IL-16: When Jack Lombardi Asks John Lopez a Question – Part 1

Catalina Lauf

From the desk of John Lopez: When one asks loaded questions, they may not like the answers

Yesterday afternoon, IL-16 Republican candidate Jack Lombardi asked a question on Twitter of I, John Lopez:

Jack Lombardi strikes an il duce pose 4/17/21

Since Lombardi claimed to be asking an “honest” question concerning the proven leadership of Republican Catalina Lauf, I intend to give readers what was requested.

First, I, John Lopez, do not “gaslight”.

In several Twitter exchanges with me, when Lombardi refers to me as gaslighting, it’s simply a projection of what he normally does, as these articles will prove.

Also, I’ll take the questions he asked, but I’ll also add components he did not include, either out of omission or simply lack of Twitter space in his 3-part tweet.

Finally, as always applied here on McHenry County Blog, I will apply full context as best as I can, given the subject matter.

Now, on to the answers and the honest truth.

I’m going to remind everyone of the age difference between Lombardi, who is 44 and Lauf who is 28. Both are running for a seat in the United States House of Representatives where 25 is the minimum eligible age.

Several of Lombardi’s questions will be answered on disclosure reports to be filed later this summer. Therefore, I am going to defer, including the following questions:

  • What companies has she built?
  • Investors or self funded?
  • What home has she bought?

Per McHenry County Blog updated article on June 2, both Lauf and Lombardi chose to file 90-day extensions for their respective Financial Disclosure (FD) reports originally due on May 15.

By August 13, both candidates will have disclosed their financial holdings along with income, both earned and unearned for all of 2020 and over half of 2021 (at least through June, possibly July).

The bulleted questions for both candidates, will be answered with the FD. If answers not there, I’ll be asking all candidates for their full information.

While Lauf filed an FD in late 2019 for her 2020 candidacy in IL-14, questions were raised by me as well as other members of the media and Lauf filed an amended FD. Nearly two years have passed since her previous FD, and much could have changed in her financials.

We’ll know by August 13.

Catalina Lauf’s Defense of Freedom PAC

There is a filing which qualifies for Lauf having shown leadership built a company in her own name, and it is something McHenry County Blog has tracked since late last year — her Defense of Freedom PAC (DOFPAC).

Earlier this year, after her latest filing of DOFPAC through January 25, Lauf took her $5,000 initial investment, and in just over 4 months, Lauf raised over $111K from investors/donors.

McHenry County Blog documented it here, but this is empirical proof Lauf knows how to build a business, even if it’s a PAC, and at the same time, helped other Republicans financially late last year.

That’s known as “carrying water for the Republican elephants” and I’m curious to know what Lombardi has done to help other Republican candidates, financially or otherwise, in his 26 years of adult life.

Catalina Lauf’s Leadership on Important Issues Against the Left

Another area where Lauf has matured as a leader and as a leading candidate has to do with taking on the Left on important issues with broad appeal outside the usual emotional issues in a Republican primary, like the 2nd Amendment and Immigration.

Lauf established herself as a leader on worker classification over a month before her 2022 candidacy launch. McHenry County Blog documented this here.

The issue with worker classification demonstrated how far the Left went on the livelihoods of all Americans, including center-left voters in California where many of these voters crossed over in 2020 to vote Republican.

Lauf showed real leadership by breaking out of the mold of the traditional Republican candidate, and taking on challenging issues, complete with her own research proving she’s ready to lead in the United States Congress.

Part 2 will cover the final question Lombardi asked, and will explore why he asked it in a way that left out some important components that also need to be disclosed.


Comments

IL-16: When Jack Lombardi Asks John Lopez a Question – Part 1 — 42 Comments

  1. Mr. Lopez, that’s a weak response for a marginal candidate.

    Where is Lauf on the transgender worship?

    On RINOism?

    On Marxist propaganda taught in schools?

    On the kooky wars Bush and Obama got us into?

  2. When you think about it we have some trivial work on a short list – some of it I am documenting on the civil disobedience network I am building. Simple things such declare Islam, any form of Socialism incompatible with our Bill of Rights (Islam is also incompatible with Western Civilization!) and ban them from local, state and federal government. Institute mandatory sobriety test (for drug-high and boose-drunk) for government workers, because some of the things happening must be drugs-induced delirium.

    Its not difficult to take “politics” out of the equations, at least for this sort list. If we cannot even manage that, we must find candidates who are willing to vocally support all those.

    I tried to work with the GOP in the past (only for a short while, I admit), but none of this is possible via “political parties” no matter what they call themselves. The only way to make this happen is when we build the civil disobedience network using our own resources (no fundraisers, no donations: I build it, I pay for it, I make the rules).

    It should have never gotten to this point, when we 50-60 years old have to fight the battles of the 20 – 30 years old generation, but this is whats happening. I do not care to complain about things I can help by doing.

  3. **this is empirical proof Lauf knows how to build a business**

    Huh?

    A PAC is nothing like a business.

  4. Alabama, you’re right, it’s not the same, but still requires leadership none the less to be successful.

  5. Should Lombardi ask those questions? A person can become a president of the U.S. without starting, running a business or lacking other significant accomplishments. Look at Barak Hussein Obama.

    What then happened after Barak was elected president? He was the absolute worst president of the U.S. taking away that distinction from Jimmy Carter.

    A person can rise to high office in the U.S. with few credentials or qualifications. A mostly corrupt and left wing media can do wonders to drag a candidate across the line. They can avoid vetting as in Barak or can quash and cover up, not report relevant facts that would otherwise destroy a candidate. Look at the moron, doofus, senile president we now have and the favorable treatment he got by the mostly left wing and corrupt media.

  6. Lopez – I do know that running a PAC is very different than running a business.

    I’ve run both.

