Archive for September, 2023

This past Sunday marked the 236th anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution.  Most unfortunately for everyone living in the United States, the Federal Government has not followed the original meaning of the Constitution for many decades.  This has caused tremendous harm to the freedom and prosperity of every American. 

Few Americans understand just how far the Federal Government has strayed from the original understanding of the Constitution because they have been inundated with a mountain of misinformation about that particular document.  This is quite dangerous because the American people are the ultimate final barrier that is supposed to ensure that the Federal Government lives under the restraints placed on it by the Constitution.  The only way to reestablish the restraints is to bust the progressives myths that have kept the American people ignorant of true meaning and purpose of the Constitution.

Myth number 1 – The Constitution is a living document who’s meaning changes with the political and cultural climate.

This myth is very much false.  These three quotes are proof of just how wrong that point of view really is.

The Constitution on which our Union rests, shall be administered by me (as President) according to the safe and honest meaning contemplated by the plain understanding of the people of the United States at the time of its adoption – a meaning to be found in the explanations of those who advocated, not those who opposed it, and who opposed it merely lest the construction should be applied which they denounced as possible.” – Thomas Jefferson Letter to Messrs. Eddy, Russel, Thurber, Wheaton and Smith, March 27, 1801

On every question of construction let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, let us recollect the spirit manifested in the debates and trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.    From Thomas Jefferson to William Johnson, 12 June 1823

I entirely concur in the propriety of resorting to the sense in which the Constitution was accepted and ratified by the nation. In that sense alone it is the legitimate Constitution. And if that be not the guide in expounding it, there can be no security for a consistent and stable, more than for a faithful exercise of its powers. If the meaning of the text be sought in the changeable meaning of the words composing it, it is evident that the shape and attributes of the Government must partake of the changes to which the words and phrases of all living languages are constantly subject. What a metamorphosis would be produced in the code of law if all its ancient phraseology were to be taken in its modern sense.     From James Madison to Henry Lee, 25 June 1824

Myth 2 and 3– The Federal Government was granted complete control over the States and The Supreme Court is the only and final absolute arbiter of all things constitutional.

Thomas Jefferson set the record straight on both of these myths when he wrote the Kentucky Resolutions in 1798

Resolved_, That the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General Government; but that, by a compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for special purposes, — delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force; that to this compact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral party, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party: that the government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress.

Myth 4—The Constitution granted the Federal Government unlimited powers to regulate all aspects of life inside the borders of the States.

As you can see from this quote from Federalist 45 by James Madison, that myth is false.

The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the Federal Government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State Governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negociation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will for the most part be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects, which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties and properties of the people; and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State.

Image via Baseball-Reverence.com

If you look at any list of world series winners you will note that the listed winner of the World Series in 1919 is always the same.

It is the Cincinnati Reds managed by Pat “Pop” Moran (from my city of Fitchburg Massachusetts after whom Moran square in the city is named and to whom a nice monument exists in west Fitchburg).

The 1919 Reds are a team that doesn’t get enough credit but let’s take a look at the actual real numbers involved via that invaluable site Baseball-Reference. com :

The 1919 Reds were a good team, they went 96-44 finishing 9 games ahead of John McGraw’s giants. By comparison their World Series Rivals finished 88- 52 3 1/2 games ahead of the Cleveland Indians.

They had a first rate pitching staff with a team ERA of 2.23 (almost a full run better than their world series opponents at 3.04) this is why they gave up a mere 2.9 runs per game nearly a full run less than their World Series Rivals

At the plate they were 2nd in the National league in batting, slugging and OPS and led the national league in OBP, although all of those numbers were below their AL rivals.

With the Glove the Reds had a fielding percentage of .974 to their AL rivals .969 a slight edge but combined with their pitching lead to their run differential of 1.3 not only led the majors but was a full 30% higher than their vaunted AL rivals.

Put simply the Reds were a team with strong pitching and defense and solid up and down the lineup facing a team in the world series with a solid ace and a stronger batting lineup if you look at the team stats for the season one could easily pick the Reds as the favorite to win. (One might point to their White Sox ace with a 29-7 with an 1.82 record in 35 starts as the deciding advantage, that is if you ignored the fact that Reds Starter Dutch Ruether went 19-6 with an identical 1.82 ERA in 29 starts).

It was to be the classic matchup of a team with an overwhelming offense vs a team with solid pitching up and down the rotation and better defense…

…or rather it would have been if a group of White Sox players had not decided to throw the series. This led to all kinds of scandal, trials, losing of evidence and the appointment of a tough baseball commissioner who ruled the game with an iron fist for the next 20 years.

However it didn’t change the result. In the record books the Cincinnati Reds were the winners of the 1919 world series.

Today everyone remembers the 1919 White Sox but few talk about the excellent Reds team that won the series and everyone assumes that the White Sox would have won if they didn’t throw the series because nobody has bothered to remember how good the Reds actually were but even though the 1919 Reds are only remembered these days as the team that the Black Sox threw the world series to, in 1919, 1924, 1950, 1972, 1999 and even today 104 years later if you look up the question: “Who won the 1919 Major League World Series” the correct answer remains: “The 1919 Cincinnati Reds 5 games to 3.”

And that brings us to the favorite question that the media likes to ask the GOP during the 2024 cycle.

Right now the country is in the worst shape than I have ever seen in my 60 years on this planet. The economy is in a shambles, our position in the world is a joke, our military is in a self destructive cycle, our social fabric is tearing apart our borders don’t exist, laws are not enforced, basic human rights that we had acknowledged as sacred for centuries are cast aside and we have a president who on a good day has the intellectual and physical prowess of John Gill.

