Stop Pussy Footing Around!

"If we just ignore it, it will go away. Or better yet, more gun control for the law abiding citizens..." 

So last night, we had another 6 people shot with illegally (probably) obtained guns by thugs (probable). And yet it is being reported somewhat differently. In fact, the Euphoria based Mayor of the City of Lakes said this type of behavior is (and I will paraphrase just a bit) "not in line with the values we hold as a city".

No "blank" Sky King? And what city does hold shootings to be a value? Baltimore? That is a maybe. Seems in Baltimore the police are more on the hot seat than the thugs killing people. And when are we going to elect more Rudy Giuliani type mayors instead of these feel good types like Betsy? Look at New York City right now. Good flipping grief. De blasio is more of an anti-cop mayor than David Dinkins.

So, here is my take. Stop pussy footing around. We all of us, know where the problem is. I am okay with stop and frisk. The vast majority of guns being used in these senseless crimes have been illegally obtained. Start putting THUGS in the slammer! If a "judge" feels that is not appropriate to jail thugs, impeach him or her! Our major cities have become an international embarrassment. Bottom line - ANYONE should feel okay and safe to walk ANYWHERE at ANYPLACE in our country. We are not Somalia, we are America.

Chicago has become a killing field. Really, you might ask? I am not reading about it in the Red Star. Go on the internet - it is all over the place. Young black men, being slaughtered by the hundreds, and no press coverage. NO, that is not alright! Not one death is alright. And why do we allow this to continue? Because we have got to STOP PUSSY FOOTING AROUND! It is not more gun control. Lord knows, we have way too much already! It is more CRIMINAL control. And pussy footing judges! Ask any cop on the street - he or she will tell you where the problem areas are.

This is not a racist rant. It has NOTHING to do with race. It have EVERYTHING to do with innocent people being killed by criminals. Bust the bad guys, throw them in jail, and keep the streets safe for the law abiding citizens. It really is that simple. It is called "broken window" policing. You break any law, you get busted. Period. End of story.

Our 94,000,000 Problem

"Going out to the malls these days are like going to the malls on weekends. Sure are a bunch of people, all ages, who are not working..."

Yesterday afternoon my wife and I needed to do some errands. Because of the day, we were later than normal. We don't like to be out too much after 3:30 as traffic really starts to pick up. And it did. When my son-in-law arrived home around 6, I asked him how was the afternoon drive. One word - horrible. Seems like that old saying for rush hour traffic still holds - Tuesday in, Thursday out.

The thought I had about yesterday's traffic was just this - what if we had a normal economy? In other words, what if we had "true full employment"? What if a good chunk of the 94,000,000 folks outside our work force were back in the mix? What would our traffic be like? I dare say with the neglect of our road system by the Met Council, many areas would be at a standstill. We would be LA in the Midwest.

I will not be so shallow to lay all of this on the President's doorstep. But I will put much of it there. True, some is simple demographics. We are getting older as a country. People are retiring and younger people are having fewer and fewer kids. And those who are, often delay the start of child bearing. So right now, we have a crazy, mixed up job market.

Sure, because of the fuzzy math given to us by the U3 employment calculation, everything is sunshine and lolly pops. Unemployment of 5% and change. But here is a nagging question: In many of the stores and restaurants we go into, there are "help wanted" signs. Why are those jobs not instantly filled by some out of that that gigantic crowd of 94,000,000 people? Simple answer - why work when "gaming" the system is so easy. Make more money doing nothing than work for $10 - $15/hour. And that is on the President.

I have told this story before. When I first started working, once in a while I would be home on a sick day. If I needed to run to the drug store to pick up medicine during the day, the roads, the stores were a like ghost town. Some old folks out and about, but that was about it. Today, it is all shapes and sizes. All ages and colors. It is like every day is a Saturday.

I am hopeful our next President really "gets it". He is not a Socialist reformer (sorry Bernie). We need a President, working with Congress, who will scrap business killers like Dodd-Frank and ObamaCare. We need to have common sense once again rule our marketplace. To have as many costly, time consuming, bull crap regulations scrapped. To have a better tax system which will attract foreign businesses rather than cause our local companies to become foreign. 

