High Jingo begins with a young couple in love “spelunking” in a cave that isn’t really a cave, but an abandoned mineshaft, a relic of a Gold Rush that wasn’t really a “rush” but more of a Gold Kerfuffle that never materialized. The couple is assisted by a beer-loving husky dog which eschews the normal protocols of an archaeological dig and willy-nilly unearths an artifact with Hebrew letters on it. And the reader thinks, “This is not your every-day story!”
And that reader is correct. Once again, three generations of the Wilder Bunch take us on an historical, occasionally hysterical, adventure. The story is as old as pogroms in Eastern Europe and as new as Jewish students being abused by pro-terrorist elements paying full tuition even at 4th rate diploma mills. A ripping yarn, full of love, courage and righteous anger, it careens from Medieval Hungary to Israel to a small rural town in Minnesota and up the road to St. Paul. As the old movie line goes, “Fasten your seatbelts; it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
The Gospel of Luke tells the whole story of the Christ. It is done in 24 chapters. Consequently, every day in December I will be posting a new chapter of Luke until we get to Christmas. It is my hope that you share this with your friends, church, family and social media.
Now, for the Gospel of Luke:
I hope you will not mind a commercial here. These two books are part of how I make my living, and I’m providing the links as you’re still here and seem to like the way I read. LOST BITS is a treasure, and WAR IN THE PACIFIC tells the story of WWII spooks doing the job I used to do: my history. I hope you’ll enjoy them both. Your support of my work is what keeps projects like Luke coming forward!
Every two or four years people say that it’s the most critical election ever. I usually just laugh, but the specter of authoritarian socialism is hovering in our midst, and our liberties are under threat.
I have a series of arguments you need to think about, and then you need to go vote. Don’t sit this one out. If what I say doesn’t sway you, you have some real issues in buying the bullshit the media is feeding you. I sample the media widely. It’s part of that intelligence collection thing that I do. I don’t trust soundbites, and when I see them I can smell the dung through the screen. They lack context. They perpetuate the lies that have been disproven. Simply stated, the media is the enemy of freedom in this nation. There are a few outlets that occasionally let the truth leak through, but they are rare and all of them have their own slant.
Let’s start with the one that might swing the election: Christians and Jews of faith cannot vote for Donald Trump because of his mean tweets and randy past. I guess if you discount coarse language and cannot support people who use it, regardless of what their actual actions have been, he’s not your guy. He didn’t grab anyone’s crotch. He pointed out that the rich and famous can get away with it. But let’s ignore the fact that Epstein, Diddy, and Harvey Weinstein were all liberal backers and they were up to their eyeballs in human trafficking and rape. Donald said mean stuff.
He also made fun of Rosie O’Donnell and the women on The View. Seriously? A meaner group of low IQ swine would be hard to find. They destroy anyone who doesn’t agree with them. Donald rarely throws the first punch, but he punches back hard.
War. Donald Trump started no wars during his 4 years. The White House, which includes Harris has dropped a lot of bombs on new nations in the past 4 years. The weakness of her administration (because she claims “the wins” she gets the losses as well) has prompted other nations to test us and go to war.
Donald Trump is beloved in Israel. He did more for Israel in 4 years than any president since Harry Truman. And yet the left tags him as an anti-Semite. What a joke. The administration of Harris continues to scold Israel, threatens to withhold weapons and aid, while transferring billions in cold, hard cash to the mullahs in Iran. They used that money to foment the October 7th slaughter, and build nuclear weapons. He’s no anti-Semite, but she is demonstrably part of an administration that is actively so.
The economy under Trump was booming and healthy until Covid came along. Covid, a biological warfare weapon of Communist China, was used as an excuse to destroy the economy, pumping inflationary sums into the economy long after he left office to buy votes and support. We are paying for that with each tank of gas and bunch of bananas we buy at the store.
