On the Bank of the Rubicon

Posted on by charliej373
Red Squirrel Campsite

By Charlie Johnston

Now is the time when partisans restlessly read every tea leaf they can find to try to guess the outcome of the election Tuesday. It’s a practice I have ever been ambiguous about. I always figured the second to the last weekend before a big election was the last one in which you could reasonably attempt persuasion of voters. By the time we had reached the last weekend before election, I had always switched our focus to turnout. You had either made your pitch successfully or you hadn’t by that time. But just like the packages under the tree at Christmas, folks can’t help trying to divine what is in theirs before it is time to open them up.

Privately to colleagues, I have always made fun of people who say, “this is the most important election of our lifetimes.” I understand that for the people saying it, with a lot of jobs and prestige on the line, that is how it feels to them, but it has always seemed an absurd bit of hyperbole to me until this year. In most previous elections in my lifetime, we have bickered over how best to achieve shared goals – prosperity, liberty and keeping Americans strong and safe, under God. That began to tatter with Barack Obama’s pledge, in 2008, to “fundamentally transform” this country into something it had not been and was never intended to be. Now, three elections later, we truly are in an election where the argument is not over the best means to shared ends, but a choice on whether we will endure as a free, independent people under God, or degenerate into serfdom directed from above by cunning brutes with a bloated sense of self-importance.

Only a small minority of people in the country actively and intentionally seek to burn it down and seize absolute power over everyone and everything. Yet they are aided and abetted by a huge cadre of what Lenin called “useful idiots.” I have been shocked this year by how many otherwise good people never study the evidence of a single source document. Their definition of being informed simply consists in choosing which news source to believe. In the progressively leftist surge of the establishment media following Watergate, that had already gotten pretty tenuous. In this year, when the establishment media shamelessly and openly calls documented facts “conspiracy theories” and labels actual conspiracy theories without a shred of evidence as “documented facts,” it is a formula for a Constitutional Armageddon. I find myself praying that America’s fundamental consumer instincts are strong. After all, despite the recommendations of many experts, Americans never did buy many Ford Pintos or Chevy Novas – and those were works of genius compared to the lemons all the experts have been trying to sell us this year.

While I have used polls many times, I have never had anything but contempt for the “horserace” question, the question of who will win. It is simultaneously the most useless question on a good poll and the one amateurs – and now most professionals – obsess over. What I used polls for was to forge a path to victory from the issue questions, not by choosing what position to take, but by how to present what we stood for and how to emphasize them. The first statewide primary I ran, we did not do any polls at all. Oh, we watched the newspaper polls and piggy-backed on some other campaign’s polls, but we did not commission a single one. They all told us that our chances were hopelessly quixotic. The first published poll in the Chicago Tribune showed our opponent at 61% and us at two percent. After working tirelessly for months, that will take some wind out of your sails. But my guy stood for something – and we built an army across the state. The last Tribune poll before the election showed us well over 20 points down. Our loss was such a foregone conclusion that on election night, a suburban reporter called me for comment on our loss. She was stunned when I told her we won – and hopped in her car to come on down with a promise of getting a few words with the new nominee.

About a month after the election, I was the speaker at the bi-partisan City Club of Chicago. My candidate was generous in identifying me as the strategic architect of his victory and everyone wanted to know how we pulled it off. After the luncheon, the Tribune’s pollster (who was in attendance) came up to me privately and said he had smelled it coming. Normally, I am cool and welcome such things as an effort to ingratiate – and so don’t discourage them. But this was too much. “You showed us losing by almost 25 points the week before election,” I said in astonishment. “In what parallel universe could that be described as smelling it coming?!” He muttered a few flimsy justifications and slunk away – while I regretted that I had not just nodded in approval and welcomed a new ally trying to save face on board. I certainly had with many others who had gleefully predicted our demise. The only institution in the state that actually picked up rumblings in the week and a half before election was the Secretary of State’s campaign office. Several operatives there had called me (were directed to call me, actually) to tell me their numbers showed we were on the verge of pulling the thing off.

Actually, I don’t think I ever had a poll that projected any of my candidates to win before they actually did. Of course, I specialized in challenger candidates and those who were often little known before a campaign began. I was deadly in primary races – but the high-water mark for Republicans in general statewide elections was in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Establishment Republicans figured out how to use plurality primaries to shut out conservatives – and then when only establishment Republicans could prevail, Illinois degenerated into a solid blue state. (In the late 90’s I pushed hard for the legislature to adopt run-offs when no one won a majority in a primary, for I foresaw that the establishment could enforce discipline to rally around one candidate in a primary and encourage multiple conservatives, dreaming of being the king, to divide up the conservative vote. Our legislative leaders paid little heed – but the establishment figured it out by 2004. Bye bye Illinois) In a closely watched Congressional primary, the week before election friends from Speaker of the House Denny Hastert’s staff told me their polling showed we would lose by 10 – but that was a great showing against such a formidable opponent. Yeah, they intended it to be a compliment. We won by 10. Frankly, in my work, I prefer that others be intimidated by me than compliment me.

