Alas for me.... here I sit in my little cubby hole trying to think up ways to awaken the "Walking Dead". You know what I am talking about..... it's not just a movie....it's for real. Don't try to pretend it isn't there because it is and it all began years ago. I hope to stay on track but you know me...everything I write is straight from the finger tips and if I feel the rant well....there's that.
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Wednesday, March 17, 2021
THE WALKING DEAD IS WOKE BY: VIOLET
Alas for me.... here I sit in my little cubby hole trying to think up ways to awaken the "Walking Dead". You know what I am talking about..... it's not just a movie....it's for real. Don't try to pretend it isn't there because it is and it all began years ago. I hope to stay on track but you know me...everything I write is straight from the finger tips and if I feel the rant well....there's that.
Monday, February 15, 2021
MY RANT: Senator's should be held accountable
MY RANT
Wednesday, February 3, 2021
HUMOR ME By: Violet
Humor me a moment, while I tell you of a time when there were people who respected themselves and others. That's right. There was a time parents protected their daughters like they were a momma bear protecting her baby cub. Then one day, and I am telling you it came from out of the blue....Momma's started putting their daughters on birth control and giving them permission to share themselves freely. I know...you don't see anything wrong with that. Personally, I see a problem!!! Since when should your daughter be passed around like a slab of meat and why...for God's sake why would you want that?
Humor me once again, when I tell you that sexual immorality was not always prevalent. People knew what they were and they acted the part. There was no confusion about their gender but then one day...parents stood up and said...."My son don't want to be a boy so by jeezus he's a girl." And you call that, what? I guess since your kid should have anything they want them give them the impossible, right? Fact is..... you got them testosterone's or progesterone's for life BooBoo, whether you like it or not. Yup...wanna be men menstruate and wanna be women get erections it's just the way it is. Then parents supported the sex change some even claiming 8 year olds know what hey want. Have you ever looked up the ratio of how many transgenders were truly happy afterwards and how many still felt inadequate even after the change? You should...... depression doesn't go away with an operation. The pain is deeper than that...See, loving oneself can bring an eye opening experience to life, you no longer settle for anxiety pills and drugs....they didn't fix it anyway. I just wonder how many of those kids were told they'd never amount to anything and just ended up disassociating from that role? Therefore, being a man would be something they didn't want to attempt? Heck, I don't know folks, but it seems confusion has filled our younger generation at a rate faster than anything I have ever seen on a NASCAR track.
Humor me a moment or two longer please, I forgot to mention the young girls who weren't given the pill by their doting parents. Or those few remaining who were taught how to love and respect themselves. Yea, those other girls who are left raising babies in poverty or leaving them behind for their grandparents to raise so they can go out and create more babies they really don't want but without an education the only way out is to allow the government to send them food vouchers and government housing. Do you see where this has taken us? Yet, even worse, the unimaginable killing of unborn fetuses and who would have ever dreamed that one day you could kill it upon it's first breath. Much like what we saw when they killed all the babies because they heard the Christ was born, eh? And if you really want to think about it...like Sodom and Gomorrah . Be careful folks.....I found out sometime ago that compromising with God is not an option. Ponder that...... for your sake not mine.
Humor me please, as I close..... you may not remember this but there was a time people took their children to church, they taught them to love thy brethren but to also....know when to wipe the sand from their feet. Do your children know and understand this concept? Are they strong enough to stand on the concept or have they been pitied so long they don't think work is a necessity but something their parents must do until the government will. Yet, father's allow their grown son's to sit on the sofa all day and play XBox and yet they complain about him lying around. Work my friends....it will kill that depression that has you thinking you aren't what you are....by the way, there is no gender neutral and anyone who tries to tell you that is leading you down a very dark alley. Hopefully you will ponder my thoughts and recognize that we are a day late and a dollar short from correcting the damage we have done and allowed to have done to our children by allowing a village to raise our children.
My advice.... PRAYER...some prayer, some power. More prayer, more power. Lot's of prayer, lots of power. Have you displayed the power that has been gifted to you? Humor me.....try it and see how it works out for you. I mean....how much worse can it get?
