Schoolyard blues

I guess the one word which is never taught in government schools these days is value. The term which is taught is status quo. And oh my - do we ever have status quo in education!         

What the what (or, what the fraud) is going in with Minnesota schools these days? I mean, school districts bellyaching about not having enough money, is as common as thunderstorms in the spring. Just the other day, the largest school district in Minnesota (Anoka Hennepin), confessed they are in deep "dodo" for money going forward, so they need to cut scores of school counselors and social workers. That was enough to set off the caterwauling from the chattering class. "You can't cut positions such as those! These kids have been traumatized by ICE and Trump!"

But wait! That might be a good idea these days. Minneapolis also confessed they have misspent their budgets this year and are now also considering cutting social workers and counselors. That was enough to energize the chattering class in Minneapolis. "We need more money, not staff cuts!" Boy is that song ever getting old. People who are paying attention have already figured out the math - more money equals worse test scores.

I have addressed this issue before. Cristo Rey, a private Catholic school in the center of Minneapolis, spends a fraction of what the City of Minneapolis spends per pupil. And yet, the graduating stats for kids coming out of Minneapolis are stunning. The kids who go there, are cut from the center of the demographics. No cherry picking - just normal kids. Money is spent wisely at Cristo Rey, and the results are simply amazing.

In the heart of Coon Rapids, is a private Christian school called Legacy Academy. It is expensive to send a kid there. But the results, are once again - incredible. A Legacy graduate comes out with a very strong moral compass as well as a top shelf education. All for about a thousand dollars less a year than it costs to educate a kid in the Anoka Hennepin school district. I could go on and on, but I think my point has been made. More money for government schools does not mean spit. Much of it is just a waste of resources and time.

What is an immutable fact of life? School districts begging for more money this time of year. Why is that? Cultural for starters. The old myth that more money equals better results. It does not. Most of our school districts are being run by morons. The Department of Education(s), federal and state, are stocked with statists and idiots. Who suffers? The kids and the taxpayers. 

I guess the one word which is never taught in government schools these days is value. The term which is taught is status quo. And oh my - do we ever have status quo in education!         

Elon Musk takes over the world

Both Trump and Musk are going to change the world right in front of our eyes. That is, if we are paying attention. So, buckle up and keep your eyes open. This show has already started. 

Starting to see more and more things recently about Elon Musk on the tech sites. Like, what Elon is really up to. Hint: It is not what you see nor what you think. Elon, maybe the greatest innovator in American history. I have this said for years, Elon (who may be on the spectrum), is dumb like a fox. While Donald Trump is re-shaping this part of the world using his Donroe Doctrine, Elon Musk is reshaping just about everything else. 

There is a term used in supplying IT services today. It is called selling the stack. The stack is a fruit to nuts approach. The entire enchilada (so to speak). In other words, are you going to focus on building the AI chips everybody needs, the power to run data centers, the data center itself, the integration of some or all listed, and so forth. Or - if you are Elon Musk, he has no interest in developing and selling just part of the stack - he wants it all. He wants to develop a better mouse trap for every inch of the stack and sell it as a package. Warning: be prepared to think outside the box. Way, way outside the box.

Example - is Tesla a car company? Seems to be, for millions who might want to buy one of these affordable EVs. But Tesla is not a car company. It is an AI company, which just happens to also make cars. Behind the scenes, Elon has hired the right kinds of people to build a very powerful AI data center for Tesla to use. He has hired the right kinds of people to build the AI chips Tesla will need for cars and other things. He is building and improving Optimus humanoid robots, which will use the same kind of programing that his cars will use. Why? The nexus between his Tesla EVs and Optimus will be seamless. And that is just the beginning.

I could go on and on about how even SpaceX is a part of his master plan, as is Starlink. But truthfully, trying to learn Musk's master plan from some of these techno sites, is like drinking out of a firehouse. What I do know is this - to many, it looks like Elon likes to dabble on this or that. Throw stuff at the wall to see what (if anything) - sticks. In reality, everything, absolutely everything he does will be a part of the whole. How so? By the end of this decade, Elon Musk could end up being a real-life Master of the Universe.

