Five Post Election Thoughts Under the Fedora: Hal Chase & The Most Discouraging Part, Texas California becomes NH / MA, Solving the Problem always Changes the Math, Can they keep the bluff for two years? Time to Finish Iran & Cuba

Posted: November 4, 2026 by datechguy in culture, politics, under the fedora
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I have no access to the next at work so I didn’t find out the results of the election till I got home after midnight. The news was very discouraging but the worst part of it all was this:

We have had the exposure of all kinds of fraud, from election fraud, to Somali fraud rings in Minnestpa & Maine and elsewhere and we’ve seen open violence from the left both within the states and internationally.

The voters still choose them.

It reminds me of Hal Chase who after years of fixing games was given a pass by MLB which led to the fixing of the 1919 worlds series, but in fairness it’s consistent with scripture where Christ says:

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.

Matt 7:13-14

On the other side as Sgt Schultz said to Sgt Carter when he got a “Dear John” letter from home.

Sgt. Schultz: Let me cheer you up. Women are like War there is always another coming around.

Hogan’s Heroes: Request Permission to Escape 1966

In two years we get another shot, let’s make it a good one.

During my lifetime when the Democrats took absolute control of Massachusetts things reached a point where people who could not afford MA anymore but had enough to get out headed to NH. Yet once they got there they voted for the same policies that made MA unafordable.

This is apparently the case in Texas as people rushed to get out of California only to vote for the same folks who made their own state a shithole.

On the plus side U-Haul salesmen in Texas may see the same windfall that their fellows in CA had shortly as Florida stayed Red.

One of traits in human nature is to see a solved problem as a problem solved permanently rather than something that has to be managed to keep it from coming back.

Thus Donald Trump solving the border crisis and bringing about the drop in crime that resulted from it meant that many people who voted for Trump because of those problems figure they don’t need the GOP to solve it anymore.

It reminds me of the British voting out Winston Churchill as soon as the Nazis were finished and replacing him with a socialist who put Britain on the path whose fruits are being reapted today.

Socialism is always most attractive when people feel safe.

Speaking of problem solving the current situation for the Democrats is actually quite interesting as there is a great difference between standing in opposition and in actually governing. I suspect the next two years are going be very much like the first 5 minutes of the Doctor Who Episode The Keeper of Traken pt 4 where this exchange took place:

4th Doctor: Talking of entropy, what happened last night in the sanctum, the statue fading and struggling, that was most unexpected.
Tremas: It’s normal, Doctor. The reaction when a new Keeper succeeds. The effort weakens him. His power comes and goes at first.
4th Doctor: A C-reaction. Melkur all sweetness and reason because he’s vulnerable.
Tremas: Yes, stalling opposition until his power’s secure.

That’s where the Democrats are right now. They don’t have the votes to remove Trump and even if they nuke the filibuster Trump can veto anything they pass so I expect for the next two years they are going to have to try to put up a moderate face to keep the normals from defecting in 2028.

The question is will the radicals who won under the Democrat banner allow them to do so. Experience says no but we’ll see what happens.

Finally right now in Iran the mullahs are smiling at the election results but I suspect they shouldn’t be as they are now in more danger then any other time in the last six months because Trump is in the same situation that Abe Lincoln thought he was when he wrote this when he thought that he was toast in election 1864

“Then it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he can not possibly save it afterwards.”

The new Democrat majorities don’t get sworn in until Jan 6th of next year.

If I’m Trump I take out Castro in Cuba now and follow up by destroying the Iranian oil fields.

If you take out Castro Cuba falls under it’s own power, If you take out the Iranian oil fields, even if the Mullahs retain power they will be unable to project power and will take at best years and at worst decades to rebuild.

Right now Trump has nothing to lose by doing this and the time to do is is NOW so it will be old news by the time election 2028 rolls around.

The leftists and socialists newly elected to congress might huff and puff but if Trump does this nothing they say or do will put the communists back in power in Cuba nor restore the Mullah’s power and wealth in Iran.