Friday, January 29, 2021
Gloucester County, Virginia's Real Estate Tax Deception
In January 2020, the latest of Gloucester’s real estate reassessments became effective. The overall value of Gloucester real estate changed from $4,391,807,486.00 to $4,659,865,396.00, resulting in an increase of $268,057,910.00 in overall value. At the current tax rate with the new assessment, the County gets an increase in real estate tax revenue (Money going into the County’s coffers) of approximately $2 Million. Shortly after this reassessment, the County and Board of Supervisors began budget deliberation for the FY 2021 budget, which covers the period of July 1, 2020 thru June 30, 2021. The County built this budget based on the increase in overall real estate tax revenue even though they did not hold a Public Hearing or vote on it until December 1, 2020, over seven months after the budget was approved.
During the budget deliberations and after, there was a big push to increase the local retail sales tax to provide money for various School System Capital projects. (Building new buildings parking lots, ball fields, renovating, replacement, repair, and such type projects.) The pushed narrative that increasing the retail sales tax would prevent real estate taxes from going up and would spread some of the Capital expense burden to people outside Gloucester who use Gloucester businesses and services sounded like a pretty darn good idea but for one thing, real estate taxes did increase, and they knew it the whole time they were spreading the deception. The biggest factor that allowed them to get away with this was the lack of Conservative Gloucester citizens who follow and engage in what is going on with our local government.
The County had the option of lowering the real estate tax rate to set it in line with the Real estate tax revenue it took in the year before. If they had, it would have resulted in the real estate tax rate being lowered from $0.695 per $100 in value to $0.659 per $100 in value. A $0.36 per $100 of value decrease in the rate. On December 1, 2020, five of our illustrious Supervisors voted to keep the $2 Million instead of lowering the rate. The two Supervisors who voted against this deception were Mike Winebarger of the Petsworth District and Phillip Bazzani of the York District.
On top of the real estate tax deception, five Supervisors voted to allow the School System to borrow nearly $6 Million to fund some of its Capital projects they were also claiming, at the same time, would be funded by the retail sales tax increase. Again, Winebarger and Bazzani voted against borrowing the money. The retail sales tax increase was passed by the voters in the November 3, 2020 election. This will give the School System another $5 Million, plus or minus, annually. The increase goes into effect July 1, 2021.
Below are links to where you can see and hear this information for yourself. I encourage everyone to visit these links.
Kenny Hogge, Sr.
December 1, 2020 Public Hearing on the real estate tax Deception: https://gloucester.granicus.com/player/clip/2344
$6 Million Dollar loan public hearing: https://gloucester.granicus.com/player/clip/2300?meta_id=133252
2019 Land Book: https://www.gloucesterva.info/DocumentCenter/View/7695/2019-GLOUCESTER-LAND-BOOK-PDF
2020 Land Book: https://www.gloucesterva.info/DocumentCenter/View/9084/2020-GLOUCESTER-LAND-BOOK-05-11-20
Thursday, January 28, 2021
Gloucester County and GCPS Employee Lodging Costs
The following SlideShare Presentation shows lodging costs for Gloucester County and Gloucester Schools employees for the period of July 2018 thru May 2019.
Thursday, December 31, 2020
REWAKENING
As this day opens I fill my head with the many traditions before. Family, friends and laughter. The gathering of thoughts and ideas for the coming year. Resolutions made and resolutions broken. How I long the little arms that wrapped around my neck and required my protection, kissing the loved one as the New York ball drops. Shucks y'all, it was just last year....people were wearing depends to see it fall. New regulations from terrorists efforts and we see we are forbidden to go to the bathroom, yet no one stopped coming. I guess something new had to be tried....even before co-vid-19 the ability to change the way people do things was occurring and yet...no one noticed. Did anyone ever believe that people would wear a depends just to see to a New Year's Celebration? No, I don't suppose we did. In only 18 hours, this day will close and a New Year will begin and I pray for a revival and an awakening that no man has ever known.