    They’re not remotely similar.

    To Pokorny’s point — yea, running a PAC takes leadership.

    But it is hardly an example of running a successful business.

    But… FWIW, I don’t think that you need to run a successful business (or PAC) to be a successful elected official.

    I think it is a silly attack.

    I just also think that Lopez’s desire to lift up Lauf with bad arguments is silly too.

  7. Lombardi and others are correct. She has No real life experience or smarts. She’s a vapid poor-man’s Kardashian, still living at home, indulging herself in countless selfies, padding her resume as well as her bras. Let’s be honest, she’s not even School Board or City Council material.

    She is good at one thing tho and that is disrespecting her constituency! She Stood up the Stateliness Rifle Assoc as their speaker for a free meal at Rabine’s country club, she also recently stood up the attendees of LaSalle County’s Lincoln Day Dinner ( when the organizers made special accommodations by having her race introduced first so she could leave early ‘to meet up with friends’) she lied to committee and left before her introduction! (To meet up with said friends!)

    Then there’s the fact that she never once showed support for Oberweis who won over the primary, even tho he allowed her to parade around for free at his fundraisers-when that was the whole purpose! All candidates who lost that race promised to support the primary winner, so her word is sh!t!

    She also lacks maturity and diplomacy as she didn’t even have the decency to return calls of prominent elected State and County Republicans willing to grant her an undeserved appointed position after her loss. She doesn’t want to work her way up, after all she’s entitled to the big corner office her first time at bat! She’s rude, entitled, a sore loser, full of herself and LAZY.

    She lives with her Liberal mother who tried to sue McHenry County College because she was let go (along with 2 or 3 other counselors because their positions were outsourced due to the fact that they only worked a few hrs a week actually counseling students.) She lawyered up and Immediately and cried “Racism” in true entitled, Liberal fashion! BYW, the other counselors in the same boat as she was were Caucasian, but her dismissal was ‘racist’?

    And then there’s the time Lauf was being interviewed on one of many podcasts, where she was caught in yet another lie! On-Air she ‘denied that she was running to get out in front of media in order to get a correspondence gig,’ and as soon as she thought the mic was off she let the host know that she’d “Love to be a FoxNews correspondent!”

    She doesn’t have a grasp of common terms, or is just inherently dishonest, this being only one example: she described an event of hers in Rockford as ‘a very exclusive event’ when it was Public, Free and open to any Tom, Dick and Harry who wanted to wander in. She’s lacking and knows it so she has to Bill everything as ‘much more than’ it is because there’s no accomplishment, no platform, no substance. She is running on the identity political factors – being a female, ethnic, millennial. And that’s nothing but pure racist/sexist ageism going on there! (This goes for her supporters too)

    There’s more. Can’t wait…

  8. You know when Jon Zahm of Illinois Policy cringes at this candidate and refers to her as a fake Conservative hack, that more vetting must be done or we are worse off than when we started.

    Republicans have got to stop being suckers.

  9. Nob, please provide the date of Jon Zahm’s statement.

    Shake, while Lombardi’s question was about leadership, then you and Pokorny proved my point that I answered his original question.

    I admit, I muddied the waters keeping the DOFPAC about business, when leadership was what Lombardi asked about, which was answered.

    As far as advancing Lauf’s candidacy, she’s already done that on her own.

    When FEC Q2 reports are filed next month by July 15, more solid metrics backing up Lauf’s candidacy, and Lombardi and the others are out of their league.

  10. “I just also think that Lopez’s desire to lift up Lauf with bad arguments is silly too.” yes that may also be true.

    I have never figured out John’s fascination with her as a politician, other than she is young and pretty.

    I haven’t seen any real substance or action.

    From an outsider she seems to me to be more interested in getting her picture taken.

  11. Really John, posting a tweet shows leadership.

    Then most of the morons who post the BS on here should be considered political leaders.

    She has got a long way to go.

    Driving for Uber hardly qualifies her as an expert on labor.

  12. Also, some issues are only connected when you have trained eyes, with some life-experience. Once reason I decided to build the civil disobedience network is to bring these to a surface (with solution provided).

    For example, consider the trend to move city and local government and civic functions to Facebook pages. When you hear about an illegal e-mail server you get alarmed, but when you are directed to the city-hall hosted on Facebook you won’t? These are related and connected, the purpose in each of this case is to hide information. Its also much easier to deceive on Facebook than on the .gov site. Accountability? You borrow someone’s .gov login you go to Federal Penitentiary, on Facebook you might get suspended, if that.

    This is connected to the secrecy we see everywhere these days, and officials (elected or appointed) are avoiding accountability. The more silent these officials are the more satisfied they are – while those who are working are difficult to get out of the ring, away from the fights. Its 2021, and having nothing to support your stance, underpin your motivation anywhere on Twitter, Facebook, Gab, Disqus, TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Quora, Vkontakte, Youtube, WeChat, MeWe, WhatsApp, InstaGram, Telegram, Reddit, etc. etc. etc is bad enough. Whats worse is if all you have is a sparse website with a big DONATE button and not much else. have you looked on Trump’s Web? He is systematically writing down what he wants, drawing you in to attack him – because this is the only way to win arguments. Free speech may either credit you or condemn you, and those who back out of debates are automatically condemned.

    I would never run for office but I have tons of stuff everywhere on the Internet, because I am constantly being accused for being Antifa or a liberal – I am a computer expert, I am geek and a nerd. I find the best way to fight back is to push a dozen of my URLs in your way and walk away, stop wasting my time. None of those URLs are on Twitter, Facebook, Gab, Disqus, TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Quora, Vkontakte, Youtube, WeChat, MeWe, WhatsApp, InstaGram, Telegram, Reddit, etc. etc. etc – they are all on my own networks. They are guaranteed to be there when I send you there – and you do not need a login. I took the time to write them down, if you want to debate me take the time and read them.