Polls are very useful in forging a path to victory if you have solid, well crafted issue questions. To be useful, you have to make the questions clean and as free of a priori assumptions as possible. Polls that use such assumptions to try to push respondents to a desired result were called “push polls” – and were generally recognized by professionals as worthless except to try to make a media splash and gaslight the opposition. I never thought the horserace question was good for much of anything BUT gaslighting the opposition and the press. I am astounded that for the last half decade, professional partisans have gaslighted themselves with such polls.

Every key criteria I always used points this year to a Trump landslide of historic proportions. Yes, the level of vote fraud is a concern – and astounding in its brazenness. In Illinois, I always plugged in a three-point fraud factor we had to overcome in statewide races. You could see as much as a 12-point factor nationally this year – and at least a seven-point fraud factor. But I don’t find it as worrisome as some do. Most of the worst of it is coming from states that are solidly blue, anyway. Whether Joe Biden wins California by 10 votes or by 10 million is irrelevant: either way the prize is 55 electoral votes. Yeah, I know, some mindless progressive drones are trying to give all their states’ electoral votes to the California mentality regardless of how the actual people of the state vote – but that does not apply to this election. By the criteria I have always used to judge these things, Trump could win a 48-state blowout or better – and will take over 60 percent of the popular vote (less the fraudulent ones).

I’m just not sure I know the country anymore. My complete miss in 2018 really shook me. On election night, a young fellow I had come to have great respect for, told me, “You don’t understand my generation, Charlie. We don’t care about fairness, decency or honor. We just want to know what’s in it for us. We are the generation that will lose America’s freedom.” That forlorn comment has haunted me ever since. The fellow is very talented – and most emphatically DOES care about fairness, decency and honor, himself. I was delighted to see he works at the national level of Trump’s campaign. I just think that too many people believe that the benefits of being American are due to some magic fairy dust – and not the result of hard work and prudent policy choices. So many seem so eager to cast it all away, to trade off the pearls of faith, family and freedom for paper and paste – that will be cast into the furnace.

If Trump wins according to the normal criteria I use to assess these things, the left will, of course, throw a giant, violent hissy fit. The country must move decisively to shut violence, rioting and looting down, also mounting civil rights actions against state and local officials who fail to work to defend their citizens or seek to deny them their civil rights. A lot of officials must be barred from ever holding a position of public trust again. We must act to denude the bureaucracies, going back to real self-government. I have had quite enough of experts with lots of pushy attitude but no discernable actual expertise. We must defund the university system –  which for several generations has been indoctrinating mindless radicals rather than teaching critical thinking. The professors are often worse than the students. Jesus had something to say about the blind leading the blind. We must crack down hard on social media platforms that have decided to censor political thought they don’t like. What an absurdity: you have kids in their 20’s who know nothing about anything anointing themselves as the arbiters of truth for us all. All media members that actively participated in the coup conspiracy must be prosecuted along with the bad actors. If their defense is that they were too stupid to read actual evidence and facts, I’ll go with that…if the media outlets fire them and reform themselves. Otherwise, what a great time to start new media companies that will put a premium on facts, evidence and credibility. Start being reporters instead of partisan hacks. Make no mistake, it will be a long, hard fight – but with resolve and fortitude, it could be accomplished.

If Biden wins, the long, dark night he promised us in the last debate will begin. And so will the real resistance. It won’t be long until he is deposed by the left. All the petty dictators around the country will think this proves they have nothing left to fear from American citizens – and they will double down on the their draconian rules: it was never about public safety, only about bringing the rubes to heel. I wish we had not been such willing rubes. Already, the quarantines that some states have adopted are de facto internal travel bans. Within a year, you won’t be able to go anywhere or do anything without your “papers.” It would have been more fun to be a rebel and insurrectionary when I was young, but I will not allow my children and grandchildren to be impoverished and enslaved without a fight – and that is ALL the left has to offer.

So this election really is about whether we will participate in a years-long mop-up operation weeding out the remnants of the failed leftist revolution against America, against faith, against family, and against any residue of traditional morality and freedom – or whether we will have to mount our own real, counter-revolution against those who would fundamentally transform this country into the new Soviet Union. I prefer the former, but I am prepared for the latter.

*********

The first few days of our matching fall fundraising appeal for CORAC have been heartening. I thank all of you who have already donated – and appeal to those of you haven’t to help out if you can. This week will determine what course CORAC must take – and we are well prepared for whatever course is needed. We will be tireless in standing for faith, family and freedom – and bringing those who cherish these values in collaboration with each other. But we need your help. If you can spare it, won’t you donate now?

117 thoughts on “On the Bank of the Rubicon”

  1. Wow! Another Bravo. Thanks be to God for all the pieces of your life, Charlie: your training, your intelligence, your work ethic and more which come together in a beautiful partnering with God and His people in this weighty hour. You’ve accurately named so many pieces of the puzzle as to why and how we’ve deteriorated over time. SO looking forward to a new Renaissance era as we rebuild, with God, the culture and our Church. The current phase is gunna require a LOT of prep for the glory to come forth.