As I close, much of what you just read will be forgotten....just like a lot of things that occurred this past year but some things are embedded in your mind for ever. Whether its the loss of a loved one....a new child or any other type of major event and if there wasn't one ....there's always Covid and the attempted dismantling of a strong economy. REVAKE AMERICA....stand up. We need real men to stand for this country and I just don't see men in high heels and dresses doing that for this country. I love you all....but it is what it is. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!! May God keep you and shelter you from all the evil that lies waiting and always remember ......THOU WILT KEEP HIM IN PERFECT PEACE WHOSE MIND IS STAYED ON THEE. ISAIAH 26:3
****See You January 6th in D.C. Start letting people know where you will be meeting to leave from your town. Not a million man march...how 'bout a 74 million man march. That's what I'm talking about.
GOD BLESS AMERICA!
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
The most Expensive Spirit Ever Produced In Virginia, 8 Shires Jamestowne 1608 Single Malt Whiskey At $1,195.00 Per Bottle
(By; Chuck Thompson)
What is the most expensive spirit ever produced in Virginia? 8 Shires 1608 Single Malt Whiskey at a price tag of about $1,195.00 before tax. So what makes this release so darn expensive? The story behind this release is a very long one that is best experienced at the 8 Shires Coloniale Distillery in Williamsburg, but we are going to touch on a good amount of it here. Back some years ago, the archeologists at Jamestown unearthed a well on Jamestown island that they estimated to have been capped back in 1608. The well was no longer producing water. When the archeologists uncapped that well, they found roughly 20 gallons of water at the bottom of the well. They recovered the water and set it aside trying to figure out what to do with it.
One of the archeologists is a brewer of beer, so he decided to try and make a special beer with some of the water. It didn't come out very well. With 10 gallons left, the archeologists still wanted to see something done with it.
Enter Dr William Dodson, owner of 8 Shires Coloniale Distillery in Williamsburg. After Dr Dodson was giving a lecture in town, the archeologist who had attended his lecture went up to meet him and told him about their find and that they still had 10 gallons of water left and did he have any ideas on what to do with it? Dr Dodson knew exactly what to do with it. Dr Dodson said, let's recreate the first distillations done in Virginia, aka North American continent and we will add this water into the release making it a very special limited edition. This water is 412 years old now. It was tested and is free of any contaminants.
Based on research, it was determined that Single Malt whiskey was the most likely base for spirits in Jamestown at that time period. Dr Dodson set out to find a malt house in England that was in business during the Early 1600's and is still in business today. He found one. So the malt was brought in from England to make the Single Malt. The next question, what kind of still did they use? The archeologists were able to answer that having unearthed a glass alembic still. So now the mission was to have several glass alembic still heads recreated so as to produce an authentic time period distillation. Corning Glass works in New York State covered that. They hand blew 5 period pieces.
Now, how was the spirit collected, into what kind of vessel and how long would it might have sat? The research shows the most likely vessel for collecting the distilled spirits was into a wooden barrel and the barrels would have been set aside until needed. Ah, the aging process. Distilling was mainly done in the spring and the fall and enough was made to put into storage for a multiple amount of reasons. So it may have sat for up to a year and a half before being used.
Now, packaging. What Dr Dodson knew, glass blowing was one of the first industries in Jamestown and started in the year of 1608. Each bottle of Jamestowne 1608 is hand blown by the glassblowers in Jamestown and the release comes with 2 shot glasses that were the common design of the time period, also hand blown by the Jamestown glass blowers. The release comes in a hand made wooden box made with exotic woods. The main wood used is walnut. Each bottle is also hand dipped in wax to seal the tops and each waxed top has a special seal stamped into the wax. Once this release sells through that's the end of them. 10 gallons of water only goes so far.
This is the most unique spirit I have ever seen produced anywhere by anyone. This is not the full complete story, but it's the main gist of it. The Jamestowne 1608 Single Malt is a distillery only release and can not be bought anywhere else including Virginia ABC stores. So you will have to visit them at 7218 Merrimac Trail in Williamsburg. They are open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 1pm til 7pm. The Distillery just released these and has already sold 108 bottles as of this writing. A visit to the Distillery allows you to see and learn the rest of the story not covered here. Cheers.
