Stop Pulling the Wagon

As I approach my “End of Days” and look back on over 300 articles I have written and published in the last 17+ years a large number of those writings were observations of current affairs.  On occasion they were in some measure predictive in nature based on my life experiences and observed patterns of human nature, especially those of folks in power with an agenda.   Too often I have found good sounding intentions have ulterior motives, especially among the Political elite.

Over the years I have written on a number of subjects, often critical of government and destructive social movements. Whenever possible I would write with satire or humor but some things are just too destructive or mean to try to laugh at. I am sometimes amazed at the number of comments received on articles I wrote ten or more years ago and are still being read and shared across the net.  I must apologize that I am unable to share or respond to more than a miniscule number of comments that are submitted.  Some days several hundred comments are received.  There have been some few writings that I have received well over 10,000 comments on over the years.  At times I have been credited as a “Prophet” but I am not.  Just an observer.

I have selected some of what I would call “Pick of the Litter” articles to list and create easy access to below.  It is not all inclusive but space is limited.  I have listed the articles by title and web link address.  You can either paste or type the title in the search box on left side of home page or copy and paste the address into your browser. Many of these will also link you to companion or follow-up articles.  This is not my usual format – excuse the length. 

“PICK OF THE LITTER” LIST – IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER 

You might want to Bookmark this page for easy return access

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Boiling the Frog: 

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=Boiling+the+frog

The Social (in)Security Ponzi Scheme:   

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=the+social+%28in%29security+ponzi+scheme 

The Little Red Hen Oil Company:   

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=little+red+hen+oil+company

Medicare for All:   

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/medicare-for-all/

Bring on the Clowns (Your government at work):   

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=Bring+on+the+clowns

The Garden: 

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=The+Garden

Kingdom of the Locust:   

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=Kingdom+of+the+Locust

What Is A Fair Share?:   

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=What+is+a+fair+share

Clipboard Freedom:   

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=Clipboard+Freedom

Fair Share Taxes And Global Climate Change: 

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=fair+share+taxes+and+global+climate+change

Protecting The Most Vulnerable: 

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=Protecting+the+most+vulnerable

Paperwork Reduction: 

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=Paperwork+Reduction  

Grifters – The Clinton Crime Family:

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/grifters-the-clinton-crime-family/

Junk Science Ala-Carte (A history of Climate Change predictions): 

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=Junk+Science+ala+carte

Of Banks And Baseball And Monkeys -(a study in DEI): 

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=of+banks+baseball+and+monkeys

Momma Tried: 

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/mama-tried/

Silly Me: 

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=Silly+Me

California’s High Speed Rail 2.0: 

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=California+High+Speed+Rail+2.0

Conrad Blowhard Strikes Again (A  City “government” solution to homelessness) : 

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=Conrad+Blowhard

California’s $44,000 Homeless Bonanza: 

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=california%27s+%2444%2C000+homeless+bonanza

You Can’t Make This Stuff Up: 

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=You+can%27t+make+this+stuff+up

California Gauntlet For The Vulnerable:

https://stoppullingthewagon.com/california-gauntlet-for-the-vulnerable/

Go to Your Room and Stay There (a favorite):

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=Go+to+your+room+and+stay+there

A Poorly Run Criminal Enterprise (another favorite posting):

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=a+poorly+run+criminal+enterprise

There are others….  don’t be afraid to play with the search window.

May I suggest you print and save this posting or save the web address for further “shopping” when you have time.

This is a bit long but worth it (I hope) –  Looking back over this it looks “messy” but works easily.  Pick an article and try it. 

Bob Bandy – June 2026 

Revisiting a Post I wrote back in 2012 I am finding that much of what was written, while not perhaps a strict corollary with what is happening to my home state of California, it does in so many ways paint a picture of the path that the former Great Sunshine State finds itself on today following years of poor management and a failed ideological agenda.

In todays case the “Ants” can be compared to those hard working individuals and companies that are long past frustration with over regulation, over taxation, soft on crime, billions of dollars wasted on High Speed Rail, Homeless programs that “lose” billions of dollars with no results, massive fires too often caused by poor forest management, etc. etc. etc..  Those “Ants” (whether people or corporations) with the resources to do so, are packing up and leaving the “Valley”.  What is left are those who can’t leave, including the homeless, the elderly, the very poor, and all too often those who are totally dependent on the support of the work done by the “Ants”.  Not all are true Locusts but many are not able, or are unwilling to provide for their own support. 

You may or may not agree but read on.  The original post follows.

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KINGDOM OF THE LOCUST

With an apology to Aesop

Once upon a time there was a pleasant meadow in a lovely valley.