100 Word Catholic Fan Fiction: Knowledge or Ignorance

Posted: November 2, 2026 by datechguy in catholic, fan fiction, fun
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“It’s very simple” said the Abbot with the most serious look he had ever seen. “We can return to the monastery proper, you can resume your life & resume your vows with the promise never to reveal what you’ve seen to this point, or we can go through that door and you begin a new life of service and prayer, similar but apart from the monastery. One choice is not superior to the other, both serve Christ & glorify God, but one carries the burden of knowledge. What shall it be?”

He didn’t hesitate: “Abbot shall we go inside?”

Last time: A Comical Stereotype Next Time: The Long & Short of it

Exorcised Salt, Indulgence Calendars and the Annual Octave of All Saints Day Indulgences (Nov 1st – 8th)

Posted: November 1, 2026 by datechguy in catholic, catholic devotions, culture
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It’s the first of the month so you will not be surprised to see the monthly indulgence calendar post but before we get to that I want to tell you an interesting Exorcised Salt story from Halloween yesterday.

It’s been a while since I’ve been around to give out candy on Halloween but this year I had the day off and had time so I decided to do so, but with a twist.

As you might have noticed Exorcists and Exorcisms have been big online lately. Several priests who do them (each Catholic diocese is supposed to have an official Exorcist and if one isn’t appointed the Bishop would be considered the chief one). have been online.

What you might not know is that in addition to actual exorcisms of people there is exorcism of objects and places. For example when a priest blesses a house it is a minor exorcism. (My own parish priest always does this in broad daylight, never at night as he puts it: “Why give the enemy home field advan salt, oil and water is exorcised (video playlist here) by a professional exorcist. What you might not know is that I had salt and water exorcised there and keep it in the house.

I bring this up because a while back an exorcist I think it was Fr. Dan, told a story about a woman who rented an office in a building full of new age stuff that got her nervous who was advised to mix some exorcised salt into the paint that was being used to redo her office. She suddenly noticed that other people renting in the building who used to visit suddenly didn’t enter the office not even to have cookies that she made, oh they’d poke their head through the door and say “Hi” but for some reason wouldn’t come in.

You might also know that several exorcists & at least one former Satanist turned Catholic evangelist have talked about the real nasty & even murderous stuff that goes down on Halloween ( I suspect it’s no coincidence that the reformation began on the day) and this got me thinking so I decided on an experement.

Before I visited my father’s grave around noon (He would have been 105 yesterday) I took some of the exorcised salt and sprinkled a line from one corner of my property to the other covering both the walkway and the steps on the side and another coving the back gate. I didn’t use enough so that you had a visible white line but enough so that you would have to pass the salt to go up the walkway.

When I got home from mass about 15 min before trick or treating started I put on the outside light to show that we were giving out candy, but I went two steps further.

  • I put the candy outside on the lighted porch so it could be seen
  • I put a chair out there and rather than waiting inside sat there reading some Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo)

In short I made sure that there was no question that this house was giving out candy and I waited. As expected kids and parents came to the door. Some parents waited at the walkway but that isn’t unusual so I thought nothing of it.

What WAS interesting was when a group of loud, rowdy and profane teens hit the house across the street. Normally those kids would have headed to my house next but inexplicitly they completely bypassed my property despite me and the candy being there.

Later on there was a pair of teenage girls who came by and it was even odder, they were on the same side of the street and not only walked by the house but seemed not to notice the property existed looking straight ahead until they passed.

I shot a video telling the story last night:

For the rest of the night that was the pattern, every now and then some people would just bypass the house. Invariably those people would be teen above the age of reason (and thus capable of mortal sin and/or inviting a demon in which Mortal sin can do).

I found it very….interesting. Feel free to make of it what you will.

Also be aware that for the next eight days starting with today there is a special Plenary indulgence offered annually for anyone Catholic who visits any cemetery and prays for the dead. This act normally gives a partial indulgence but during the Octave of All Saints day (including all souls day on the 2nd) this indulgence is Plenary under the usual conditions.

  • Communion on the day of the indulgence
  • Confession within 20 days before or after the indulged event (one confession covers all indulgences during that period)
  • Prayers offered for the monthly intentions of the Pope

For the indulgence to be plenary you must have no attachment to sin.

So take advantage of those indulgences either for yourself or someone who has died, be aware you CAN’T obtain an indulgence for a living person other than yourself.

