Indy Republican Predicts the 2022 Mid-Term Elections

Indy Republican’s Magic 8 Ball

Good evening everyone! We are less than 24 hours away to the first closing of the polls for the 2022 Midterm Elections. The polls have been up and down and all around. Despite the fact that we don’t envy anyone who has to make a prediction on this election, we have decided to consult our Magic 8 Ball (pictured above) and take our best stab at predicting tomorrows election results. We will be pleased if we get 30% of our predictions right, but we might not be that lucky.

U.S. House of Representatives Prediction:

We predict the Republicans will mostly likely pickup 10 to 25 seats to take control of the House. The Democrats will undoubtedly pick up a couple seats from Republicans. We predict that Adam Kinzinger’s seat in Illinois and Peter Meijer’s seat in Michigan will go to the Democrats, overall the Republicans will gain the necessary seats to take control of the House. We also expect that Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola will keep her Congressional seat. If she does lose we believe it will be to Nick Begich, we don’t believe former Governor Sarah Palin will win. Her time in politics, much like leisure suits has come and gone!

U.S. Senate Predictions:

We predict that the Democrats will keep control of the U.S. Senate and the breakdown will be either 51D-48R-1Independent (Assuming Evan McMullin wins in Utah), or 50D-50R maintaining Democratic control with VP Harris as the tie breaking vote. 

Here’s our map predicting tomorrow’s Senate results:

Here are some of our breakdowns of a few Senate races:

Pennsylvania: After the May Senate Primary in which Doctor Memet Oz narrowly won the GOP nomination, he kept continuing to trail Democratic Lt. Governor John Fetterman by a considerable margin in the polls. Recently Oz has been catching up and a few times seems to have polled ahead. This race should be a close one, but we predict a Fetterman win if only because of the Democratic Gubernatorial Nominee Josh Shapiro’s coattails.

Georgia: The Georgia Senate contest has been an absolute nightmare for real conservative republicans with former football player Herschel Walker as the GOP standard bearer facing off against incumbent Democratic Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock. This race has been a close one, despite Walker’s history of domestic violence, playing Russian Roulette, forcing women to have abortions, and his admitted dozen different personalities. Inspite of the closeness of the polls we predict a Warnock victory, and a 55% chance that this race will go to a runoff just like it did in 2020.

Arizona: Former Astronaut and incumbent Democrat Senator Mark Kelly started this race well ahead of his unhinged fake Republican Challenger Blake Masters. Recent polls have shown Masters gaining, but due to McCain and Goldwater Republicans hatred of Masters we predict a narrow victory by Kelly. In other Arizona news we unfortunately predict former Obama fangirl Kari Lake will win the Governor’s race.

Alaska: Due to ranked choice voting we may not know the winner in Alaska for a week or two. But we are confident in predicting that Lisa Murkowski will win reelection to the Senate, due to her strong support in the state and most democrats will pick her as their second choice on their ballot.

Utah: We have previously written about the Senate race in Utah between incumbent Republican Senator Mike Lee and Independent Challenger conservative activist and former presidential candidate Evan McMullin. Although Nate Silver’s 538 website gives Lee the edge in tomorrows race, we are going out on a limb and predicting a win by McMullin. We are basing this off of the fact that in the GOP Senate primary this year 38% of the vote was against Lee, also we believe the fact that the Lee campaign has shown itself extremely nervous during this race that indicates they aren’t so sure they will win. We are saying if McMullin doesn’t win it will be a close contest regardless and look for Evan to run again in a couple years for another office.

Nevada: In Nevada we predict that Catherine Cortez Masto will lose to her republican challenger Adam Laxalt. Laxalt seems to be reasonably ahead in this race, and although strange things have happened in Nevada, we don’t think Cortez Masto getting re-elected will be one of them.

Wisconsin: In the Badger state we predict unfortunately that Republican Incumbent Ron Johnson will defeat his Democratic challenger Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes, we think this might be a nail bitter though! 

Iowa: This is a race that looked competitive in theory anyway, our good friend Paul Ogden has written about this race. Unless a miracle happens Senator Charles Grassley will win an 8th term in the U.S. Senate. Which would tie the late Senator Storm Thurmond’s record for longest serving Senator assuming he lives out his term he will be 95 then, old Strom was 100 when he left the Senate. Admiral Mike Franken is a good candidate, and has run a good campaign but he should keep his powder dry to run for another office in Iowa.

Ohio: Former Never Trumper turned psychopathic ass kisser J.D. Vance will unfortunately we predict limp to a narrow victory over his opponent Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan. Ryan has run a good campaign and even if he loses he should run again for office. Should Ryan pull off a win expect a lot of talk of a “Draft Ryan” movement to spring up among Democrats. Elsewhere in the Buckeye State Republican Governor and real man Mike DeWine will crush his democratic challenger. 

New Hampshire:

Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan has and continues to lead in most polls against her Republican Challenger former election denier and retired Army General Don Buldoc. We predict Hassan holds her seat.

Indiana Predictions:

Here in the Hoosier state we aren’t predicting that much in the way of surprises. Let’s start with the Secretary of State’s race:

Secretary of State: Despite some problems that having been dogging the campaign of GOP Nominee Diego Morales we predict that he will defeat his challenger Democrat Destiny Wells. Political writer and keen observer of Hoosier Politics Adam Wren wrote an article for Politico, pointing out that the race could be competitive. So out of respect for Mister Wren’s judgement we are giving Wells an outside chance of winning. 

Indiana State House and State Senate: We predict the Republicans will lose 1 to 3 seats in either or both legislative chamber, because the GOP has hit it’s high water mark and we don’t see any poachable seats for them at this time. 

