General

General

Musings Over Friendsgiving

Dec 3, 2025 Allyson

There are some things Chris wants me to write, and I will get there probably, but not this week. This week is “getting the finances up to date,” put up the tree, put up the lights, clean up the living room of Friendsgiving stuff, do all the laundry associated with Friendsgiving (hint: it’s a lot), dishes upon dishes… You get the idea.

Chris talked about his version of Friendsgiving, and I wanted to throw my two cents in. Well, maybe more like $0.25, but anyhow… 😉

Years ago, when I still lived with my parents and was not yet adult, Thanksgiving was both a joy and a horror. My mother, bless her heart (said in Ally’s most southern ma’am voice, thick with sarcasm), was an abusive and alcoholic soul, and she made every holiday miserable. But I got to see my Hungarian grandparents, which was almost always a happy thing. As with all things that involved my mother in any way, it was very complicated.

We would wake up early, and my mother would be resentful and angry about it. These days, I realize it’s because she was likely hung over, but I don’t know that for certain. In any case, we would have a light breakfast which my father would make (my mother generally didn’t cook), and then we’d get dressed in our nice clothes and go on the two hour car ride out to my Nagymama and Nagyapa’s house. The times it was just myself and my father were nice. We had things to talk about, music we could share, and it was generally pretty chill. With my mother there, it meant we played what she wanted to listen to, and we didn’t talk much because it bothered her, and you really didn’t want to bother her.

We’d arrive at my grandparents’ house about noon or 1pm, and the turkey would just be coming out of the oven. Nagymama would always cook a massive turkey, 20+ lbs every time (in fact I didn’t know they came smaller than that until well into my adulthood!), and stuffed to the breaking point. My father would carve it up, my mother would set the table (something she was good at, thank heavens), and I would help organize the platters of food. Nagymama would bring out a big pot of turkey neck soup with perfectly clear broth (always simmered, never boiled) with homemade noodles, bits of fresh turkey meat, and a single large carrot in the center of each person’s bowl which you had to cut up with your knife. We would enjoy our soup, and then Nagymama was up again, bringing in platters upon platters of food.

She’d grown up in Hungary, in MezÅ‘kövesd (mezo kovesh-d), which sits nestled in the shadows of the Carpathian Mountains. They were just south of Poland by about 40 to 50 miles, as the crow flies, but the mountains were in the way. My Nagyapa had been drafted into the Russian army at gunpoint during WWII, and escaped when his squad was slaughtered by the Allies. He lay under piles of his dead comrades until everyone left, then crawled out and walked some 400 or more miles home. He only ever talked about it once, and after that he’d just pat my hand and tell me “Nem bántsad,” or “Nem zavar.”  They had nothing for a very, very long time. When they came to the new world, they came with a handful of photographs, two sets of clothing, their son (my father), and hope. They turned that hope into a tobacco farm, which turned into big money. They were hardly millionaires, but they were vastly comfortable.

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General

Pay it forward

Nov 24, 2025 Chris Johnson

One of the biggest differences between conservatives and leftists/progressives is charity. We reach into our wallets; they reach into yours.

For years I heard Democrats screaming about how horrible it was that the wealthy were taking advantage of tax laws by making charitable contributions. At a time when I was getting taxed at 45 cents on the dollar, giving $100 to a charitable cause only cost me 65 dollars. I think.

Whenever I have given money to charity, I’ve done it locally.

My son fell in love with The Magic Tree House series; he was reading them at the school. I went to B&N and told them what I wanted to do. Together with B&N, we were able to give a complete set of the books to the school. I think it was about 50 books.

I’ve donated to the local food pantry, and I’ve given to local churches. If there is a good group selling something to make money, I’ll often donate three times what they would have made from selling me something I didn’t want.

When my son was pushed to go door-to-door to sell something to raise money for the school, I met with the principal to find out how much they made per dollar of goods sold. It was around 20%. My son would have had to sell nearly $500 worth of junk to be part of the ice cream reward. I gave the school $250, and told them to make sure my son got ice cream with the rest.

But that’s about me giving. I had reasons, not just for my community, but directly for my family.

Paying it forward is helping someone with no expectation of any return or good coming to you or yours. You ask them to help someone else out, sometime in the future, when they can.

With the government shutdown, friends of the family were hurting a bit more than usual. They only get around $60/month in SNAP because they “don’t qualify” for any more. They haven’t looked into how to get that increased because they are embarrassed to be on assistance.

We found out and as a family decided they needed help and that we would provide that help. Most of what we provided came from our stores, some came from purchases. A neighbor heard we were doing this and pitched in some cash.