Anyways here is this month’s indulgence calendar:

indulgence calendar Nov 2026Download

Election 2026: It’s the Pastor Hall (or nothing has changed since 2016) Election

Posted: October 31, 2026 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, culture, politics
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Sir Thomas More: [More has been found guilty of treason, and now for the first time breaks his years-long adamant silence on Henry VIII’s divorce of Queen Catherine to marry Anne Boleyn] Since the Court has determined to condemn me, God knoweth how, I will now discharge my mind concerning the indictment and the King’s title. The indictment is grounded in an act of Parliament which is directly repugnant to the law of God, and his Holy Church, the Supreme Government of which no temporal person may by any law presume to take upon him. This was granted by the mouth of our Savior, Christ himself, to Saint Peter and the Bishops of Rome whilst He lived and was personally present here on earth. It is, therefore, insufficient in law to charge any Christian to obey it. And more to this, the immunity of the Church is promised both in Magna Carta and in the king’s own coronation oath!

Cromwell: Now we plainly see you *are* malicious!

Sir Thomas More: Not so. I am the king’s true subject, and I pray for him and all the realm. I do none harm. I say none harm. I think none harm. And if this be not enough to keep a man alive, then in good faith, I long not to live. Nevertheless, it is not for the Supremacy that you have sought my blood, but because I would not bend to the marriage!

A Man for All Seasons 1966

They came on in the same old way, and we sent them back in the same old way

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington on the Battle of Waterloo

10 years ago when this blog, while being in it’s post noticing Clinton & Epstein decline, still had some oomph in the blogosphere I wrote two pieces concerning election 2016 that were significant. An endorsement of Donald Trump once he won the GOP nomination:

I called my support for him a “leap of faith” but the real kicker was this:

I think the breaking point is near, I think there are a lot of people in this country who are deciding that the Government is openly hostile to them.  I think that the sight of women and gay men being beaten by leftists because they support the presumptive GOP nominee, having it happen in full sight of police ordered to do nothing AND SEEING THOSE OFFICERS CHOOSING TO LET THEM BE BEATEN means that they can not count on the authorities to obey their oaths of office if they think doing so might cost them their jobs.

Even worse than this is the obvious question it raises: If leftists are willing to resort to violence and boast about it before an election when it might hurt their ability to persuade the people to vote for them, how much more willing will they be to violently suppress their political foes when such behavior is rewarded with electoral victory by the people?

Thus my conclusion:

And the single best temporal step will be the election of Donald Trump and the breaking of the power of those Americans who have decided their fellow citizens are the enemy.

Again I don’t take this step lightly, I know that there will be times that Donald Trump will disappointment me just as I expected Mitt Romney to disappoint me on social issues and John McCain to disappoint me on immigration and George W Bush who disappointed me on spending and the bank bailouts.

But while Trump will occasionally disappoint me (when he does I’ll call him on it) I am convinced he will neither persecute me nor strip me of my rights for holding my Conservative Catholic beliefs and acting on them.

I am very sorry to say I can not make that same statement about Hillary Clinton, and I’m even sorrier to see the day when I would say this about a presidential candidate.

That was July 3rd just before the GOP convention. In October when the left’s October Surprise of the Billy Bush tape dropped a lot of people cut and ran.

I didn’t:

Now I concede this is bad, not only in terms of what was said but what it implies.  I strongly disapprove of it as I suspect many others like me do.

And that’s why I’ve chosen this moment, Catholic Blogger that I am, to double down and re-endorse Donald Trump for President of the United States!

Why would I do this?  Quite simple, I’m not going to let myself be played.  Let me explain.

My reasons were simple:

Nothing on that tape changes these truths.  Clinton is going to persecute me, Trump is not.

Furthermore in terms of electability there is one thing that still favors Donald Trump,  Hillary Clinton.

I must confess at the time I didn’t realize how true that statement actually was:

But here are the two key sections:

No this is about convincing those who still have to values to allow the election of someone who not only is directly opposed to all you hold dear but will persecute you on every level.  This is about tricking you into letting go of your one chance to stop your own destruction.  They want you to lose your nerve. Furthermore they want the GOP to lose their nerve and the press will do all they can do enable it.

In other words they are counting on you to be suckers.