Indiana U.S. Senate and House Races:

In the U.S. Senate despite some questionable polls being pushed by a very unethical Indiana radio show host, we are firmly convinced that Incumbent Senator Todd Young will easily win a second term against his opponent Democratic Mayor of Hammond Tom McDermmot. 

As for Indiana’s House delegation we predict that Democrat Congressman Frank Mrvan will lose to his challenger Republican Jennifer-Ruth Green, changing the House Indiana delegation to 8 Republicans and 1 Democrat. Andre Carson should easily keep his seat. 

Miscellaneous Predictions: These are just some assorted predictions we are making for a few other races. We predict the Democrats will win the Secretary of State’s race in Arizona, and will pickup the Governorships In Oklahoma, Massachusetts and Maryland. We predict the Republicans will win the Oregon Governor’s office for the first time in 50 years and that the Democrats will narrowly hold onto the Governor’s office in New York.

Possible wildcards for the midterms:

Tonight in Ohio former President Donald Trump is appearing at a rally for JD Vance. Rumor has it that Trump might announce he is running for president in 2024. If that does occur it possibly could affect turnout in the election tomorrow, although early voting has already hit record highs this election cycle, there are still large numbers of voters who will vote in person tomorrow. Trump announcing a 2024 run tonight we predict will most likely have the following effects for Election Day:

1. Trump announcing a run might light a fire under voters that hate Trump and cause those who have not yet voted to stampede to the polls en masse. Would be ironic if several Trumpist’s were to lose because Trump caused his opponents to storm the ballot box!

2. Less likely is Trump’s announcement will cause a stampede of Trump voters to turnout.

3. Trumps announcement really doesn’t make much difference seeing as it would happen only about 18 hours before the first polls open.

4. A combination of 1 and 2 will occur in which both Trump and Anti Trump voter turnout is increased. 

Our gut tells us that option 1 or 4 is most likely to happen. Another thing to lookout for is if any Democrats lose close races and claim the election was stolen. It’s true that in 2020 that it was Republicans with the notable exception of Georgia’s Stacey Abrams who argued there elections were rigged, but it’s not out of the question that some Democrats might decide turnabout is fair play, and decide to give the GOP a taste of their own medicine. But we shall see. Also if Lake, Vance, Oz or other high profile Republican candidates lose will they graciously accept the results or not? We predict Lake and Vance wouldn’t, but Oz might if only to try to revive the Doctor Oz show. But other losing GOP candidates might cry foul if they don’t win. Let’s hope that there aren’t too many election disputes tomorrow. Well that’s it for our predictions. Buckle up friends! It’s going to be a long and bumpy ride!

Live Blogging the Oz-Fetterman Debate

Doctor Mehmet Oz Vs. Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman

7:52 PM Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! In about 8 minutes, the TV Wizard of Oz will face off against the Quaker State Giant Lt. Governor John Fetterman. Oz narrowly won his primary in May, and since has proceeded to keep embarrassing himself in his campaign. However Fetterman has had issues since suffering a stroke back in May. Tonight’s debate in Harrisburg could help decide who will be the Quaker State’s newest Senator. So sit back, and relax because we will be watching the debate so you don’t have too! Only prediction we will make is that this will go better than the Biden-Trump debates of two years ago! Buckle up everyone! Let the games begin!

8:00 PM Debate is beginning, Fetterman and Oz are standing by their podiums. Both well dressed, Moderator is explaining the debate rules. The screens with closed captions are pointed out. The screens are to help Fetterman due to side effects of his stroke.

8:03 PM Fetterman is giving his introduction speech. Sounds shaky, but speech content, he vows to keep going.

8:05 PM Oz says he wants to bring civility back to Washington. He then proceeds to attack Oz over his positions on crime. Draw so far. Not sure Oz’s attacks will land.

8:07 PM Oz is attacking Fetterman more than elaborating on his own plans. 

8:08 PM Fetterman points out Oz’s mansions and how he is out of touch with working people. Nails Oz on having his products made in China. 

8:10 PM Fetterman hits Oz as being unable to stand up to special interests. Our feeling so far is that Fetterman although shaky is not embarrassing himself, Oz is going a little overboard with his barbs at Fetterman. Oz will probably use excerpts from the debate to show Fetterman as to I’ll to function as a senator. Fetterman will undoubtedly hit back at Oz and accusing him of being an out of touch elitist.

8:15 PM Oz says he favors higher minimum wage, does favor states deciding their own abortion laws. Fetterman states that the decision of abortion is between a woman and her doctor favors Roe V Wade being codifying into law. Oz opposes a nationwide abortion law. 

8:20 PM Fetterman states that he supports Roe V Wade, also says that he would favor federal funds to transport women to states where they could get abortions.

8:22 PM Fetterman dodges about whether he will release his medical records.

8:25 PM Oz claims he has never profited from medicines advertised on his show. Fetterman says he never has supported Bernie Sanders views on healthcare, points out that Sanders was on Oz’s show years ago and that Oz praised him. Fetterman quips that since Oz seemed to love Sanders so much that he should pretend to live in Vermont, so he can run for the Senate in that state. Good move by Fetterman.

8:28 PM Fetterman says he supports fracking and energy independence. 

8:30 PM Fetterman seems to stumble a little on fracking, Oz starts arguing with the moderator but then shuts up. 

8:31 PM Fetterman says they have successfully pushed back against gun violence, and has helped reduce it. 

8:32 PM So far Oz hasn’t mentioned Trump and seems to be keeping Trumpism at arm’s length. 

8:37 PM Fetterman lists China as our biggest foreign threat. Oz says he thinks the United States is not projecting strength.

