This year, rather than sitting on the sidelines, I decided to volunteer to help on a local conservative’s campaign. This particular candidate had a small campaign going, running against someone that hadn’t been challenged in two election cycles. I’m two months into helping him, and I’ve both knocked on quite a few doors to campaign and hosted a small fundraiser at my house.
What I’ve experienced in just this small amount of time has really surprised me.
When I started going door to door with a survey and some candidate literature, I expected to get yelled at. Given everything we hear on the news, walking around and campaigning for a conservative candidate seems like a quick way to get attacked by some nut-job left-wing whacko. But that hasn’t been my experience. Most people are pretty decent. A few have actually invited me into their homes. Nobody has swore at me, or told me I was trying to put people in chains, or anything else awful.
The second surprise is that most people I polled aren’t registered to vote. In fact, most people weren’t really following the election at all. Maybe its a Virginia-politics thing, since the governor elections are off-cycle from federal elections. When asked who people would vote for, most answered as “unsure.” Now, that might be because I’m polling them in person, and among their friends they have stronger beliefs. But I thought it was telling that there were so many people seemingly out of the loop of an election that directly affects them.
Hosting a fundraiser was a surprise disappointment. Despite having a really good candidate, I found that most conservatives are lazy. My church is significantly more traditional, yet nobody, repeat, nobody (save one family that is a close friend to mine) from my church showed up, despite our pastor encouraging it. Getting other conservatives to show up was incredibly difficult. Keep in mind this wasn’t a “300 dollar a plate” event. We had pulled pork, macaroni and steamed vegetables. More importantly, people had plenty of time to interact with the candidate and speak to him personally about what concerned them. You couldn’t find an easier way to interact with a potential politician, yet it felt like a Joe Biden press conference. Personally, it was really disappointing, and it makes me think that most conservatives are an awful lot of talk without any action.
I highly encourage people to get involved now with your local party. Talk to your city about becoming an election official, since you have to do some training and get registered. Volunteer to go door to door now, because its far less scary than you might imagine. Check that your friends are registered to vote, and not just in the federal elections. And for crying out loud, be willing to donate to candidates that have your values, especially the local candidates that control things like school boards, redistricting and local tax rates, and who are far closer to your concerns than your federal representative. Because if you don’t, the other side is going to out-compete you, and we’ll get more years of the same stupid policies.
This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency. Please take a minute to stop by Amazon and buy my book, “To Build A House,” available on Kindle or in paperback.
Posted: September 11, 2021 by datechguy in Uncategorized
I came home from work after midnight Friday at 12:35 AM to see the Biden Administration vaccine mandate story (I see no news or net during my work hours, I highly recommend this btw) and immediately thought: The goal here is to generate a violent reaction or even an assassination attempt in order to improve the Democrat party’s poll numbers in general and Joe Biden’s poll numbers in particular. I suspect if we don’t take the bait (and we shouldn’t) you’ll see a false flag of some type.
During my 2nd break at work I’ve been reading Albert Bushnell Hart’s Essentials in American History and I literally just got to the chapter of Fort Sumter. Hart talks about the cultural differences and believes of the two sides going into the Civil War and I couldn’t help but be stuck at the parallels to today. I submit and suggest that the efforts to purge the military of conservatives by this administration has been in anticipation of using them to enforce actions against Americans. I know how that sounds but a lot of things we might have thought unbelievable just ten months ago have proved to be under the Biden Administration to be possible.
The real giveaway in the mandate to companies & to Federal Workers is the exemption of the Postal Service from said mandates. If this was a public health crisis you would not exempt a group of people who have daily contact which the American public to a greater degree than any other group.
Of course the day Kamala Harris declared to the world that she would not take any “Trump Vaccine” was the final nail in the coffin of a non-politized national health policy. On the day when we face a disease that kills like Smallpox or Ebola the price of this will be paid.
Something I think is worth stressing. I think it’s fairly well established that at least in the short term the various Vaccines (or as I would more accurately call them “COVID SHOTS” as they are more like flu shots than actual vaccines) are safe and effective. If they were not given that there are about 100 million or more Americans who have taken them we would be seeing millions of people with bad side effects instead of thousands.
That being said it’s also well established that:
The survival rates of COVID are extremely high
The vast majority of COVID patients who are not in high risk groups will not die from this virus
The vaccine does not confer an immunity from either getting or spreading COVID
Furthermore we do not know the long term affects of said vaccine and that if you’ve already had COVID and fought it off your own immune system will already have the antibodies to keep it away, in fact the whole point of any vaccine is to produce antibodies that your system is not.