A month or two ago, I remember listening to a financial expert saying that Tesla is going to be the world's next trillion-dollar company. Obviously, he had been doing his homework on all this behind-the-scenes stuff at Tesla. He also believes that Elon Musk will be the world's first trillionaire. Let that marinate for just a second - a trillionaire? Wow!

My wife told me the other day that the reason Musk and Trump get along the way they do is they both think differently than the rest of us. They both understand four-dimensional chess while the rest of us are still struggling with checkers.

Both Trump and Musk are going to change the world right in front of our eyes. That is, if we are paying attention. So, buckle up and keep your eyes open. This show has already started. 

Sometimes I wish he was our king...

"The sad thing is we did not learn a thing from the Biden experience. We could make the same mistake all over again. Only next time we will not have Donald Trump in the wings to fix the damage. Next time could be our last time. Ponder that one when you are watching the mutts on parade this weekend."

What an odd title for a post. Why would somebody (like me) who loves our country and our constitution, wish that Donald Trump was a king instead of president? I can answer that question with a one-word answer - Congress. If Donald Trump was our king, he could rule by decree. Not have to worry about getting bogged down in nothingness as Congress always acts like nothingness. Not have to worry about SOCTUS putting a dagger in his tariff plans. Not have to worry about consulting with Congress when armed conflict is in order to keep us all safe.

But we don't have a king - we have the 47th POTUS. And as far as Donald Trump is away from being a king, this weekend we will once again have every useful idiot, every paid protester, every latter-day hippie - marching to demand we don't have any kings. SMH once again, at all this madness.

Wait - what? With all the marches in all those cities, is there not anybody normal who will show up? Nope - the protesters are all cut from the same piece of wood. They are bonded one thing, and one thing alone - stage four TDS. Their unnatural hatred of Donald Trump. Is there any one thing that Doanld Trump could do to mollify this group of misfits? Nope. Many not only hate Donald Trump but also hate America. In fact, some of them recently dressed up in pink outfits and traveled to Cuba to protest Trump. Huh? They traveled to a communist country to protest our president? Enough said...

Why can't this countless sea of agitators be normal? Find a job? Go to church? Start a family? Instead, they are fixated on the one man who is making a difference in America. Do you think Jeffries could do better? Schumer? Harris? Newsome? Walz? Anybody blue? The Democratic Party is loaded with dropouts from this thing called life. Biden almost ruined us to a point of no return. But Trump? That is the dictator. The king. Now this weekend, we must be forced to suffer fools once again, as the misfits tie up traffic and dress up like it was Halloween. Only in today's America.

I have said this before, but it bears repeating. Donald Trump is not a perfect man but is the perfect man for this time in America. We saw under Biden how the clown car could be assembled to run (ruin) America. The sad thing is we did not learn a thing from the Biden experience. We could make the same mistake all over again. Only next time we will not have Donald Trump in the wings to fix the damage. Next time could be our last time. Ponder that one when you are watching the mutts on parade this weekend.     

Two world views in one country (again)

"Two world views. Two languages. Two sets of politics. We are like strangers living in what has become a strange land. Will we ever come to a place where we can talk to each other again, and not over each other? Will we ever love each other, or even like each other?" 

How in the world can we continue to be so very different? Everybody seems to think so, from city dwellers to outstate folks in Minnesota. In fact, recently I heard that many in Minneapolis refer to themselves now as living in the "country of Minneapolis", rather than the city of Minneapolis. Why is that? The world view in Minneapolis is so different, so twisted, than the rest of the state, they need to separate themselves. But it is not just in Minnesota - it is happening all over the country, wherever there is a big, blue city and a red landscaped outstate. 

This weekend, yet another innocent civilian was gunned down by an illegal immigrant. Or, as Trump would call them, "criminal aliens". It was a young eighteen-year-old college student, going for a walk with some friends by Layola University in Chicago. The perp was illegal and from Venezuela. He got into the country under Biden's watch (again). Her family is heartsick. What is the cry coming up from the left? Crickets (again). They don't care. The citizens and patriots care, but the ones of the left see this as only collateral damage to getting more illegals into this country.