    Liked by 10 people

  3. Another home run Charlie…along the line of the metrics you’ve used to determine voting probabilities…we attended a local Trump Train Parade today. One week ago two local brothers, twenty somethings announced this event…only on Facebook. It’s estimated there were two hundred vehicles and somewhere around 500 people. Considering our county has a total population of 15,000 it appears about 3% particpated! The ambience was joy, patriotic and confident. As we drove around the various towns hundreds of Americans came out waving flags, smiling, and literally cheering us. I could not help but think in contrast to the democrat riots filled with anger, violence, and hatred. I proudly realized we are the light and they are the darkness.

    How dare those cretins create and encourage the violence against America killing, burning, destroying ljves. Then imply more of the same should their demented crook lose. Who do they think they are dealing with? America is losing their tolerance for democrat brutality, hatefulness, perversions, humanist secularism, and their intent to overthrow America creating a Stalinist government.

    We cannot be satisfied with just winning this election. We must work on removing them from every vestige of power down to village dog catcher. If we don’t, they eventually will destroy us. They are a determined, ruthless, smart adversary who commands huge resources. Never underestimate them.

    Liked by 19 people

    1. JohnMcFarm, they are in the grips of the Darkness. Action is very important, but heartfelt prayer is that which will suppresses the core of Darkness and allow the Light to burst through and touch those who are lost, confused, and who believe the lies which are presented as something good.

      Liked by 6 people

  4. Charlie,

    I wish had the background, experience and insight you provide when it comes to the real aspects of politics and government. It sure puts things in a perspective as it was and how it has degraded beyond our imagination,

    Then again, maybe, not, at least not in this deceitful and dark time in our nation’s history. I would get worn out dealing with the lack of honesty, hostile actions by anything things that were a lot easier to ascertain decades ago.

    Liked by 7 people

  5. “for I foresaw that the establishment could enforce discipline to rally around one candidate in a primary and encourage multiple conservatives, dreaming of being the king, to divide up the conservative vote. ”

    Sundance at CTH picKed up on it at Trump’s first campaign; he named it “The Splitter Strategy”.

    How Ioathe the dweebs who foisted this on us.

    Liked by 6 people

  8. JESUS = GOOD NEWS! – 🙂

    CTH on Election & Lying Lefties … I Know!! Lying Lefties is redundant ;-(
    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/11/02/seeing-past-the-narratives-two-election-points-to-remember/

    YUP! No Other Place to Go … so Stand & Fix Bayonets … or wear chains!!
    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/11/02/miami-remembers-the-stakes-in-this-election-there-is-no-other-place-to-go/

    https://www.wnd.com/2020/11/protestors-heckle-biden-outside-church-abortion-stance/

    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/nov/1/ending-the-abortion-industrys-horrible-genocide-ag/

    https://www.jpost.com/international/attacks-on-christians-show-hypocrisy-of-blasphemy-controversy-analysis-647730

    https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/523750-the-case-for-internet-originalism?amp

    https://townhall.com/

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/

    https://www.oann.com/

    https://www.steynonline.com/10736/blue-moon

    GOD SAVE THE REPUBLIC & ALL HERE!

    Liked by 6 people

  9. “You don’t understand my generation, Charlie. We don’t care about fairness, decency or honor. We just want to know what’s in it for us. We are the generation that will lose America’s freedom.”

    This is what I see all around me. What’s in it for me?

    Shivers.

    Liked by 11 people

    1. As a teacher, I can tell you that there are still many wonderful young people. Yes, the ones who simply care about “what’s in it for me?” are the loudest and the nastiest. There are many quiet ones who think a lot before they act and they contemplate what is the Good. I had one brilliant boy in my class who wanted to become a constitutional scholar. He was so fair, calm, intelligent and totally impressive that I hope he will achieve his goals and become a great judge, senator, or even Supreme Court Justice one day. There are hidden jewels among our young people. However, they are ladies and gentlemen. Once the figure out how to fight without acting like lunatics, they will be an unstoppable force. They are also Christians. So, the power of prayer will lift them up to become our future leaders.

      Liked by 12 people

    1. Totally terrifying.
      My husband is telling me about a book called “Road to Ruin” by James Rickards. It tells of a plan that if a quarantine doesn’t work then freeze all banks. Since we have little to no control all we can do is trust in God c.o.m.p.l.e.t.e.l.y. Total surrender to God our Father who loves us so much. I find that this is something I must do daily, if not hourly. Lord have mercy.🙏🏽
      Katey in OR

      Liked by 4 people

  11. “We must defund the university system – which for several generations has been indoctrinating mindless radicals rather than teaching critical thinking.”

    Wow Charlie, an understatement!