How To Save Your Restaurant Business. The Covid 19 Plan
(By; Chuck Thompson)
In the age of Covid 19, Restaurants are taking a major hit and are hurting financially like never before. A business already known as very difficult to make money in, the restrictions of Covid 19 by government are making it nearly impossible for any owner of any restaurant to survive.The latest ideas are curbside pickup or takeout are being pushed as owners try to find a way to survive in this new business climate. The dinning in experience is now dead thanks to the new regulations. Some still venture out for the dine in experience but the idea of having to wear a mask in between eating just does not sit right with many. But it's the only choice given to the mass number of folks.
What if we could devise a better plan? Well this article is designed to help do just that. I am not saying it is going to work, or that it will work for the majority, but it has tremendous potential. A plan that lowers costs to the owner and increases potential sales across the board for the owners. This can work for single owner establishments as well as very large national chains. I call it the minimalist plan.
So what is the minimalist plan? Here goes. I propose that restaurants pick one menu item per day to serve for both lunch and dinner. What that means. If you are a sit down restaurant, the menu item could be for the day, Chicken Cordon Blue, French String Beans and Rice as the meal. This meal can be adjunct with extra sales of say a dinner salad, and another adjunct of desert. A sign is put out of what the meal of the day is. This cuts the cost of preparing your full menu on a per order sale. Everything can be prepared ahead of expected rush times and kept warm and fresh until sold. What this accomplishes is a much lower food costs, lower labor costs and lower utilities costs. You know what your customers will be ordering as they can only order what you have to offer.
Now I would not keep the same menu everyday. The menu would change daily. You can choose a 7 day cycle menu or a 14 day, 21 day, or even a 30 day menu cycle for your offers. You can serve each customer much faster. A switch in the menu each day could be instead of the main menu item, you could sell someone a full size salad instead of a dinner salad. But that would be the only variation I would offer in order to keep costs down and service up. If folks wish to dine in, they can do so but the offer is still the same and comes packaged in the same manner, again, to keep costs down.
Packaging is all throw away takeout style. Even in house sit down dining. Drinks are non alcoholic and sold in cups the same way as done in the fast food chains. For sit down, drinks can be whatever you are allowed to legally sell. If you are allowed to sell to go alcoholic drinks, then by all means never look a gift horse in the mouth.
Now, with lower costs it would be a good idea to lower the costs of the daily offering. I myself do not want to pay full menu price for less than a full experience. I have not been to a full service restaurant since Covid began. To me, there is no longer a value in it. But I am still willing to pay for a decent meal prepared, just not the full price of the sit down experience. Some are and that's great. I am not. Now this isn't the only idea to use here. This same plan can be put into play and used as a way of attracting new business and still maintain your normal daily restaurant business routine or use this as the main plan and supplement with a smaller version of what was once your main menu if you go such route. Now these are just ideas. I offer them as I do not like seeing businesses going out of business because of government interference. I am working on other ideas that I hope to get up for other brick and mortar businesses that are equally being hurt by Covid 19. Cheers.
Tuesday, December 15, 2020
Conversation Between Gloucester Supervisor and Superintendent of Schools
On October 20th the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors (BOS) and School Board had a joint meeting. Near the end of the meeting, Supervisor Winebarger said the following:
“Dr. Clemons, glad you’re here. I’ve gotten multiple phone calls from parents saying that they’ve heard; and I want you to either tell me yes, or no or maybe so; that Gloucester is going to start requiring a class in black history in order to graduate and that they are going to start to teach history based on 1619 instead of 1609. Tell me it ain’t so.”
See the SlideShare presentation below to see the email conversation that followed and other emails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) After that you will find a link to hear the Supervisor's question. After that you will find a link to a Board of Supervisor "Public Comment" section where certain people spoke about the Supervisor and his question to the Superintendent.
Written By: Kenny Hogge, Sr.
SlideShare presentation of documents obtained under FOIA