What do those on the left really care about these days? Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) was on a news show this past weekend. The subject of ICE, the partial shutdown, and the Save America Act came up. What did this guy who loves to drink margaritas with illegal aliens have to say? Nothing. He wanted to talk about the two people who were shot in Minneapolis by ICE. He was really put out that Markwayne Mullen, in his confirmation hearings, did not apologize to the families of Goode and Pretti for referring to the two who were shot as "left-wing terrorists". He said he regretted those words but did not apologize.

Why is it then, when some innocent is killed by an illegal alien, the left is as quiet as a church mouse. Constantly. 100% of the time. And yet, two protesters in Minneapolis, who were doing things they should not have been doing, interfering with a federal police force, were shot and killed by ICE. And to the left, they are being lionized. The innocents on the other hand, who were murdered by illegals, they were just noise. Nary a peep is mentioned in their behalf.

Two world views. Two languages. Two sets of politics. We are like strangers living in what has become a strange land. Will we ever come to a place where we can talk to each other again, and not over each other? Will we ever love each other, or even like each other? 

Maybe if we all went to church together, that would be a good starting point. Or maybe if we (gasp) tried praying together. For peace. For understanding. For unity. Just an idea, as nothing else seems to be working. 

  

Choke point of the planet

"When Iran gives the world its word that it only wants uranium for peaceful purposes, that does not mean spit. These people are now and have been for decades, bald faced liars. They would build a nuclear weapon in a New York minute, and either threaten to use it - or actually use it." 

I will start by playing Devil's Advocate. Why can't Iran close off the Strait of Hormuz? Why can't Iran be the gatekeeper of the Strait and only let through ship that either pay a hefty fine, or ships from countries that Iran likes? Seems fair - right? No - not really. Why not? The Strait of Hormuz is not owned by any one country. Iran has no claim to it. It has been mandated to be an International Waterway. By whom you might ask? The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Any time Iran decides to board or detain a ship from any country, it is considered an act of piracy, and in violation of international law. Case closed.

What Iran is doing with the Strait can be added to the list of many "no-no" items it is doing in the Persian Gulf. But it might get worse. The other day, Iran said it might start to hit soft targets in any country at any time. Why? To share the pain. Recent intel indicates that during the period between Midnight Hammer and Operation Epic Fury, some nefarious actors from other countries were helping Iran to restock its missiles and drones. Bottom line? Iran has quite of bit left. They can make good on a threat to hit soft targets all over the region and maybe into Europe.

When Iran gives the world its word that it only wants uranium for peaceful purposes, that does not mean spit. These people are now and have been for decades, bald faced liars. They would build a nuclear weapon in a New York minute, and either threaten to use it - or actually use it. Why do I think that? Any country who would drone or missile attack soft targets from other countries is also capable of nuking them. Same principal, different scope of damages.

How will this end? Will this end? As Israel keeps picking off bad guys, and we keep picking off launchers, neither side seems to tire of this war as yet. Of course, the world's consumers are getting stuck with higher prices on gas and food. As the old saying goes, it is much easier to start a war than to finish one. Right now, this war with Iran appears to be headed towards a longer war instead of a shorter war. I hope I am wrong on that, but the current tea leaves point to more war and less peace.  

  

Dear Joe Kent - wake up and smell the coffee

 

 

The only good news about the two missiles fired toward Diego Garcia was this - one broke up over the ocean before it got there, and the other was intercepted by a SM-3 missile coming off a VLS on a Aegis Class destroyer. But the point is this - they are now very close to hitting us where it really hurts. B-2 bombers and soon the B-21 might nest there temporarily. Will they be safe there? What do you think Joe Kent?    

Back when I was in the Navy, there was a base you could be sent to which was in the middle of nowhere. Adak, Alaska. It was only a twelve-month tour (due to its isolation). But then there was another base which opened up that was even more remote. If was on an atoll in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It was Diego Garcea. It was a runway and a few operations buildings. To serve twelve months there - you had to be tough and resilient.

