National Lighthouse Day

Travel 4 Minutes

In honor of National Lighthouse Day, I present 10 amazing lighthouses from Michigan–the state with the most lighthouses in the whole country. With it’s 3,200 miles of shoreline, Michigan has about 115 lighthouses! Tall and elegant or short and utilitarian, beautifully restored or lying silently forgotten, they are worth a visit. Many of Michigan’s lighthouses are open for tours, if only seasonally. Others are home to bed and breakfast lodging or museums. Still, others are privately owned or otherwise inaccessible, inviting admiration from afar a few souvenir photographs. Here are some of my favorites…

Grand Island East Channel Lighthouse | Photo Courtesy of Trevor Mahlmann

Built in 1870, Grand Island’s East Channel light sits surrounded by the wilderness of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Although the light is privately owned and inaccessible to travelers, its weathered wooden exterior is so attractive that shutterbugs are still drawn to photograph the light on boat cruises through the channel.

Granite Island Lighthouse in Marquette | Photo Courtesy of Instagram fan emmafink

Tiny Granite Island pokes up above the surface of Lake Superior north of the city of Marquette, its rocky promontory topped with the Granite Island Lighthouse. Originally built in 1869, the stone lighthouse fell into horrid repair after its decommissioning. But a complete renovation of the light was completed in 2011. The Granite Island Lighthouse is available to rent for special functions.

Port Austin Reef Lighthouse | Photo Courtesy of Instagram fan michiganskymedia

Built in 1878, the striking six-story Port Austin Reef Light sits in a shallow area of Saginaw Bay nearly 2 miles from the mainland. The six-story tower and its adjoining keeper’s house were crafted of a tough, buff-colored brick meant to withstand the most severe weather conditions. The lovely Queen Anne “Castle on the Lake” isn’t open to tours but can be viewed up close via boat.

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse | Photo Courtesy of Trevor Mahlmann

In the 19th century, the narrow Straits of Mackinac were no tourist attraction. They ranked among the most treacherous stretches of water for mariners. Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, the unusual Norman Revival “Castle of the Straits,” began illuminating the shipping lane in 1889. The light served an immensely important role until 1957 when the Mackinac Bridge and its superior navigational aids rendered the lighthouse obsolete. Costumed interpreters guide visitors through the lighthouse tower, a restored keeper’s quarters as well as the Straits Shipwreck Museum.

Bois Blanc Light | Photo Courtesy of Instagram fan katielx

Set on an island neighboring Mackinac Island, the Bois Blanc Lighthouse stands out from its wooded backdrop, its tower and keeper’s quarters of sand-colored brick, the lantern atop its 38-foot tower a vivid white. The light was constructed in 1867 and operated along the Lake Huron shoreline until the mid-1920s. Today the light is privately owned and can only be enjoyed from a distance, by boat.

Grand Traverse Lighthouse | Photo Courtesy of Trevor Mahlmann

Set at the end of the Leelanau Peninsula near Traverse City, the 1858 Grand Traverse Lighthouse stands vividly white and red against the deep green pine forests and turquoise waters of Lake Michigan. Visitors can climb to the top of the lighthouse tower and explore the keeper’s quarters, which have been restored to their 1920s and ‘30s appearance.

Ludington North Breakwater Light | Photo Courtesy of Mark Miller Photography

The white, bullet-shaped Ludington North Breakwater Lighthouse sits at the end of a pleasant pier in the heart of Ludington, surrounded by the beach and playground facility at Stearns Park. Built in 1924, the light is open to tower climbs all summer long.

Holland Harbor Lighthouse | Photo Courtesy of Brian Hammond

Referred to merely as Big Red by locals, the Holland Harbor Lighthouse dates from 1907. Fire-engine-red against the blue waters of Lake Michigan, the lighthouse sits at the end of the city’s southern pier, which in turn leads to Lake Macatawa and Holland’s working docks. Entrance to the lighthouse tower is rare, and to its grounds through a gated community. It is best to enjoy Big Red from the beach at Holland State Park, just across the channel.