And the results of the magic ballots in 2020 proved the point I made to Jonah Goldberg in spades:

Update 4: I respect Jonah Goldberg whose point is valid:

Either way, this video is not an aberration. It is not a special circumstance. It’s him. There’s no pivot in him. There’s no “presidential” switch to flip. He’s Donald Trump all the way down.

However given the reality that either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will be the next president of the United States I ask Jonah this question:

If we concede that Donald Trump’s character is bad, Would it be better for the country to have a President of poor character who will be under intense scrutiny by the press, pols and law enforcement agencies (Trump) or to have a President of poor character who will be given a pass and or defended by the press, the pols and apparently the FBI regardless of what they say or do (Hillary).

I submit and suggest the answer is clearly the former.

Trump has proved that such a concession on Character is not necessary. I am and have been astounded at the quality of his character. It’s a coarse character which reminds me of many of the WW2 vets I knew as a youth but it’s a strong character which is a was a huge surprise given where he came from.

And to those now saying “He’s an election denier” let me answer with my favorite phrase on election 2020:

Joe Biden won election 2020 as sure as the Cincinnati Reds won the 1919 world series

But not let’s flash forward to 2026. It’s a mid-term election. Trump is not running for anything and will be gone in two years. His list of accomplishments is mind blowing that he’s done it in the face of the opposition and resistance from his own party in the Senate is even more incredible.

But let’s put that aside for one moment. I referred to this election as the Pastor Hall election. Let me explain why.

Pastor Hall is a movie from 1940 that I recently discovered which stared one of the most forgotten great actors of his time Wilfred Lawton as a protestant Pastor in Germany during the rise of the Nazi party who stands up and speaks out about what has happened to his country & is sent to a concentration camp because of it,

What’s interesting about the movie are these trivia quotes from IMDB

This film was officially banned in Chicago by the city’s police censor board, which deemed it “exceedingly controversial.”

Completed before WW2, but shelved at the behest of US distributors United Artists for fear of offending the Third Reich.

In the late ’30s, when the Boulting brothers submitted the script to the British Board of Film Censors (a common practice for years), it was rejected as unsuitable. The board claimed that it would have a negative effect on the Prime Minister’s attempt to make peace with Hitler. However, after war broke out, the film was instantly put into production as an anti-Nazi tract.

What’s really amazing is that it was argued that the portrayal of the Nazi concentration camps was considered too over the top to be real & a slander. The irony was in fact that the reality was so many degrees beyond what the movie suggested that if the US Army at the direction of IKE had not made sure things were documents and made sure the troops saw the reality people wouldn’t have believed it and many are still in denial today.

That bluntly is the state of the left.

10 years ago I wrote about my fears of what the left would do & quoted some of them above, reality has shown itself to be far worse than anything I had imagined from

  • the celebrations of the murder of Charlie Kirk for daring to engage
  • to the multiple attempts on Trump’s life
  • to the wholesale taking over of parts of cities
  • The refusal to enforce laws or prosecute violent crime
  • The withholding of FEMA funds to concervatives in National disasters

and a lot more I could say but I have to be somewhere shortly.

Put simply if you told 2006 me when I was 43 years old that the Democrat left would be openly doing the things & and openly advancing the things that they are, I would have called you a conspiracy nut.

It is quite evident that the reality is much worse than I ever dreamed.

Now I’ll concede that this is a midterm election, that even if the Democrats win the house and senate Trump will still be Trump and will do all he can for the country, but frankly I’ve reached a point where I don’t put anything past either the violent irrational people who are now the loudest on the left or the cowards who are silently consenting to their advancement out of a combination of fear, profit indifference or tribalism.

The statement from 2016 still stands: I trust Trump to protect my rights as an American, I can’t trust the Democrats to do the same and I now have 10 years of evidence to support that distrust.

I know I don’t have the reach and the oomph that I once did but I urge any of you considering sitting on the fence for this election to get out and vote for your own rights, because never forget in the history of the world, American freedom and prosperity are the exception, not the rule and if we lose it, it will be our own fault.

Closing thought: Take a look at the coup attempt currently in progress in Poland for daring to defy the EU. That is what the left has in store for us once they are strong enough to try it.

You have been warned.

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