8:40 PM Oz says he will support whoever is the GOP Presidential nominee in 2024. Oz says he has confidence in the legal system, 

8:42 PM Fetterman says he will support Biden if he runs again in 2024.

Sorry we had to go quickly earlier, our correspondent got ill, but is feeling better now. The debate struck us in that we are surprised that both candidates tried to sound like they weren’t just down-the-line partisans. Fetterman said they supported fracking and Oz tried to dodge when asked about where he would back Trump in 2024, also Oz’s position on abortion although more consistent with his pre campaign position, would seem to put him at odds with much of the Trumpist right. In that he is opposing national legislation on the issue. 

Our take is in the end the debate won’t move the needle much. Here’s The Focus Group’s Sarah Longwell with her take on the debate:

Objectively Oz is outperforming Fetterman. The stroke has obviously had a real impact. Fetterman’s struggling. But there is nothing likeable about Oz. He’s smirking, fast-talking, and I’m not sure he’s doing anything to reduce his unfavorables.

— Sarah Longwell (@SarahLongwell25) October 26, 2022

Is Evan McMullin poised to defeat Utah Senator Mike Lee?

U.S. Senator Mike Lee R-Utah

Evan McMullin Independent Challenger to Senator Lee

Recently The Hill published an article by Alexander Bolton discussing the often overlooked Senate contest in Utah between incumbent Republican Senator Mike Lee, and his independent conservative challenger and former presidential candidate Evan McMullin. Mister Bolton points out that:

The Utah Senate race between conservative Republican Sen. Mike Lee and Independent Evan McMullin has emerged as a potential wild card in the battle for the Senate.

Recent polls show the race is close, with McMullin trailing Lee by only a few points in a state where Republican victories are usually all but guaranteed.

A new poll taken shows McMullin ahead of Lee by four points as reported by GOP strategist Mike Murphy:

🚨Utah UPDATE: Here is the summary memo on the new Put Utah First SuperPAC poll conducted by Hill Research Consultants.

Evan McMullin has surged to a 4 point lead over Mike Lee. His lead is even higher with subset of “highly likely voters”. Details: https://t.co/ThNRmTbkph

— Mike Murphy (@murphymike) October 13, 2022

There are signs that Lee is not so confident he is ahead as he claims. Just recently he went on Tucker Carlson’s show and started begging Senator Mitt Romney to “Please Get on Board” with his reelection campaign and to endorse him. So far Lee’s crying like a bitch to get Romney to endorse him (Senator Romney has refrained from endorsing either Lee or McMullin), seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Lee’s harsh tone against McMullin is strange especially considering that Lee voted for McMullin for President in 2016. The Indy Republican gang also cast write in votes for McMullin in 2016 and are happy we did. 

In another example of Lee’s bizarre behavior, as Sarah Rumpf pointed out in her column for Mediate, Senator Lee wrote an Op-Ed for the Salt Lake Tribune, which strangely Lee wrote in the third person. Here’s what Miss Rumpf had to say:

The op-ed headlined “Mike Lee has earned a reputation as a principled conservative” had a byline of “Mike Lee.” It’s a short piece — only seven paragraphs comprised of less than 300 words — and adopts the overly earnest tone of a middle schooler’s book report.

It seems that Senator Lee has decided to take after former President Trump, and write about himself in the third person and shower himself with undeserved praise. As Rumpf pointed out Evan McMullin also accepted the Salt Lake Tribune’s offer to write an Op-Ed. Unlike Lee’s rambling third person puff piece, Mister McMullin referred to himself in the first person, and came off as speaking only for himself. Here’s a little sampling of McMullin’s Op-Ed:

I’m Evan McMullin, and I’m running for U.S. Senate not as a member of any political party or as a representative of some special interest, but as a true independent dedicated to serving Utah and our nation.

Right now, Utahns face a choice for the future of our politics and our country. Do we continue down a path of division, partisanship and cynical self-interest that not only threatens our democracy and puts special interests ahead of Utahns, but stifles progress on issues like addressing inflation, stabilizing the economy, lowering health care costs, and protecting our air and water?

Or, do we recommit to the founding ideals in our Constitution that have made America strong, prosperous, and free: namely that we are all created free, that we are all created equal, and that no one is above the law? If we are committed to these ideals, we can find common ground to solve problems on even the most divisive issues.

I served for 10 years in the Central Intelligence Agency, working undercover to take terrorists off the battlefield after 9/11. In my time overseas, I worked with hundreds of patriots, always united by our commitment to the founding ideals that have made America strong. We worked together every day toward something larger than ourselves. That’s what we should expect from our elected leaders, and especially from our U.S. Senators.

Right now in Washington, too many politicians use division as a weapon, wielding it for their own power and personal benefit. They take millions from special interest groups and then vote their way. Some even worked to overturn millions of Americans’ votes in our last presidential election. This was a betrayal of 14 generations of American sacrifice. They tried to destroy our democracy, so long as they would have benefited.

Utah can do better. We’re building a coalition of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents committed to working together to find common ground and deliver real solutions to move our country forward. I hope you’ll join us. Learn more at EvanMcMullin.com.

The contrast between both candidates could not be more stark. Back in 2010 and 2016 we supported Lee because he claimed to be a constitutionalist. But ever since the election of the fake conservative Donald Trump, Mike Lee has betrayed his oath to the Constitution and has shown himself unworthy of holding any office of public trust in these United States.