It was just a couple years ago when jaws were dropping when our "out of labor force" number hit 91,000,000. Now it is 94,000,000. It is a good thing Obama cannot get a third term or without a doubt we could crest 100,000,000 in a few years. Greece, here we come.   

Ours to lose

"Winning the 2016 election should be liking picking low fruit from the tree. Of course, many said that about the 2012 election with how vulnerable the President was..."

Watching the national news this morning, the the latest Quinnipiac revealed an amazing fact. The elderly Socialist from Vermont is actually ahead of Hillary by 1% in Iowa. Martin O'Malley of course, is stuck at 3%, and might be forever. Now if Smoking Joe or Elizabeth Warren jump in, the tide could always change. But for right now, the strength of the Democrat's bench is tepid compared to the Republican bench.

But it is not just the bench which is weak. The DNC is headed up by one of the all time village idiots - Debbie "Blabber Mouth" (Thanks Rush) Schultz. And there is distension withing the ranks over her leadership, or lack thereof. In fact, the two deputy chairs (our own RT is one of them) just came out and challenged her decision on the puny number of Democratic debates. The deputy chairs want more debates with better timing. And Martin O'Malley has come out and said he smells collusion between Hillary and "Blabber Mouth".

Okay. Here is the other side of the coin. The Republicans have a terrible habit of grasping defeat out of the jaws of victory. Most of us (including me), thought we were going to have President Romney right now. And some of the misdeeds of BHO would have become unraveled. Nope. Mitt decided to be a charity worker instead a candidate. He did not want to be mean to poor old Barrack. He did not want to be accused of being a ... well, you know what. So Mitt let the President off the ropes. The base became disillusioned, and just enough folks stayed home to hand Barrack an undeserved second term.

In my lifetime, I cannot remember a more flawed candidate than Hillary Clinton. She was a nondescript carpet bagger Senator. She was a terrible Secretary of State who was only good at adding miles to her account. Her fingers are all over the Benghazi mess, and the whole e-mail thing is going to end up in criminal charges. I still don't believe she will make it to the convention. 

Both Bernie and Smoking Joe are caricatures. They are jokes. They are a couple of old men who have nothing to offer but more of the same. More government, more largess, more debt. O'Malley is a squish. Seeing how he was backed down by the Black Lives Matter crowed revealed Martin for what he is - a non-hacker. Maybe Elizabeth Warren could make a match out of the election. But she would have to come up with some new material or Wall Street and Big Banks will throw everything at her but the kitchen sink.

So let us see if next week during the CNN debate if our team can keep their gaze on the right target. Keep from committing seppuku. It should be easy as taking shots at Hillary or Bernie would be like dueling with an unarmed person. Learn from last time. No more Mr. Nice Guy. Go for the jugular. We can win this if we don't go limp. If we don't do or say dumb things.

Come on team - lets go! The stakes could not be higher. Losing is not an option.     

Those who fell....

"It was an event so horrible, it was like a bad dream we could not wake up from..."

I remember the day like it was yesterday. I love this time of year. It seems like it is the same every year once our state fair is over. Those azure blue skies, the wispy clouds, and very comfortable temperatures. Early September of 2001 was one of those rare times when our good weather extended all the way to the East Coast. 

It was a Tuesday morning. The day dawned just as perfect as it did on Tuesday of this week. In 2001, I was still working at IBM. I had a large client in downtown Minneapolis. About 8 in the morning, I was pulling into to the parking ramp next to American Express. 

I was listening to a talk radio station as I entered the ramp. I found an open spot and was getting ready to pull in when a new flash came on. The radio said a small plane had just crashed into one of the World Trade Towers. I did not think it was any big news, as this had happened before. A small plane, getting lost in the fog or something, hitting one of those gargantuan towers. I turned my car off and went across the street to my account and got set up at my desk.

After I was situated, I turned on a small radio I kept in my cubical. The news had gone from bad to worse. It was not a small plane that hit, but a jet liner. That is when my "spider senses" first started to tingle. This was not right. This might be something we all had been fearing. Fearing for some time.