    Liked by 12 people

  12. Ready to cross the Rubicon!
    Lead on kindly Light!

    Exodus 15:3

    “The Lord is a warrior;
    The Lord is His name.

    Isaiah 42:13

    The Lord will go forth like a warrior,
    He will arouse His zeal like a man of war.
    He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry.
    He will prevail against His enemies.

    Thank you, Charlie!

    Liked by 11 people

  13. We will see but with the virus spiking and a significant # afraid of it, Trump’s failure to provide some solice of a reasonable response to those who are afraid, such as a measured response, even if not really effective, such as masking, etc. while opening up the country, may cost him but Pray God many will think of the long term of our country’s future first. Dealing with low information and emotionally baseld voters is increasingly difficult.

    Liked by 8 people

  14. I have to admit I’ve been fixated on the “do it yourself” electoral map on Real Clear Politics and other similar sites. You’re right that the real value in polls are the cross-tabs and messaging guidance. I doubt that this election night will be a repeat of 2016 and I’m not really sure if I want trump to win because there is a lot more lift in being the outlier – Since my hippie youth, when I thought it was cool to be counter-culture, I’m enjoying going back to that mindset – in reverse – don’t trust anyone younger than 40. :-))! We shall overcome!

    I can’t forgive the “Never Trumpers”. As much as they don’t like Trump the opposite is so much worse.

    Liked by 6 people

  16. https://usgraceforce.com/the-time-is-now-to-do-the-d-day-thing-build-your-holy-alliance/
    Fr. Heilman has posted an approach to: “So this election really is about whether we will participate in a years-long mop-up operation weeding out the remnants of the failed leftist revolution against America, against faith, against family, and against any residue of traditional morality and freedom – or whether we will have to mount our own real, counter-revolution against those who would fundamentally transform this country into the new Soviet Union. I prefer the former, but I am prepared for the latter.”
    (Charlie, this paragraph alone filled me with so much hope and determination.)
    Father’s post is long but it reminds me of Charlie’s song about the alliance of the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant and then Father adds the Church Suffering. In other words, “empty” Purgatory and get them to Heaven to fight for us. We can’t do it by ourselves.

    Liked by 8 people

    1. Remember it’s NOVEMBER! All Hail Marys prayed with the Flame of Love lines will save 10 (TEN) folks in Purgatory! Let us empty Purgatory this November! (Usual caveats: be in a state of grace, etc.)

      Liked by 6 people

  17. Dear Charlie,
    Here we are on the day before…oh, I am hoping and praying for a mop-up, but also praying I will be strong if it comes to counter-revolution. I have asked the Holy Souls to pray for us today. Our battle is against the powers of darkness and we would be totally powerless if God were not with us. Have prayed two different election novenas. 🙏🏽
    Praying for all here – thank-you so much to all of you not in this country who are praying for us!
    May the Lady of all Nations, the Blessed Virgin Mary, be our advocate!
    God bless us, everyone,
    Katey in Oregon 🙏🏽✝️🙏🏽

    Liked by 9 people

  18. Butterflies. Getting ready to come out of the locker room and face the crowd and that other team across the field. A combination of hopes and doubts.

    Gonna re submit this post from a couple of days ago:

    “I ran across this interesting article about what MAY be happening under the surface in this election. I immediately thought about Charlie’s preferred mo for ascertaining the public’s mood — stop in at the local diner, order a cup of coffee and a piece of pie, and just watch and listen to what is going on.

    https://mises.org/power-market/will-nonpolitical-silent-majority-stop-left

    The author presents this startling observation: “If “Did Not Vote” was a candidate she would have gotten 471 electoral votes in 2016.

    Biden 51 electoral votes. Trump 16 electoral votes. Did Not Vote 471 electoral votes.

    Biden has been beating the bushes to drive people to the polls based on Covid. “Trump doesn’t have a Plan!”

    Trump has been beating the bushes with an appeal to “Law and Order.”

    “If we do in fact see a major surge of voter behavior, it’s useful to consider the sort of voter who may be turning out to cast a vote for the first time. Both sides have their own preferred narrative here: Democrats see a nation of politically oppressed groups that can be activated by tapping into their sense of injustice, while Republicans see a “silent majority” that wants, to quote @realDonaldtrump, “LAW AND ORDER!”

    …. Historically, the demonstrated preference of American voters has firmly been political apathy. In 2016 ….

    …. The question, then, is which candidate makes the best appeal to the “antipolitical”? ….

    …. Now we’re told that American democracy depends on protecting voters from potential “disinformation.” The most obvious example is social media’s treatment of files allegedly found on a lost laptop, which Big Tech has desperately tried to hide from American voters. The New York Post, one of America’s oldest newspapers, remains locked out of their Twitter account for daring to publish the content.

    While this episode highlights important questions about the relationship between Big Tech and society, this is simply an example of a larger trend of the progressive left pushing politics beyond elections. While the political agenda of Facebook and Twitter may have a more direct impact on how we use the product than how Gillette targets its advertising or what the next woke flavor of Ben and Jerry’s is, the Left and its corporate allies have made the decision that politics is too important to not be talked about.