Whereas Evan McMullin has a long history of service to the United States, he also worked as the House GOP Policy Director for a few years and is familiar with how Congress works. He also had the courage to mount a long shot bid to defeat both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump for the Presidency. McMullin believes in limited government, defending the Constitution, upholding the rule of law, free markets, strong borders and sensible immigration policy. As much as we would like to support a conservative Republican for office. We refuse to support Lee because he is not a conservative and also in the strictest sense of the word he is not a republican, meaning he does not believe in the political philosophy of Republicanism. Because Mike Lee does not and will not stand up for the Constitution and rule of law, we will not endorse him. Because Evan McMullin does support all the right things we do endorse him. We urge all our readers to go to EvanMcMullin.com and donate to his campaign. Evan McMullin has stood up for all Americans and we Republicans here are proud to stand up with him!

Indy Republican & Earth, Wind and Fire wish you a Happy 21st of September

Good evening my children, this Indy Republican and the gang coming to you on your FM dial. We thought you all could use a break from the craziness of modern American politics. To help us all unwind is that great 70’s band Earth, Wind and Fire, singing there hit “September”.

So sit back, relax and enjoy!

Some Words of Encouragement about tonight’s Primaries

Congresswoman Liz Cheney Real Republican-WY

Tonight there are primaries in both Wyoming and Alaska. This primary season we have had our share of wins, with Brad Raffensperger and Brian Kemp in Georgia, Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska, and Congressmen Dan Newhouse of Washington, and Congressman David Valado of California. On the loses side we have had Congressman Tom Rice of South Carolina, Congressman Peter Meijer of Michigan and Congresswoman  Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, and most probably the great Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming.

Senator Lisa Murkowski Real Republican-Alaska 

However even if Congresswoman Cheney does lose tonight, it appears that Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska will make through to the general election. We like all of you are disappointed in what loses we have had so far, but we are also jubilant over our victories. This will be a long and difficult struggle, but we are united in our belief in upholding the Constitution, and defending the Republic for which it stands. Unlike the talking heads of the extreme left and right, we believe in the equality of opportunity, the rule of law, and that the United States should show protection to all and favoritism towards no one. We believe truly in the nations motto E Pluribus Unum “Out of Many One”. We are one nation, we are the United States of America. We are united in our faith that the United States is a “shining city on the hill”, we are the candle in the darkness, and we are willing to atone for our sins and to aspire to the better angels of our nature. 

We will persevere, and ultimately win because unlike the forces of illiberalism on the left and right, we have a positive vision of our nation and ourselves. We do not subscribe to the dark, grievance politics of the Trumpian Alt-Right, or the Loony Left. Regardless of tonight’s results we will fight on, we will seek out and find the politically homeless, and set the captives of anti Americanism free from lies and deception and help them to see the truth. That this is indeed the greatest nation on God’s Green Earth!!! 

Go forth and continue to fight for the rights of all, to be an individual not merely just a cog in some arbitrary group. Understand that you can positively affect your own destiny, now go out there, vote for the candidates who best reflect your values! Your constitutional right to vote, is more important than any tribalist edicts! The decision as to who will represent us at the local, state and national levels is yours and yours alone!!!!!

Go out there, campaign with your head held high! Vote only for the best possible candidates! Don’t believe that you must always pick the lesser of two evils! Remember those who disagree with us are usually just our opponents, not our enemies! I have faith in you all and in God that the best days for America are still ahead! Be part of making America more great!!! 

God bless you and keep you all! And God Bless the United States of America!!!!

To close here is a video of a real American President Ronald Reagan and him being moved by the “Battle Hymn of Thr Republic”. Contrast his genuine patriotism, his reverence for America as opposed to the clownish Buffon Donald Trump!

His Truth is Marching On!

IR’s Movie Review of “Vengeance”

Movie Poster for Vengeance 

In what we hope to have become a new semi regular feature of this blog, we are posting IR’s very first movie review. On a whim we all decided to go see the just released crime comedy thriller, Vengeance. The movie marks the directorial debut of B.J. Novack who is probably best know for his role as Ryan Howard on the tv series “The Office”. Novack is also the star of Vengeance. Novack gives an impressive performance as an ambitious journalist and podcaster, who goes to a small town in Texas to investigate the death of a woman with whom he had a brief affair.

During his adventure in Texas, Novack’s character meets up with an interesting and at times quirky assortment of characters that make up small town Texas. The film does a good job at portraying Novack’s east coast journalist, and the inhabitants of the small Texas town as real people and doesn’t resort to very much stereotyping of the players. We loved how the film avoids excessive stereotypes. 

Four stars for the well written and acted Vengeance.

Mike Pence’s Pathetic Quest for Power

Former Vice President Mike Pence 

Recently former Vice President Mike Pence has been making the news, by endorsing candidates in republican primaries, other than the candidates endorsed and backed by his former lord and master President Donald Trump. Notable examples include Pence’s support of former Wisconsin Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, and his endorsement of Katrina Taylor Robson in Arizona. Kleefisch is running for Governor in Wisconsin and Robson is running in the Arizona GOP primary for the honor to lose to the Democratic candidate in the fall. These endorsements combined with Pence’s traveling back and forth to several early primary states, indicate that Pence is still delusional enough to think that he is of presidential timber.

This delusion of grandeur from which Pence suffers is no doubt encouraged by the fact that some view Pence as being heroic for refusing to help President Trump steal the 2020 presidential election. The incomparable Mona Charen over at the Bulwark has written a brilliant piece today “Mike Pence Sold his Soul for Nothing”. Mrs. Charen whom the Indy Republican team has had the pleasure of meeting, lays out the case that while Vice President Pence deserves credit for standing up to Trump on January 6th, 2022 that is all he deserves credit for.

We have on many occasions written about Pence’s character flaws, our friend the late great Gary Welsh compared Pence to Rod Blagojevich. Paul Ogden has also written about Pence’s shortcomings. But Mona Charen’s article really nails down the weaknesses of a man whom many of us here think of as the “Judas Of Politics”.