Given these facts it is perfectly reasonable for people to choose to get the vaccine if they are
In an at risk or high risk group
Feel safer getting the vaccine
decide the cost benefit ratio favors getting the vaccine
And it is perfectly reasonable for people to choose not to get the vaccine if
They are not in a high risk group
Are more vulnerable to the known side effects
Decide the cost benefit ratio favors not getting the vaccine
Want to wait a few more years as the knowledge of and thus the Science will improve
The very fact we even have any type of shot available is a triumph that is worth celebrating and if the powers that be hadn’t turn COVID in general and this Vaccine in particular into a political football people would be making would be making good choices based on these considerations and celebrated for it.
Finally Is it safe to say that we have now established that while there will in fact be a day when Tom Brady is unable to perform at the level of an elite quarterback in the NFL that barring injury said day will not come this season.
Here is the current state of the online and table top baseball leagues I run and ore are in. All current leagues are 162 game seasons with one 3 game series scheduled per week If you click on a team link you can see their stats, injuries, leaders etc.
Since our last update more teams have been taken in online leagues the face to face league is deep into the playoffs and a new online draft league is forming
Postseason Key
Z Clinched home field throughout playoffs
Y Clinched Division Title
X Clinched Wild Card home
W Clinched Wild Card away
V Clinched Playoff spot
League one All Futility League (all teams lost 96 + games) 2nd Season. Scheduled series time Thursday Mornings. This league is nearly finished.
Pitching: Wins Hernandez Sea, 22, ERA Diamond Min 2.91, IP John Chi 274 2/3, K’s Hernandez Sea 239, Avg against Krausse KCA .208 WHIP Krause KCA 1.07 HR/9 Hyde Wash 0.27 Saves Yan TB 31
The SD Jones memorial .500 teams league is a league (all teams were no better than 2 games over .500 or no worse than 2 games under) Initial season . Games are scheduled for Tuesdays. AM
Avg Carew Min .344, OBP Trout LAA .436, SLUG Trout LAA .637, Runs Cabrera Det 116, Hits Carew Min 188, 2B Cabrera Det 45, 3B Durham ChW, 16, SB Carew Min 49 BB Trout LAA 100 HR Howard Wash(A) 41, RBI Cabrera Det 125
Pitching
Wins Verlander Det 20, ERA Clemens Bos 2.39, IP Vernalder Det 256 2/3, K’s Blyleven Min 240, Avg against Cahill Oak .205, WHIP Darwin Bos 0.99, HR/9 Bibby Cle 0.35, Saves Valverde Det Russell Bos 27
Pitching Wins Scherzer Wash 19, ERA Scherzer Wash 2.33, IP Scherzer Wash 262 2/3, K’s Scherzer Wash 309, Avg Against Scherzer Wash .207, WHIP Scherzer Wash 0.96, HR/9 Reed StL 0.34, Saves Face Pitt 32
3rd League All time any time Great Teams League (3rd season) Games scheduled Friday evenings. Two teams have been picked up since the last posting (oddly not the Orioles)
Avg Kendrick Wash .369, OBP Morgan Cin .464, Slug Galarraga Atl .627, Runs Morgan Cin 91, Hits Kendrick Wash 146, 2B Kendrick Wash 34, 3B McGee StL 14, SB Morgan Cin 54, BB Morgan Cin 82, HR Campanella Bkyn, Aaron Mil 27, RBI Aaron Mil 89
Pitching Wins Nolan Cin 15, ERA Tudor StL 1.80, IP Tudor StL 174 2/3, K’s Johnson Arizona 226, Avg against Tudor StL .181, WHIP Tudor StL 0.82 HR/9 Buhl Mil 0.28, Saves Chapman Cubs16 27
There will be a new Draft league starting in October beginning in the 1969 season. Each player will select a franchise and one player to protect and the rest of the players will go in the draft.
Out of a max of 24 teams available here are the teams selected with the player they choose to protect all others go into the draft. All unlisted franchises are still available franchise with a * are teams that have been picked but the confirmation email has not yet been received
Players may join up until Sept 30th or until we reach 24 teams The draft is scheduled for the 1st week of October and will last one week. Teams will draft until they have 35 players or until we run out of players to draft.
At the end of the season each team will be able to protect 4-12 players based on their finish plus new rookies (IE Bowa Phi Blyleven Minn) who don’t count toward that total, all others go into the draft, draft order for the 1970 season will be based on the finish.