Oh, and like it or not, believe in it or not, the vaccine was developed by those working for Trump. It was announced it worked days after the election to deny him the boost it would have provided. Then, in direct contradiction to our laws and constitution, Harris and Biden mandated it to do certain things – like travel, keep your job, etc. I wound up getting the jab to keep access to my healthcare and I regret doing so. But I didn’t really have an option.
Trump’s a racist. That one fell flat years ago, yet it keeps getting trotted out. His record of working with minorities is strong. He didn’t put young black guys in prison for weed, or keep them there to attain financial goals for the state – that was Harris.
Now the biggie that seems to keep you away if you’re an evangelical. I am opposed to any form of abortion on a personal level. Trump is not. He appointed justices to the Supreme Court that forced the issue back to the states where it belonged all along. He is not in favor of a national abortion ban. And yet some of you will not vote for this man who championed the rights of citizens, born and unborn, in favor of a woman who advocates abortion until immediately AFTER birth. Her Vice Presidential running mate signed a bill into law in Minnesota allowing just that. But he cheated on his wives! Yep. And that Bible you are beating him with talks an awful lot about redemption and grace. He is not the guy he was in 1995, and yet you can’t let that go. Remember: 70×7. Most of you aren’t even into the teens on this one.
I served in the military. I always felt respected by President Trump. The lies about his comments regarding vets and military members are odious.
Finally, if nothing else, government is too big and powerful. If you need an example, think of P’nut the squirrel. New York (a democrat led state) authorities held a 5 hour home invasion to take P’nut and Fred (a tame raccoon) from the home of the man who had rescued them years before. They ripped his house up, questioned his wife about her immigration status (another violation of NY law) and then took his pets away to kill them, all to prove that the state was all powerful and private citizens can’t have wild pets. Better get rid of that bird feeder, Pal, you’re next.
If you like government that wants to silence you, terrorize you, and take your legal weapons away (some silly people will point out that it is a constitutional right….) you must vote for Harris. Because Donald J. Trump is not going to do any of those things. If you need proof, just review his first 4 years in office. She has had 4 years to do all things she promises and has done none of them. He never did the things he’s accused of planning and he had the power.
Now, get off your butt and go vote for Donald Trump. If you don’t, I truly see dark days coming.
Late last night I realized I hadn’t posted in a few weeks. Holy, Moly! It’s been almost two months.
Let’s start with August. I was busy testing for a new belt in Krav Maga. Uh, well, that wasn’t all that complex. I was also doing stuff with/for my mother. And, most of all, I was on vacation.
I had burned out doing several audio books in a row, and that week I took off stretched into a month. I got ready to start another audio book and realized I needed a new computer. (Which, I might add, is still in the box waiting to be turned up with some supercharged memory…)
Then Helene hit. Now, it didn’t hit Naples all that hard, but it sure kicked the snot out of what is known as the Big Bend portion of Florida. I was asked to deploy with the Salvation Army to do Emergency Disaster Services before the storm, and we pre-staged to Lakeland and rode out the storm there before rolling into the impact zone about 6 hours after the storm had passed.
We arrived at 3 PM and were serving hot meals by 5 PM. For the next week we kicked it in gear and served thousands of meals from our mobile units. Sometimes in the parking lot of a shopping center, other times on a dusty dirt road in the middle of the country side. Long days in the sun, walking meals to cars (a lot of handicapped people could not walk up to our unit to get served, so we brought them to their cars) or directing traffic. I used to be good at that, and got my qualifications renewed a couple of days with 6 hours in the sun moving cars so they wouldn’t kill anyone.
Some of you know that I used to deploy to ships and submarines (and other places…) in the Navy. This was the same thing: load all your junk in a backpack and go. I got thrown into the fire early, having to drive a big canteen truck I’d never even started before across the state. Baptism by fire.