St. Joseph North Pier Outer Lighthouse | Photo Courtesy of Pure Michigan

In 1907 St. Joseph extended its pier by 1,000 feet, rendering its 1859 lighthouse obsolete. In its place were built the North Pier Inner and Outer Lights that you see today. The white lights rank as a beloved landmark in St. Joseph, the lights are still joined by their original catwalk. Access to the lights themselves is prohibited, but visitors and locals enjoy walking the pier to see the lights up close. Good photo opportunities can be had at Tiscornia and Silver Beach Parks.

40 Mile Point Lighthouse (Rogers City) Photo Courtesy of Mike Fritcher

This lovely brick lighthouse in Rogers City sits tucked among greenery and trees, giving it an almost ethereal appearance. You’ll want to snap a few photos of the picturesque building, which was constructed in 1896. Depending on the time of year, it’s also possible to climb to the top and enjoy the breathtaking view of the Great Lake.

This map details a lighthouse road trip: driving time for this lighthouse road trip in Michigan is just over 18 hours, so if you want to stop and get out at each lighthouse you’ll probably want to plan on doing the trip over a long weekend.

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Published by pat frederick

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124 thoughts on “National Lighthouse Day”

  1. Morning All!
    we got the briefest of showers yesterday afternoon as the system broke up over the mountains here…sigh. we really need the rain!

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  13. I vote to send them to Martha’s vineyard–hundreds could stay with obummer at his place…
    FTA
    A week or so ago, Tucker Carlson had a great idea. The policies that are destroying America emanate from rich, White…wait…not just White, but lily-White communities. These are the people invested in the diversity that comes from an open border. It’s time, therefore, for the border states to share the wealth and send these illegal aliens to places like Aspen (88.9% White and, statistically, no Hispanics) and Martha’s Vineyard (almost entirely White). Heck, Joe Biden could use a few people of color in Rehoboth (97.5% White). And maybe, most importantly of all, a few hundred could be dropped off at NPR’s headquarters, where I’m sure there’s room to board them if the employees would be willing to share their offices.

    As always, let me close by saying that, as the child of immigrants, I approve of immigration. But as the child of immigrants who waited patiently to come here legally, I support only legal immigration agreed upon by Americans through their representatives and intended to benefit America. Simply opening the border to millions of welfare seekers marks the end of America, and I object.

    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/08/npr_is_shocked_that_gop_governors_arent_making_it_easy_for_sanctuary_cities.html

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  14. interesting article about black privilege
    FTA
    If applicants being hired are not the most competent, the entire culture gets downgraded to mediocrity, which is one reason you have the new anti-Semitic White House press secretary at a total loss for cogent thought, a new female SCOTUS judge who doesn’t know what a woman is, people who believe that whiteness is a malignant disease and should be eradicated, and TV personalities who fervently insist that the Holocaust was not about race. These people are failing up, and that is fair to no one, not even them. The age of accomplishment has given way to retaliatory hiring and magical thinking.

    If people “of color” want redress, I suggest that it has already been done: statues were toppled, the language is now closely monitored for offensive words, books have been removed from schools and libraries, math books have been racialized, and white employees have been “retrained” and told to apologize for their unconscious bias or lose their jobs. White people were called “demons” and “not human” by one black reparationist. What do they want — the extermination of white people? Yes, some do.

    When are reparations enough? By all means, hire black people who are competent, but don’t degrade the entire cultural and economic infrastructure by hiring the less competent — of any color. The eye for an eye retribution makes everyone blind. Everyone suffers from that kind of malignant largesse because it is systemic racism. Any way you try to deodorize that warthog, it still stinks.

    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/08/black_privilege_does_no_one_any_favors.html

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  21. Good morning! My Mom has always loved light houses – she had everything in light houses – salt/pepper shakers, little statues everywhere, pictures on the wall…..but then she got into pigs instead…..so the light houses went away and were replaced with pig salt/pepper shakers, butter dish, sugar bowl, curtains, etc., etc. LOL.

