Yay! So glad that your unique message is getting out beyond Substack. I look forward to watching all the videos after my work day. People are so dismissive-- “California is crazy, you should just leave”-- not connecting that our craziness will metastasize to their state.
We took a long road trip in Dec 2020 to escape the lockdowns and masks in California. I came home thoroughly depressed, because all the states we drove through were enforcing the masks too, even the little towns. Santa Fe was the worst (and it used to be my favorite place), Kansas was the best.
Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona. It was all a little better than CA but not by much. Masks at the pizza shop in Utah, at the grocery store, children’s museum, and indoor mini golf in Omaha, FIVE posters of dos and don’t at a Navajo rest stop (and you had to stand in line outdoors). The toy store in downtown Santa Fe wouldn’t let me into their store with two small children and a baby because their capacity limit was three patrons. People were sitting on the plaza drinking beers in 20 degree cold and wind. It felt like there was no escape.
I have another story when my soon-to-be-ex-husband and I were on our honeymoon driving through the Navajo corner of Arizona and got pulled over for speeding in a school zone. It was a complete lie and we assumed they saw a CA plate and some easy money.
I listened to the first podcast last week. Just found Todd Herman. Great interview.
The irony of the 'rise of Fascism' under Trump compared to the complete capture of corporate America that we see post COVID does not give the Leftists cognitive dissonance. Why? They never loved freedom. This is who they are.
Must have been 15 years ago, but we were talking about how the left is simply an aggregation of misfits. This was, of course, before Bruce Jenner lost his fbomb mind and became a very ugly woman.
Now the misfittery has gone to 11.
hey never did want freedom, nor to help the down trodden. They want revenge. They want to extract wealth and joy from you. Orwell noted this back in the 40s. They don't love the poor--they HATE THE RICH-or the beautiful, or the competent, or the stable, or the married, or the religious, or the white, or the normal, or the...they hate everything that is good, true, or beautiful.
Thank you Chris for so eloquently arguing for the good, the true, and the beautiful. I'm not ready to throw in the towel.
Your interviews are great listening. I’m a native CA too, in the bluest of Blue regions of the former paradise of the Central Coast. No one listens, they’re buried in hollow representations and hiding from what is right in front of their eyes. It’s screamingly frustrating, these people were once my comrades. You’re so right, examining budgets is a great way to create nonpartisan allies, at least it was the best starting place before people started believing that party registration was the determining factor of character. Thankfully, there are more registered independents than ever, and most have stopped voting entirely, that’s a good sign of moving towards a fresh solution together. The political class aren’t concerned with the people; we’re all considered pests. I encourage us all to see past this artificial divide, since this is a city, state, national, and international tactic. Whoever has the power will demonize The Other to crush dissent from any quarter.
I’m near Monterey, once a gorgeous history-rich “sleepy fishing village” after fleeing LA suburbia, and it’s being cannibalized by saviors who can no longer remember what was it that they’re trying to save.
I theorize that the sheer beauty of the place makes people mushy. They are no longer really “seeing” it, it’s just selfie photo opp.
Saviors who forgot what they are saving. Brilliant.
I spent a year at DLI in Monterey. Seriously the best year of my life. Academically the most challenging year of my life. We'd learn between 25-50 words a day. It was a rote memory hell...but...
You were exempt from PT if you scored a 270 (essentially an A-) so we'd boogie-boarded/surfed EVERYDAY after school. My PT score went from 285ish to 385ish simply by battling the Pacific to catch a wave.
That experience taught me that the 'best times' in my life rarely include leisure. In hindsight, all of my peak experiences have included when I've been absolutely pushed to my capacity in something.
We got married at a beautiful resort in Carmel. That little stretch of CA is arguably the most beautiful place on the planet. Without a doubt in the top 5 most beautiful places.
There is something about the 'angry ocean' pounding the boulders relentlessly that cleared my head, my spirit, my body unlike anyplace I've ever been.
Companion's Deli with the lovely Chicken Thigh sandwich...
I just love that part of the country. That part of the world. I have only favorable flashes when I think of it.
Oh, that deli! I’m all for taking it back on behalf of reason and integrity, but no shooting the locals. ;-) CIA West already makes us all a target in this occupied territory. It’s funny that it’s so ‘blu’ yet so pro-war, goes to show the inversion of language the last 10-20 years.
I lived in Monterey in the hills and on the beach. Woke to the sounds of barking sea lions. Ran the beach, the wharfs and Cannery Row every morning when they were empty.
But it was a backwater for my profession, so I left for career opportunities in NY and DC. Always thought I would be back there by this age, but when I saw how the Peninsula I once loved has changed, I knew It was over for me.
Luckily, I found the second best place in this country, a small town in the free state of Florida. But a part of me always misses Monterey.