    But what if normal Americans do not want to be lectured to? Particularly when those lectures come from the people who engage in such performative hypocrisy as celebrating massive protests in the name of “social justice” while scolding you for going to church?

    If “bread and circuses” really are all that is needed to keep the masses content, what happens when you pervert pastimes into “soy and political lectures”?

    What if there is a large section of the country that did not vote for Trump in 2016, sees plenty of faults with the man and his policies, but sees him and his tweets as far less dangerous than self-righteous lefties who use their social media to get random people fired? …

    ….. Perhaps real populism in America is simply letting people raise a family and grill in peace? …”

    THIS IS SIMPLY AN EXAMPLE OF A LARGER TREND OF THE PROGRESSIVE LEFT PUSHING POLITICS BEYOND ELECTIONS — and into the most intimate aspects of life in America.

    Well, well, well. BINGO! ” I’ll have another cup of coffee and maybe a small slice of that apple pie, hon.” This author may have stumbled on the key to this election.

    What does it take to generate a historical surge in voting which appears to be happening this time around? How do you get a substantial segment of apathetic, a-political people up off their butts and into a polling booth? What kind of people would break a life time of past political apathy

    My preferred “tell” in support of this thesis on the 2020 election: The crash in TV ratings of major professional sports leagues in an almost visceral reaction to being lectured to by vastly overpaid athletes and greedy, fearful “woke” owners.

    But what if normal Americans do not want to be lectured to? What if real populism in America is simply letting people raise a family and grill in peace? What if work, recreation, CHURCH, and just enjoying an outdoor restaurant meal without being hassled by a masked peaceful protestor jamming a bullhorn in your face and pouring your drink over your head —— are places beyond politics .. a red line … which the Left has charged across, over and beyond in their lunge for power?

    What pollster is measuring this question?

    I think the Church, and particularly the Pope, should go to school on this thesis. Is what we are witnessing in the Church a similar effort to — in effect — push religion beyond religion and into politics and other areas of living where we believe it lacks competence and authority?

    Maybe real believers just want to attend Church, receive the sacraments and simply raise their families and grill in peace?

    The Pope and the Hierarchy may not be polling this portion of apathetic and a-political Christians who just want to be left alone.”

    Yeah. Be sure to take a look at that first link above. A real good take by the author, imo.

    “But is conventional wisdom correct?

    If we do in fact see a major surge of voter behavior, it’s useful to consider the sort of voter who may be turning out to cast a vote for the first time. ”

    That unseen , unknown DID NOT VOTE cohort of 2016 is shrinking significantly in 2020. This is the cohort of 2020 that the pollsters have no clue about. They don’t participate in polls. For a lot of different reasons.

    I studied a little statistics in college lo those many years ago. In fact, it was one of my favorite courses.

    You know who invented statistics? The anthropologists.

    https://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/surprising-birthplace-modern-data-analysis-celebrates-100-years

    They used measurements of skulls and facial features, etc. to study ethnic differences.

    Statistics moved into the business world by using the anthropologists analytical techniques to study physical and repetitive processes in a testing environment. Machines. Were the machines producing their products performing to specification or were they producing defective products?

    For example a pill making machine is required to produce aspirin pills of a certain width, height, diameter etc. When that machine starts producing defective pills beyond the tolerance limits it is going to cost the manufacturer a lot of money if allowed to go on undetected. So, they take a sample of the product every hour or so. Scoop up a random sample of aspirin coming off the line and do the measurements. If a sufficient number of the pills fail the tolerance test then the machine is shut down and fixed.

    Physical, repetitive processes. Statistical analysis supplies robust evaluation for action.

    So, pulling that kind of statistical technique into the area of human opinion which has no tolerance limits and can change on a dime, a puff of wind, or the last whisper in the ear is a kind of con game.

    You are measuring a momentary, fleeting phenomena good for that moment only. Unlike a machine producing pills, human opinion will yield different results not from hour to hour, not from minute to minute, but second from second. Your poll/sample result is obsolete before you can complete the analysis.

    Imagine if you are missing a whole segment of the population that you are attempting to measure with your statistical techniques? Call it sampling error or sampling risk or some other kind of statistical risk which the professional statisticians can tell you about.

    What makes me laugh is when these pollsters start talking about having to massage the data to compensate for the unknown unknowns. Hah! That’s when science morphs into propaganda.

    Now, how do you compensate for those DID NOT VOTE in 2016 that are turning out in significant numbers in 2020 and who will not tell you what they are thinking at the moment?

    What did we miss? What did we miss? It is going to take months for them to figure out what they missed.

    Now, add voter fraud in places like Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago and other places how ya gonna
    evaluate that kind of electoral processing machine? How do you poll fraud?

    So butterflies are ok. The Big Game always brings them on. But don’t get depressed over “fake news” and “fake scientific statistical polling results” based on samples taken mere days before the game.