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    1. LOL Good Morning Filly!
      When we did our Great Lakes trip on the Harley, we saw a bunch of lighthouses and we always talked about going back and trying to see them all!
      there was a cool glass bottom boat tour showing a lot of shipwrecks, but we got there too late for the last trip and we couldn’t stay overnight. that might have been cool to see too

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  23. Filly?
    hubby and I watched the David Chappelle videos…OMG!!!
    we were rolling on the floor!
    thanks!!
    Juicy…LOL

    Like

  24. this is a good read about how the manchin/schumer megaspend boondoggle is going to make wind/solar subsidies PERMANENT instead of phasing them out. when they are permanent, proponents will claim that those power sources are cheaper–when in fact they are being propped up with TAXPAYER MONIES INDEFINITELY. and since the manufacturing of these technologies is mostly in shyna right now–we are building up shyna, at OUR EXPENSE!!!!!!!!

    Seneca the Elder
    August 7, 2022 9:15 am

    This is what the Manchin-Schumer bill is all about- more destruction, more money for our enemies, and the rape of the environment.

    https://www.windaction.org/posts/53848?fbclid=IwAR1oi9GgSWQsBbFYi2cVFDz6iD_DGapjsw5ynAFs-FadhAQb6q8f1awj38s

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  27. EXCERPT: “A small group of just 10 career criminals was allowed to run amok across the Big Apple and rack up nearly 500 arrests after New York enacted its controversial bail reform law — and most of them are still out on the streets, The Post has learned.

    Stunning statistics compiled by the NYPD, and obtained first by The Post, show that the city’s alleged “worst of the worst” repeat offenders have been busted a total of 485 times since bail reform went into effect in 2020. Two of the defendants are actually accused of embarking on lives of crime in the wake of bail reform, with one busted 33 times since 2020 and the other busted 22 times, all this year, the data shows.

    Mayor Eric Adams — who’s been demanding that state legislators roll back the bail-reform law to crack down on repeat offenders — expressed outrage Wednesday while discussing the findings during an afternoon news conference at One Police Plaza.”

    https://nypost.com/2022/08/03/career-criminals-rack-up-nearly-500-arrests-since-ny-bail-reform-began/

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  28. EXCERPT: “Former President Donald Trump handily won the Conservative Political Action Conference’s 2024 straw poll, indicating he remains the first choice of Republican activists for the party’s presidential nomination.

    The final numbers, released Saturday at the conference in Dallas, showed Trump out in front with 69% support. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in a distant second with 24%, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) followed in third with 2% — a dozen other candidates including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Florida Sen. Rick Scott all received 1% or less.”

    https://nypost.com/2022/08/06/trump-dominates-cpac-presidential-straw-poll/

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  29. I never realized it was India, too!!!!

    EXCERPT: “India is known as the most populous democracy in the world. It’s also home to the largest national biometric digital ID system in the world. Aadhaar. According to a report from Reuters last week, tens of millions of children in India are at risk of being excluded from school this year because they’re not linked up to India’s biometric digital ID system. Aadhaar, India’s federally-operated biometric digital ID system, collected the names, finger print scans, and eye scans of 1.2 billion Indians.

    According to the report, India’s 2009 right to education act provides the legal right to free education for all children from six to 14 years old. But apparently, only children willing to submit to invasive biometric recording and tracking are able to enjoy this “right”.

    Dipa Sinha, a professor at India’s Ambedkar University, told Reuters that requiring the biometric digital ID for public school “puts the onus on the citizen, and makes it much harder for them to access” their own rights. The report referenced an 11-year-old named Shifa who has been barred from going into the sixth grade because she does not have an Aadhaar biometric ID. Her parents made several attempts to get her one, but between the hoops and behemoth bureaucracy, she fell through the cracks. Now Shifa is simply learning to read and write at home using the newspaper. “Without Aadhaar, we have no other option,” her mom said.

