Lesson Learned

 If you haven’t eaten the “comfort food” at Cracker Barrel, enjoyed the old-fashioned country accoutrements adorning the walls, and shopped in their “country store,” as I have when travelling across the south, you probably won’t care that they changed their logo and are “modernizing” their restaurants. Even if you have, you may not consider their corporate re-do an existential crisis. But there’s more to the story than the fact that the company lost nearly $100 million in market value when its stock plunged after releasing its new logo. According to a creative director specializing in brand development, what Cracker Barrel has done is a textbook case of how not to rebrand. Evidently, the company’s core message is, “We don’t care about our core audience. We’re too busy trying to appeal to everyone and satisfying no one.” In corporate leadership’s view, despite their explanations, corporate leadership believes Cracker Barrel lost its brand identity by removing key elements that customers valued, prompting a reversal of the decision. The lesson is simple: Don't change what works; only fix what's broken, the logo and country store atmosphere weren't the issue.

God's Nature

The depiction of the Old Testament God as perpetually angry and Jesus as endlessly forgiving is inaccurate. The Bible reveals a consistent triune God who is merciful, just, patient, and intolerant of sin. Peter states, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise... He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). This applies to all humanity, regardless of political or racial distinctions.

How do we determine our experience with God—his grace or wrath? C.S. Lewis addresses this in Mere Christianity: “God is both our comfort and supreme terror, our ally and enemy. Facing absolute goodness is serious; it can be safety or danger, depending on our response. Sadly, we have often reacted poorly.”

The nature of God as either forgiving or judgmental is influenced by individual choices throughout history. God can be perceived as a source of comfort or fear, depending on how one responds to the concept of salvation.  A self-effacing repentant heart has never met God’s wrath, and a proud, defiant one has yet to meet his mercy. Jesus, the exact exemplification or representation of his nature said it like this, once again quoting the Old Testament: “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice.”

We as individuals must take a moment to ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand the degree to which we’re serving the God of the Bible or a god of our own making. Any understanding of the Lord that does not make equal room for both his wrath and his mercy will necessarily fall into the latter category.

The Certainties of Past and Present Party Politics

Someone once said that there are only three certainties in life: death, taxes, and the Democrat Left’s loathing of America. Did I just say that? Admittedly I did. The first two points have consistently demonstrated the birth of our nation, while the last point has become a familiar feature in American ethos and is now largely met without substantial attention. The public swayed by the Left will believe in anything, so long as it is not founded on truth.

A recent Gallup poll finds declining American pride among Democrats and Independents, even as Republican pride rises. Some Democrats link this trend to opposition toward President Trump’s return and perceived achievements. Poll results highlight past instances of left-leaning commentators blaming America for major events. Gallup also notes Republican national pride remains high, with 92% expressing pride during this point in time.

So, here’s the nuts and bolts of it. When it comes to loathing America, Democrats seem intent on proving that their repugnance, hatred, abhorrence...  knows no bounds. Republicans, on the other hand, will no doubt speak out when they think their country has lost its way. But they love her just the same, come hell or high water, come Obama or Biden or, AOC, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Harbi Tlaib, Zohran Mamdani... Word to the wise: “Truth exists, only falsehood has to be invented.” 

Before The Flood Waters Receded...

While most of us were celebrating the 4^th of July festivities, families in central Texas were searching for loved ones, hoping to find survivors amid the catastrophic flooding that started with little warning in the dark hours before sunrise. Before the flood waters had receded, Democrat politicos and hordes of their unhinged leftist surrogates, proxies, bootlickers, sycophants, toadies emerged to blame Trump for the flooding and deaths. As with all mass-casualty incidents over the last 10-20 years across our nation, there emerging among the tragic accounts of heroism and personal sacrifice come fabrications, innuendos, denouncements, inaccuracies... all before the tragedy had waned and rescue had turned to recovery.

 

But just as predictable in the wake of a mass-casualty incident, before the flood waters had receded and rescue had turned to recovery the Democrat ingenuous misanthropists blamed Trump, claiming the tragedy was the result of vacancies at the National Weather Service (NWS). Fact: additional personnel were in the weather center covering the affected area. ABC’s talking head George Stephanopoulos, who claimed erroneously, “We’re also learning there were significant staffing shortfalls to the National Weather Services offices in the region.” A CNN anchor asserted that climate change and Trump are responsible... editor of Medias Touch News, protested: “The people in Texas voted for government services controlled by Donald Trump and Greg Abbott. Occupy Democrats claimed that Trump's NOAA budget cuts contributed to fatalities in Texas during Tropical Storm Barry. Across the country, Democratic leaders, including Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, blamed President Trump, emphasizing the importance of accurate weather forecasting for disaster prevention. Murphy’s message: “There are consequences to Trump’s brainless attacks on public workers, like meteorologists.” Really! Passing blame has become contagious among many of the Left’s Congressional Representatives and their kindred MSM magpies.

 

Let’s go back in time to 29 January 2025. This was like Democrats attributing Trump for the last mass-casualty accident between American Airlines 5342 and an Army Black Hawk helicopter, asserting there were vacancies in the Air Traffic Control tower. If my memory serves me correctly, those vacancies occurred under the previous administration. Meanwhile, families continue grieving after a catastrophic natural weather incident. For his part, Trump straightaway activated federal search and rescue resources and will visit the devastated area soon.

