"Next month? That is when we go from bad to worse. That is when we go from Dayton to Walz. Will we be a cold Omaha under Walz? More like a cold Moscow."
Many of us oldies remember this phrase. "If we don't build the Metrodome, and we lose the Twins and/or the Vikings. Then this town will be nothing but a cold Omaha." Wow. Harsh. By the way, I was recently in Omaha. I think it is a very nice town. So where is the insult there? By the way, Omaha has some advantages Minnesota does not.
But wait just a minute Bird! Where is the pro baseball team? The pro football team? The pro anything team? Not there. So what? The folks in Nebraska can root for any team they want to. Besides all of which, unless you have been living on Mars your entire life, you know the entire state is in a college frenzy. They are loyal to the bone for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. They stick with that team through thick and thin.
But what about the living conditions there? We were in Grand Island to see the eclipse last year. Beautiful country, and very nice folks. I-80 cuts through the entire state, so getting from point "A" to point "B" is no trouble. In the spring by Kearney (on the river), is one of the largest migrations of Sand Hill Cranes in the world. We plan to visit this spring to witness this sight. Thousands of huge birds, almost blocking out the sun, making sounds similar to what prehistoric beasts would make.
The taxes in Nebraska are much better than Minnesota. Both the state tax and the sales tax are about 2/3 of what Minnesota's is. Of course, they have no stadiums or LRT to pay for. Gasoline however, is only slightly cheaper. It can get cold in the winter and hot in the summer (gosh - that sounds like here!). But let's face it. When a polar vortex comes roaring in from Canada, it can get cold all the way down to Florida.
Many predict that after two years of a Walz/DFL House economy, we will skyrocket way ahead of Omaha in the most unlivable city contest. In fact, it won't even be a contest at all. Our gas tax will spike, our individual income taxes will rise, and we will have "fees" on anything which moves or stays static. In other words, rather than Omaha being the brunt of jokes about weather and such, it will be Minneapolis.
Time to go turn up the heat. The cold wind blowing out of the northwest this morning is only a harbinger of things to come next month. Next month? That is when we go from bad to worse. That is when we go from Dayton to Walz. Will we be a cold Omaha under Walz? More like a cold Moscow.
Minnesota’s headline: “Much Hotter Summers, Much Warmer Winters.”
ReplyDeleteIconic forests will shrink, slowly moving 90 miles north.
Trees needing cooler temperatures — like birch, aspen, fir and spruce — will die off.
In winter, fewer big snowfalls mean shorter resort seasons and less ice fishing.
In summer, extreme rainfalls and flash floods.
More “tropical” nights, when temperatures don’t fall below 68 degrees.
Ice-out on lakes will be earlier, extending the shipping season.
But there will be more lake algae, affecting boating.
More mosquitoes and ticks.
Fewer moose. More bass. Fewer walleye.
Longer growing seasons for Minnesota farmers, including soybeans, wheat and corn.
Crop pests and disease that are common in southern states.
More rain — sometimes all at once.
Extreme rain will overwhelm storm systems, pouring into the Mississippi River, causing floods and chemical pollution.
Minnesota could be among the hardest hit.
And it's too late to reverse.
And Denial is not a strategy.
Deny this: 5000 years, and longer, ago my wooded home in Minnesota's north was a (tallgrass, probably) *prairie*. Water levels were below today's, with some lakes, such as Cass, reduced to their constituent multiple glacial basins. It was warmer then than at any other time since the latest retreat of the ice sheet.
DeleteAnd climate models & projections are not reality.
I'm sure you are correct.
DeleteI am saying we need to prepare/predict the next 100 years so we can change crops, invest wisely, prepare infrastructure for the new normal.
If you want government to "do something" about climate change, then you must DEMAND that they tell you exactly how much temperature reduction you will receive for how much cost. Right now, the US is spending about $20 Billion/year to achieve a 0.01 degree reduction, 100 years from now. I think the gas tax will have a much larger cost/benefit, though it will be negative.
ReplyDeleteOh, Bird? Your belief that two years of the Walz Imperium will be seen as a manmade disaster calling for electoral relief is not supported by history. Liberals cannot fail. When their ideas inevitably DO fail by objective measures, they simply insist they have made a success, or that without their measures it would have been much worse, or that it failed because Republicans caused it to fail.
Can't change what is coming. That ship has sailed.
DeleteJust better prepare and predict how changes in climate will affect MN.
I hope the MN legislature can spend wisely and assist farmers, resort owners, business owners to reduce impact.
The free market will probably take care of most problems. Farmers aren't fools, they can see what's coming and adjust. Foresters also. It's cities and counties that will fail miserably by not spending enough to prepare.
And with NO federal infrastructure bill on the horizon, it will be state and local governments bearing the cost.
As if SWLRT wasn't bad enough, now we need high speed rail service to Chicago so they can get up here, collect their welfare benefits and be back to Chi-town the same day.
DeleteA North Dakota man accused of plotting to use a forklift to flip over President Trump’s limo to “kill the president” pleaded guilty on Friday.
ReplyDeleteI only treated one fork lift injury in my long and storied career. Tine went through his abdomen front to back exploding bladder, intestine and crushing spine. Worst case I ever worked on.
Wouldn't have wished that even on Trump. Well, maybe, NO, not even.
At some point we "horrible people" (conservatives, Republicans, "thinking people") have to give up "Minnesota Nice" and start calling loudly and sharply these idiot Socialist ideologues and ideas. We must DEMAND the right to say "I told you so." It won't convince the hard-core Leftists, but hopefully they are not yet a majority.
ReplyDelete