    But Aadhaar is more than just a system that coerces people to submit their personal biometrics to receive their rights. It’s actually a giant social credit system lauded by political heavyweights and global thought leaders.”
    ——————
    Bill Gates, of all people, explained that the Aadhaar system is “huge asset for India” and branded the creator of the system, Nandan Nilekani, a partner of the WEF, a “hero.”

    Despite the dystopian possibilities, elected officials in the US are trying their best to foist a giant biometric digital ID system on the entire population under the guise of inequity.

    Illinois Congressman Bill Foster recently introduced the Improving Digital Identity Act which calls for the public sector, namely Homeland Security to work with the private sector to develop a giant digital biometric ID infrastructure for the United States.”

    https://www.rebelnews.com/gates_calls_social_credit_scores_an_asset_are_they_coming_to_the_us

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    1. “Congressman Foster explained to a Gates funded vaccine ID initiative ID2020 that collecting private biometric information on all citizens could be “leveraged” by the private sector to generate profits.

      “Once the government has taken those fairly serious biometrics from you – there will be huge opportunities for the commercial sector to leverage that,” he said. “And to try to get this all started, I introduced the ‘Improving Digital ID Act.”

      Foster is trying to push this bill through under the guise of inequity by explaining that the system will make it easier for “unbanked individuals” (apparently a new marginalized group) to access financial services- cloaking the invasive ID system in woke language.

      In a US House Committee on Financial Services hearing in July, Elizabeth Renieris warned that biometric digital ID programs like Aadhaar are being used as giant surveillance tools, establishing social credit systems.

      “The Aadhaar number in India is able to track your activity across all facets of your life, from employment to healthcare, to school, to pretty much everything you do. You can’t retain autonomy over specific domains of your life. You can’t separate your personal and professional reputation. You can’t have this kind of contextualized personal identity. I think that’s really problematic…we must avoid building digital identity systems and infrastructure in a way that further expands and entrenches the surveillance state, as does the national identity system in India,” she testified.”

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  30. These idiots could f’up a wet dream!!!!

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  31. Entire Article @ Western Journal: “Tim Tebow has been fighting human trafficking for years and his organization, the Tim Tebow Foundation, has saved thousands around the world. In a recent Instagram video, Tebow shared a bit about his work.

    “A few years ago, we deepened our fight in this terrible evil in the world of human trafficking and child exploitation,” he said. “In the last 365 days, we’re so excited to share with you that we have grown so much and been part of rescuing thousands and building safe homes in so many different countries.”

    TTF is now raising money to build a protection center in Thailand for girls who have been rescued from human traffickers. These girls “are still in danger with active threats, death threats and prices on their head, just so they can’t testify against their trafficker,” Tebow noted. “This protection center will provide love, safety and care for 40 girls at a time,” he said. “But right now we have to act urgently. There are 15 girls in Thailand waiting on this home.”

    Tebow shared a few years ago how he became passionate about fighting human trafficking. In an Op-Ed for Fox News, the former football star said his father once purchased four young girls overseas in order to give them their freedom. “My dad was not going to be the man who did nothing. Had he just stood there silently, who knows where these girls would have been taken and what would have been done to them,” Tebow wrote.

    Since then, TTF has helped thousands more. In an interview last year, Tebow said he wants to focus on his charity work rather than return to sports, according to USA Today. “I think the hardest thing for me is there’s so many things that I am very passionate about. No. 1 being everything that we’re doing at TTF,” Tebow said.

    “Now we’re in 67 countries and we’re building more hospitals right now and we’re building more special needs orphanages and villages and rescuing girls from trafficking. And I just am so passionate about that. I would love to coach and love to support, build culture and love on student athletes, but I think it would be hard. I know if I did that, I would be so all-in, and it would really be hard to do some of the other things that I’m so passionate about as well,” Tebow said.