 

Word to the wise: People tend to remember more about what you do than what you say. Just look down at the hallowed halls of history to bear this out. Hence, with the political campaign machine beginning to ramp up for another mid-term season, many candidates, including incumbents, will begin to face this truth again as voters weigh what was said versus what was done. Should the two agree they will most likely be reelected without a problem but if they do not match up, the latest and newest imperious chatterboxes will take over. Lest we forget, “if you’re going to talk the talk you better walk the walk”, “practice what you preach”, “well done is better than well said” and “talk is cheap” have all had their heydays for essentially the same thing. We all want action more than we want words. While words are good for some things when it comes to the important things in life, like leadership, character, love, emotional connection, promises or even spiritual revelations don’t just tell me with words rather define it with action! In other words, what have you done lately. Should we make a mistake and live out our humanity rather than acknowledge it, apologize for it, make any amends necessary and then get back doing what’s best for America’s citizenry. For those who proclaim to be Christians, I say look no further than our Savior’s own example. It is important to remember that he demonstrated his principles not only through words, but also through his actions. Should we make a mistake and live out our humanity before them rather than Jesus Christ’s example, we need to acknowledge it, apologize for the flawed example, make any amends necessary and then get back into following our Savior’s own example after all, He was one who didn’t just tell us with words, He showed us with His own actions!

 

Enough is Enough

 For many years, the radical Left expressed the shameless falsehood that illegal aliens just want a choice at the American Dream. Regrettably reality paints a different portrait. But as California's Orange County riots confirm, the truth is in the pudding. This is an insurrection bankrolled by left leaning anti-America self-serving anarcho-nihilists, leftist’s groups, rogue media, craven politicos, paid malefactors’ anarchists all... many of which are themselves illegal immigrants. Enough is enough. It is time to drop the hammer on the rioting ingrates and those who organize and fund them. It is time to label all illegal immigrants and those who champion them as persona non grata and support our law enforcement, be they local, state or federal officers.

Degradation and Restoration of America's Armed Forces

Over the previous four years, our military service personnel have suffered an enervating shortfall in morale. Sorry to say, it is cyclical, because American voters, the vast majority of whom have never served our nation in any capacity have quadrennially elected leaders who were inept. Mercifully, they wake up and elect unpretentious genuine leaders whose tenure as commander-in-chief restores both military morale and readiness.

As a retired Army officer, I have seen the cycle of degradation and restoration multiple times. Under Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter, there was degradation, followed by Reagan's restoration. Similarly, Clinton led to degradation, Bush restored, then Obama degraded, and Trump restoration. The Biden/Harris administration continued the degradation, which was again followed by Trump's restoration.

Recently, President Trump's Secretary of Defense delivered a keynote address for a Special Operations Forces event, and one line summed up the restoration of Department of Defense under Trump: "Everything starts and ends with warriors, from training to the battlefield. We are leaving wokeness and weakness behind. No more pronouns. No more climate change obsession. No more emergency vaccine mandates. No more dudes in dresses, we're done with that s_ _t."

It is by the grace of God that this 250th year of the founding of our Armed Forces, and next year's Sester centennial commemoration of American Independence, did not fall under the farcical, absurd, daft...  administration of the Harris/Walz duo.

The Democrat Party’s Missive

In today's tense political debate, Republicans claim Democrats lack a message to attract voters. Let's examine their messaging and determine if a clear strategy exists. Truth be known, by their words and actions the Democrats do have a message, which is this: Every policy of the Trump administration that is designed to make America safer, stronger, affluent... is a policy that must be resisted, sabotaged, obstructed... by any means necessary. Furthermore, its protagonists should be demonized and marginalized as extremists, fascists, enemies of democracy, Hitler’s aspirants... I ask you, the reader what does this look like in the context of the real world and America’s cold war with nuclear adversaries, totalitarian nemeses, Muslim jihadists and home-grown radical extremists who have made known their yearning to annihilate us? In this context, the Democrats’ divisive strategies weaken America, give comfort and aid to our enemies, and undermine our efforts to defend ourselves.

I again query to you the reader, was not some of Biden’s first acts as President questionable calls? Lest we forget, Biden illegally opened our borders to somewhere between 10 and 20 million unvetted immigrants. Did not many of them have long criminal records? We’re not many of them on the terrorist watch list? Rejecting the results of the 2024 elections showed that most Americans thought that Biden’s open border policy was in fact perilous, reckless, unwise... It is apparent Democrat politicos have dedicated themselves to impeding the Trump administration’s efforts to deport the criminals that Biden welcomed, sponsored, and funded on taxpayers’ dime. Does this not reflect badly on Democrats’ concern for the safety of their fellow American citizens and projects weakness to foreign adversaries and domestic terrorists seeking to infiltrate and ravage our nation? 

The long and short of it: The democrats do have a message. But it is a message so recognizable, caustic, and dark that it offends Republicans so profoundly they would prefer not to recognize it, so they don’t. It bears repeating; Democrats do have a message, every policy of the Trump administration that is designed to "Make America Great Again” is a policy that must be resisted, defied, sabotaged, incapacitated... obstructed by any means necessary. Worse, its proponents should be demonized and marginalized as extremists, dyed-in-the-wool fascists, enemies of democracy, and aspiring Hitlers.

What does this look like in the context of the real world and America’s cold war with armed nuclear adversaries and tyrannical foes, who have made no bones about their desire to destroy us? In this context, the Democrats’ divisive schemes diminish, weaken, undermine America, give comfort and aid to our enemies, and undermine our efforts to defend ourselves.