My phone rang. It was my daughter calling from her apartment in St. Cloud. "Dad, did you hear the news? What is happening?" She was watching the TV and could see the huge bellow of smoke rising from the stricken tower. My daughter knew I used to be in the intelligence business while in the Navy. But this was far beyond what I was trained for. I only knew what was happening was bad - very bad.

We all know how the rest of the day turned out. The attack was well planned out. Planes where chosen which were large and carried maximum fuel. As the planes approached the towers, the hijackers "fire walled" the engines. The goal was to inflict as many causalities as possible.

Most people who died upon impact had no idea what hit them. Those on the floors above them were trapped. When the first plane hit, some were getting ready for their day's activities. Some were maybe having a second cup of coffee. All of a sudden, everything changed. Many had to instantly make a very tough decision. Should they stay quartered where they were and face probable incineration, or should they go to a window and jump. And by doing so, plunge many hundreds of feet to their deaths.

Many of the NYC police and firefighters had just started their day shift when the call went out. Not too much was known other than a plane had just hit one of the towers. Their job was to get on site as fast as possible and then get up those countless number of stairs. Once topside, they were to rescue as many as possible in need.

As they were going up the fire escape stairs, they passed many dazed and confused workers coming down the other way. However, the fire fighters and police were doing what they were trained to do - running towards an explosion rather than away from it.

I have thought about those heroes many times, many of them very young. How scared they must have been. How knowing that going up those stairs might have be the last thing they ever do. But they did it. And did it without hesitation. When the towers fell, the heroes fell with them. Hundreds of heroes - all gone in a heartbeat.

In the aftermath, some bodies were found, and many never were. Sometimes only a piece was found which required a DNA test for identification. Some bodies were just ground to bits and became part of the dust cloud which enveloped Manhattan.

Almost 3,000 people died that day. The World Trade Center complex was all but destroyed. And all because 20 young Muslim men decided to carry out a mission of evil.

Once it was over, some of our terror experts came to the conclusion the terrorists had no idea the towers would fall. Having both towers fall, turned out to be a bonus for the bad guys.

Some will forget that day. A few will try and re-write history - some are already trying. But there are many of us who will not forget. We will never forget what happened, and who did this to us. The world changed that day. Our world changed. Our country changed. As we channel our anger into resolve, our memories remain sharp. We still remember those who fell on that September day. We remember the innocent lives which were snuffed out for reasons sane people cannot understand. 

So I say this with some trepidation. Stay vigilant my brothers and sisters. I fear this attack is not yet over. The peace we have now have might only be a pause. Much worse might be coming.   

The Coming Immigration Mess

"Right now the world is awash in refugees. Why? Because the United Nations fails to live up to its charter. The world is a mess and the UN is concerned about Agenda 21 instead..."

Right now the Euro Zone is being overwhelmed by immigrants. Or are they refugees? And is there a difference, or is it just semantics? We have an immigration issue also in this country - and many feel it has gone from troublesome, to out and out messy. In fact, some think it is changing the country. Others feel it might be ruining the country.

Currently in the United States we have both immigrants and refugees. And our immigrants are divided into two groups - documented and undocumented. Many estimates show we have 11 million undocumented people in our country. Some estimates show the number to be almost double that. But because they are undocumented and many are "hiding in the shadows", the true number is impossible to know.

The United Nations has an agency called the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. This agency can designated a group of people as refugees if the agency determines it so. Specifically, if a return to their homeland means people could be injured because of their "race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion." There - does that leave anything out? To me that covers just about anyone.

One more definition. An IDP is an Internally Displaced Person. It is somewhat of a twilight zone definition. These are people who are refugees, yet do not fully meet the UN definition. They have been displaced, but remain within the borders of their own country. It too, is a big and growing problem. 

There are many countries in the world which are broken today. However, Somalia is one of the worst. It is a poor and lawless land, where life has become hard and cheap. Currently Somalia has over 1,000,000 refugees and 1,300,000 people classified as IDP. It is a mess of historic magnitude. Add to that the continuing crisis in Syria. There are over 4,000,000 refugees fleeing Syria. Many are trying to get into the Euro Zone. Many more want to come to America.