Who does this stuff? Retired postmasters (My friend Monique above) and young couples just married and celebrating their two month anniversary in a bunkhouse on wheels. Guys and women who have come up through the Salvation Army recovery programs, and then there are the Florida Baptists. Man, they are a blessing. They cooked the food, we loaded it on our units and served it. It was a fantastic partnership.
Our mobile bunkhouse. About the size of a 9 man compartment on a submarine but with 4 people. Delicious air conditioning (62 degrees at night) and warm comforters.
About a week in, the officers prepared and served a steak dinner for us enlisted types. We were all dragging tail after another hot day in the sun serving others, and it was a top-five moment among steak dinners for me. (Number 1 was after my first Special Operations mission when we left station and had steak and lobster, but that’s another story for never telling.)
This lovely lady had the night shift at the Baptist camp across the street. She always had a pot of coffee on when we got up at 0600. I love her smile, it tells the story of the kind hearted people I served with each day.
This is where we took our meals. We ate the same things we served the public, except for breakfast. I fortunately love grits and eggs. The Florida Baptists treated us very well.
Our first mission to serve: we went to the parking lot at Winn Dixie and served hundreds of meals. The line was still forming when we ran out. We truly served as the hands and feet of Christ for those people. It was an honor to feed and help our new brothers and sisters.
Sometimes, early morning and late at night, you could steal a moment alone to call a loved one (when the cell phones worked) or just sit and sip a cup of coffee and think about the long day behind, or ahead of, you.
I had honestly planned on starting my training to do a half-marathon that week. I dove in the deep end. Most of this distance was walked in increments of 100 feet, back and forth handing out meals.
Now, it wasn’t all meals and traffic direction. Some days I prayed with 40 or more cars, lots of people in some of the cars. The spiritual part of the job is just as important as the calories. I even composed my own prayer, and I’m rather proud of it. Here it is:
Father, we thank you for the food you have provided today, and for allowing us to be your hands and feet delivering it, for we surely are just your servants. I ask that you bless these meals, and the people in this car and those that will provide them with relief from the hardships of this storm. I ask that you strengthen them in the face of the storms sure to come, for they are inevitable in this life. I ask this in the name of your precious Son Jesus.
The dark part of Florida near the peninsula is where we were. They have been hit hard: 3 hurricanes in 13 months. Milton made it 4.
I tried to avoid doing the devastation tourist thing, but I knew some pictures would be vital to telling the story. This town, and the ones near it on the coast, were pretty much scoured from the face of the earth. It was the kind of damage a squadron of B-52 bombers would leave behind.
This guy is David, my canteen partner. He made the sign and stood on the curb for the same hours I spent walking meals to cars and directing traffic. He was a hit and made some viral video hits that will keep him famous forever. He’s a humble servant and a good guy.
The last day of our stay in Perry, Florida. We were sent to a remote site called Shady Grove, on a dirt road near a supply dump, serving meals. Chris, my partner that day, did most of the food work, and I handed meals to passing cars. I was muddy at the end of the day: sweat combined with powdery dust from the cars. It was a good day, but the toughest one in many ways. I didn’t know I would be leaving, but one story touched my heart. An elderly woman came, and after I prayed for her and gave her a meal I asked how she was doing. She pointed over her shoulder and said, “My dog is in the back seat.” All I saw was a blanket. She’d had to put her dog down that afternoon and was going home, alone, to bury her best friend. That darned near broke me. I wanted to go and help her, but we had a line of people waiting for meals and… Well, I think of her often.
It was hard work, and my body isn’t what it was 40 years ago when I did this in the Navy. I came back borderline exhausted and I’ve napped a lot and slept as late as I could most days. Which meant around 0650, because we had a little thing called Hurricane Milton which occupied my time putting up shutters and so on.
Would I do it again? I did today, serving in the kitchen at the Corps office in Naples. Tomorrow I am handing out meals in a trailer park that was hard hit. It truly never stops. But no big deployments for a few months, I have signed contracts for audio books and Santa visits that must be honored.