    “We just believe it’s one of the greatest evils in the world today, and it’s not just something that is happening overseas or in a third-world country or when you turn on the movie ‘Taken,’” Tebow added. “It’s happening in our backyard, it’s happening in our schools, it’s happening in our communities. It’s everywhere. … This is going to take an army of people that say, ‘No longer on our watch are we going to sit back and let this happen or watch this happen or support it happening.’”

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  33. EXCERPT: “Fufeng Group, a bio-fermentation company based in mainland China, recently bought 300 acres in North Dakota for $2.6 million. The manufacturing firm plans to build a milling plant in the area.

    As per the latest data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), China possesses over 191,000 acres of land in America, but the figures were before the North Dakota land sale this spring. North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday, August 1, requesting the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to immediately review the purchase.

    “We ask that this review process be completed with the utmost urgency to aid Grand Forks officials in their decision-making process and provide clarity on whether this land purchase has national security implications,” the governor stated in the letter.”

    https://noqreport.com/2022/08/07/national-security-risk-china-now-owns-nearly-200000-acres-of-land-in-america/

    I have to wonder if they are including all the land owned and/or controlled by Smithfield Foods when China purchased it?

    From Wiki: “Smithfield Foods, Inc., is an American pork producer and food-processing company based in Smithfield, Virginia, in the United States, and an independent subsidiary of WH Group.[a] Founded in 1936 as the Smithfield Packing Company by Joseph W. Luter and his son, the company is the largest pig and pork producer in the world.[4] In addition to owning over 500 farms in the US, Smithfield contracts with another 2,000 independent farms around the country to raise Smithfield’s pigs.[5] Outside the US, the company has facilities in Mexico, Poland, Romania, Germany, Slovakia and the United Kingdom.[6] Globally the company employed 50,200 in 2016 and reported an annual revenue of $14 billion.[2] Its 973,000-square-foot meat-processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, was said in 2000 to be the world’s largest, killing 32,000 pigs a day.[7]

    Then known as Shuanghui Group, WH Group purchased Smithfield Foods in 2013 for $4.72 billion.[8][9] It was the largest Chinese acquisition of an American company to date.[10] The acquisition of Smithfield’s 146,000 acres of land made WH Group, headquartered in Luohe, Henan province, one of the largest overseas owners of American farmland.[b]”

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    1. there are definitely properties that should never be allowed to be foreign owned–food/agricultrual, property near defense/military installation, infrastructure related…oh hell…BAN ALL foreign ownership

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  34. whoa…i didn’t realize there was this much conflict within the gay/trans community…
    FTA
    The “LGB” portion of LGBTQIA+, which stands for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,” represents those who engage in same-sex intercourse. The “T” portion of the acronym stands for “Transgender.” It seems that there has been a quiet battle going on between the two groups for a while and it’s ramping up.

    When “No LGB” started trending on Twitter, I checked it out. I then contacted a source who is active in the LGBTQIA+ community and was informed there has been a protracted series of attacks back and forth between the two groups, sparked by an oft-used phrase, “No LGB Without the T.” I was then informed that the current spat stems from a British home improvement company erecting a banner with the catchphrase on it.

    Companies are now telling gay people what they should accept – all in the name of diversity. Any gay people use @Wickes ? Will u continue? pic.twitter.com/fMPj30PztG

    — Nick Buckley MBE (@NickBuckleyMBE) August 7, 2022

    Upon reading the posts on Twitter, I realized just how ugly this really is. There is so much hatred being spewed by both sides that I can’t even post some of the Tweets. According to my source, this war is well-known within the community but aggressively policed and suppressed to keep it contained there.

    https://thelibertydaily.com/lgb-vs-t-theres-a-war-going-on-in-the-lgbtqia-community/

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    1. There have been a few things that occurred under the radar…..Martina Navratilova for one.

      EXCERPT from 2021: “Similar expressions surely appeared on the faces of many transgender people all over the world as soon as they saw that Navratilova was once again speaking about trans athletes last week in Outsports.com. It’s her first interview with the LGBTQ sports site since being labeled a transphobe in February 2019.