Below are some choice extracts from Mona Charen’s article, with our commentary in bold afterwards. We do highly recommend you all read her entire article here. 

Charen writes:

“You remember Mike Pence—he’s the guy who defeated a roomful of lickspittles to claim the obsequiousness grand prize at a 2017 cabinet meeting, praising the dear leader once every 12.5 seconds.”

“Pray for our opponents,” he told a (small) audience at a South Carolina church, “that their hearts would soften and their minds would open to the unimaginable beauty that is life.”

She goes onto outline Pence’s campaign for the presidency, but as she points out:

“There are a few flies in the ointment.” Referring to flaws in Pence’s plan to sit in the White House chair.

“ First problem. Now? Now is the moment that Pence rolls out the prayer? As Pence is well-situated to know, big chunks of the GOP base have become hungry for a very different tone. Christian charity is out. Vulgar insults, shameless lies, and secessionist hatred are in. It sure is ugly, but Pence is in no position to complain. It’s a revolution that Mike Pence did so much to encourage, and it’s bizarre that he seems to think he can carry on as if nothing has changed.”

“ Pence prostituted his reputation for Christian piety to the most vile figure in the history of American presidential politics, a man who modeled the opposite of every virtue taught in Sunday school. Pence lent his credibility as a religious man to a villain, and gave permission to millions of self-styled Christians to vote for him. Pence’s pious conscience was remarkably quiescent when Trump encouraged his followers to rough up hecklers”

We have pointed out Pence’s play acting as a Christian before also.

“ Second problem: Worse than simply remaining silent, he played the toady with seemingly endless reserves of self-mortification, uttering cringeworthy encomia to Trump’s “broad-shouldered leadership” (a phrase he repeated at least 17 times), and audacious lies about matters big and small.”

Pence’s silence and refusal to stand up to Trump has been a sticking point with us for years. Pence being Vice President couldn’t be fired by Trump but he still enabled everything he did.

“Third problem: It’s impossible to say how large a contingent of Republican primary voters are in the “Pence is a Traitor” camp, but consider that a recent New York Times/Sienna poll found that only 6 percent of Republicans would vote for Pence in a 2024 primary. At their dueling campaign appearances in Arizona, Trump assembled a rally attended by thousands while Pence spoke to a crowd estimated at 300.”

Charen does point out and we agree with her that there is a demand among some republicans for someone other than Trump. But Pence is not that candidate. Trumpets don’t want him because he is considered at best a wimp, and at worst a traitor. Never Trumper’s don’t support him because he has no principles and like Judas sold out for his 30 pieces of silver.

Like Mona Charen we do give Pence credit for his actions on January 6th, but his refusal to outright condemn Trump, his continuing defense of Trump’s conduct as president, and his unwillingness to call Trump out even now. Has forfeited any claim to hold an office of trust of any kind in America. We cannot recommend Charen’s article highly enough, nor can we oppose Pence enough for his humoring of the blasphemous Trump. 

UPDATE: A reader just alerted us to an excellent observation made by Miles Taylor a former Trump administration official made about Mike Pence recently. Another reader alerted us to the fact we accidentally said Robson was running for the Senate in Arizona, she is actually running for Governor. Please watch and listen to Miles Taylor’s take on Pence’s time as Vice President:

“If you want to know what the Mike Pence vice presidency was like, Mike Pence is a guy with an erect posture and flaccid conscience. He stood up tall and he did not stand up to Donald Trump” pic.twitter.com/koEnK0YzFY

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 27, 2022

Former Scientology Top Executive Mike Rinder’s Memoir “A Billion Years” Slated for September Release

Mike Rinder, Cult Whistleblower, Author, Activist and Destroyer of Cults

Earlier this week we were extraordinarily pleased to find out that former Church of Scientology spokesman, podcaster and writer Mike Rinder’s book “A Billion Years” will be coming out in September. It will be available for Kindle, in Hardcover and in audiobook format, narrated by Mike himself. As survivors of dealing with the cultic world that is Hoosier politics we find a lot of creepy similarities to Scientology and the culture of the political elites in both parties here in Indiana. By that we are not saying that our experiences are anywhere as horrific as Mike’s, but the suppression of independent thought, the bureaucracy from hell mentality, and a belief that the group leaders are above the law, is much the same in both Scientology and the political class here in Indiana. 

For anyone wishing to understand the dynamics of high control groups please checkout Mike Rinder’s blog here, also checkout his and Leah Remini’s podcast “Scientology Fair Game Podcast”. Looking forward to the book Mike! And thanks again to you and Leah for picking one of our questions to answer on the podcast! Your reactions to it were priceless!

Checkout Indiana Capital Chronicle

Happy Friday my children! We just wanted to let you all know about a great new news website that has emerged recently. It’s called Indiana Capital Chronicle, edited by the great Niki Kelly. Indiana Capital Chronicle was founded earlier this year. The purpose of the Chronicle as stated on their website is:

“The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to giving Hoosiers a comprehensive look inside state government, policy and elections. More importantly, we will show how actions at the state level impact your everyday lives.

Over the years the number of journalists covering state news has dwindled and The Capital Chronicle will bring more eyes to the process. In addition to daily coverage, we will keep digging for more in-depth scrutiny on important topics.

Our staff of four – an editor and three reporters – has decades of experience covering the Indiana Statehouse and we are not afraid to take decision-makers to task. While the state capitol is in Indianapolis, we will also include perspective from outside central Indiana.“

We applaud Niki Kelly and her colleagues at the Chronicle and we believe that the late great Gary Welsh is pleased with this effort. We hope that it will continue to shine a light on the goings on of government at the state and local levels. The Indiana Capital Chronicle can be reached by clicking here, or by going to their website at: https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/

Have a great friday and talk to you all soon!