The recipient has a gluten allergy, so pasta and such were out.

  • 10# dried beans
  • 10# white rice
  • A flat of canned tuna
  • A flat of canned chicken
  • A flat of canned turkey
  • 6 cans of beans
  • 3# of short ribs
  • 1# of rib roast
  • 1 15# turkey
  • 2# of sugar
  • Gluten free brownie mix
  • Misc. canned vegetables

To this we added eggs, milk, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, frozen vegetables, and some other stuff, plus the cash from the neighbor.

That is not a complete list, but it gives an idea. When we got there and started bringing things in, we found her fridge was empty of everything except condiments. Her pantry was just as empty.

She will do the right thing. Because she understands, this is around two months worth of food for her, minus the weekly things like eggs.

Our total out-of-pocket cost for this gift was less than $50 because we are always adding to our stores. I get a flat of canned something every month. During this time of year, we pick up cheap turkey and fill freezers with it. We would have given her a ham as well, but she doesn’t like ham.

Our neighbor gave cash, which covered the fresh food and still gave her spending cash she would not have had any other way.

Yes, your taxes are taken from you at gunpoint to be given to both undeserving and deserving people. Don’t stop there. Make it personal. There is somebody in need in your community. Somebody that can use a hand up and isn’t looking for a handout.

Find that family. Give a little of yourself. Pay it forward.

Charlie's Voice Politics

Open Mind – Proven Fact

Nov 6, 2025 Chris Johnson

“Democrats care more about illegal aliens than Americans!” is a proven fact!

Is it?

This is part of having an open mind. And Lord, is it difficult.

I believe this to be true. The left has demonstrated this over and over again.

Unfortunately, it is not as simple to prove to them.

Let’s look at an example: A soldier is in combat; he has a choice. He can kill 9 enemy combatants, and in the process he will also kill a civilian noncombatant. If he does nothing, he will be killed.

For me, the answer is simple: the life of one American is worth more than all enemy combatants, and collateral damage happens. I want the soldier to pull the trigger. It is the right thing to do.

For many, this is not a simple answer. They value the lives of those enemy combatants as humans first and enemies second. To kill even one person that is not a confirmed enemy is abhorrent. It is better that 100 enemy combatants roam freely than one innocent be killed.

We can see this with the noise being made regarding the targeting and elimination of drug trafficking vessels. I don’t need to know who is on the boat when it is destroyed. It doesn’t matter to me if they were forced to be there, if they are getting paid to be there, or if they just wanted to do it. They are moving poison into my country, which will destroy or kill my countrymen.

Stop them.

The left looks at those boats and makes a true statement: “Those boats might be doing something innocent.”

I believe that Harry describes it thusly:

Does this mean that they care more about the scum running drugs into our country? No, it means they are terrified of making a mistake and will bend over backwards to make sure that those people have every opportunity to suggest they are innocent.

A discussion I had a few years ago with leftist Ally was about immigrants. I bluntly said I didn’t want immigrants from third-world shitholes. I prefer educated people from first-world countries, or maybe some from second-world countries. She argued that those ignorant farmers from third-world countries would be bringing needed skills to this country.

I’m sorry, there are only so many farmers that cannot maintain their infrastructure that my country can absorb. And we’ve taken as many as we should.

But the leftist was looking for good in the policy. I was looking at a hundred head of horses. She was telling me there might be a zebra in that herd that we should save.

When you see a hoofprint of a horse, don’t go looking for zebras. It is much more likely to be a horse.

The leftist always seems to be looking for the zebra. They always seem to be looking to give bad ideas one more chance, because this time they will do it right.

There are very few people that are actually evil. Fewer still who believe themselves to be evil.

How do we know that they care more for illegal aliens than Americans? Well, they choose them over us every time.

This is only partially true.

For many on the left, there are no illegal aliens. They are just people. They are just migrants. They are just workers.

This is why we hear about “Masked men kidnapped a local worker.” They are just a worker. Those were just masked men. They could have been evildoers. We don’t know that they are federal agents.

And if they say they are, they could be lying. We need badge numbers, faces, names, and home addresses to vet them.

Those on the left don’t see these people as any different from you and me. In many cases, they see the people they know as being better than you and me. Since these people are no different from them, then anything that happens to those “workers” could happen to them.

This is not to say there aren’t leaders manipulating the sheep. They are out there. They communicate, and they plan. The message goes out via all the different signals and the NPCs all turn as one, newly programmed with the newest phrase.

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