      “Martina Navratilova has been a key figure for helping usher in an entire platform for hatred of the trans community,” out trans powerlifter JayCee Cooper said about the lesbian tennis trailblazer.”

      The “transphobe” label came after Navratilova declared that transgender women are men who “decide to be female,” and inflamed divisions within the LGBTQ community.

      There are those who agree with Navratilova when she said to allow trans women to compete with cisgender (meaning not transgender) women is “insane and it’s cheating… it is surely unfair on women who have to compete against people who, biologically, are still men.” They cheered her words and applauded her for defending girls and women, specifically, cis girls and cis women. So did conservatives in Montana and other states, who happily quoted Navratilova in writing their anti-trans legislation.”

      https://www.forbes.com/sites/dawnstaceyennis/2021/09/27/martina-navratilova-wants-you-to-believe-shes-not-a-transphobe/?sh=39bd99fe5b2c

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      1. for the record to call me, you, the rest of womankind CIS anything is demeaning! it implies there is something other than a female option. (not men) THERE IS NOT

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  35. EXCERPT: “The NYPD is still hemorrhaging cops. Ever-growing exodus figures show 2,465 police officers have filed to leave the department this year — 42% more than the 1,731 who exited at the same time last year, according to the latest pension fund stats obtained by The Post.

    More disturbing is the fact that the number of cops hanging up their holsters early — before reaching 20 years for a full pension — has skyrocketed 71% this year from the year before (1,098 from 641). NYPD Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said the so-called “voluntary quits” are driving the “stampede” — and not a big academy class that graduated in 2022, as claimed last month by Chief of Department Kenneth Corey.

    “We have had retirement waves caused by large academy classes before — they were nothing like this,” said Lynch.

    “This exodus is the result of cops in the prime of their careers deciding they have had enough. … The NYPD should stop trying to explain this staffing crisis away. Admit there’s a problem and help us fix it,” he said.”

    https://nypost.com/2022/08/06/thousands-of-nypd-cops-quitting-before-getting-their-pensions/

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  39. EXCERPTS @ 100%fedup: “During an interview this morning with Steve Bannon on the War Room, Kent revealed that House Minority snake Kevin Minority spent over $150K and GOP establishment PACs tied to McCarthy and other RINOs contributed over $4.5 million to defeat the Trump-endorsed candidate in the final days before the election.

    Following Kent’s interview, Rep. Matt Gaetz (FL) called for McCarthy to be ousted from his leading role in the GOP. Watch Rep. Matt Gaetz call for the replacement of House Minority snake Kevin McCarthy:

    ———————
    We wrote about McCarthy’s alleged involvement in another critical US Congressional primary race in Michigan’s 8th District.

    The popular Republican candidate for Michigan’s 8th District, Matthew Seely, is a successful manufacturing business owner and had an actual plan to safely use Michigan’s freshwater resources to bring manufacturing back to this forgotten district. His outstanding plan to revitalize the economy in a mostly forgotten area of Michigan should have been enough to garner President Trump’s support. Matt was outspent 4-1 by Paul Junge and outside money which gave him a huge advantage over the popular Matt Seely. Junge ultimately defeated Seely in the primary election on Aug 2, 2022. Had President Trump endorsed Seely, it would’ve been a game-changer.

    Matthew Seely, who was also endorsed by Mike Lindell, Freedomworks, and Numbers USA and has an “A” rating with the NRA, worked tirelessly as a pro-Trump activist for almost 7 years. Recently, it was discovered from inside sources that the office of the backstabbing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was behind preventing Trump from endorsing Seely as a favor to a primary challenger, Paul Junge. Junge is a grifter candidate whose family’s “All-Star Maintenance” business based in McCarthy’s home state of California relies on US government contracts. Junge’s family are generous donors to Republican candidates in California, including the now deceased US Rep. Duke Cunningham (CA), who served eight years in prison for accepting at least $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors.”

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