    Which brings me to Exit Polls. The election will be Exit Polled by a single organization which will feed the results to all the media outlets at one time. They all get the same poll. At the same time. These are the results which will be used to call the election. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

    Me? I think God has a Plan. Nobody is polling God’s Plan. Could go either way. But either way it goes the result will be for our GOOD. We may be joyous or we may be dismayed. It will take us a long time to understand fully how God’s Plan for us and America and the world is going to play out. The fruits. The fruits of how the Big Game on the field plays out tomorrow will only be understood in hindsight.

    But I have to confess I’ve got the nervous Butterflies going myself. Ready to strap on the helmet and charge out of the locker room and across the Rubicon to whatever God has Planned for me and you and the world.

    Liked by 10 people

    2. I’m not sure which imagery I’m more fond of. Popping out of that tent next to the Rubicon with a wood chopping ax, or strapping on the helmet on the way out of the locker room to the field. Either resonates I suppose.

      Hey, on your way out of that locker room, as you’re heading down the stairs to the tunnel, don’t forget to fist bang that sign in affirmation. It’s a simple gold sign with blue lettering which reads: “Play Like a Champion Today.” That’ll quite the butterflies.

      Liked by 5 people

    3. I think you made good points, Stormtracker Ed, but why would the pope be polling anything? I do not understand this point. Maybe you are simply referencing his foray into politics as opposed to placing Jesus in front and center of all and staying out of temporal matters?

      Like

      1. Thanks, Joyful. An update: Great lab result so they were on the fence about admitting Father. He started to do quite well this afternoon. Since he’s there and he’s 92, they decided to keep him to monitor his recovery in the next day or two. A good plan.

        Liked by 10 people

      1. It was, Sr. Bear. Calling old age a second childhood is apt. When life becomes fragile as one ages, people rely heavily on the support individual in their lives. Being there to compensate for hearing challenges and short term memory adds another dimension to the value of support. That said, I gathered from my communication with the folks in the ER that the medical team was mesmerized by Father’s dynamic personality. Thanks so much for your prayers! ♥️

        Liked by 5 people

      1. Thanks for asking, Kim. I’ve got my share of misery, yet, it really is similar to any time I’ve had a nasty flu virus and, actually, with Father being tended to in the hospital, I have complete freedom to just rest. Praise God for our community of prayer here!

        Liked by 5 people

        1. Oh, good… they’re just monitoring him. I was concerned that maybe he’d had some (crisis like heart trouble or breathing trouble) that required emergency attention. Still praying.

          Liked by 3 people

    12. Tell Father that his assigned prayer warrior is barnstorming heaven on his behalf, and will continue to pray for God’s Divine Will in his life.

      Liked by 5 people

  20. Yesterday I talked at work to a young man who has voted for Biden. He stated he knows Biden is a liar and most likely collaborated with China, he knows he is a “wet towel” as he put it. The reason he did not vote for Trump is that Trump did not promise to cancel his 50K student debt. He said “Trump did nothing for me”. So I assume young people like him hope it will be actually Bernie calling the shots behind Biden’s back.

    In this case, can’t help sharing this link:

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Pawel, I saw this video over the weekend and it is outrageously funny (but sadly true at the same time). Did we all notice in Abp. V’s letter to the President that he acknowledges that if Biden wins, he will be replaced at the fitting time?
      Come Lord Jesus!

      Beckita, I pray you and Father are doing well. I just caught up on yesterday’s comments.

      Liked by 3 people

  21. JESUS = GOOD NEWS! … Noon.

    Tomorrow!
    https://gospelnewsnetwork.org/2020/10/28/jonathan-cahn-a-call-to-prayer-and-fasting-on-election-day/

    https://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbrown/2020/11/01/do-not-take-your-foot-off-the-pedal-of-prayer-n2579185

    Sorry I missed this Padre’s message … but God doesn’t wear a wristwatch!

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/11/02/never-underestimate-the-resolve-of-the-american-patriot/
    ……… & Prayer Warriors!!

    https://www.breitbart.com/2020-election/2020/11/02/black-christian-pastors-pray-for-racial-healing-peaceful-elections-in-america/

    https://www.crisismagazine.com/2020/first-they-came-for-the-deplorables

    https://www.crisismagazine.com/2020/the-overlord-of-western-elites

    https://generaldispatch.whatfinger.com/tom-fitton-the-fbi-needs-to-be-investigated-for-covering-up-biden-burisma-corruption/

    https://patriotpost.us/humor/74595-vote-trump-2020-11-02?mailing_id=5408&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.5408&utm_campaign=humor

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/

    GOD SAVE THE REPUBLIC & ALL HERE!!

    Liked by 5 people

  23. Great piece, Charlie!!! So nerve wracking esp in view of this link I’m sharing below this statement!!! But then again, God is in control. We are not. I know Our God is Lord of us all and Lord of history! That gives me such peace and calm even in these stormy seas!!! Btw I think my bro, Bryan and sister-in-law took off today from Virginia en route to USVI and I promised them I’d ask all my Charlie friends to pray for their safe passage! They put the blessed St Brenden medallion up on their teak boat!!! St Brendan is patron Saint of sailors!!! Ave Maria Stella Maris!!! ⛵️

    Liked by 5 people

          1. It is isn’t it??? I could never be out at sea for 9 or 10 days at a time!!! No lights!!! Things that go bump in the night! Yikes! Not for me! I love to sail but not that long😳

            Liked by 1 person

  25. I just went thru our polling place praying St.Michael prayer and sprinkling holy water….especially by the door, the place where the ballot machine will be, where the booths will be. The stuff has been delivered but not set up yet.
    Please pray! Lots of sirens very near me. Westside St Paul. Thanks.

    Liked by 6 people

    4. Answered prayers! I just voted in the polling place I prayed and holy watered yesterday. What a change from prior years. Cheerful, peaceful voters and judges. I wish I had thought of it years ago.

      Liked by 4 people

  26. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m afraid the usual political calculus may not work anymore. Perhaps I’m too cynical, but I’m also afraid that we have reached a tipping point where too many people fall into the category of what the Screwtape Letters calls (paraphrasing) not quite smart enough to understand the doom they are bringing to themselves, but not quite dim enough to escape culpability either. Sort of a moral stupor, and when combined with the fear and uncertainty of a pandemic you have a very pliant population. There are rational reasons people will vote for Biden: if Biden reflects their policy positions or they believe he is less corrupt than Trump (even though they may be wrong, it’s at least rational). I’m more concerned with how many votes he will get for irrational reasons: people’s emotional dislike of Trump’s personality or his delivery, people failing to connect the spirit of revolution to the Democratic party, people who buy what the media is selling about Trump being a “white supremacist”, and maybe even otherwise smart people who want to keep their head in the sand and believe that the world will go back to “normal” with a reassuring Joe Biden in charge (as if the “normal” we have been experiencing weren’t a moral abomination), or just complete confusion. It could get very dicey soon.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I empathize, Lake. Of course, my method of political analysis was never “normal” (which is why it was generally so accurate). But back in 2008, an operative was trying to convince me that I should help the RNC because I had such a knack for writing pithy slogans that were memorable and captured the heart of an issue. I just wouldn’t for several reasons – but the single one I told her that seems eerily on target was that I thought we were at a tipping point, that the stupids had become the majority…and if that were the case we would just have to crash and burn and hope that, someday, we could rebuild from the ashes.” She was also a dear friend – and it shook her, because I am generally such a cheery, upbeat guy in person.

      Liked by 5 people

  27. It definitely would have been a lot more fun to be a rebel and insurrectionary when we were young(er). Hm. Maybe I should work up a heartening Noah patch for the flight jacket. The guy was 600 years old when the floods broke.

    Liked by 4 people

  28. JESUS = GOOD NEWS! … Late Edition

    http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/11/02/prayers-for-president-trump-2/

    https://www.lifenews.com/2020/11/02/president-trump-issues-proclamation-promoting-adoption-as-an-alternative-to-abortion/

    https://www.catholicleague.org/cuomos-covid-overreach-in-court-again/

    https://amgreatness.com/2020/11/01/donald-trump-counterrevolutionary/

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/11/whosever-got-guns-wins-election-night-coup-detat-radical-leftist-groups-plot-siege-white-house-takeover-major-us-cities-beginning-tuesday/

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/11/02/top-coup-experts-training-left-with-revolutionary-tactics-ahead-of-election/

    Does Fauci have a Napoleonic Complex?

    https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/lifesite-delivers-over-42k-signatures-to-abp-gregory-asking-him-to-apologize-to-trump?utm_source=top_news&utm_campaign=standard

    GOD SAVE THE REPUBLIC & ALL HERE!!

    Liked by 3 people

  30. Charlie,
    A follow-up to a small post yesterday that really worried me regarding about the state of current college students, and the generations before them. I completely agree with your trusted associate that said “You don’t understand my generation, Charlie. We don’t care about fairness, decency or honor. We just want to know what’s in it for us. in watching some videos and reading how our college students, and my guess at least 2 generations of college students had no clue of their understanding of not even current history/ This includes, knowing what freedom means, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of speech and so many freedoms and human rights that God Himself has self-endowed humanity with these gifts. This country was built upon that the values of life, family, and one for the Christ’s church. And now a majority of the values been thrown into the trash can. A trash can, for the life of a baby, one for the life of a family to practice and raising a child with a mother and father, thus eliminating so many aspects of a child’s rearing as it related to life itself. For the child’s comforter, nurse, source of food, teacher, judge, court, work boss, etc. These normal activities are now shattered by so many conflicts and or attacks on the family and their moral beliefs.
    With the liberal professors and the malleable minds of college kids coming from liberal parishes, and morally wrong teachings starting in grade school, It is hard to think how they will change their vote. Does it start to change after finding out free tuition, free wage or guaranteed wage, health care for all , eliminating oil and gas, and a who know what otter issues promised by the new socialist government, before they realize nothing is free and freedom issues are really a pretty good thing.