    These are things a few people ever registered before. Maybe its a good idea to explain them, and see if they are going to help shorten the debates and declare the winners with more confidence.

  13. Yeah, I agree with the commenter called AlcoholicShakes on this and I’d go a step further.

    A PAC, under normal circumstances and run by normal people, would be difficult to make successful and big, so we all agree on that.

    If I started a PAC, it probably wouldn’t do well.

    That’s to be expected for a person like me who is on many naughty lists!

    Somebody told me, “You should run for office because you have made a lot of enemies” and I told him, “Nice thought but I don’t think it works like that in the real world…”

    I think Lauf having a successful PAC was a given and it’s not grassroots.

    Her PAC’s success is not the consequence of her being a good leader.

    The cause of her PAC’s success in raising money is not her leadership.

    It’s just not the same as if I were to start a PAC.

    She already has the connections.

    People were pushing her last time around too.

    She is a conservative media darling.

    If you are the chosen one, if you’re the golden girl of the Republican establishment, then if you start a PAC it’s reasonable to assume it will do well because of your network.

    It doesn’t say anything about your leadership if there is a concerted national effort to prop you up.

    That is the case with Lauf, I believe.

    The Republican Study Committee is a big deal.

    We know Lauf has a lot of connections to movers and shakers.

    Lopez is saying that’s proof of her being a leader.

    My opinion is that she is the chosen one and that is independent of whether or not she is a leader.

    She is getting the money anyway, regardless of her leadership or lack of it.

    And it does make some sense why the Republican Study Committee would support her.

    They dislike Kinzinger and they see her as the most viable candidate.

    Strategically, it makes some sense.

    Now, do readers of this blog accept or reject the notion that she is “the chosen one”?

    Do they accept or reject that she is being promoted — that there is a concerted national effort to make her a big thing? (And then ask yourself, should she be the chosen one?)

    If you don’t accept that, why not?

    If you do accept that she is being pushed, then the question becomes, “Why is she the chosen one?”

    If you are a fan of Lauf and you admit she has been chosen, you might say something like, “She was chosen because she proved herself. She was chosen because she is a good leader.”

    Or you might just point to strategy, to likelihood of winning like I mentioned above.

    If you’re more cynical, like I am, you might say something like, “Lauf was chosen because of her image and backstory. She was chosen because Republicans are trying to rebrand. She was chosen because she’s young, Hispanic, daughter of an immigrant, female, and mildly attractive. They are moving towards a younger and more diverse image vs the stereotypical image of a Republican as an old white man.”

    Gary Rabine expressed a similar sentiment when he endorsed Lauf over Oberweis last time around (not that I think Oberweis was a good candidate).

    Keep in mind that’s not mutually exclusive from the point about strategy above.

    That is frustrating to me, but I understand where some Republicans might be coming from (even though I can’t say I respect it).

    It’s the demographics, stupid.

    The point here is that she is *not* chosen for “leadership,” or intelligence, or being a good communicator, or anything having to do with merit.

    It is simpler political calculation.

    It has to do with appealing to more tribes.

    Image is a big part of politics also.

    Everybody is thinking, “Catalina has large breasts.”

    Some people might be offended by that, but that is honest to God truth.

    You can’t not notice.

    Look at any comment section and it’s all “BOOBA” from the young guys, and you will also find some insecure and ugly women in those comment sections. (Some are asking whether she was physically augmented.)

    Any analysis involving Lauf that ignores this obvious fact is incomplete analysis.

    It’s the aesthetics, stupid.

    It’s kind of like James Carville’s old, “It’s the economy, stupid” saying where he boils the election down to the most simple element, but it is not the economy in this case.

    We’re talking about why Lauf is well liked by the establishment.

    I believe they have looked at the situation and said, “It’s the demographics and the aesthetics, stupid.”

    You may or may not personally like this strategy.

    You may or may not think this is a winning strategy.

    From there, you could create four quadrants and see where you fit.

    You could even begin to question what it means to ‘win’ and complicate it more, but I digress.

    It’s got to be amusing for Democrats like AlcoholicShakes to watch all this drama unfold.

    We don’t even know what the congressional districts are going to look like.

    If I were some media guy or influencer like John and Cal, I think I’d hang low on all the Lauf-Kinzinger-Lombardi-Marter-bunchofotherpeople drama seeing as WE DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS ARE GOING TO LOOK LIKE!

    You guys are being bated into all this drama that might not even matter!

    Who made what business?

    Who is a mommy and who is a daddy?

    How much money do you make?

    Who has done more for Republicans?

    Who is more likely to win?

    I’m here commenting so I guess I’m a dummy too lol but if you don’t bring attention to it in the first place then fewer people will notice, fewer people will comment.

    Does any of this matter?

    We might not have anything resembling the current 16th district after redistricting (that’s what I think).

    Kinzinger might not run for congress (a strong possibility, I’d even say probability).

    Lombardi and Lauf are likely to not even be drawn into the same district.

    Then what?

    Would either of them run?

    Under what circumstances would they run?

    Are there certain people in congress from either party they would run against?

    Would they want to run against each other?

    It doesn’t seem like many people are talking about those sorts of things.

    John might feel silly about writing so many articles about Lauf, Lombardi, and Kinzinger if all of this falls apart, and I think there is a good chance of that.

    Last I heard, only one Democrat wanted to run and it wasn’t the lady who ran last time.

    That tells me they aren’t in the least bit concerned about this, unlike Republicans who are always talking about the drama of Kinzinger-Lauf-Lombardi.

    Why not ignore all of this Kinzinger-Lauf-Lombardi stuff until you know what the congressional districts are going to look like? Aside from being interested in politics combined with being impulsive, is there really any reason to talk about this?

    (That’s the excuse I’m going with.)

    You could say you are doing readers or voters a service, but this is all speculation.

    It’s likely that none of this will end up mattering.

    Even Lauf has been posting a lot less recently so that tells me she has some trepidation about this entire situation.

    It does suck for the candidates though because I’m sure they’d like to raise money early but they’re stuck in limbo not knowing what the districts are going to look like.

    That puts incumbents, who are mostly Democrats, at an even greater advantage.

    Why would anybody donate to a candidate when you don’t even know what their district is going to look like?

    None of these people are going to be getting my money any time soon.

  14. The way I figure it, Miss Lauf is nice and all, and a much higher IQ than our Affirmative Action Congresslesbian, but will she do, or even say, anything about our nonexistent border?

    For the first time in history I agree w/ Alabama Skank.

    How is forming a PAC like founding and running a business?

    Miss Lauf is also attractive, and unlike Kinzinger, an actual heterosexual, not a pretend one like Lindsey Graham or Aaron Schock.

    What redrawn District will Lauf run in?

    Or will she run in more than one?

  15. I can only go by impressions, beyond just reading of qualifications and such.

    I’ve met Ms Lauf and her mother, at the Woodstock Square, they are both salt of the earth people, extremely polite, actively listened to me, I spoke some in Spanish to the (racist?) Mom and she was taken aback, hearing it coming from such a White boy like me.

    Either way Ms Lauf’s beliefs matched my own, particularly on Gun ownership, her and her Mom both spoke about illegal immigration and how they were against it.

    She was a supporter of Trump, had worked some in his administration and got my support against Oberweis and the others running at the time.

    She hasnt started or run a business?

    I believe she helped her dad start and run one, but dont recall the details.

    I do know Joe Biden made it all the way to the Office of the Presidency and never held a viable job in his pathetic life.

    He used plagiarism, lies, false tales, and general “bar b.s” to get where he is today.

    Good quote about him is; “50 years in office, mainly Foreign Policy, and wrong on every Foreign Policy decision in those 50 years”.

    He might have been a Rotary Club President before running for local office, who knows, but he’s a perfect example of having no real experience and getting the top job in the World.

    I didnt believe Ms Lauf was a liar in the time I spoke with her and her Mother.

    I’m just one opinion, one vote, but thats how it goes in Politics. Impressions carry a lot of weight.

    Correct is right about her probably being looked at from the Party as among the most viable to win vs looking for perfection in qualifications, and thus the one to invest in.

    I could be wrong, but so could Lombardi.

  16. I think Ms Lauf needs more than her opinion to sway voters.

    The fact is that more people identify as Moderates and many are educated and knowledgeable voters.

    I wish her well but experience matters.

  17. “bar b.s.”?, theres a bullshitter in every bar, and Joe has all the credentials for being one.

    Shit talker, liar, tall tale teller, promise breaker, big mouth, fake tough guy.

    dime a dozen, find one in every bar in this county if you look.

    And one from that faction became our President.

  18. This constant White Knighting for Lauf has become downright comical.

  19. Innocent Primate is a perfect example of bar b.s. ….. but remember, that’s gay bar b.s.

  20. Hey Jack Lombardi, thank you for stopping by this blog!

    Marsha Williams, James Marter, and I think that one chiropractor lady have commented here before about the 2022 election.
    If you’re reading this, one of the key points that John Lopez consistently goes back to is fundraising.

    Lauf was pretty good at fundraising and it’s understandable why Republicans would want somebody who is good at that.

    A candidate who is really bad at it could lose a race that’s winnable. It’s understandable why Republicans would want to avoid that.

    At the same time, many Republicans aren’t satisfied with beating a Democrat and being just slightly better, and I’m guessing you feel that way about Kinzinger and Lauf.

    A lot of people would agree but add it’s good if you are better than Lauf and Kinzinger, but not if you can’t win the general election, and money is a big variable.

    So, Jack, if you want to shut John up, either disclose your financials sooner or if you’re going to wait then be sure when you do post them the numbers aren’t weak.

    If you have anemic numbers, it won’t just be John writing you off…

    The money alone probably won’t get him off the Lauf bandwagon and in to your camp. I think he’ll probably remain a Lauf stan (I could be wrong), but you can at least take a lot of ammo away from him and make his support for her seem less legitimate/more silly.

    (Most of us here already shake our head at at this stuff — see Billy Bob’s comment.)

    Even if the money situation doesn’t improve John’s opinion of you at all, it will show other people you are serious and it’s just good to have money when you’re running for office!

    That’s the best way to do it. John keeps saying Lauf is the real deal and she’s so legitimate… well if you raise a lot of money then people can say YOU’RE the real deal and not just in terms of saying the right things on Twitter.

    Keep in mind that even if people don’t like Lauf, they’re not a locked in vote for you.

    You’ll have to earn their votes. Some are undecided.

    Some might not even want to vote because they feel so disenfranchised after 2020. Many will lean towards Marter.

    My main suggestions to you at this moment would be

    -Have discipline on social media. Be mature. Don’t do anything that would make you look childish.
    -Be less vague and more specific than Lauf in terms of policy. She was vague last time and I think that prevented her from winning.
    -Do events to meet people.
    -Don’t be cryptic on social media. If you know something damning about your opponent(s), be very clear about it. If you don’t know, either say this is a rumor or don’t say it at all. You don’t want to be doing womanly gossip.
    -Do a fundraiser and be sure to have food there. The people on McHenry County Blog love food.

    If you’re doing direct activism kind of events with parents, that’s fantastic!

    One of my beefs with Lauf is that she has never really been involved with local issues like another commenter, GettaClue, pointed out.