A colony of ants came to the meadow and saw that the land was good and with work would provide for a lovely place to live for them and their children.

They worked hard and put away food for the winter and cared for the land.

From a neighboring valley a tribe of locusts came to the land of the ants and decided to stay because the meadow was so pleasant and fertile.

The ants welcomed them in as neighbors and soon they all decided that they should form a government and each ant and locust would get an equal vote in the affairs of the meadow.

Some of the  locusts came to the ants and said they were poor and in need.  Being of kind heart the ants voted to share the fruits of their hard work with the locusts.

Being locusts, they did what locusts are prone to do, that is create lots of little locusts and sit in their burrows eating the food produced by the ants and watching their flat screen televisions paid for by the ants.

In time they discovered, as the little locusts grew up to vote, that they now outnumbered the ants and could vote themselves more and more of what the ants were working so hard to produce.

More and more locusts had baby locusts and invited their relatives and kin in from neighboring meadows.

One by one the ants figured out that they were doing all the work and the locusts were doing all the eating and loafing and watching television.

The ants decided that they did not want to continue to provide for an ever increasing number of locusts who did little to provide for themselves.

The ants packed up and left the now ravaged meadow and moved away to another meadow in another valley.

Winter came to the meadow of the abandoned locusts.  The locusts starved and froze because there was no longer any ants to provide for them what they refused to provide for themselves.

And the shadow of darkness fell over the formerly  pleasant meadow in the formerly lovely valley.

End of story.  If you are an ant you know the moral of the story.  If you are a locust you don’t care if there is a moral; you just want to know where the ants went.

Bob Bandy (November 2012)

BILBO WAGGINS – BORDER COLLIE  & PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP

Just for fun.  I mentioned to some friends the other day that in some ways our President, Donald Trump, reminds me of my daughters Border Collie.

To explain.  Owners of Border Collies will tell you they are intelligent and very high energy dogs.  They seem to never get tired.  When I spend the day with Bilbo, my daughters Border Collie, I find myself at the end of the day often exhausted trying to keep up with his activity level.  He wants to play tug, ball or anything else that requires activity.  We keep his “toys” in a basket.  He will bring you a toy from the basket and if you do not want to play with him, he will go get another toy and keep doing this till you give up and play.  Did I mention that today Bilbo is a seven year old hyper active “puppy”?

A bit of history.  When Bilbo was just under a year old, one day we, and our daughter, wanted to go on an outing.  We left Bilbo at a Dog Day Care Center.  It was essentially a very large warehouse with handlers that “entertained” dogs in large monitored play groups (no aggressive dogs allowed).  Video cameras were in place so that you could watch your dog at play on your cell phone if you so desired.  When we were some miles down the road, the “Doggie” place called my daughter on her cell phone and said “Look at what your dog Bilbo is doing”!  When my daughter looked on her cell phone she saw that Bilbo had “herded” all the other dogs into a group in the center of the room.  We found this almost unbelievable as she had given him no training in this and he was not yet quite a year old. Breeding? Instinct?

If  you would like to see a Border Collie at work go on YouTube  and search under “Border Collies Herding Sheep”.  They are amazing dogs with boundless energy.

I find our President, Donald Trump seems to have the same kind of energy as Border Collies display.  Like him or hate him, He has an amazing work ethic.  Especially for  a man of his age.  He seems to never get tired.  I find much of his agenda I am in agreement with.  For example, his administration is working hard to stop child mutilation in the cause of gender identity at the hands of “Gender Groupie Predators”.  Many other things he works on I also agree with (I am not a Republican or Democrat but I am conservative).  Some issues I disagree with him on but….. I am amazed at his energy level.  I have gotten to the point that I find myself avoiding “News” Broadcasts, not because I dislike what is being reported, but because it exhausts me to try to keep up with his endeavors here at home and around the world.  At the end of  the “News” I feel like I have spent an entire day trying to keep up with Bilbo! 

For a sort of related fun time – Read : The Ransom of Red Chief – a short story by O. Henry

Bob Bandy – January 2026

SOMETIMES THE FOLKS IN CHARGE MAKE  IT TOO EASY FOR ME

THEY ARE AT IT AGAIN – ANOTHER GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

FROM DECEMBER OF 2018

ESSENTIALLY ESSENTIAL NON ESSENTIALS?

(A title that could have been written by KAMALA HARRIS)

December 2018

As of this writing our Government is in “Partial Shutdown”.  We are told that this is only about a 25% shutdown as only “Non-Essential” Services will be put on hold.

All other Government spending is on “Auto-Pilot” and no budget is needed to continue spending.  How comforting.  Excuse the sarcasm.