The media/academic left is doing all it can to protect the banana republic that this administration has become and as part of this attempt keeps circling back to the 2020 election asking every GOP candidate running for any office from President to dog catcher: “Who won the 2020 presidential election?” figuring that an answer of “Trump” can be used to discredit the candidate with the general public while an answer of “Biden” will discredit them from the base.

There is no question in my mind that election 2020 was stolen and that inaction by the people charged with enforcing the norms to make sure the result is honest led to the final result but the bottom line is as simple as the answer to who won the 1919 world series.

So I suggest that if you are a GOP Candidate for President, or Senator or Congress, or Governor or Dog Catch and the question is asked:

“Who won the 2020 election?”

or

“Did Joe Biden win the 2020 election?”

the proper answer by any GOP candidate who thinks the election was stolen or might have been stolen is: “Joe Biden won the presidential election of 2020 election as sure as the Cincinnati Reds won the world Series in 1919.”

They won’t like the answer and if they challenge it the best response is: “Are you saying the Cincinnati Reds didn’t win the 1919 world series?” and press them on this.

Now I realize that this is to some degree an insult to the 1919 Reds who as I’ve noted above were a great team and were certainly capable of winning the 1919 World Series but as they are all long dead I think they will forgive us in this case.

“First we must cross the river,” Benito was saying.  “Do you believe me now when I tell you that you must not attempt to swim it, or even get wet from it, or must you try that too?”

“What happens if I just dive in?”

“Then you will be as you were in the bottle.  Aware and unable to move.  but it will be very cold, and very uncomfortable, and you will be there for all eternity knowing that you put yourself there.”

Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle Inferno 1976

Lately we’ve been seeing a lot of posts about Democrat panic as things continue to get worse in the country and more and more of what the left has been doing continues to come out.

But then actual reality slips in and that’s when you get nailed:

Bonchie at red state puts it in perspective:

The GOP challenger was James Guzofski, a local pastor who once proclaimed from the pulpit that the prophets told him Trump won the 2020 election. He lost by 12 points in a district that current Republican Gov. Chris Sununu won by 22 points. In other words, this wasn’t some long-shot blue district. This was a district the GOP was supposed to easily compete in, if not be favored to win outright. 

Moreover this puts the GOP majority in the house on a knife edge:

There are now 198 Republicans, 197 Democrats, two Independents, and three vacant seats in the state House.

Now you would think that going into an election with a 2 seat majority in a 400 member house the state GOP would have been all in concerning this election.

It was not.

There are several lessons here the first is this:

It doesn’t matter what the national pols are saying, if you are losing districts like this, that you absolutely have to win then you aren’t going anywhere.

People can get excited by Biden’s falling poll numbers all they want but if you can’t win a seat like this it those numbers are meaningless.

But more important consider this:

Guzofski is a Northwood selectman and a chaplain for the Northwood Fire Department. He has been in the ministry for 34 years. Guzofski said, “I have been elected twice to the office of selectman in Northwood dedicated to keep your taxes low. As selectman I have implemented plans for better communication between town officials and you. … For years I have served our Nottingham and Northwood community, fighting for your needs in town.”

Sounds like a person who is well known in the area and might have plenty of local pull particularly in a district where there former rep was a republican and the republican governor won by 22 points. But there is also the youtube video of him proclaiming from the pulpit that the prophets told him that Trump won the 2020 election.

Now it’s one thing to believe that election 2020 was stolen based on the evidence as I do, it’s another to proclaim that the prophets told you that Trump won in 2020.

One might think that the saints might be more interested in the state of a person’s soul vs the results of a national election but let’s stay on topic a sec.

How many voters who voted GOP in the past looked at that video and bluntly told themselves: “I don’t want this loony at the state house?” I’m guessing more than the 331 votes margin he lost by.

What does that tell me? Just this:

It doesn’t matter how many people show up at rallies in deep red states or just how inept Joe Biden is, there is a portion of the GOP vote that simply will NOT vote for Donald Trump or people associated with him and no amount of national polling or wishful thinking or saying how foolish this is will change that.

And it’s worth remembering this fellow had a long local footprint. He was the fire department chaplin, he was a local selectman he is known in the community but that didn’t matter. There are those who simply will not vote for a Trump associated candidate no matter how much of a local footprint he has:

I wish this was not true, but wishing that it’s not true or saying how unfair it is doesn’t change things.

I’ll give Bonchie the last word:

I may not be that smart, but I’m capable of learning from past mistakes, and I’m not going to blow smoke up anyone’s backside and suggest this special election result doesn’t matter. Clearly, given what happened in 2022 with special elections, it matters, and if something doesn’t change quickly among the Republican electorate, 2024 is going to be another swift kick in the teeth. 

There are some things that simply make Pintastic Pintastic and one of them is Todd Tuckey of TNT Amusements making the annual pilgrimage. I had the pleasure of taking him to dinner at Linguini’s Italian Eatery on day two with my son and of course I had the even greater pleasure of sitting down with him for an interview on day 3 (Saturday)

Pintastic NE 2023 the story so far:

Epilogue: Now while I’m giving you Pintastic a piece at a time and cover what I think is interesting my primary goal there is to play pinball (thus the early to bed plan to get machines empty in the morning. Todd gives you Pintastic a full day at a time in his famous TNT amusements videos. For those who want a different perspective on the show than mine because he’s up much later with all the folks.

Here are his videos from Pintastic NE 2023:

Video one First Day:

Part 2:

And finally part 3: