Author: Steven Connally

Published political writer and baseball player, coach, and fan.

But, the Lies!

When President Trump was shot in Pennsylvania, the person next to me had a shocking reaction.  She said, “Good.”  When pushed about why she gave that disgusting response, she said, “You can’t change my mind.  I will never support that man.  Everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie.  I can’t stand liars.” 

The irony is, I think that reason is a lie.  If lying disqualified a candidate, there is zero chance that she could vote for Kamala Harris.  I just spent most of October in a swing state, Arizona, where I saw ads on television and billboards, and heard radio advertisements for both candidates.  I can confirm that Kamala Harris is running the most dishonest major presidential campaign of our lifetimes.  It is inconsistent and hypocritical to claim that you support Kamala Harris because President Trump has told lies.

Honesty should matter in a political candidate.  Ideally, a candidate would say what policies they support and follow through once elected.  In that respect, President Trump has actually been the most honest politician in recent memory.  He either followed through, or attempted to and was blocked, on everything from tax cuts and lowering the regulatory burden, to Supreme Court appointments, to moving the United States Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, to working to secure our border.  Sure, he has lied about some silly things, like crowd sizes.  He exaggerates often, but when it comes to substantive policy, he is more open and honest than most politicians.

Likewise, his commercials and other advertisements playing in Arizona did not lie about his opponent, Kamala Harris’s policy positions.  He doesn’t need to!  Her positions are so crazy and radical that the truth is the best weapon to use against her.  He ran ads of her saying that she wants to ban fracking.  There were ads with her saying that she wants taxpayers to pay for prison inmates to get transgender treatments and that she supports men playing in women’s sports.  One ad highlights the massive increase in illegal border crossings under Harris’s watch.  Another ad showed her saying that she cannot think of anything she would do differently than Joe Biden.  Her own record is enough ammunition to beat her without needing to make stuff up.

Then, there are the Harris ads.  She cannot run ads touting her record, because it is embarrassing.  She cannot honestly attack President Trump’s record in office, because it was mostly successful.  Her only chance is to lie, and her handlers realize it. 

The laundry list of lies was very long.  There were lies about her record and her agenda that were not in the ads.  This includes claiming that the border is secure, when her current administration gave us the biggest influx of illegal border crossings ever.  It includes taking both sides on multiple issues like support for the Green New Deal, cutting police funding, eliminating private health insurance, and mandating electric vehicles whether people can afford it or not.  There was also the lie to the American people that Joe Biden was competent and fit for office, when everyone could see clearly that he was not.

Then, there were the attack ads about President Trump.  There was a big billboard that I passed multiple times near Phoenix that claimed President Trump plans to cut social security.  I was fortunate to be able to attend a Trump rally in Tempe, and I heard with my own ears his actual plan.  He plans to eliminate taxes on social security income.  That sounds far from a cut to me. 

There was also a commercial that claimed President Trump wants to pass a national abortion ban.  Unfortunately, that is an outright lie.  President Trump has said consistently that he does not support a federal ban and is happy with abortion policy being decided on a state-by-state basis.  Another ad lied that President Trump is proposing a four thousand dollar a year sales tax on families.  He is not.  Harris also had an ad running with a whole bunch of lies about President Trump’s agenda.  It claimed that President Trump wants to monitor women’s pregnancies and that he wants to defund K-12 schools.  These lies fall under the umbrella of a greater lie that Harris has been pushing throughout the campaign.  You have probably heard her talk about President Trump’s “Project 2025 agenda.”  She knows that Project 2025 is not connected to President Trump at all, but she does not care what is true.  His actual plan is called “Agenda 47,” and can be seen on his campaign website.

These are just the newer untruths.  She still mentions the Charlottesville lie, which has been debunked many times, even by left-wing sources. 

One of my favorite whoppers is not even about President Trump, but about American businesses.  She says that the inflation caused by her current administration’s policies was actually caused by “price-gouging.”  The businesses that she claims are price-gouging are making razor thin profit margins.  Restaurants are especially hurt by the inflationary policies of the left and the over regulation by the government.  They cannot survive without raising their prices to cover the increased cost of doing business.  Her saying that these businesses are price-gouging is slanderous.

We could keep going for pages, but by now you should get the picture.  Kamala Harris is far more dishonest than President Trump.  If you claim that you are not voting for President Trump because he is a liar, then you should write somebody in.  Kamala Harris is not an option for anybody who cares about truth.

She’s All That?

While pondering this year’s election, something seemed strangely familiar.  It was hard to put a finger on exactly what was causing this feeling of déjà vu.  On the surface, this seems like a very unique election compared to any other in recent memory.  On one side, there is a successful former president who could become the first since Grover Cleveland to serve two, non-consecutive terms.  On the other side, there is a politician whom both sides dislike, and who got crushed in the Democrat primary four years ago so badly that she dropped out in disgrace, but was then handed the nomination this year by the powerful elites in her party without receiving a single primary vote.  Why they would pick somebody as unpopular and unlikeable as Kamala Harris did not make much sense.  It is almost as though the Democrats have some sort of a bet going.

Then, a lightbulb went off in my head.  I knew why this story seemed so recognizable.  She’s All That!  Harris’s candidacy made me think of the 1999 teen romantic comedy starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachel Leigh Cook.  In the film, Prinze plays Zack, a popular high school senior who gets dumped by his girlfriend six weeks before the prom.  He tells his friend Dean, played by Paul Walker, that he can replace her with any girl on campus and make her popular.  Dean doubts it and proposes a wager that Zack cannot turn a girl picked by Dean into the prom queen in six weeks.  Zack accepts the bet.  Dean smells an easy win because he can pick any girl, and it can be the most unlikeable, unpopular, ugly girl in the school.  It is a test of Zack’s power and influence on campus.

This has to be what happened in this election cycle!  The media (our Prinze character) is so overconfident in their ability to control the public that it seems like they made a wager with the Democrat party (our Walker character) that they can make anybody win the presidency, even if they select the most heinous, unlikeable, extreme candidate we have ever seen on a presidential ballot for a major party.  We, the unknowing public, are represented by the students at the school.

This is where the similarity ends and the movie gets unrealistic.  Instead of choosing a fat girl with a bad complexion, bad teeth, and body odor, Dean chooses a hot girl played by Cook, Laney Boggs, because she has glasses and is a little bit awkward.  Here, the Democrats made a truly horrendous selection.  Harris has literally no positives going for her.  On policy, Harris is the most far-left candidate we have ever seen on the ticket.  She is so far left that she hides her actual policy positions by avoiding any tough policy questions, and did not even feature a policy page on her campaign website until being attacked for that omission last week.  The few policy positions she has proposed could have come straight from Karl Marx.  Her most notable idea is to impose Soviet-style price controls that would lead to empty grocery store shelves. 

Internationally, she is weak when it comes to support for Israel.  She claims to want Israel to be able to defend itself while simultaneously chastising them for doing so.  She panders to pro-Hamas protesters and the antisemitic members of her party.  She even passed over a far more electable VP pick, Josh Shapiro, because he is Jewish. 

Not only is she terrible on substance, but she is lacking even the superficial qualities on which Democrats usually base their campaigns.  She is not charming like Bill Clinton.  She is not a smooth snake oil salesman like Barack Obama.  She is one of the most unlikeable candidates that has ever come along.  Her voice is annoying and her famous cackle is awkward.  She somehow comes off as simultaneously condescending and unsure of herself.  With all of these flaws, both deep and shallow, there has to be a bet going on.  There is no other reason for them to choose a candidate as awful as Kamala Harris.

Unlike the bet in the movie, this seems like it should be a sure loser.  The media is trying, though.  In this sequel, they have a bigger ego than Zack did in the original.  They are blanketing the airwaves with wall-to-wall positive coverage of Harris, and constant insults and attacks against her opponent, President Trump.  They are covering up all of her many negatives.  Just like Zack got Laney to hang out and be seen with all of the cool, popular kids to help raise her status, the media is focusing on Harris getting support from glitzy Hollywood stars and popular musical artists.  They are building a mirage.

Is the media all-powerful like they think they are?  Is the American public as gullible as they think we are?  Is Kamala Harris all that?  Let’s make the media lose their bet. 

Make America Great Again:  What Does it Mean?

I was recently asked a question that I had never really given much thought to.  I had mentioned to a friend that the reactions to my “Make America Great Again” hat have been extremely positive this year.  Whenever I go out with the hat on, there are five to ten “I like your hat” comments from people.  My friend then asked me, “What do you mean by Make America Great Again?  When do you want to go back to that was so great?”  I immediately knew where he was going.  You see, my friend is black.  America does not have the best record when it comes to how black people have been treated in the past.  Until the 1860’s, Democrats thought black people were inferior, so they enslaved them.  Until the 1960’s, Democrats thought black people were inferior, so they segregated them.  Now, Democrats think black people are inferior, so they push lower standards for them through affirmative action and DEI.

As you can see, you have to look at what people actually mean by the slogan to really understand it.  Obviously, it does not mean that we want to go back to slavery or segregation.  When my friend asked me, I answered that it is not about that at all, but when I tried to explain what it is about, I had trouble putting it into words.  Since then, I have been thinking about what we mean by “Make America Great Again.”  When you look at it from the right perspective, it really is simpler than it seems.

First, you have to realize that the slogan “Make America Great Again” implies that things have gone wrong in our country.  If you can agree to that fact, the rest of the explanation falls easily into place.  My friend who asked the question would be the first to say that our country has gone off the rails.  When we say, “Make America Great Again,” we do not mean that we want to bring back failures from the past.  We fixed slavery.  We fixed segregation.  Those bad things should be left in the past.  The things we want to bring back are the good things that have gone awry.

Most of us can acknowledge that our country has some major issues.  By looking at those problems, we can fill in the blanks of what needs to be made great again.  Here are some of the obvious ones:

  • We used to be able to afford to buy a meal for the family at a local drive-thru restaurant.  Now, inflation has made food (and almost everything else) exorbitantly expensive.  Making America Great Again means making our money worth more and our lives affordable again.
  • People used to strive for the American Dream.  They wanted to start a successful business and make enough money to buy a house and provide for their family.  Now, government regulations and excessive taxes have made it nearly impossible to run a successful business.  Making America Great Again means bringing back the opportunity to reach the American Dream.
  • We used to fight crime, support our police, and prosecute criminals so that we could live in relative safety.  Now, we make major crimes into misdemeanors, we unfairly slander and try to defund our police, and we let criminals get away with murder, sometimes literally.  We even make it easy for criminals and terrorists from other countries to enter our country illegally.  Making America Great Again means taking criminals off our streets and securing our borders so we can be safe again.
  • We used to have both major parties agree when it came to supporting our greatest ally, Israel.  In fact, Harry Truman, a Democrat, was the president who pushed for the creation of modern Israel.  Now, we have people in our streets shouting “Death to Israel and death to America!”  We have Democrats walking out of speeches by the Israeli Prime Minister and trying to block military aid to Israel.  Making America Great Again means standing with Israel.
  • We used to have something called comedy.  Movies and television shows were made with jokes that were funny.  You could make jokes about being gay, race, disabled people, and more.  Now, people are overly sensitive and are told to feel offended about everything.  We hear things like, “That movie hasn’t aged well.”  (If you hear that, it is probably a funny movie that you should watch.)  Comedians are criticized and sometimes blackballed for making jokes.  Making America Great Again means being less sensitive, defending comedians, and making America funny again.
  • In the past, most people on both sides loved God and wanted to please Him.  Now, Christians are slandered as bigots for holding mainstream Christian beliefs.  Making America Great Again means praying and advocating for a religious revival and a turning back to God by our nation. 
  • We used to have sports for both men and women to compete.  Now, men can say they identify as a woman and compete in women’s sports.  Making America Great Again means recognizing that men are different than women and should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports.

This is in no way a complete list, but it is a taste of what we mean by “Make America Great Again.”  It does not mean that America was ever a perfect place, but it does mean that many things have declined and should be repaired.  To make an analogy, say that ten years ago your house had a leaky roof, and you got it repaired.  Now, your plumbing has a broken pipe and the house has flooded.  If you said, “I want to make my house great again,” would that mean you want to go back to when you had a leaky roof?  Of course not.  It means you want to fix the broken pipe that is causing problems now.   Just like that, “Make America Great Again” does not mean that we want to bring back problems from the past.  It means we want to repair the problems that we have now.  Now, let’s get to work and “Make America Great Again!”

The Olympics: We Are the Outsiders

I like the Olympics.  I always have.  As a five-year-old child in 1984, I was able to attend the diving event and track and field in Los Angeles.  The competition and the patriotism were inspiring.  I remember crying while watching the closing ceremony on T.V. because the Olympics were over. 

I still look forward to watching the Olympics and rooting on the United States athletes, so on July 26th, I sat down to watch the opening ceremony in Paris, France.  It was quite the spectacle.  The acrobats were mesmerizing.  The musical acts were all over the place, from pop to rap, heavy metal, and opera.  The athlete boat parade down the Seine was different than the normal walk around the track of the stadium.  There were, however, some controversial skits interspersed throughout the event.  There was a skit about a ménage à trois.  There were lots of men dressed as women throughout the show. The part that has made the most waves, though, was what many perceived as a drag queen reenactment of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “The Last Supper.”

This has led to a huge outcry by Christians in America.  Many have demanded an apology.  Some have vowed not to watch and called for a boycott of the games.  My reaction was quite different, though.  You may remember my article where I explained a saying I have about being offended.  “Don’t be offended unless offense is intended.”  This opening ceremony actually fits that criterion.  I think they fully intended to offend Christians by mocking one of the big events in the Bible.  They wanted that attention and the controversy.  Here’s the thing that might surprise you.  Even though it checks the boxes for being offensive, I was not offended.

Was it a good thing?  Of course not.  Did I freak out?  Not at all.  I do not expect people who reject God to respect God.  I do not expect non-Christians to abide by biblical values.  Quite the opposite.  I expect debauchery.  I expect violence.  I expect hedonism.  This is what the world would be like without God.  Instead of complaining, we should use it as a contrast to turn people back to God.  We should show it as two different paths we can take.

We are leaving a time when Christianity was the common, widely agreed upon religion, and most people in the Western world shared the same ideology and values.  We got used to the expectation that others shared our values.  Unfortunately, that is not the case now.  We are in a time when Christianity is no longer the dominant value system.  Secular leftism is the dominant value system.  We are now outsiders in a pagan world. 

This has actually been the norm during much of history.  Christians were outsiders, not the people in control.  How did Christianity grow in the first place?  My guess is that a bunch of pagans were living meaningless, unhappy lives and they saw these strange Christians living joyful lives with a purpose.  This is the contrast that we need to highlight today.  Complaining that non-Christians are not acting like Christians is a waste of time and illogical.  We should instead highlight the fact that following Jesus leads to a happier, more fulfilling life and a better society, while the alternative leads to a shallow, meaningless life and a hedonistic, indulgent society.

While this perspective is true on a large-scale, societal level, it also applies on a micro, more personal level.  When somebody who is not a Christian does bad things, I am not shocked.  Why would I be?  They do not have the same standards as we do.  It should not be surprising if somebody who rejects the Bible does something unethical in business.  Their goal is not to do what is right.  It is to do what will be of the most benefit to them.  Christians should hold themselves to a higher standard.

Another point that I have heard Christians make is that the French would not have mocked Islam the way that they did Christianity.  This is, of course, true.  This is a good point to make, but not if we frame it as a complaint.  Complaining doesn’t win people over.  What does make Christians look good is to point out how great it is that we will not chop off your head if you try to offend us.  Christianity makes better people.

Unless the world turns back to God, things are going to get worse.  We are seeing things that nobody would have imagined when I watched the Olympics back in 1984.  Who would have guessed back then that people would be pushing for men to be able to compete in women’s sports?  Vulgarity, crime, and sexual debauchery are just the tip of the iceberg.  The marginalization and persecution of Christians (and Jews) will get even worse.  There will be more wars and worse atrocities.  There will be more suffering. 

Instead of feeling shocked and angry at the non-believers who performed this skit, I feel bad for them.  If you have rejected God to the point where you will mock Him, your eternity looks pretty bleak.  Instead of attacking them for showing sexualized content and debauchery during an event that many parents watched with their children, we should be talking to those parents and pointing out the alternative.  This alternative would lead to the more wholesome, yet still exciting and enjoyable path that God provides.  In fact, only our path will lead to true happiness.

I am still watching the Olympics, and enjoying the competition.  The athletes worked hard for this chance and many of them do want to please God.  The next time you see a heathen performance or display and your first instinct is to be offended, instead think to yourself, “I am sure glad I have God and am not like that.”

Lead by Example

My wife is a businesswoman and she works very hard.  She sometimes wonders why I put so much time into having fun.  As most of you know, I still play baseball at a pretty high level.  I am in a Wednesday night bowling league.  I play poker.  Not only that, but I coach baseball for work.  I also like to be involved in many social events with friends and family.  I am spontaneous.  I was just out to lunch for a friend’s birthday, and another friend asked if I wanted to come over and sing songs while he played the piano.  I did, and it was fun.  I want to enjoy my life.  Even more than that, I want my life to be meaningful and important in a positive way.

This has led to a discussion between my wife and me about what is important in life.  She says that having fun all the time is not realistic.  I agree.  There are certainly things that everybody has to do in life that they do not want to do.  Work immediately comes to mind.  Here’s the thing.  The fact that you have to work does not necessarily mean that it is more meaningful or important than fun.  For example, if 98% of the lawyers and politicians were not working, the world would be a better place.  Just like fun, if work is not done for the right purpose, it is not a good thing. 

I was just re-reading the book of Ecclesiastes, and was reminded that anything we do without it being for God’s purpose is vanity.  This does not mean that nothing we do matters.  It means that the things we do that affect eternity are the only things that ultimately matter.  As Colossians 3:2 puts it, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”   What can we do on earth that affects eternity?  We can lead people to put their faith in Jesus.

Once we know this, the only question left becomes, “What will lead people to put their faith in Jesus?”  There are the obvious answers, like inviting people to church or telling people about Jesus, and those are certainly important, but they are not usually very successful by themselves.  I have often seen people at events holding signs telling people to repent and turn to Jesus and wondered, “Has there ever been anybody who repented and turned to Jesus because of somebody doing that?”  In fact, shouting about God on a street corner is probably counterproductive and turns people off.

So, what does work?  What can help usher in a religious revival in our country that actually causes lasting change?  The answer is not to be pushy.  The answer is to lead by example.  Make people want to have a life like yours.  These four things will get people to want to turn to God.

  1. Be fun.  If you are regularly doing fun things, laughing, and in the middle of exciting moments, people are going to like you more.  People want to spend time with likeable, fun people.  If you are not fun, nobody will want to be around you, much less be like you or take any advice from you.  Fun also puts you in a position to meet people and build relationships with them.
  2. Be good.  There are fun people who are no good.  I know people who are a blast to hang out with but are not good people.  I would never put them in charge of money, because they are shady and the money would be gone.  I would never want to work with them because they are flakey.  I would not want them to date anybody I care about because they would treat them badly.  Being fun is certainly not good by itself.  Think about Pleasure Island in Pinocchio.  The kids are having fun, but are being bad.  This is why I specified that I want my life to be meaningful and important in a positive way.  If you are fun, but also honest, trustworthy, reliable, and helpful, people will respect you. 
  3. Be happy.  Fun and happy are related, but definitely not the same thing.  There are people who do a lot of fun stuff, but are not happy with their lives.  Happy people smile a lot and rarely complain.  Happy people keep things in perspective and remain relatively happy even when things go wrong.  Happy people can feel sad when something terrible happens, but their default position is cheerful.  Fun makes people like you and want to be around you, but happy makes people want to be like you and emulate you.
  4. Let people know that God is the key to your happiness and success.  Once people like you because you are fun, respect you because you are good, and want to be like you because you are happy, you have to make it known that you are that way because you are a Christian.  It is the truth.  I certainly would not be good or happy without God in my life.  In fact, life would be meaningless.  Once they know that God is the key to your happiness, you do not have to be heavy-handed or pushy.  Be ready to answer questions about God, but you do not have to constantly preach at people.  Instead, lead by example.  Continue to be fun, good, and happy.

There is one more thing.  If you are not all of these things, do not tell people you are a Christian.  I relate it to politics.  When I am out wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, I am a billboard for President Trump, and I want him to win.  I go out of my way to make sure I am smiling and kind to people.  I always try to be that way, but I am even more conscious of it when I am representing President Trump.  I tip better at restaurants if I wear the hat.  I want people to know that the media is lying when they denigrate President Trump and his supporters.  I want them to know that we are good people.  If I am grumpy or rude, it will turn people off.  In fact, I take off the hat when I am driving, because nobody thinks other people are good drivers, even if they are. 

Similarly, if I am not fun, good, or happy, and then I tell people that I am a Christian, I am poorly representing God.  Nobody is going to see a Christian who is unhappy or constantly complaining and say, “How can I be like that?”  I had a friend who would often post on social media about God, but would mostly post complaints about his life or about some girl he was dating.  It drove me crazy because anybody who saw that would think, “That God thing sure isn’t working very well for him.  I’ll figure something else out.”  If you are not fun, good, and happy, work on that before you tell anybody that you are a Christian.

Now, go out and enjoy life.  Having fun may seem frivolous, but it leads to the most meaningful parts of your life. 

Five Quick Thoughts About the Assassination Attempt on President Trump

  1. When I first heard that President Trump had been shot, a person I know reacted by saying, “Good.” I would like to say that this surprises me, but unfortunately, the left has spent such so much time vilifying the man, it was half expected. Democrats and the media have spent the last 8 years comparing him to Hitler, baselessly calling him a dictator. By the way, a dictator is somebody who has absolute power and exercises control over the lives of his people. This is a ridiculous claim to make about a President who had deregulation and lessening the government interference in our lives as a cornerstone of his 4 years in office.
  2. Another person told me that they were surprised it wasn’t a Trump supporter who made an attempt to kill President Biden, because Trump supporters are “a little wacko.” While I am sure that out of the many Trump supporters there are plenty of bad apples, most of his fans that I have met are very kind and loving people. The scary thing about this comment was that it came from a conservative. Unfortunately, this person is older, and still watches the mainstream media and late night talk shows. President Trump, and his supporters, are painted as wackos by the network news and the late night talk shows. You cannot trust the sources that informed the public 50 years ago. Those sources can only be seen as opposition research. Also, if you have any negative thoughts about Trump supporters, I encourage you to go to a Trump rally and talk to the people there. They are the people who you would hope to live next door to.
  3. The failures of the secret service need to be investigated. How was somebody able to get on a rooftop so close to the stage? How was he allowed to get off a shot after spectators pointed him out?
  4. Things like this are likely to happen when one side of our political spectrum is actively protesting and ridiculing the Ten Commandments. Our country needs to turn back to God. There is no other way to turn the tide.
  5. President Trump is a real man. This is a guy who got shot, stood up with blood on his face, and raised his fist in defiance telling Americans to “fight!” Who would be a better guy to face down our enemies abroad than him?

Every Path is Not Equal: Harrison Butker’s Wisdom

Say there were two kids.  The first kid was smart, and a voracious reader, who studied hard and listened to his parents.  This kid worked tirelessly to be the best athlete he could be.  He messed up sometimes, but adults generally liked him.  The second kid was equally as smart, but chose not to read or study because he preferred video games.  He often disobeyed his parents.  He was a gifted athlete, but chose to quit the team because he did not like to practice.  He often hung out with troublemakers and spent many days after school in detention.  Which of these kids would you guess will have a more successful, happier life?

This is one of the rare occasions that a conservative and a leftist might agree.  The first kid is far more likely to have a good life.  The reason is obviously that some choices are better than others.  Some priorities are better than others.  Not all paths are equal. 