I was voluntold to be on the company run team. Anyone who ran two miles under 12 minutes miraculously found their name on the 'action notice' (a memo we had to read before lunch and after class each day).
Report to orderly room...
So every morning about 15 of us would meet at Lover's Point park, and run to the Fishwife and back. Probably 10-11K. It was a race every single morning--we were all 19-21, and ran each other to death.
Coming back into the bay with the sun just peaking over the hills--the bay began to awaken with diamonds of light. It was so damn beautiful, and we had just run ourselves into endorphin-fueled ecstasies.
One morning, while stretching on this rock wall, I saw 5-6 dolphins swimming and playing in the Bay. I can picture that scene today, 32 years later.
I love that place. The Leftists must be brought to heal. Their ideas destroy. We cannot let them win.
Companion's next to the post office, on 5th between Delores and San Carlos? Or do I have the wrong one in my head? I live in Carmel, left LA to be there.
It was just outside one of the gates into DLI. I was there 91/92. Back then Russian was the largest schoolhouse with three separate schools. When you met another Russian student the question was, in DLI parlance, "You up the hill or down the hill?"
I was Fox Company, up the hill. Compagnos was just outside of a gate 'up the hill'. If I remember correctly, there was a Safeway--or some national grocery store, not far from there as well.
SO YOU LIVE IN CARMEL...
JEALOUS!!!!!
We were married at Quail Lodge in Carmel. Carmel is like Zermatt, Switzerland. The entire city is like you entered a beautifully maintained amusement park for adults. So beautiful!!
What if TOO MUCH COLLEGE is the problem. Is your own daughter going to college? You went to college, yes? Your parents went to college, in California? Yes?
May you survive the deluge and be able to mark yourself "safe from The California Storm" on Facebook. (Yeah, I know it's serious, but when I saw people doing that on Facebook my eyes rolled back so hard that now I have a headache.)
I remember when I lived in Long Beach and then Cypress, CA; and we used to call it ‘rain’. Next breaking weather news from CA, as usual, will be ‘record-breaking drought’. Because all that beautiful rain runs off of all the neverending concrete and cement. P.S. I enjoyed watching your interviews.
The problem with that "extra" water is the state government has been too busy building trains and providing where with all to illegal immigrants and paying for children to be mutilated to focus on building any real water conservation projects, eg reservoirs. Wouldn't have a water problem if a single governor had taken notice and exercised some actual leadership rather than posing.
Chris, I just listened to the James Poulos and Steve Kobrin interviews. I found them both to be informative but the Kobrin one was fabulous. Not sure if my opinion was predetermined once I saw the angry tortoise thumbnail or not. Actually, the Kobrin interview was fabulous because it revealed a great deal about you and how your background and life experiences give you insight that others don't see or simply ignore.
Freedom lovers need to embrace and rediscover Christianity. Without it, the powers that shouldn't be will keep getting away with inhumanity under cute but very dangerous claims and philosophies. Here is a good post outlining where we are and be forewarned:
Thank you so much for what you’re doing. Often the things you express as being absurd, at first glance I don’t see it, until I start thinking about it and realize wow, yeah it really is crazy. I think I’ve been trained like a monkey to react emotionally to absurd arguments instead of stopping to think, “this is not just slightly wrong, this is totally absurd.”
Loved the Freedom Fighter Gallery idea and will watch the interviews with all of them that have been compiled so far one at a time. Worth knowing about people who are noticing the shredding of the fabric of our society.
Yay! So glad that your unique message is getting out beyond Substack. I look forward to watching all the videos after my work day. People are so dismissive-- “California is crazy, you should just leave”-- not connecting that our craziness will metastasize to their state.
This is exactly what happened to Colorado, which used to be a reasonable place.
Ugh, I’m so sorry.
We took a long road trip in Dec 2020 to escape the lockdowns and masks in California. I came home thoroughly depressed, because all the states we drove through were enforcing the masks too, even the little towns. Santa Fe was the worst (and it used to be my favorite place), Kansas was the best.
South Dakota and Wyoming in 2020 were AMAZING. Normal life!
Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona. It was all a little better than CA but not by much. Masks at the pizza shop in Utah, at the grocery store, children’s museum, and indoor mini golf in Omaha, FIVE posters of dos and don’t at a Navajo rest stop (and you had to stand in line outdoors). The toy store in downtown Santa Fe wouldn’t let me into their store with two small children and a baby because their capacity limit was three patrons. People were sitting on the plaza drinking beers in 20 degree cold and wind. It felt like there was no escape.
The Navajo reservation was remarkably unpleasant for several years.
I have another story when my soon-to-be-ex-husband and I were on our honeymoon driving through the Navajo corner of Arizona and got pulled over for speeding in a school zone. It was a complete lie and we assumed they saw a CA plate and some easy money.