Happy Birthday to Indiana Jones and Captain Picard

Before we get back to our semi regular scheduled programming, we all thought we would say a Happy Birthday to two of the IR Gang’s favorite actors. Today Harrison Ford most famous as Han Solo and Indiana Jones turns 80 today, and his fellow science fiction icon Sir Patrick Stewart turns 82, Sir Patrick is most famous as Captain Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek The Next Generation, he also appeared in Dune, Jeffrey and as a guest host of Saturday Night Live.

Happy Birthday Gentlemen! Live long and prosper and May the Force Be With You both!

A Tale of Two Congressman: Trump Doormat Mo Brooks VS Patriot Tom Rice

Congressman Mo Brooks AL-R

In Alabama there is an upcoming runoff primary to determine who will be the upcoming republican senate nominee. One of the two contenders vying for the seat is Congressman Mo Brooks. Earlier this year as reported by Paul Ogden and others, after originally endorsing Brooks for the primary former President Trump decided to rescind his endorsement due to Brooks falling stand in the polls. Since then Brooks has resurged enough to finish second in the primary and move to a runoff. 

Brooks has now engaged in what can only be described as a pathetic attempt to win back Trump’s endorsement. The attempt to pander to Trump is so childish and stupid we find it analogous to a dumped high school student who cannot get over his girlfriend dumping him and proceeds to make an ass out of himself, in front of the whole school. Brooks plea for reconciliation with Trump was released yesterday and we are posting it below for you all to read over and laugh at:

We especially are laughing over Brooks attempt to spin Trump’s pulling of his endorsement in order to give the campaign a chance to straighten up! All we can say is that Brooks should just accept that Trump broke up with him, and move on.

In contrast to the ridiculous and sycophantic ass kissing of Trump done by Mo Brooks, their is the approach being taken by South Carolina Republican Congressman Tom Rice.

Congressman Tom Rice SC-R

Congressman Rice is one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald Trump after his attempts to overturn his election loss in 2020. David Cohen writing in an article for Politico reports on Congressman Rice and his upcoming primary:

Voting to impeach former President Donald Trump was the “conservative” thing to do, Rep. Tom Rice said Sunday, even though it might cost him dearly in South Carolina’s 2022 Republican primary.

“Defending the Constitution is a bedrock of the Republican platform, defend the Constitution, and that’s what I did. That was the conservative vote,” Rice (R-S.C.) said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” adding: “There’s no question in my mind.”

Rice said he was appalled to see Trump not lift a finger in response to the attacks on the Capitol and its police officers, as well as the threats to Vice President Mike Pence.

“It was clear to me what I had to. I was livid. I am livid today about it. I took an oath to protect the Constitution,” said Rice, who was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump. “I did it then, and I would do it again tomorrow.”

Congressman Rice unlike his Alabama colleague Mo Brooks has a spine, class and strength of character to make the right choice and stand by it. Rice might lose his primary but he has kept his self respect. Brooks on the other hand we have to ask this: “If it profit a man nothing to trade his soul for the whole world, then how little does it profit you to sell it for a Senate seat?”

We will let you know when and if we get a reply back from Mo Brooks or his campaign. In the meantime if you would like to help out a genuine patriot, throw some support to Tom Rice and his campaign. You can donate on his website https://www.tomrice.com/

Thank You and God Bless you all! Be well my friends!

President Biden Strengthening Freedom & Safety By Requiring Federal Law Enforcement Officers to Wear Body Cameras

President Joe Biden 

Although we wrote in a vote for president in 2020, and we have criticized President Biden on occasion, he has done something’s well. Examples include passing infrastructure, standing up to Russian Dictator Vladimir Putin, and helping to rebuild and expand NATO. Today Biden adds another positive accomplishment to his list. 

Government Executive’s Eric Katz has the story:

All federal law enforcement will soon have to wear body cameras under an executive order President Biden is set to sign on Wednesday, which has won the support of the group representing those personnel. 

The order will also require the creation of a database of officer misconduct to which every federal law enforcement agency will contribute and that agencies must then use as part of their screening process for vetting personnel. State and local entities will also be able to use and contribute to the database, which will also include federal officers’ commendations and awards. The Justice Department will maintain the database and make aggregate data available to the public. 

We think that having a database to log federal law enforcement misconduct, and to strengthen screening of officers is a good idea and is long overdue. We are in desperate need of tamping down on police misconduct. We do favor strengthening background checks for gun purchases, as well as laws barring violent offenders from being able to legally purchase firearms. Hopefully those issues will be addressed soon. Take care of yourselves, and do what you can to defuse rather than escalate tension.

Devil Trump Went Down to Georgia and Lost Bigly

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp & Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger-Real Republicans 

As we predicted here on this blog back in February, Brian Kemp easily turned back Donald Trump’s sacrificial lamb, David Perdue in yesterday’s Georgia Republican Gubernatorial Primary. Kemp won renomination with a commanding 73% of the vote to Perdue’s 21%. We were all pleased but not to surprised that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, was able to win his primary outright and defeat Trumpist Congressman Jody Hice, and also avoiding a runoff election.

Raffensperger is best known for a now infamous phone call in which former President Trump tried to get him to find “11,780 votes”, so that Trump could win Georgia a state he narrowly lost to President Joe Biden. Raffensperger not only refused to knuckle under to Trump, after Trump accused him falsely of helping Biden steal the state, Raffensperger released a recording of the phone call showing how Trump tried to intimidate him into violating his oath of office. We are beyond pleased that both Governor Kemp, Secretary Raffensperger, won last night in their respective primaries.

