decided the office will have an old style push button switch instead of a flip switch.  I’ve also ordered faux brass plate covers for the outlet and light switch.  I like the idea of my office having those early 20^th century touches, while holding all the 21^st century hardware.  Likewise, we’re replacing some of the bulbs in the lights with smart bulbs, again because of the age of the house and locations of switches.  We’ll need to have another Dot or two.  By the time I’m done the Wi-Fi will reach the Garage and they’re perfect for intercoms.

Teaera’s brought her own unique set of skills to making this a home.  She’s a much better housekeeper than I (A low bar I know) and she’s a skill in comparison shopping I lack.  It’s good to be able to stretch our food budget, and she’s an eye for deals.  She’s also excited to help put the home touches on and renovate the place.  Once we’re presentable, there will be pictures, promise.

I’d like to take a moment to thank people who made this possible.

Leslie Neal, who helped me sell the condo and close that chapter of my life.  It was a learning experience for us both. If you’re buying or selling in Central Ohio, look her up and tell her I sent you. Of course we’ve known each other for 40 years or so…

Tony Norris, who helped me find this place after the previous SE Ohio realtor I used flaked out on me. If you’re looking for a place in South East Ohio, look him up.  Nice guy, wears many hats and works his aft off.

Tim and Jen and Clan Rickey.  Guys, we couldn’t have made that last push w/o you, and I still owe you that dinner in Zanesville.  Just pick a Sunday and we’ll do it.

Tony and Kim McFarland.  Two more of my dearest friends.  I’d never expected you to foister the lummox for so long and will be glad to bring him home and take him off your hands.

John and Angie Greener.  Thank you for fostering the Asscat.  I’ll be back soon to pick him up. 

And of course, my dearly departed Rebecca.  I was asked why I called the move, Operation: Thanos.  The plan was of course for us to start our new lives post cancer together.  My life didn’t end with hers, but I wished it had.  I’d promised her I’d go on, get out of the condo, get our family back.  I did it dear, but it cost me… everything.