If somebody stood in front of a group of kids and told them about these two kids, and advised the group that they should choose to be like the first kid, very few people would complain.  Some choices are better than others, and if somebody gives advice to choose the better path, that is a good thing.  Hopefully, kids will listen. 

This is exactly what Super Bowl hero Harrison Butker did on May 11.  The kicker for the world champion Kansas City Chiefs gave the commencement address at Benedictine College, a small Catholic school in Kansas.  Unfortunately, the reaction has been less supportive.  The speech, which you can watch here, was pilloried by the secular media.  The NFL issued a statement saying that “his views are not those of the NFL as an organization.”  There are even calls for Butker to lose his job, including a petition signed by over 136,000 people calling for the Chiefs to kick him off the team.

Did he say something immoral and dangerous, like that boys can be girls or girls can be boys?  Did he defend communism?  Did he condemn Israel?  No.  Had he done any of those things he would have been applauded by the media.  He did say a number of things that are obviously true.  He spent most of the address telling Catholics to be bold in their faith and admonishing priests not to get comfortable with the depravity of our world and to speak out against what is wrong instead of trying to fit in.  He spoke about how many priests abandoned their flocks and went along with the tyrannical lockdowns of churches instead of fighting back.  He spoke out against people who claim to be Catholics, yet take positions on issues that are diametrically opposed to what the Bible says, calling out President Biden specifically.

Then, he got into the part of the speech that has gotten the biggest backlash.  He said that many of the women there were most excited about their marriage and the children they would bring into the world.  He talked about a “diabolical lie” that is prevalent in our culture today.  The lie he alluded to is that women are told that more fulfillment comes from having a successful career than from being a good wife and mother.  He was correctly warning that this lie is harming women, and our country.  He was giving advice.  Godly advice.  Just like the kid who chose to be studious and good, versus the kid who did not, one path is better than the other.

It is difficult to understand why anybody falls for this lie.  Work is not something to be envied.  God literally cursed the ground to make work miserable!  If you look all the way back to the beginning, when Adam and Eve sinned and ate the forbidden fruit, God cursed both of them.  The curse he put on women is that they would have pain in childbirth.  Then He cursed Adam in Genesis 3:17-19.

17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:

“Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”

In other words, God’s curse to men was that they would be forced to toil and work cursed ground just to eat, until they eventually die.  Now, our culture does something that my dad used to pull with me.  He would tell me to drink the milk from my cereal.  I hated milk, so I would say, “Why do I have to?”  Dad would reply, “You don’t have to.  You get to.”  Our culture now tells women, “Why should men get to go work and you have to take care of the kids?”  They reverse the “get to” and the “have to.”  The difference is, I didn’t fall for it with the milk.  Many women have with the work.  They want the “privilege” of taking on the curse that God put on men.  It is the equivalent of men wishing that they could have pain during childbirth. 

Conversely, children are the opposite of a curse.  Psalms 127:3-5 says: “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.”  Children are a reward from God! 

Harrison Butker advised women not to fall for this trick like they fell for the serpent’s trick in the Garden of Eden.  He never said that women are incapable of working outside the home.  He never even said that they should not work outside the home.  He was simply advising that one path is more important and more fulfilling than the other.  It seems obvious that raising good kids would be more fulfilling, and more fun, than working.  It certainly seems obvious that it is more important.  Would I have preferred that my mom was a highly paid CEO instead of staying home and raising me and my two sisters?  Definitely not!  My guess is that very few women who chose kids over career regret it.

I will admit that this path is not for every woman.  Butker was speaking in a religious setting.  I will be the first to say, if you are not a religious person, and especially if you are not married, you should not have children.  Some women lack the godly wisdom to be wives and mothers.  I encourage them to take the career path.  Anybody can do that.  It takes a much more exceptional woman to be a good wife and mother.

Some have complained that he should not have singled out women and wondered why he did not also call out the men in the audience.  Those critics likely did not even listen to the speech and are judging based on media reports, because Butker did, in fact, spend the next section of the speech talking to the men, and blaming many of societies ills on the absence of strong men in the home.  I urge you to listen to the whole speech.

While a lot of crazies are attacking Harrison Butker, the news isn’t all bad.  Many people have come out in his defense, including the wife and daughter of the Chief’s owner, their coach Andy Reid, and many teammates.  His jersey is now a top seller.  More importantly, his good advice is now being talked about.  Hopefully, many men and women alike will take it and choose the better path.  It will make them happier and more fulfilled, and make the world a better place.

Hungry Crocodiles, Thieving Monkeys, and Minimum Wage Laws: Singapore, Bali, and Australia

2023 was quite a year!  I got married in April, and I recently got back from a three-week honeymoon cruise through two oceans, two continents, and seven stops across three countries.  As always when traveling, I observed and learned a lot that I want to share.  Here are the highlights from each stop along the way.

Singapore

Our trip started with a 17-hour flight to Singapore.  This tiny country is a very unique place.  The first thing you see, obviously, is the airport.  Normally, that would not be worth mentioning, but the airport in Singapore is different.  They have what they call The Jewel, which is a giant, 5-story, indoor mall area built around a massive, man-made waterfall in the center.  We spent about 5 hours there!  I went through two mazes, a giant canopy of nets that you can walk through, high above the mall, three big slides, and a beautiful garden, among other things.  We also got ice cream at Swenson’s, which reminds me of celebrations with my grandma.  Swenson’s is no longer in the United States, so I had not been there in years!  I also tried a different flavor, Durian, which is known as the world’s smelliest fruit.  I was not a fan.  It tastes a little like gym socks and garlic.  Fortunately, we also got a scoop of Sticky, Chewy, Chocolate, a favorite from my youth.  We even called grandma from the table.

Before the trip, my wife made me watch the film Crazy, Rich Asians, which is set in Singapore.  We actually stayed at The Marina Bay Sands, the hotel featured in that movie.  It was extravagant.  In fact, the whole country is pretty fancy.  As one friend put it, “That whole place is like a big country club.”  The hotel itself was just like being in Las Vegas, complete with a giant casino.  Interestingly, tourists are able to enter the casino for free, but Singapore residents have to pay a membership fee to go in, because they prefer the locals not gamble away their money.  We also went to The Raffles Hotel, the birthplace of the Singapore Sling, a tasty cocktail invented by a bartender there because women were not allowed to drink alcohol at the time, so he made it look like juice.

It seemed like Singapore has about a 1 to 1, restaurant-to-person ratio.  Everywhere you walked there was food.  They have renowned hawker markets, with Michelin star-rated food stands.  The best things we ate there were souffle pancakes, which are large, fluffy pancakes that are soft like marshmallows, and croffles, which are waffles made with croissant dough.  The most exotic thing I tried was shark fin soup, which is outlawed in many places.  It tasted fine, but the bigger thrill is angering crazy activists who want to tell people what they can and can’t do.

My biggest political observation from Singapore is how much they are pushing the “climate change” agenda.  Multiple people that we talked to brought up their fear of global warming.  The government of Singapore is pushing the idea that ocean levels are going to rise and flood the country.  Many of their attractions are very centered around global warming propaganda.  One example is a giant, domed, Avatar-themed sky forest.  It is very cool, and visually impressive, just like the movie.  Also, like the movie, it pushes the false narrative that humans are evil, planet destroyers.  Singapore even brags that they have a “vehicle quota system” that caps new cars in the country and sets a zero-growth rate for cars and motorcycles.  I did not realize how widespread this propaganda has reached.

Bali, Indonesia

From Singapore, we got on the cruise ship, Celebrity Edge, and set sail for Bali, where we were in port for two days.  We had arranged for a driver, Putu Dedy, months in advance to take us around the island.  I highly recommend him.  The first day, we went to a giant swing, that swings out over a cliff above a riverbed far below.  It was a rush!  The place also had a menu with a full page of different coffees, including the most expensive coffee in the world, Kopi Luwak Coffee.  It is made by feeding coffee beans to an animal called a civet, which looked to me kind of like a possum.  When the civet poops out the beans, they pick them out of the feces, clean them, and make coffee out of them.  It costs $50 for a cup!  I did not try it, but I did try Luwak chocolate, which was made with the same beans, and actually tasted really good.  We brought a bunch home with us to give to friends and family.  We got some great reactions when we told them how it was made, after they had tried it.  Next, we went to a restaurant, Bebek Tebasari Resto, where our driver got us a table on a bamboo bungalow over a koi pond, with a great view overlooking rice paddies.  They even give us fish food for the koi.  Finally, we went to one of the many beautiful waterfalls on the island before heading back to the ship.

The next day, we got up early and started with a trip to the GWK Statue.  It is a massive statue of the Hindu deity Vishnu riding on his mount, Garuda.  You can see the statue from many miles away and it is the first thing you notice when arriving from the sea.  The area around it is a cultural center, where they have a traditional Balinese show, with musicians and actors.  I got picked out of the crowd to be in the show, where I got to wear a monkey mask and act like a monkey on stage.  It was a blast!

From there, we went to our favorite place in Bali, the Uluwatu Temple.  It is a Hindu temple in a forest along a breathtaking cliff, overlooking the ocean hundreds of feet below.  What makes it extra fun is that there are monkeys who live at the temple.  We hired a guide to show us around because the monkeys are mischievous.  We were warned in advance not to wear hats or sunglasses, because the monkeys will steal them.  If they do, the guide is there to trade fruits or nuts to the monkey for your stuff back.  Our guide had a slingshot to keep the worst monkeys away, because he knew the ones to look out for.  We did, in fact, see two people who had not hired guides, get their glasses stolen by monkeys.  Then they had to pay extra for guides to trade for their stuff.  Our guide did let us hand-feed peanuts to the monkeys.  The funniest part was at the end.  We asked him, “Do the monkeys ever bite people?”  His response, “Yes.  All the time.”

After that, we went shopping and stopped at a place where they have fish pedicures.  Hundreds of tiny fish eat the dead skin off of your feet.  It tickled.  We finished the day by going to a resort along the Indian Ocean for some food, and a dip in the ocean. 

There were some things I learned from our driver that were pretty interesting.  We learned that while Indonesia is mostly a Muslim country, Bali is the only island that is not majority Muslim.  Most people in Bali are Hindu.  We also had a very interesting conversation about the Covid lockdowns in Indonesia.  He was angry about the lockdowns and the masks and the harm that it caused.  For someone who earns his living driving around tourists, he was crippled by the tyrannical edicts of the Indonesian government and had to sell all but one of his vehicles.  He barely made it through.  Then he told us that later he was pulled over by police because he was driving with somebody else in his car without a mask.  The other person was his wife.  Dishonest, stupid governments are a worldwide phenomenon.

Darwin, Australia

Our next stop was probably my favorite.  Darwin, Australia is at the very top of Australia, and was the most like I had envisioned Australia in my mind.  By that, I mean the most like the movie, Crocodile Dundee.  The city itself was small.  We went into multiple shops that had cool souvenirs, like boomerangs, hats with crocodile teeth, kangaroo testicle keychains, didgeridoos, and back scratchers with crocodile or kangaroo claws. 

Then, we got on a bus that took us to a boat on a river, where we got to see huge saltwater crocodiles in the wild.  Our bus driver told us that our tour guide on the boat used to swim in one of the lakes in the area as a kid.  They would just throw some rocks into the water, and if nothing moved, they would jump in.  Then one day, a schoolmate of his got eaten by a crocodile.  I looked it up.  It really happened. 

Once on the boat, the tour guide would tie a whole chicken to the end of a pole and hang it out over the water, where the croc would jump for it.  We saw a female, which we learned grow to about 3 ½ meters.  Then we saw a baby croc, which was cool because it could jump really high and get its entire body out of the water.  We learned that crocodiles are cannibals and that the females care for their young for about 6 weeks, and if they are not gone by then, they eat them.  Another interesting thing was that males sometimes bite off the arms of the female while mating, but crocs can turn off part of their heart so that blood stops pumping to that extremity and they survive.  They use their tail to get around, so the arms are unnecessary.  At the end, we saw a huge male crocodile.  Male crocs do not stop growing at 3 ½ meters like the females.  This one was about 4 ½ meters long, and scary!  We also got a nervous chuckle at the beginning, because they are required to show us where the life jackets are in case the boat sinks.  “I’m going down with the ship,” my wife said.

It was an extremely hot day, so when we returned to shore the tour bus took us to the world-famous Humpty Doo Tavern for a drink.  The bar is famous because, as the story goes, the Humpty Doo Tavern sold a giant, 2-liter bottle of beer called Darwin Stubby.  They would have a drinking contest to see who could finish a Stubby the fastest.  The Humpty Doo Tavern also used to allow animals inside, so people would bring all sorts of pets with them to the bar.  The most well-known was a cow named Norman, who would drink the Darwin Stubbies in record time.  People would come from far and wide to try to beat Norman, but nobody ever could.  Animals are no longer allowed into the bar, but it was still a fun place to stop.

Cairns, Australia, and the Whitsunday Islands

The next two stops were snorkeling trips.  The first day was near Cairns, Australia on the Great Barrier Reef.  The most interesting thing we saw there was a large sea turtle, snacking on jellyfish right next to us.  The next day was in the waterways between the Whitsunday Islands, which is a quaint, vacation spot for Australians.  There, we saw a massive stingray that was probably 5 feet across, with a huge barb at the end of his tail.  Crikey!  We also saw a small shark swim by us.  I may or may not have hidden behind my wife when it passed.

Sydney, Australia

The cruise ended in Sydney.  We only spent a day there, and it was plenty of time.  It is just like many other big cities around the world.  We did hit the two main tourist sights that people think of when they picture Sydney:  The Sydney Opera House and Bondi Beach.  We found a really good gelato place in Bondi called Anita Gelato.  I just looked it up and it turns out there is one in Los Angeles, too.

Melbourne, Australia

We took a short flight down to Melbourne on Quantas.  Quantas never crashed, you know?  We stayed with my wife’s friend, who moved there a few years ago.  He works in the restaurant industry, so he knew some good places to eat, like the best place we ate on the trip, Dumpling Palace. 

Our host, Brian, was also able to explain a phenomenon that many Americans do not understand, with the most clear, real-world example that I have ever seen.  Back in a restaurant in Sydney, I saw a sign promoting a drink special that I was curious about.  It had a picture of the drink and the special price, and then it had a higher price for Sundays and holidays.  I wondered why that was, but didn’t give it much thought.  Then in Melbourne, Brian told us that his restaurant closes pretty early in the evening.  In fact, he explained that there are almost no restaurants open late in Australia because they have what they call “penalty rates.”  Basically, the minimum wage goes up after a certain time at night.  Can you guess when else there are penalty rates?  Yep.  Sundays and holidays.  It made perfect sense.  The businesses were forced to raise their prices to pay for the government-mandated, artificially high wages.  In other words, raising the minimum wage causes inflated prices.  Either that, or it forces businesses to make up their costs in other ways, like closing down when the wages are higher.  Government interference in the economy should be the scariest thing you learn about from this article, even more than the crocodiles.

We also went to a cricket match between the Melbourne Renegades and the Perth Scorchers.  I do not know much about cricket, but it was a fun experience.  The match ended in controversy because they stopped it early due to bad field conditions.

Of course, when you think of Australia, you think of kangaroos, so we went to Gumbaya World.  It is a combination zoo, amusement park, and waterpark.  We bought some animal feed and walked around the zoo section, where we saw tropical Australian birds, koalas, wallabies, dingos, kangaroos, and emus, among other animals.  The kangaroos were super lazy, and if you tossed food to them, they didn’t even move.  We had to walk right up and hold it in front of their face before they would even show interest.  The emus, on the other hand, ran over to the fence and were very aggressively going after the little pellets of food.  Had there not been a fence between us, they would have attacked.

The Captain The last interesting story was from the final day on the cruise ship.  The captain did a question-and-answer session with the passengers, and one question stood out.  Many of the passengers had been on the ship since it left Rome, 52 days earlier.  They had gone from Rome, through the Suez Canal to Singapore, with many stops along the way.  One of the stops was supposed to be in Petra, Jordan.  After the Hamas attack on Israel and the instability in the region, that port had to be skipped.  One of the passengers who had been on the whole trip asked the captain, “Were the three American warships that were in the locks with us through the Suez Canal there because of what was happening in Israel?”  The captain’s response, “I can’t say much, but it was not a coincidence that the U.S. warships were with us in the locks.”

High Hopes, No Expectations

Rocky Balboa.  The “Miracle on Ice.”  300 Spartans versus the Persian Army.  The Bad News Bears.  John McClane at Nakatomi Plaza.  Most of us love an underdog story.  Do you know who doesn’t love an underdog story?  The people who were expected to come out on top.  As an athlete, and a very competitive guy, there are few things worse than going into a competition as the heavy favorite and losing.  In some ways, it is better to be the underdog, because if you win, you are a David who overcame Goliath.  If you lose, it is no big deal because nobody expected you to win in the first place.  The pressure is all on the favorite.  If they lose, they are chokers.  If they win, they are just doing what everyone already thought would happen. 

As a player, and especially as a coach, you need to deal with this problem, and I have come up with a mantra to help.  “Have high hopes, but no expectations.”  I can hear some coaches out there saying, “If you don’t have confidence that you are going to win, you will lose.”  Confidence is different than expectation, though.  Confidence is knowing that you are prepared and can win.  Expectation is more of an assumption that you will triumph.  If you expect things to go your way, when they don’t, you will be crushed with disappointment and a feeling of failure. 

I came to realize that this mantra is true outside of sports, too.  Last Sunday at church, the pastor preached a great sermon with the same theme.  He was teaching about how people can make the best of life in a fallen world, and pointed out that life will hurt more if we set the wrong expectations.  He noted that many people expect pleasure and are surprised when bad things happen, making it feel worse.  That is actually the opposite of reality.  Instead, he said that suffering is the norm and blessings are a gift from God.  This adjustment in expectations will greatly improve your life.  If you do not expect anything, you are more grateful for all of the good things that do occur. 

Be careful with what I am saying.  Some people might think I am saying to have low expectations or to expect the worst.  I am not.  That would cause a ton of anxiety and a pretty miserable existence.  For example, I could walk outside and get stabbed by a bum.  This is, after all, California.  I don’t expect that to happen, though.  That would turn me into quite a stressed-out, paranoid person.  Instead, just eliminate expectations, both bad and good.

People realize that this is wise when we talk about things that are very unlikely.  Very few people buy lottery tickets and expect to win the jackpot.  We all can see the folly in that.  Almost everyone goes their entire life without winning the lottery, so you are almost guaranteed to be constantly disappointed if you expect to win.  It is harder to see on other things with better odds, or even things where the odds are in your favor.  As a poker player, there are obvious examples.  When most people are dealt pocket aces, the best possible starting hand in poker, they expect to win.  The problem is, even if the other person has 7-2 off suit, the worst hand in poker, there is still about a 12% chance that the pocket aces are going to lose.  Anybody who has been at a poker table when this happens knows the disappointment and frustration that it causes.  It is often accompanied by colorful language or nasty comments to the other player or the dealer.  The high expectations are what cause this reaction. 

This is where the hope part of the equation comes in.  Some people overcompensate and give up when their expectations are not met.  I have heard many poker players say, “Next time I see aces I’m just going to fold them face up.”  That is, of course, ridiculous, because you are going to win most of the time.  You have to remain hopeful.  Hope is what keeps us going.  Without hope, we give up and see no point in trying.  If we don’t try, we will never succeed.

This is true in all areas of life.  In the past, I would go on a few promising dates with a girl and start to think, “This is the girl for me!”  Then, when those expectations were not met, it was awful and heartbreaking.  I had allowed myself to get high expectations.  Thankfully, I remained hopeful.  Had I lost hope and given up, I would never have met my wife.  Hope keeps us going.  As the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky put it, “To live without hope is to cease to live.”

There is an exception to my rule.  I expect effort.  Everyone fears failure.  Get over it.  Try your best.  If a player I am coaching drops a ball, it is not ideal, but I will not yell or get angry.  If, on the other hand, they are worried they will drop a ball, so they slow down and don’t try their best to get to it, I will get mad and call them out for their lack of effort.  You cannot control results, but you can control your effort.

Now, whether it be in competition, business, love, or any other area of life, have confidence, keep the hope, and give your best effort, but eliminate your expectations.  You will be a lot happier, and probably more successful.

A Compromise to End the Divisiveness

On the morning of June 14, 2017, James Hodgkinson went to a park and opened fire on Republican lawmakers at a practice for the annual congressional baseball game, injuring 4 and leaving Majority Whip Steve Scalise in critical condition.  To many people, this was not surprising because of the polarized climate of political discourse in the United States.  According to a 2022 NBC News poll, 80 percent of Americans believe that their opposing political party poses a threat to the country, and if not stopped, will destroy it.  Most politicians claim to want to end the divisiveness and bring people together.  Many regular Americans are fed up with the division in our country, especially in Washington.  We should all want to stop this division from becoming violent.

In light of this polarization, I thought it would be the perfect time to propose a compromise that should unite Americans on one major issue.  It turns out Hodgkinson was a strong supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders, who ran to be the Democrats’ presidential nominee in the last two elections.  His Facebook page was reportedly covered with posts about a major talking point of Senator Sanders and the Democrats:  income inequality.  For years now, the main strategy of Democrats to win elections has been to divide people into groups and tell one side that they are victims who need to vote for Democrats to fight for them.  They divide people into black vs. white, male vs. female, gay vs. straight, and Christian vs. non-Christian, but maybe the biggest division they push is rich vs. poor. 

You have probably heard Senator Sanders or other Democrats talk about “the top 1 percent” or how “the rich need to pay their fair share.”  Democrats consistently propose that we raise taxes on whoever they deem rich.  They want us to keep our progressive tax system, where the percentage of income that you are forced to give the government in taxes goes up as you earn more.  Not only that, but they want to raise taxes at an even steeper rate.  In fact, the shooter at the baseball practice was shown in a photograph holding a sign that reads “Tax the rich like Congress did for 70 years till Reagan’s Trickle Down.  We need 20 brackets – $20 million.” 

Republicans often refer to this rhetoric as class warfare.  They note that somebody else’s success does not hurt the people on the bottom, and in fact, it helps them.  Most Republicans prefer a flat tax system, where everyone pays the same percentage of their income in taxes.  This still means that people with higher incomes pay more taxes, but not at a higher, disproportionate rate.  A flat tax is without a doubt the most fair tax system.  Unfortunately, there is too much opposition by Democrats to get a flat tax system in place. 

This is where my compromise comes in.  This may even sound like a lopsided win for Democrats at first glance.  I propose that as a compromise, we keep the Democrats’ progressive tax rates that we currently have.  The current tax brackets range from 10% at the bottom up to 37% at the top.  Here is the catch that should unite Americans.  We should lock all of the tax brackets together on a sliding scale.  By this, I mean that if the top rate is raised by 5%, to 42%, the bottom bracket goes up equally to 15%.  If the top rate is lowered to 32%, the bottom rate is lowered to 5%.  The result?  Every American would now be on the same team.

Many Republicans are going to balk at this idea because it is unfair and a progressive tax system punishes achievement.  I agree.  As I said, the only fair tax system is a flat tax.  Hear me out, though.  Think about the results of this compromise.  No longer could someone say, “Raise taxes on that guy over there, as long as you don’t raise mine.”  Very few people will want to raise your taxes if it also raises theirs.  Democrats would not be able to pit people against each other like they always do.  At least, not on this issue. 

This is, ultimately, the best way to unite Americans.  Align their interests.  That way, when Democrats fret that Republicans want tax cuts for “the rich,” people will all be happy because that means lower taxes for them too.  When Democrats want to raise taxes on the rich, who will support them if that also means raising their taxes?  While at first glance this idea might seem unfair, the practical effect would be to unite rich and poor, eliminate tax hikes, and likely end the career of politicians who try to raise taxes. 

When Americans are united on a cause, it generally leads to success.  This is one of the rare instances that unity can be easily achieved.  I do not make a lot of money, but I want to lower your taxes.  Do you want to lower mine?