We also recommend Raffensperger’s book: “Integrity Counts”, alongside Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan’s “GOP 2.0”.

As our dear friend and fellow blogger Paul Ogden wrote on his blog today, these were not Trump’s only defeat in Georgia last night:

Trump also recruited attorney John Gordon in an effort to oust Georgia Attorney General Christopher Carr.  Despite Trump's endorsement of Gordon, Carr won with 73.7% of the vote.

As to the two Georgia open congressional seats, the 6th and the 10th, Trump endorsed attorney Jake Evans and former Democratic state representative Vernon Jones respectively.  Evans lost 43.2% to 23.2% and Jones was edged out 25.6% to 21.6%.  Both did qualify for next month's runoff primary.

We are disappointed that Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Herschel Walker both won there primaries, but overall chalk last night up as a win for democracy and a YUGE defeat for Donald Trump! 

We still have a long way to go both fighting the influence of Donald Trump. And we have an even longer way to go in the battle against Trumpism, but we have achieved some long overdue wins, and now Trump rather than looking like a kingmaker is looking more like Superman not being able to fly!

Bacon Reigns Supreme! Anti-Insurrectionist GOP Congressman Don Bacon smashes Trumpist Challenger

Congressman Don Bacon R-NE AKA Bodacious Dude

Good evening friends. We are happy to report that tonight this the second round of primaries of 2022, that former President Donald Trump’s powers are starting to weaken. Republican Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska was targeted by Trump for defeat, has massacred his Trumpist challenger Steve Kuehl.

With 52.7% of the primary vote in Bacon is leading Kuehl 81-18. This margin of victory is so YUGE that even Vladimir Putin is envious! Granted it is but one race, and we are a long way away from slaughtered the orange man baby’s political machine, but to so thoroughly bitch slap a Trumpist is music to our ears! Also although we cannot tell yet, but it appears that Trump’s favorite Nebraskan and fellow pervert Charles Herbster is on track to lose Bigly in his Gubernatorial primary. We have finally found the secret sauce for Never Trump, we will name all of our candidates after popular foods! We could have Senator Hamburger and Governor Pizza!

Here’s a little information from the Republican Accountability Project giving the lowdown about Bacon:

For further information on Bacon click here.

With 42% of the primary vote in Charles Herbster is coming 3rd in a four way primary. And this is after Trump campaigned for him in Nebraska! Herbster is accused of sexual misconduct by several women. We try not to judge a book by it’s cover, but if this picture of Herbster doesn’t say “major psycho”, we don’t know what does:

Our Apologies to our Readers: Trump Message Urging Midterm Boycott might be a Fake

UPDATE: We have received word that the midterm boycott message attributed to former President Donald Trump might be a fake. We apologize to all of our readers for this oversight. In fairness though this message does sound a lot like Trump, but we should have avoided making this mistake. When we make mistakes at this blog, we are big enough to admit it, and it looks like we might have messed this one up. Again our sincerest apologies.

With the 2022 Midterm Elections a little over 6 months away, former President Donald Trump continues his endless opining on whom he thinks should be elected this year. Trump of course just like an STD that won’t go away. Trump must keep being an nonstop wrecking ball of idiocy.

In a message that is posted above, Trump is encouraging all his supporters to boycott the midterms if his candidates lose their primaries. Okay let’s try and follow the logic where for a moment:

Trump apparently is going to be mad if his preferred candidates lose in the primaries, so he would rather throw a temper tantrum and see the Democrats win just to spite people for beating his chosen ones. Makes no sense from a political standpoint, which of course underscores the point we have been making for the past six years that Trump only cares about Trump, and has no ideological beliefs or core values other than whatever he thinks will benefit him for the moment.

The midterms are looking dicey for the Democrats, but with Trump’s assistance they might just stave off disaster.

Happy Easter with a message of hope from Pastor Eric Stetson

Happy Easter to all of you out in cyberspace! Today we celebrate the resurrection of the savior of mankind, Jesus Christ!

For this Easter we thought we would share an Easter message from our friend and fellow blogger/activist/minister Eric Stetson on the reality of the Resurrection. Click here to read Reverend Stetson’s uplifting message about the resurrection and why we as believers, as rationalists can believe in the resurrection of Christ.

We believe as did the great 19th century minister John Wesley Hanson that rationalism can be belief in God, an afterlife and the Bible on rational grounds. Eric Stetson’s article argues this point exceptionally well. 

Morning Musings: What Has Happened to the GOP?

The Republican Accountability Project just put up a YouTube video today asking the question, “What the heck happened to the Republican Party?” This ad really hits home for us and highlights how the GOP has gone from Reagan’s macho men to the weak, impotency of “girlie men” like Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz. We have always fought for the constitution, rule of law, and limited government. We have and will continue to only support politicians who support the values we hold dear. 

In the course of our agitating for a more sane constructive political system, we have been attacked by both the Trumpian alt-right and the woke insane left. Both extremes have considered us to be traitors or to be insincere in our actions, all for having committed the sin of refusing to agree with either side on everything. Or because we backed politicians who turned on us. To these points we respond by saying, we are human and make mistakes. And yes some politicians have betrayed the hopes and faith we put in them, our relationship with the traitor Rand Paul of Kentucky is perhaps the most extreme. The betrayal of us by some whom we sought to help was their choice, we also have opposed those who let us down. We are all human and will make mistakes, it is how we respond to them that is the true measure of us as human beings.