This league will play twice a week 5-6 games
UPDATE: This list has been updated for several teams now taken since the post went up
Team Selected
Player withheld from Draft
Oakland A’s
Not announced
Chicago White Sox
LHSP Tommy John
Baltimore Orioles
1B Boog Powell
Atlanta Braves
OF Hank Aaron
Cincinnati Reds
C Johnny Bench
Los Angeles Dodgers
RHSP Don Sutton
Montreal Expos
Not Announced
New York Mets
RHSP Tom Seaver
Pittsburgh Pirates
OF Roberto Clemente
St Louis Cardinals
RHSP Bob Gibson
San Francisco Giants
OF Bobby Bonds
New York Yankees
SP Fritz Peterson
Cleveland Indians
LHSP Sam McDowell
Washington Senators
SS Ed Brinkman
Minnesota Twins
2B Rod Carew
If you are interested in this or any other league contact me in comments.
The face to face league in Fitchburg MA has finished its regular season here are the final standings
Lynn Division
W
L
PCT
GB
WCGB
Tampa Bay Rays
41
19
.683
—-
n/a
San Francisco Giants
35
25
.583
3 1/2
Bye
St. Louis Cardinals
32
28
.533
7
Home
Colorado Rockies
24
36
.400
14 1/2
ELIM
Dan Division
W
L
PCT
GB
WCGB
New York Yankees
39
21
.650
—-
n/a
Washington Nationals
28
33
.459
11 1/2
Away
Seattle Mariners
27
34
.442
12
ELIM
San Diego Padres
17
43
.283
21
ELIM
Nationals and Mariners played a 61th game to break a tie for the final wild card spot
Here are the playoff results to date:
Wild Card Playin at St Louis
St. Louis Cardinals 8 Washington Nationals 5
Playoffs round one: best of five
Tampa Bay Rays defeat St. Louis Cardinals 3 games to 1
New York Yankees defeat defending WP champ San Francisco Giants games to one
World Series Best of seven
9/11 NYY at TB
On 9/25 at 1:30 PM at Zeda’s Pizza in Fitchburg MA our face to face draft league which first began playing in 1987 in Fitchburg Massachusetts will have it’s meeting to finalize the plans for our next season (2020) We currently have 8 teams in two divisions and would like to expand to at least nine or possibly 10. Anyone interested in joining is welcome to show up. Issues to be decided
Dues (currently $35 a season)
Number of games (currently 60 but may shrink to let us catch back up with MLB)
Number of weeks per month. (currently playing every other week, considering adding one extra week or more)
Date for draft (and / or expansion draft) and date to begin season.
The Obama administration set an all time record for issuing federal mandates which unconstitutionally reached down to the local level. One of which, the renumbering of highway exits, is just now being implemented on the local level here in my state. On the surface this mandate seems rather innocuous. In reality this mandate is creating a lot of confusion. Over the labor day weekend this confusion had the potential of killing someone in my town.
The town I live in is bisected by a major highway and in my town there are three exits from that highway. Ever since that highway was built fifty years ago the exits were numbered 1, 2 and 3. Now they are numbered 2, 3, and 5 because the Obama administration decreed that all exits are now numbered by the mile markers they are at.
Renumbering exits after fifty years is causing a lot of confusion for town residents and motorists which can be comical. This renumbering is causing a great deal of confusion amongst the police and fire department in my town and this confusion could potentially have killed someone over this past weekend. I heard it unfold over my police scanner.
Instead of informing the units that an accident happened at a certain exit or the best access is this number exit the dispatcher for the police and fire departments now tell all units that “the incident is at the new exit number which was this old exit”. This takes extra time which is not good during an emergency. The dispatchers try real hard to use this system for every call but they do not always. Neither do the police or fire units. Sometimes the dispatchers use just the old exit numbers and sometimes the new numbers. The police and fire units do the same. This has caused a great deal of confusion since the exits were renumbered a month ago.
This past Sunday evening there were two major roll over accidents on the highway at roughly the same time. Police and fire units were called in from two surrounding towns. Dispatchers and emergency units kept mixing up old and new exit numbers. Units were sent to the wrong exits. This created delays in response time. This could have resulted in someone’s death, luckily it did not.
Because everyone is so used to the old system after fifty years and during a stressful emergency situations people tend to fall back on old habits I can see this happening for years despite having top notch dispatchers and first responders in my town. This could easily be happening in towns and cities across this country because of s silly federal mandate.
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