That's where we ended up! Never thought we'd be able to jet around with the kids and go do whatever we wanted. The bright spot of the pandemic!
Yes. Colorado and New Mexico have been taken over and are now People's Republics. The level of smugness is unbearable.
I listened to the first podcast last week. Just found Todd Herman. Great interview.
The irony of the 'rise of Fascism' under Trump compared to the complete capture of corporate America that we see post COVID does not give the Leftists cognitive dissonance. Why? They never loved freedom. This is who they are.
Must have been 15 years ago, but we were talking about how the left is simply an aggregation of misfits. This was, of course, before Bruce Jenner lost his fbomb mind and became a very ugly woman.
Now the misfittery has gone to 11.
hey never did want freedom, nor to help the down trodden. They want revenge. They want to extract wealth and joy from you. Orwell noted this back in the 40s. They don't love the poor--they HATE THE RICH-or the beautiful, or the competent, or the stable, or the married, or the religious, or the white, or the normal, or the...they hate everything that is good, true, or beautiful.
Thank you Chris for so eloquently arguing for the good, the true, and the beautiful. I'm not ready to throw in the towel.
bsn
Your interviews are great listening. I’m a native CA too, in the bluest of Blue regions of the former paradise of the Central Coast. No one listens, they’re buried in hollow representations and hiding from what is right in front of their eyes. It’s screamingly frustrating, these people were once my comrades. You’re so right, examining budgets is a great way to create nonpartisan allies, at least it was the best starting place before people started believing that party registration was the determining factor of character. Thankfully, there are more registered independents than ever, and most have stopped voting entirely, that’s a good sign of moving towards a fresh solution together. The political class aren’t concerned with the people; we’re all considered pests. I encourage us all to see past this artificial divide, since this is a city, state, national, and international tactic. Whoever has the power will demonize The Other to crush dissent from any quarter.
It would take a dark miracle to make the Central Coast of California less of a paradise. Amazing, isn't it?
I’m near Monterey, once a gorgeous history-rich “sleepy fishing village” after fleeing LA suburbia, and it’s being cannibalized by saviors who can no longer remember what was it that they’re trying to save.
I theorize that the sheer beauty of the place makes people mushy. They are no longer really “seeing” it, it’s just selfie photo opp.
Saviors who forgot what they are saving. Brilliant.
I spent a year at DLI in Monterey. Seriously the best year of my life. Academically the most challenging year of my life. We'd learn between 25-50 words a day. It was a rote memory hell...but...
You were exempt from PT if you scored a 270 (essentially an A-) so we'd boogie-boarded/surfed EVERYDAY after school. My PT score went from 285ish to 385ish simply by battling the Pacific to catch a wave.
That experience taught me that the 'best times' in my life rarely include leisure. In hindsight, all of my peak experiences have included when I've been absolutely pushed to my capacity in something.
We got married at a beautiful resort in Carmel. That little stretch of CA is arguably the most beautiful place on the planet. Without a doubt in the top 5 most beautiful places.
There is something about the 'angry ocean' pounding the boulders relentlessly that cleared my head, my spirit, my body unlike anyplace I've ever been.
Companion's Deli with the lovely Chicken Thigh sandwich...
I just love that part of the country. That part of the world. I have only favorable flashes when I think of it.
We need to take it back. All of it.
bsn
Oh, that deli! I’m all for taking it back on behalf of reason and integrity, but no shooting the locals. ;-) CIA West already makes us all a target in this occupied territory. It’s funny that it’s so ‘blu’ yet so pro-war, goes to show the inversion of language the last 10-20 years.
I lived in Monterey in the hills and on the beach. Woke to the sounds of barking sea lions. Ran the beach, the wharfs and Cannery Row every morning when they were empty.
But it was a backwater for my profession, so I left for career opportunities in NY and DC. Always thought I would be back there by this age, but when I saw how the Peninsula I once loved has changed, I knew It was over for me.
Luckily, I found the second best place in this country, a small town in the free state of Florida. But a part of me always misses Monterey.
I was voluntold to be on the company run team. Anyone who ran two miles under 12 minutes miraculously found their name on the 'action notice' (a memo we had to read before lunch and after class each day).
Report to orderly room...
So every morning about 15 of us would meet at Lover's Point park, and run to the Fishwife and back. Probably 10-11K. It was a race every single morning--we were all 19-21, and ran each other to death.
Coming back into the bay with the sun just peaking over the hills--the bay began to awaken with diamonds of light. It was so damn beautiful, and we had just run ourselves into endorphin-fueled ecstasies.
One morning, while stretching on this rock wall, I saw 5-6 dolphins swimming and playing in the Bay. I can picture that scene today, 32 years later.
I love that place. The Leftists must be brought to heal. Their ideas destroy. We cannot let them win.
bsn
Companion's next to the post office, on 5th between Delores and San Carlos? Or do I have the wrong one in my head? I live in Carmel, left LA to be there.
