To the Editor
On behalf of the men and women of the Richard Jacobs V.F.W. Post 4902, we would like to thank all the businesses that participated in Veterans Appreciation Day this year. The support of veterans in this community is unsurpassed and very much appreciated.
Dave Frei, Commander
Rick W. Johnson, Quartermaster

Redneck Review!
No. 187 - 11/19/2018
My oh my!  How true it is, the old saying: "Time flies!" With another cantankerous election now behind us, and the national holiday of Thanksgiving lurking on the immediate horizon, my thoughts returned for a moment to the year 2016. For remember, we citizens of this great land had just endured months and months of campaigning then too, only that time it was the "shocking,"- at least to most folks and a huge majority of the polls - election of a
brash business man who had overcome unbelievable odds to become president of our United States!
Not only did the democratic candidate Hillary Clinton fall to the upstart by an unexpected electoral college final vote of 306 to 232, given Donald Trump by 35 of the 50 states, but earlier a dozen of the Republican's best known candidates fell one by one to the amazing victor! It was indeed one of the more shocking election results in past elections!
Oh, yes!  How many of us remember the gloomy predictions which followed immediately, far too many to list here, but included claims that the stock market would crash, and that the country was headed for years of doom and gloom. A sorry picture of the future was carried by a large majority of our news media and TV news stories and commentaries! Even those who voted for him might admit holding their breath for a spell hoping that the large number of disaster predictions might not come true!
So, leap forward two years, and what do we find today?  A midterm election result which baffled many of the "experts" who predicted a "Blue Wave" coming (A democratic party take over the House and the Senate, and major gains throughout the country in control of governorships and state legislatures)!   Well, folks, it did not happen!  And once again, national polls ended up with "egg on the face" much as had been the case years before!
So what did happen during those past two years that might explain why the Republican list of senators now stands at 54, up three from the previous total of 51.  And true, the House did swing over to the Democrats, but by a margin much smaller than predicted, and compared to midterm elections of the past, much less than the historical normal.
And the many disaster predictions of two years ago?  Well, the Dow Jones stock market records show a high in 2018 of 26,828, a 24,837 high in 2017, compared to a 2016 high of 19,974 in the year Trump was elected.  True, that the market had been climbing also in the years Obama was president, fueled by the near trillion dollar deficits during his reign, and also aided by the near trillion dollar deficit during the Trump administration so far. But nocollapse in the markets did occur, and the U.S. economy is on the upswing! 
And a  huge reduction in business regulations, and a big tax cut bringing business firms  back to the United States has resulted in an unemployment figure down to about 3.5%, the lowest it has been in several years.  And research tells us that the number of people on food stamps has declined by over six million from the near 48 million it had reached just a few years ago. This progress despite the FED inching up interest rates over the last year.
Yes, America! This Thanksgiving it is time once again to celebrate this true American feast! 
The future is uncertain, but today we must admit we are still the most fortunate people that live on this earth, as it was claimed in this column two years ago! So once again, let us be thankful for all that we have, and maybe share in some way the good things we have today!
Jake Wren

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