Why bring that up? We wanted to have that strategic airstrip in the middle of the Indian Ocean for only one purpose. It was far enough away from the Middle East to be out the range of fire, yet close enough to allow our bombers to have a much shorter trip into the fight. Our best intel showed that even though Iran's missiles were getting "longer legs", the maximum range on a ballistic missile out of Iran was about 1,300 miles. Diego Garcea was 2,500 miles away.

Joe Kent, the now former Director of National Counterterrorism Center, recently resigned his position for this stated reason - the Iranian war. Kent said Iran offered no immediate threat to us, so going to war with them was foolish. 

Here is a message for Mr. Kent. We were caught off-guard when last night two missiles were fired out of Iran and Diego Garcia was targeted. That means the 1,300-mile maximum range on a Iranian missile was really 2,500 miles. That means that all our bases in the Middle East, most of Europe, and Diego Garcia are now in range of the nut balls in Iran. Putting it in the common vernacular, Iran did offer a clear and present danger to Israel, our bases nearby, our Arabian allies, much of Europe, and our strategic outpost in Diego Garcia. What do you think Joe, should we have waited a couple years until the uranium was done being enriched to weapon grade, and Iran's missiles had the legs to deliver a nuke to Washington? Right now, Joe, we need leaders like Patton, and not like Neville Chamberlain.

The only good news about the two missiles fired toward Diego Garcia was this - one broke up over the ocean before it got there, and the other was intercepted by a SM-3 missile coming off a VLS on a Aegis Class destroyer. But the point is this - they are now very close to hitting us where it really hurts. B-2 bombers and soon the B-21 might nest there temporarily. Will they be safe there? What do you think Joe Kent?    

Land of the Lost - Part 2

 

"Where is the land of the lost, part 2? It is in Minnesota, specifically the Twin Cities. Been that way ever since the Floyd riots. That is when, under the watch of Watz and Frey, the "peaceful" demonstrators almost burned the entire city of Minneapolis down. It became a total warzone."

Two things happened recently when it was announced that Minneapolis would be awarded the "John F Kennedy Profile in Courage" award. First, I almost fell out of my chair in total shock. Just when I thought I have seen or heard everything - this comes along. Second, JFK must be rolling over in his grave. Why? He was not a progressive. He was a leader. A war hero. Not a perfect man, but a very good president. To allow this group of paid demonstrators and useful idiots to be associated with the word "courage" is way beyond the pale.

How about a profile in stupidity award for Walz and Frey for making Minneapolis a sanctuary city? How about the Minneapolis Chief of Police telling his force not to support federal law enforcement when they are in operations in Minneapolis? If the cops had been allowed to do their job, many of the protestors could have been kept at bay. The two people who were shot would still be alive. But that was not the narrative. The narrative (as it always turns out) is the "people" against Donald Trump. When the paid demonstrators saw ICE, all they could see was Donald Trump. The TDS which coats Minneapolis is like pollen in June - and it turned out to be very deadly.

The frosting on the cake, was when the corrupt media always referred to the paid demonstrators as "peaceful". Hitting, spitting, cursing (including taking the Lord's name in vain) is peaceful? On what planet? We need a new definition of peace it this is the example. These people were thugs and malcontents. Truthfully, the paid demonstrators, the latter-day hippies, the useful idiots - were all nothing more than miscreants. It is as simple as that.

Where is the land of the lost, part 2? It is in Minnesota, specifically the Twin Cities. Been that way ever since the Floyd riots. That is when, under the watch of Watz and Frey, the "peaceful" demonstrators almost burned the entire city of Minneapolis down. It became a total warzone. A "no-go" zone. Any chance for healing, where the miscreants will control themselves, and act like citizens? Not so long as the DFL is running the show. This is all from page one of their playbook.

Meanwhile, Minneapolis becoming "hollowed out". Our once fair city, which was fun to go into to, is now on its way to becoming another Detroit. How about a profile in courage for that one?