Our morning meeting. We had our teams ready to go, and we’d pray and then load up the trucks to go serve food to the people who had no power and no water.
I spent a bit of time in the window. The mess on my face is a hair net so that I meet serving standards. That unruly beard must be contained!
But in January... Well, I guess that’s good, because that’s where my heart is: with God and serving people. I love volunteering for the Salvation Army, and after over a year of training I have my certification and identification card as an Emergency Disaster Services member. That’s a big deal, and I’m proud of it!
I still curse way too much, but God seems to be working on me, as I went 10 days with just five slips – and all where nobody could hear them.
During the last 20 years I have often been disappointed by the body politic. It is my firm opinion that Barrack Hussein Obama fomented the decline of civility in our nation with an ever-increasing emphasis on racial issues, and the beginning of criminal harassment of conservatives and Christians. His employment of the IRS to hound nonprofits and churches was abhorrent, as was his invocation of Obama care to force nuns to pay for abortion drugs. This is not heresay, it’s fact. I know Christian leaders who were victims of this statist policy personally. The nuns? They eventually won in court, but the fact that it was needed is tragic.
In the last ten days my hope for the nation, and a healing and revolution against the ever-growing state organs, has been possible. More and more black voices, brown voices, and other minorities have come out against the arrogant rule of terror proposed by swine like Merrick Garland. He’s the current AG who held a press conference this past week hinting that if you question the results of the upcoming elections you will be investigated and gulaged by the state, much like the people who attended a protest at the capitol on January 6th. If you are unaware of it, many were arrested and held in prolonged confinement based solely on their presence. At most, the vast majority of those imprisoned were guilty of trespass, a misdemeanor.
The coalition with Robert F. Kennedy and the endorsement of Tulsi Gabbard are additional bright spots in the heavens. I have not been a fan of RFK in general, but thought he’d had some darned good points on select issues. As to Tulsi Gabbard, I’ve respected her service and firm stance on many positions. She’s more liberal than I like, but damnit, she’s got principles.
Both Kennedy and Gabbard came aboard because they can see that the machinery of the deep state is going to try and steal this election and reduce our rights. If you have any doubts about this, merely read (or watch) the statements of Kamala Harris during the past 10 years. Her views are not liberal: they are Marxism pure and simple. Her running mate has spent more time in China than anyone but an acolyte would. His students on those trips have stated he’s a fan of Mao. Mao Tse Tung, perhaps the most prolific serial killer in human history. He makes Stalin, Hitler, and Pol Pot look like Girl Scouts selling cookies. He may not have personally gassed anyone, but his policies led to widespread famine that merely highlighted the persecution of dissidents by the state police. That, boys and girls, usually ended in death.
Before you mail in that ballot, you need to see who all of these people really are. Read news sources that make you unhappy. Read their platforms (Kamala has none, so don’t bother.) Then, throw away the brainwashing you’ve endured and vote for the people who really want to help the country. Hint: they are the ones not gaining from the office. Oh, that would be Donald Trump, who the democrats have tried to punish for running by threatening him with prison on a wide variety of bogus charges.
Now, you need to think hard and go vote. Encourage your friends and neighbors to vote as well. Sitting back and saying “A pox on both of their houses” really translates to a pox on your house. Grow a set and vote. Declare your willingness to stand for our nation.
If you read this blog going back to 2015 you will see that I have questioned President Trump more than once or twice or a bunch of times. But it is clear to me that not voting for Trump, and either sitting it out or voting for Harris will result in the end of our republic. Remember, we have a republic for a reason: democracy means that if two people want to take your car you have to give it to them, for they are the majority. Republics think things through and value individual rights at a level democracies do not.
Be a patriot: Vote Trump. It’s in your best interests regardless of your station in society. And remember that you’re voting for the guy representing you in the international arena, not your pastor. Donald J. Trump isn’t a saint, but he’s a damned good guardian of our rights.