    I know we are all in prayer for Trump and the need to keep him as our stalwart against tyranny, socialist policies and the killing of thousands. By the way, I just read that there have been more black babies aborted this year than there have been deaths related have COVID-19. So where is all the concern over this fact? Doesn’t anyone take the time to realize what this means? Is this where are priority lies? Where is the money to help these ladies, rather than throw more money at Covid19-masks and locks-ups. This selfish and pathetic attitude of me, me, me first eliminates the Goodness God has instilled into our hearts. God is the only true goodness as give to us in the church’s deposit of the faith.
    Finally, even if Trump wins, I anticipate the wounded and humiliated press, political politicians and political along with BFF’s social media platform will be even more vicious dogs foaming out of their mouth digging up anything to keep their relentless claws and hate focused on him and now his family. If the dems win both the House and the Senate, getting any legislation into law will be a small victory but does not always require the president.
    Regardless of may seem a defeatist attitude, as I may have said before, I see no way humanity can get us out of with out God. And in God I have complete trust He will protect us and guide us through His Holy spirit as we in turn cry out for God’s mercy and to offer him our sufferings and prayers. I know this spiritual battle has already been won. But we must do our part to in asking Our Mother to bring us to Jesus and to ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in all things.

    Liked by 3 people

  31. Just voted. Didn’t wear a muzzle despite the sign at the door. Nobody said a word. I got a few looks though. So what?

    Resist social engineering!
    KAG!!!

    Liked by 2 people

  32. JESUS = GOOD NEWS! … 😉

    Happy Election Day …. GOD is with US …Whatever the Outcome!

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/11/03/election-day-2020-notes-and-discussion/

    https://stream.org/in-case-of-national-emergency-after-election-read-this/

    A good day to revisit AB Viganò’s letter to Trump
    FINAL COUNTDOWN: Viganò’s Urgent Letter to Trump Before Election 2020

    THE GREAT RESET – Fr. Mark Goring, CC

    https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-vatican-civil-union-comment-8f53e237da41da9891564268f1a2e66a

    There are any number of people in the upper echelons of the Feral Gubermint’s Alphabet Agencies (Media/Big Tech/”Academia”) that HATE Trump …. and most of US here ;-(
    https://generaldispatch.whatfinger.com/rudy-giuliani-with-lou-dobbs-rudy-says-there-are-people-at-the-top-of-the-fbi-that-seek-to-destroy-president-trump-media-hiding-it-all/

    https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/11/03/president-trump-wing-big-tech/

    https://buffalochronicle.com/2020/10/31/facebook-censorship-board-mostly-foreign-nationals-with-ties-to-george-soros-leftwing-billionaire

    https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/pennsylvania-bakery-election-cookie-poll-clear-frontrunner-owner-says

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/11/03/catholic-leaders-challenge-joe-bidens-commitment-to-faith/

    http://www.townhall.com

    GOD SAVE THE REPUBLIC & All US Ugly Bible/Gun Clinging Deplorables!

    Liked by 3 people

    1. The Lou Dobbs interview with Giuliani is unbelievable. No doubt left that the FBI is filled with “bad actors”! Lord help us!

      Liked by 3 people

  33. This is all you need to understand about the polling profession:

    View at Medium.com

    They work for the money right up until the truth is going to destroy their future business. Then they have a metanoia. Like the day before the actual election.

    This is really pathetic.

    Liked by 1 person

  35. Just catching up today. Heartfelt prayers for Father Wang and you Beckita. Spent the afternoon in hospital yesterday so understand how hard that is. People have been wonderful.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Oh Luke. Praying for you. Hope whatever took you to the hospital is resolved.

      I was just thinking that I’m glad I got covid so I can certainly say it’s like a case of a nasty flu. All the fear that’s been stoked is evil.

      Father will likely be released today. Thanks so much for your prayers.

      Liked by 2 people

      3. I’m actually fine B it’s my wife’s cancer odyssey that brought us to the hospital. It has been a rough trip but there is a lot of light! Thanks for all the prayers.

        Liked by 1 person

  36. The Marian Fathers at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy are livestreaming all day Nov. 3, beginning with Mass at 9 a.m. and continuing until midnight with adoration, chaplets, rosaries etc.

    Liked by 4 people

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Published by charliej373

Charlie Johnston is a former newspaper editor, radio talk show host and political consultant. From Feb. 11, 2011 to Aug. 21, 2012, he walked 3,200 miles across the country, sleeping in the woods, meeting people and praying as he went. He writes on cultural, global and political issues from an orthodox Catholic perspective. He emphasizes that we find God most surely through the ordinary, doing the little things we should with faith and fidelity. His constant refrain is that, to live real joy, we must acknowledge God, take the next right step, and be a sign of hope to those around us. He lives in the Archdiocese of Denver in the United States.