Lets see.  As a nation we are now some 21 Trillion (with a ‘T’) Dollars in debt.  Well, Excuse me……..  I have a question, if we are only shutting down “Non-Essential” Services, which by my country-boy  thinking means “we can live without them”, then why don’t we shut them down permanently, save the money and maybe, just maybe, start digging our way out of debt?

 (Note: the 21 Trillion Dollar debt total from 2018 is now 36 Trillion Dollars in 2025)

But, we are told that is not the way Government works.  When the clowns, criminals and lunatics in Washington get done arguing and come to some kind of agreement, they will “Restore” all those “Non-Essential Services” and retro-actively again fund all those “Non-Essential Services” because, as you see, our Government considers them “Essential”.

In our family, and with most businesses,  budgeting does not work this way.  But of course we don’t have the ability to print fiat money.

Following this tirade I am again printing below an article that was sent to me back in August of 2012 and I reprinted at that time on this site because it is such a classic example of “Government Think”. I can think of no way of saying it better.  It is not original with me – I merely share it.

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THE NIGHT WATCHMAN

Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert.  Congress said, “Someone may steal from it at night”.  So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.  Then Congress said, “how does the watchman do his job without instruction?”

So they created a planning department and hired two people.  One person to write the instructions, and one person to do time studies.  Then Congress said, “How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?”  So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people.  One was to do the studies and one was to write the reports.

Then Congress said, “how are these people going to get paid?”  So they created two positions: a time keeper and a payroll officer, then hired two people.  Then Congress said, “Who will be accountable for all of these people?”  So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary.

Then Congress said, “We have had this command in operation for one year and we are $918,000 over budget, we must cut back.”

So they laid off the night watchman.

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Now slowly let it sink in.  We go like sheep to the slaughter.  The lunatics are in charge of the asylum.

Bob Bandy – Again October 2025

GIVEN THE AUTHORITY I COULD REDUCE THE COST OF NEW HOUSING

BEING BUILT IN CALIFORNIA BY $60,000 OR MORE IN LESS THAN A MONTH

By way of historical context I spent several years “back in” the 1970’s as a carpenter and builder of housing, mostly in El Dorado County, California but also in Sacramento County.  I was also one of the project Foremen on the Grizzly Flats Mountain Retreat Project from start to finish in El Dorado County.  I loved my work.  In those days when we went in to get a building permit for a new home the cost of the permit was a couple to a few hundred dollars.  My memory is not perfect but I remember one permit on a custom home we were building was $292 (don’t know why that number has stuck in my head all these years).  Times have changed. 

FIRST – THE GOOD NEWS

Give me the authority to control the cost of a building permit for new homes within the State of California and I will mandate that Cities, Counties and all other agencies that issue building permits may not charge more than $1,000 for giving builders permission to build a new home.  At the time of this writing many/most government agencies in California are charging $60,000 or more to give you a paper to let you build a house on property that you already own.  And I have heard unverified horror stories of permits running  as high as $150,000 in some locales before you can drive the first nail in that new home.  

A bit of history.  Some number of years back California voters passed Proposition 13 which says Taxing authorities within California cannot raise taxable property values by more than 1% a year unless the property is “improved” (such as adding a pool or an additional room etc. that lets them re-evaluate the property to “current market value” for taxing.

Since government at all levels has an unquenchable thirst for more tax dollars the above “Prop 13” rule frustrates their desire to find ways to tax you more and more. 

But then…  almost by accident government discovered a way to raise property taxes exponentially.  They discovered that if they raised the cost of a building permit, which you must my law have to build a home, the cost of the building permit would be added to the cost of the home being built and of course to the price of the home.  The added benefit to the Taxasauras’ is that the Building Pcrmit fee increases the price of the home and its tax base and Harry Homeowner will now pay taxes on the cost of the home AND also pay taxes on the added permit cost, indefinitely.  What started out as a $340,000 new home has been converted into a $400,000 (or more) Tax Cow that your Neighborhood Tax Authority can “Milk” forever.  A 20% increase in property tax  revenue for issuing a piece of paper allowing you to build a house.  Talk about creative accounting.

Give me the authority to remove their ability to “fleece” you with this clever little “Permit Scam” and the cost of a new home can be reduced by $60,000 (or more).  As an added bonus the Property taxes would be based on $340,000, the actual cost of building the home, not on $400,000, which is the inflated value from the greatly inflated Permit cost, a savings of 20% in taxes to the homeowner.