Fred,
Here is what I found: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100066856211586
It was just outside one of the gates into DLI. I was there 91/92. Back then Russian was the largest schoolhouse with three separate schools. When you met another Russian student the question was, in DLI parlance, "You up the hill or down the hill?"
I was Fox Company, up the hill. Compagnos was just outside of a gate 'up the hill'. If I remember correctly, there was a Safeway--or some national grocery store, not far from there as well.
SO YOU LIVE IN CARMEL...
JEALOUS!!!!!
We were married at Quail Lodge in Carmel. Carmel is like Zermatt, Switzerland. The entire city is like you entered a beautifully maintained amusement park for adults. So beautiful!!
bsn
PS, Im not on Facebook but I checked, Campagnos is in Monterey, the one Im
talking about is a family run deli in Carmel, you'll like that one too. Thx again for your comment!!
Brian, Im serious, I just got chills and Im not some drama king, what a GREAT comment. You made my day.
Oh, and Chris, please google “Newsom goes to China,” and compare to searching “Tucker Carlson goes to Russia.”
What if TOO MUCH COLLEGE is the problem. Is your own daughter going to college? You went to college, yes? Your parents went to college, in California? Yes?
What if some LIMIT has been reached?
I weep for my state.
But didn't you kinda wanta just stay in TX once you got here? (PS one of my kids is the producer for one of the other Blaze TV shows) :)
I did. But here I am in Los Angeles, being lashed by atmospheric rivers.
May you survive the deluge and be able to mark yourself "safe from The California Storm" on Facebook. (Yeah, I know it's serious, but when I saw people doing that on Facebook my eyes rolled back so hard that now I have a headache.)
I remember when I lived in Long Beach and then Cypress, CA; and we used to call it ‘rain’. Next breaking weather news from CA, as usual, will be ‘record-breaking drought’. Because all that beautiful rain runs off of all the neverending concrete and cement. P.S. I enjoyed watching your interviews.
Do you remember how terrible people in SoCal drive in the rain?
It's like every hill or slight bend in the road is a 4-way stop for a kid in drivers ed....what do I do?!...
Oh, yes. I do remember that.
Totally true! No one will ask where all that extra water went come July.
The problem with that "extra" water is the state government has been too busy building trains and providing where with all to illegal immigrants and paying for children to be mutilated to focus on building any real water conservation projects, eg reservoirs. Wouldn't have a water problem if a single governor had taken notice and exercised some actual leadership rather than posing.
An island in the stream...that is what you are Mr. Bray....:)
Great quote from one of the interviews about California:
"The utopians are destroying Utopia."
How can such dumb and hubristic people have so much power? {rhetorical)
You don't let down in person, your Gavin Newsom impression was the best!
WE DOMINATE
Yes sir!
When you figure out what this Chris Bray person is trying to do, please let us know.
Whatever it is, please keep doing it.
Chris, I just listened to the James Poulos and Steve Kobrin interviews. I found them both to be informative but the Kobrin one was fabulous. Not sure if my opinion was predetermined once I saw the angry tortoise thumbnail or not. Actually, the Kobrin interview was fabulous because it revealed a great deal about you and how your background and life experiences give you insight that others don't see or simply ignore.
Yeah, not things I usually talk about. He came at it from an interesting angle.
Freedom lovers need to embrace and rediscover Christianity. Without it, the powers that shouldn't be will keep getting away with inhumanity under cute but very dangerous claims and philosophies. Here is a good post outlining where we are and be forewarned:
https://www.arkmedic.info/p/the-new-eugenics-movement-part-1
Okay, this is completely petty on my part, but...
What is up with James Poulos's set? It looked like Potter's office in It's a Wonderful Life. Could your bucket seat be ANY LOWER??
Oh, and you did a terrific job :-)
The chair was funny in the moment. I wondered if anyone would notice. "Hello up there!"
Thank you so much for what you’re doing. Often the things you express as being absurd, at first glance I don’t see it, until I start thinking about it and realize wow, yeah it really is crazy. I think I’ve been trained like a monkey to react emotionally to absurd arguments instead of stopping to think, “this is not just slightly wrong, this is totally absurd.”
"If you have the time" - I always make time for your interviews, Chris. I wish there were more of them.
Working on it!
Loved the Freedom Fighter Gallery idea and will watch the interviews with all of them that have been compiled so far one at a time. Worth knowing about people who are noticing the shredding of the fabric of our society.
Keep up the good fight. We appreciate it.
How about Poulos puts his guests at eye level?
Yeah, you got it. Not sure if that was a one-time furnishings fluke, or an Admiral Rickover ploy. Pissed me off either way.
Yet, the indomitable Mr. Bray didn’t skip a beat.