    When McHenry County Democrats were trying to cancel ICE, I don’t even think Lauf mentioned it on Twitter.

    The McHenry County board meets in Woodstock which is the same city that she lives in.

    Good luck to you and the rest of the candidates.

    May the best person win!

  21. The reason I became a US citizen, and I voted Republican for the first time during the 2019 primaries is that I grew up in Soviet-style communism, and I realize that the Chinese-style Communism is nothing like it. The Soviets were still Western Civilization – the Chinese are Asian – fanatic, deeply rooted in tradition. If you hated the “capitalist pigs” the Soviets welcomed any other nation or culture into their camp – the Chinese loves capitalism, and to them all non-Chinese are pigs.

    Before the political candidates realize this the rest of us must tell them that we already know this. The GOP dropped the ball, allowing anarchists, communists, Muslims, globalists and the cartels to occupy seats in Congress. They have failed to realize how differently the CPP plays the game of politics.

    As far as I am concerned, any candidate which fails to form (or refuses to form) a strategy against the deception and secrecy campaigns by the enemies of our Republic is going to starve a vote. I certainly cannot vote for a candidate who use Big Tech in every step in their campaign.

    Especially because the works is so trivial: reject Islam from government, install sobriety requirements for congressional workers, commit to term limits, force all civic and government functions to use .gov resources and auditing, voter ids, prosecution against those who attack the Bill of Rights. Its trivial, and you must do it on a platform which is fundamentally different from what everyone is used to these days.

    Elect people into office who appreciate our Constitution, our Western Civilization, and the Christian Way of Life (even if they themselves are atheists, they must appreciate the fact that Christians no longer torture, kill, imprison people in the name of God).

    These are examples, I do not mean to set policy here – I was not even born in the USA. If you were born here, and you feel strongly about this you are more qualified to sort out what is vital. Then all you need to do is select the candidate which has already acted and moved on those vital issues.

    For my part in this, I am going to propose my own list. “civil disobedience” means that I no longer care about anyone explaining away these issues, and I do not need your resources (time, money, skills, connections), or your approval to show the facts surrounding them. We in the civil disobedience network have everything we need (time, money, skills, ethical integrity) to do this much. For example:

    “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Islam, the anarchists, the communists, all fringes are all invited into Congress in hopes that one of them, or the combination of all of them, going to kill this Constitutional Republic. This is what I suspect, and this is not a Conspiracy Theory. If its plausible (like driving drunk) the suspicion cannot be degraded into Conspiracy Theories (cops conspiring around drunken driving). The premise of this is ludicrous.

    We are going to show this, one issue at a time. We cannot make people to do the right thing, but we can show when they refuse or when they are inept.

  22. Frankly, I find that Joe Biden’s unequaled track record of doing nothing for 47 years in the Senate to be his most endearing attribute.

    If all these elected ass clowns followed his example, think how much better life would be.

  23. I spend most of my time online promoting the “different platform” I mentioned before. Its an owner-operated network, built on single-purposed service stacks, fitting into a federated network. When you build this service stack, and join the federated networks you are able to maintain something called “nomadic identity’. This means that you may have unlimited clones of your online content and history – nobody but you know how many clones. Even if the “government” is able to destroy one clone, one server – you have more, up to unlimited copies. You may keep your true identity hidden because you created this network, you did not need to provide any information which may lead back to you – credit card info, email address, IP addresses, anything. You have effectively disappeared – even when your are hyper-active organizing, posting, connecting globally.

    This is a relatively new, only a decade-old technology, and the anarchists / socialists use this network expensively. It was created by them, for their own use – but as with any weapon everything may be used both for aggression OR defense against it.

    All political candidates still rely on a “website” with a big DONATE button and some stuff about what they stand for – lots of words. What the DO is they still spend on buying pages and airtime on MSM, they still spend resources on massively global social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and another dozen or so. They keep Big Tech alive and well. These are all also old school, so boring: I am 53, but I agree with the 20-years olds in that.

    Owner-operated networks going to change all that.

    A candidate in a county is lost on massively populous global media such as Facebook. Even Trump, he was not present on the other dozen or so platforms. The political “fundraising” stars cannot do much better than to keep feeding the funds they raised back into the system they supposed to “fight”.

    There is a realistic opportunity here for a political candidate to gain some significant amount of visibility by switching to his own technological platform, limited in reach to the locale. By building his own owner-operated network he breaks free of censorship, and he may indeed defy control of the political party over him (at least to some degree, just enough to appear to be a “true” renegade). Most importantly, he is able to spend all his resources where it matters the most, and not on trying to stay visible and relevant on massively populous global networks.

    This maybe and should be approached on a strategic level. My main focus is manufacturing, and my online resources and examples I could provide are for manufacturing – I do not care for politics much. I am not going to post them here because I do not want to hijack the focus of this thread. As the matter of fact I am getting ready to write my OPINION about the thing between the two candidates. During that I am going to TRY and show how this maybe used in political campaigns just as effectively than in manufacturing or in anything else.

    Technology experts such as myself are mostly ignored by those who love politics because hey, what would a geek know about games for big guys, right? Well, look around: ANTIFA is an idea, and you are shadowboxing them. You are beaten to a pulp, you cannot find them, you are not allowed to shoot them, they steal your teenage kids, burn your cities, loot your stores, make you into a white racist and supremacist.. should I go on?

    You are ignoring the geeks at your own peril, because in our Technological Civilizations you do what we geeks make you to do.

  24. Mmmm. My Full Stack developer pals would tell me, the quickest ‘bug fix’ is to fire hose cash at Uncle Sam, being the only way to focus on federal advocacy and government affairs related to legislative matters.

  25. When it comes down to it, I only question why would an intelligent non-stop smokeshow, want to be a groundskeeper of a zombie-infested abandoned amusement park?

  26. The non-political civil disobedience network I keep mentioning has a short list of “operational principles”, all has the purpose to support the ultimate goals of the civil disobedience network: “to regain control over our local, state and federal government”, and to “help preserve our Constitutional Republic, our Western Civilization, and our Christian Way of Life”.

    All of these are composed by me, none of this is valid and final as long as there are only two people in the network: Gail and myself.

    – When you debate the obvious, you both lose.

    – Only the Truth needs protection, the Facts take care of themselves.

    – Islam is evidently an adversary of Western Civilization.

    – Facts are non-polarized, do not attempt to charge them.

    – Authenticity and Authority must be earned, they cannot be granted.

    – The purpose of the Bill of Rights is to restrict the Government.

    – The Facts are with those who learn to Read, not with those who Write.

    This an “attitude” test, none of it is “political”, as “facts are non-polarized, do not attempt to charge them”. Political candidates are given no choice in this, they may ignore them which is going on their records. Disobedience supposed be at least this much of an SOB, do not even start complaining about it.

    From this perspective, the “Lauf, Lombardi, Kinzinger” debate is over IL-16, my current district. I can easily prove that, I gave you my full name, I give you my street Cavalier Court in West Dundee, and you can visit the Kane County web and see I am a registered voter.

    I would like to see these candidates making some effort (re)creating the Public Square, where only those who are affected have a voice. Lets face it – political candidates are not approachable, because the “public square” is overrun by rats and roaches from all over the world. The demand on their time is unmanageable.

    Well, the demand on MY time is just as valuable. Its not my fault that you are lost in some Facebook group, I missed your Tweet, or that every statement you write has thousands of replies by the time I get there. Its not my fault that political candidates prefer to throw arms in the air and tell ME there is nothing THEY can do about that. You know just how hopeless that makes you appear in the eyes of those who know?

    I am not saying you ARE hopeless, its not my place. However, you should see the fact that owner-operated networks are going to come in the thousands, tens and hundreds of thousands. Trolls are having a hey-day on centralized massively populous global networks.. Bots are written and set lose by the operators of these centralized, massively populous global networks. With owner-operated networks all that is going to change, Trolls are not going to manage to visit each of the 100K individual networks, and Bots are not going to be written to deceive you.

    I know its going to be a scary new world for political candidates. Its not my fault, I too have better things to do with my time than saving the World. We all must take a little responsibility, and all must act outside of our comfort zone. I offered my (cost free) help before to political candidates and continue to do so for one reason:

    Political parties, Big Tech, the Government are all terrified of the owner-operated networks, the federation and the nomadic identity. I suspect they know what I know, as this is only the beginning. Soon micro-data centers, local dark-fibre and advanced radio and wireless going to entirely bypass the Corporate Data Centers and current fibre networks. They are going to lose control of the household entirely, and permanently. Because we are a Technological Civilization, and geeks rule.

  27. And yet no one is looking at the young female doctor that is running, because she’s white?

    What a sad world.

    Her name is Leona D’Amore.

    Donald Trump is an old white guy and did more for all the minorities than all past presidents combined!

    Anyone who thinks just because someone checks one more box (hispanic) is going to attract a demographic on that, must think the voting public is stupid.

    Bob Wire, Lauf worked for the Chamber of Commerce in DC.

    That and $4 will get you a cup of coffee.

    Hardly ‘the Trump Administration’. (hey maybe the voting public IS Stupid!)

    ‘She worked for her Dad so she helped him start his business?’

    She’s 26.

    Do you know how old his business is?

    For someone who doesn’t have an impressive or even gapless employment record that statement really makes you look like you’re stretching it!

    (maybe the voting public IS Stupid!)

    You ‘met them on the square and you come to believe they’re the salt of the earth?’

    Based on what?

    The fact that they managed to make you believe they cared and kept your attention for 15 minutes?

    Wow, no doubt if you are any indication of the voting public, then they ARE Stupid!)

    Sorry no offense but you’re gonna have to do a lot better than these stupid statements of yours.

  28. $4 cup of coffee?

    Might as well stamp Can’t Afford Starbucks on your forehead.

  29. Casey if you have her ear you can invite her to this forum. We need a public square where the candidates come together. Winning is not necessary, but the debate is mandatory.

    You mentioned Trump, and that’s exactly what he did, how he did it. I doubt there was a president who made more statements than Trump, and some got him into a situation or two.. but he never stops talking, writing, and his enemies are by now careful to be suckered into fights with him.

    “Only the Truth needs protection, the Facts take care of themselves”. This means when you have your ducks in a row there is nothing you can say that is going destroy you. As the matter of fact, lost arguments, when you are in the wrong and you learn from it, make you even stronger.

    – – –
    The funny thing is: you all have seen the picture of Ashleigh Shackelford, the CRT advocate and larger than life black woman with the “ALL WHITE PEOPLE ARE RACIST” sign. She has her network! She uses the exact same software stack I prefer to use for this, called YunoHost.

    Of course her network is a disaster, she has no idea how it works and what it should do, somebody half-assed the job for her. But in some ways she is way ahead of all of our candidates – she recognizes the vitality of her own network, not just some website but he own privilege-based, secured and moderated network with forums, chat, file-share and even video download – upload.

  30. DJ, he/she said a ‘cup of coffee’ not ‘an overpriced suckers cup of unicorn burnt bean juice’

  31. Speaking of public square, which candidates have commented on this blog and which ones have not?

    Marter has, Lombardi has, Williams has, I think D’Amore has.

    Who hasn’t?

    I think that would be Young, Pfaff, Lauf, and Kinzinger.

  32. Anyone can rise with the help of the mostly fraudulent and corrupt left wing media. Look at the example of the biggest fraud ever in the US, the case of Barak Hussein Obama running for president and winning with their support. And of course, Hussein’s VP, the moron Biden, was protected throughout the 2020 campaign from all of his frailties, senility and horrible record to be elected president.

  33. There are 102 counties and 1298 cities, towns, villages (hometowns) in Illinois. IL-16 makes up a portion that, creating its own public square. We in the civil disobedience network are trying to give you the tools to be able to “visit” everyone who has a question, who is interested hearing what you have to say.

    Again, we in the civil disobedience network would love to see you to succeed, so we may get a strong representative in place. That is why we are bringing our own resources (time, money, talent and experience) to build it. That is why we are building this within the Laws, but without any permission or approval from the political parties, from Big Tech, from the Colleges and Universities, from the Government, from anyone and anything who thinks they are somebody in this game.

    Last year, when the Kane County CPs made the decision and elected Ken Shepro over Bobby Piton for Chair it made us, Gail and I, wonder what happened and why. Bobby was, by far, the better candidate. Afterwards Bobby visited us for a beer and a discussion over what happened, and he told me he might run for Illinois Governor instead. So I got him the domain name, and I installed the same network I keep posting about: a fully standards-compliant YunoHost service stack with encrypted email, public wiki, a login-based Hubzilla forum – a state-of the art, modern, full-stack public square.

    Because, because because the real issue is not why Ken was elected over Bobby – that’s just boring politics. The REAL issue is that Bobby cannot send you to any place on the internet to show you his list of the battles he had to fight, the detailed plans he made and the details about how he failed (or succeeded), the support he did (not) get. This is complex stuff folks, and the best candidate maybe the one who is all beaten up and running low on fuel – but he is in the fight for his life, and he has the battle-scars to prove it. Then we find this guy, give him a platform and the essential resources he needs – and if he has learned from all those battles we might have a true champ for ourselves.

    I am not saying Bobby or anybody is that champ, but when some of you say that “anyone maybe elected by the corrupt left-wing media” – guess what the civil disobedience network is trying to do? “Balance the MSM, Big Tech, and the political parties” – but of course! I hope you see the light.

    – – –

    About a decade ago I started designing a technology stack, and its original purpose was to re-create the Linux User Groups (LUG), with some modifications. The new purpose would be in Manufacturing – instead of installing and configuring Linux just for the heck of it. It would operate with self-sufficiency, which means no loans, no grants, no donations – it would operate with barter, expert service and expert advice for floor space, for machine time, whatever.

    Today, 10 years later the technology stack is proven and robust. I maintain four authoritative DNS instances on two continents, three countries by four service providers – highly redundant and cannot be shut down by Big Tech, or even by the “government”. Everything I build is fully internet standards-compliant thus resilient to attacks. Backup, restore, disaster recovery is in place so there is no hacking or ransomware in existence that could bring it down. A single node in this network, the one I built for Bobby or may build for anyone costs about 200 USD annually, and all that money is paid to someone else, not to me (domain name, the virtual private server, the backup and snapshot service).

    Today, my network is being deployed to build a local manufacturing supply chain in Kane County, with all the cool stuff included (3D printing, blockchains with smart contracts, the federated networks, etc) – but its there for anyone to use it for the public square (or for any other purpose). I cannot build any supply chain without an expert pool, and every instance of this network helps with advertising, training new talent, expanding and strengthening the design of this “new” Linux User Group. Its a high-level barter where everyone is a beneficiary. Its also local, to Kane County and the immediate surroundings. I do not care to recruit from India, to Hell with that. We need experts here, in our own townships.

    Designing the civil disobedience network is one of the most complex tasks I have ever tackled so far, and the design is far from over. I would like to have it finalized by the 2022 primaries, and I have a good chance to use it in Kane County before 2024, for the showdown. Lot of work to be done.

  34. The staggering complexity of our civil disobedience network is one consequence of the design.

    Large part of the discussion on this thread is which candidate has a proven record in founding successful businesses, being an excellent fundraiser, having a track record of high performance. This is vital.

    I learned a lot from the design of the LUG, and I did not need to “start from scratch” as I was a LUG member since the early 90s. I was looking for a “business model” to finance it, describing the usual parameters of supply and demand, location, and the rest. I came across barter, and at first I rejected it without thinking much about it.

    Years later I decided to base the entire model on bartering expert services and consultation, for surplus resources.

    Last year when I started designing the civil disobedience network I was surprised just how easily bartering fell in place with this new network’s purpose. Open architectures are beautiful, elegant designs where functionality is the only target – and alternative motives, hidden agendas, the pressure to turn a buck are sticking out like a score thumb.

    Bartering is the best option when your strategy, your “game plan” is open – such as the chessboard, where your strategy is hidden in plain sight. If you play the game of poker, where you keep your cards close to your chest bartering is not functional, or its difficult to make it work well.

    I do not understand politics well enough to say if political candidates are, should be playing the game more as a poker or chess. I do know, however, that our civil disobedience network is going to be a game of chess. Its architecture, its strategy is wide open to anyone to inspect it, if they like it copy it, and change it as they see fit. Its being built using the same “screenplay” I wrote during building the LUG for a local supply chain resource pool.

    While my LUG is currently on hold while the UNIX and Manufacturing talent collects into a local expert-pool I have some free time to build the civil disobedience network.

    So, how do we plan to “finance” the civil disobedience network? Who is going to “sell” the idea, (besides me who is apparently selling something right now). Who is going to support it, watch it, making sure it does not sell out the same way you see a lot of entities (people and organizations) being questioned, doubted, suspected ?