NOW – THE BAD NEWS

Since the above little government scheme has inflated the market cost (and tax base) of housing in California by $60,000 (or more), if we remove their ability to charge those fees, the cost of a new home can be reduced by the amount of those fees, in this example $60,000,  which is good news to those looking to buy a new home.  But there is a downside.  This reduction would put downward price pressure on existing homes….  Good news for those looking to buy and, in many cases, bad news for those who would now find themselves “upside down” in homes purchased under the existing Government “Flim-Flam” Tax Scheme where they are forever stuck with paying “Property Taxes” on governments little Permit Fee to “work around” the “Prop 13” “hurdle”. 

Editors Note:  If property values decline you can have your Property Tax Authority revalue your property for Property Tax purposes and a reduction in Property Taxes on your home.  Don’t expect speedy smiling service. Tax Authorities do not like losing Property Tax revenue because of declining property values.

In the “Good News” case citizens would likely make me out a hero because new housing would be more affordable.  

In the “Bad News” case citizens stuck with the phony, paper value inflated tax scheme and facing market value devaluation of their homes would most likely not form a “Fan Club” for me.

What would you say the odds are of government letting this little “Tax Bonanza” “ripoff” slip out of their control? 

Don’t you just love the way government can find new ways to tax you?

Bob Bandy – September 2025

IN THE NEWS

In the News today Congress is wrestling with the fact that in the United Kingdom, Canada and some other countries, what you say can put you in Prison.  Case in point is a British comedian who made a joke about a “Transgender” and has been arrested and is now facing serious Jail time.  Seems some folks, somewhere, have made the decision that what he said was “hate speech” and that is forbidden and gets you a lengthy stay in the “Crossbar Hotel“.  Which gets me to thinking…..  Who gets to decide what is allowed and what is not allowed?  My general observation is that it is, for example, okay to mock a Christian but if you protest late term abortions in front of a Planned Parenthood Clinic, you can end up in jail.  Who made that rule?

Looking back on my writings over the years it is clear to me that I better not visit the United Kingdom or Canada or ?? because my writings, many of which have been posted on Facebook, X and many other public websites available worldwide, many of these “thought & word” Police would consider grounds to lock me up and throw away the key!  An example follows of an article I posted some nearly four years ago.  I published this article under the category of “Humor” but everything in it from a scientific, DNA, biological and medical basis is absolute fact and yet not acceptable to the WOKE,  LBGTQ++ and “Trans-gender” crowd.  I am reprinting it below and hopefully no one will come to my front door with an arrest warrant!  For it and related articles just type Gender Studies in the search for articles box in the left column of the home page.  Enjoy!

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GENDER STUDIES

WE HUMANS CAN’T SEEM TO LEAVE ANYTHING ALONE

This is written under the category of “Humor” for a reason.

We all need to lighten up a little and learn to laugh at ourselves.

The Federal Government and various Colleges and Universities have spent Hundreds of Millions of taxpayer and student loan dollars on “Gender Studies” and research over a period of years.

It is rumored that the “final” conclusions from all this fact finding and money spent were  so  surprising and perhaps controversial, and may I say for those doing the studies a shock  that they decided to bury the report in a previously abandoned Nuclear Missle Silo in the mid-west guarded round the clock by heavily armed troops.

Never the less, and despite all the care given, a single copy of this report fell into the hands of a “whistle blower” who has leaked it to our undercover agent.

To the great consternation of all the researchers it was finally concluded and scientifically established  that, contrary to all publicly pronounced protocol and human wishes, there are two and only two genders.  Male and Female.

Despite the efforts of some states and localities to encourage parents of newborns to leave blank the gender line on newborn birth certificates so that said newborn can come back at a later date, after they have decided what gender they want to be (from a creative list of 20+ options) and fill it in with the self chosen gender of their choice.  However, that newborns true gender will remain the same as it was at birth at a biological, chromosome,  genetic and DNA level throughout his or her life.

It was also established that the term “Trans-Gender” is not a gender.  It would be more appropriate to title it the “Wannabe Gender”.  An example would be large, strong athletic males who “wannabe” dominate in women’s sports.   It simply describes those of one gender who desire to be a member of the other gender for any of a number of reasons.  Despite wardrobe changes, good intentions, bad intentions, “plumbing” changes, hormonal treatment and all manner of “smoke and mirrors, if a self styled “Trans-Gender” has the cruel misfortune to die in such a way as the only option to identify them lies with a medical examiner and DNA analysis, the final report will show they were either male or female.  There is no such thing as Trans-Gender DNA.  Sorry.

Dogs, cats, horses, cows, chickens or people.  There are two genders. 

You can have all the fun you want, even invent new social constructs and groups but…

THERE ARE TWO AND ONLY TWO GENDERS AMONG WE HUMANS

Too bad about all those hundreds of millions of dollars spent on research.

……. God created mankind…… male and female He created them.     Genesis 1:27

Bob Bandy – December 2021