Also we are responsible for our own actions, we cannot control what others do, and we despise anyone who tries to control others. We can control what we do and how we behave. Also by demanding absolute conformity as the alt-right and woke left do, they go against the American tradition of freedom and individual freedom, also they refuse to allow others to grow and repent of their sins. In their world their is no forgiveness, no second chances, and no redemption.

We wanted to close with this statement: Every action we take, every word we have written down, has all been to the best of our ability to further protect, defend and uphold the Constitution and to defend the republic for which it stands. We are willing to stand alone if need be, as for striving to defend America we have angered many and are considered misguided by some at best, or at worst an unbalanced crank. We speak with conviction and after much prayer and reflection. We will say as for the part we play and continue to play in defending these United States, and in our task of agitating for reform we did no wrong.

Please keep in mind as difficult and uncertain as these times are, we have it infinitely better than those who came before us. Our ancestors had to fear death, mostly we have had to fear people saying nasty things about us online. While that is unpleasant it certainly is far better than fighting on D-Day or in Vietnam. If God wills in his wisdom that we must forfeit our lives for the furtherance of the pursuit of justice, then let it be done. 

May the Lord bless you and keep you all, AMEN!

Happy 91st Birthday Captain Kirk

William Shatner, 91 years old and still our Captain

In a dose of some much needed good news, William Shatner best know for his role as the inimitable Captain James T. Kirk, turned 91 years old today! Comicbook.com has the story:

Shatner has enjoyed a 70-year career in entertainment, including his iconic role in Star Trekoriginating the character of Captain James T Kirk of the USS Enterprise. He's also had an eventful year, becoming the oldest person ever in space by joining a Blur Origin flight, seeing movement on a TekWar reboot, and welcoming new Kirk actor Paul Wesley. Shatner has a dedicated fanbase and friends in the industry who are celebrating his birthday on social media today.

We here at IR join in wishing Mister Shatner a happy 91st birthday, and to Mister Shatner may you still have the same youthful enthusiasm and zest for life, if you ever do reach old age! 

Checkout the Our Great Nation Blog

We wanted to make you all aware of an outstanding blog, Our Great Nation. The blog is written by an old friend and ally of the Indy Republican Crew. It is with great pleasure we introduce our good friend, the greatest minister/activist ever produced by the Old Dominion State, our friend Reverend Eric Stetson. Eric is a former Democratic Party County Chairman in Virginia. He now refers to himself as an independent, politically. He is also a longtime activist and Christian minister. He previously was a member of the Baha’i faith, and was part of the Assemblies of God denomination. 

Reverend Eric Stetson, Author, Entrepreneur, Minister, Activist 

Reverend Stetson has authored several books including Christian Universalism: God’s Good News for All People, A Lost History of the Baha’i Faith, and of the forthcoming Our Great Nation. He is an outspoken critic of both the Trumpian Alt-Right, and is as equally critical of the woke left. 

Over the years we have all known Eric, he has been a source of great wisdom and insight. We would like to think that we have a part to play in his being a critic of the woke left. But in the spirit of intellectual honesty, we must confess he most probably developed his antipathy to wokeism due to his own brain power.

So please checkout his blog Our Great Nation.

A Reader’s Request for help with Unemployment Insurance

Good  evening everyone. We have never done this before but a reader posted a comment to a previous blog post, requesting help dealing with their unemployment insurance payment issue. It sounds to us as if the person really needs some help with this issue. We will repost the text of their comment below. If anyone out there has any helpful suggestions or advice on how best to help this person, please either post a comment to this post, or reach out to us by using the contact form on the web version of this blog, or email us at 6vwts@notsharingmy.info

Here’s the reader’s request for help:

So, I am wondering why or how there is not a ClassAction Suit against the State of Indiana for this problem? I recently received (2.10.22), an Appeals form dated 2.2.10 (I live central Indy), and, it is forcing me to reply by 2.21.22 a.m., which means, I get about 3 Business days in which to pull together, ALL of the unbelievable errors, misdirectives, problems, hangups, so on, that occurred when I was receiving PUA (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance) Funds. Because some of the PUA Questions are worded very strangely (in fact, the confused wording by PUA, it seems intentional), I took the extra efforts in each Voucher-Filing, to Copied then Emailed the Voucher pages of PUA, over to both PUA Dept & the Special Claims Dept. Even then, I always & only got back a very impersonal & non-related reply (form response). In the following week, I'd get these calls from DWD PUA, or others, acting as if they were "testing" me... I was always just trying to make sense of their manner of questioning... Then, they'd admit, "Yes, some of these PUA questions online, they're very confusing...you're not the only Claimant who does not understand them." So on. This appeals now, it's trying to FORCE the impossible from on my end. Even if, ALL of the rest of my life activities are stopped, I still could not product the necessary documents, getting them also over to an attorney, within the ridiculous time span of 3 days. The Appeals also says, "...we aren't allowing for change-of-dates on the appeal (extensions), unless it is an emergency. They have had 4-5 months to respond, and they put this appeals out late, and give me 3 days to do something about it. I'm requesting the change of date... It is very much a bullying-type behavior. Oh, and to add to all of this, a comical note: often when I spoke with DWD employees, all this past year, it was clear they were being told that, they could be allowed to respond to Claimants' questions. Such as, I, Claimant offer up a very simple question to Customer rep, and they say, "Just a minute, I have to see if I am allowed to answer your question..." "Allowed?!" What? You could say, "Is the color of snow white?" They would say, "Just a minute...to see I can answer that question for you..." Very troubling, to constantly be met with employees who are on some kind of bazaar lockdown. In fact, they are, a few of them told me. This is not the 1940s, is it? We do speak English, don't we? If anyone is interested in helping one another, even if only as witnesses to so much of how wrong it all keeps going... please respond on this site.