    Bartering is the process where the exchange happens with ad-hoc appraisal of the goods, services. This is how bartering is going to work in the LUG – a short and simple example, so we are all on the same page:

    The LUG is going to help you with transferring your paper-form based operations to a web-form based functionality. That is, the individual spreadsheets, paper-forms and other disconnected records are going to be on the web, and some of it going to come from scanning 2D codes (or 1D barcodes) instead of being typed in by hand. In exchange for this expert work you train one of your employees, yourself – friend – relative, on the entire operation, using the software the LUG is using. You get something done for your business, and as an exchange the LUG gets someone for our local expert pool.

    The end result is credibility, acceptance of the technologies being used, expansion of the expert pool (which is the most valuable among all gained). Lots of opportunities to grow, to create new type of businesses around the newly discovered technological and human resources. The LUG still has more purpose and functionality, but that’s irrelevant in the current context.

    The civil disobedience network is using the exact same concept, and my purpose is largely the same as with the LUG.

    Someone please describe to me “constitutional carry” in a few simple sentences? Chances are there are many ideas about what “constitutes” a “constitutional carry”. So this civil disobedience network is going to describe it for you, and you are going to accept it. This is the same with the SQL database in the LUG: no, we are not going to use SQLite, Microsoft SQL, Oracle, PostGRES – we are using MariaDB, and you are going to accept it. You see the “value-adding expert advice”? For one, the “technical support” pool is going to be much smaller and much easier to train.

    However – every “public square” is free to describe constitutional carry for themselves, because in THIS civil disobedience grassroots YOU ARE LIMITED. You may build, lead, own a node in this network only where you are AFFECTED. You may not build one in another state, to “help out”. They too have the opportunity, and the responsibility to do it themselves. We are not going to allow the civil disobedience grassroots to turn into a “political party”, a “PAC”, an NGO”, anything else. You see the value-adding expert advice in that?

    This all plugs into that 200 USD / year technology stack I explained before – to call it our civil disobedience network you MAY build it only where you vote – otherwise you need to call yourself something else – GOP, DNC, PAC, whatever. If you cannot afford 200 USD a year – let someone else build it. If you do not understand the technology learn it, or find someone who manage it for you. You are going to have the opportunity and the responsibility that the only people who have access are people who live there, who are affected, who have the privilege and the responsibility to vote.

    etc.. etc.. etc.. lots of complexities, but also incredibly promising. Nevertheless, this much already explains the way who is the one with “having a track record of high performance”. Any IL-16 candidate who understand and supports this is already ahead of the game. One thing should be crystal clear: we build this network, these nodes without fundraisers, grants, donations, stealing, borrowing.. we build this county-wide, state-wide, nation-wide without a single dollar exchanging hands. We pay for what we use, and we control what we pay for.

    Our civil disobedience network is an “organic process”, not an “organizational entity”. A few weeks ago this network was called “grassroots”, not “network”. It resulted in a lot of distrust, as grassroots are being bastardized by anarchist, communist, and all sort of fringes. So we renamed it to a “network” until the concept of “grassroots” maybe salvaged.

    I admit, this is an awful lot of introduction about something as simple as the “public square”, but as a reminder I explained a few places before how and why this “disobedience” effort became necessary. If the GOP has done its job, balancing the DNC, none of this would be necessary, and I would be able to focus on the LUG without all this political garbage. But the political parties are out of control, so the rest of us must kick them all to the corner while we discuss if they understand and respect the fact about who is working for who.

    Again, the design is incredibly complex – but its also very promising, otherwise I would not be spending another minute on it.

  35. About the “incredibly promising” part…

    Our civil disobedience grassroots is going to be the one to help create our Constitutional State Militia.

    The Militia is not a “fringe group”, its not “right wing”, its not “militant”. The Constitutional State Militia is as part of the American Identity same as backyard barbecues and joy ride. When you speak up, when you demand from the political candidate that the Constitutional State Militia to be formed you are not some “political activist”, you are a citizen. You know who is the political activist? Anyone who speaks up against forming the Constitutional State Militia. They are political activist, trying to change the laws and the function of our Constitutional Representative Republic. You are not trying to change anything! You are trying to create whats should already be there, but its still missing!

    Do not mistake this effort for anything else. I did NOT write this:
    “Our civil disobedience grassroots is going to be the one purposing our Constitutional State Militia.”

    This is one of the “incredibly promising” part, hidden in plain sight, keeping the proper context, reinforcing our operational principles such as “the facts are with those who learn to Read, not with those who Write”. We are going to listen to our political candidates, and we are going to speak with clarity. We expect the same responses from them. When we do not get one, it goes on their record.

    So, who is going to PURPOSE the Constitutional State Militia?

    This civil disobedience network is not going to allow the installation of any node, discussing the purpose of the Constitutional State Militia BEFORE the formation of the Constitutional State Militia. This is another part of the “incredibly promising” part, not allowing the confusion or corruption of timeline of the current context. Again, we are not creating anything new here – the Constitutional State Militia SHOULD exists!

    If this makes no sense to you, consider the following:
    The Constitutional State Militia may exists without an immediate purpose. It does not need a purpose to exist. In ideal circumstances, the Constitutional State Militia is not going to have any purpose whatsoever. The time, the effort, the authority and authenticity to purpose the Constitutional State Militia might take some time, much longer than forming it. These are the reasons top off my head, there are plenty more.

    Why would any political candidate want any of this?!
    The work about the Constitutional State Militia might get done in McHenry County – but the result is going to be COPIED to other nodes in the network – but only those nodes which agree with it. Those who do not agree may ignore it, change it – this is why we pay politicians, to care and work it all out.

    This is going to force the political parties to abandon the relevant Good-Cop Bad-Cop shtick they have played with each other over the decades. The candidates may breath a little easier not required to walk a fine line between raging lunatics who want to ban guns – and those who would love to shoot some of them just to prove a point.

    This is shaping up to be a lot of fun, right?

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