The United States has taken in barely a handful of Syrian refugees so far. And the pressure is mounting to take in many, many more. By the way, the very rich Arab oil countries have taken in nada. And they will not in the future. No welcome mat there.

In America, we continue to admit 800 Somali refugees each and every month. A large percentage come to Minnesota. Why here? We are home to some powerful volags. In addition, we have outstanding and generous welfare benefits. Hence today there are parts of South Minneapolis which look no different than Mogadishu. We are now home to tens of thousands of Somalis and growing. 

Here is the bottom line as I see it. This is not going to get any better - only worse. Why? Blame number one goes on the United Nations. They have allowed thugs from al shabaab to unleash havoc on the poor people of Somalia. In addition, the United Nations has done nothing to stop the Islamic State from committing genocide in Syria and Iraq. Blame number two goes to the western world. The United States and Europe. NATO. We could have gone in with boots on the ground and stomped al shabaab into smithereens. We could have sent the Islamic State back to the 8th century. But we did not. This is what happens when the United States reduces its world role to spectator.

So buckle up kids. The Syrians are coming - and lots of them. Tens of thousands of them. And like the Hmong and Somalis, a large percentage will settle in Minnesota. Is it our weather? Our strong Norwegian Lutheran or Catholic faith? No. I think most of us can figure out the real reason.

  

Steak without the sizzle

"Now settle down foodies! This article has nothing to do with chow!"

Oh, it is good to be king! Least wise, I think so. Life is so much easier these days since our President resigned his presidency and assumed the position of King and Almighty Ruler. Congress? Who needs them! They are just a pain in the butt. An impediment. In fact, the founding fathers had rocks in their socks even to suggest the Executive Branch had to deal with them.

If I could do a Vulcan Mind Meld with our President, that is how I imagine he would be thinking. He is now a King. And he has the tacit approval of Congress to be so. Why does our Congress let our President get away with what he is doing? Some say our Congressional Leadership have become eunuchs. I tend to agree with that viewpoint. For example, let us look at the recent past:

Iran Nuke Deal - There is no way on this green Earth this "agreement" is not a treaty. No way. Let me be crystal clear on one very key point - if Congress had stuck to their guns and insisted this treaty be called a treaty, it would DOA right now. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) really sold us down the river. He sold Israel down the river. So the "King" now has the authority to make this POS agreement law. The Senate Leader should have immediately stripped Corker of his Senate Leadership role. That is of course, if we had a Senate Leader with principles.

The Mountain - I know, this is a nit. But it is a matter of principle. The King goes up to Alaska to scare the hell out of the natives by telling them SUVs and power plants are killing the planet. While he is up there, he does a "slam dunk" by telling the Alaskans he (by decree) is renaming "The Mountain". It will no longer be called McKinley. It will now be called Denali. Of course when I was up in Alaska last year, everyone was already calling it Denali. Had been for years. Congress was going to do it this session AS WELL AS appropriating money to do so. But who cares about the money? The King wanted to do it for political reasons while he was up there. The money? Just put it on our tab please.

Paid Sick Leave -  This one is a bit bigger than "The Mountain". The King (thinking by decree of me) has authorized paid sick leave for everyone in the government as well as companies who do business with the government. Okay - sounds good. Whoops - once again this is something Congress should have done by taking the necessary votes AS WELL AS appropriating money. How much will this cost? Who cares! The important thing is our panderer in chief did this on Labor Day. Union votes. There will be no offset to pay for this. It will just go on our ever growing tab of $18 trillion. Congress is once again acting like doormats instead of checks and balances.

So what does that leave us with? The citizens who live here. Steak without the sizzle. During the last election, citizens voted for true change. To curtail this move from a Republic to a Monarchy. What has changed? Not much. Not much at all. Glenn Beck keeps telling us soon we will no longer recognize our country. I believe Glenn to be correct. In fact, I am already having trouble recognizing our country. And that is very bad news indeed. 

Wassup with Labor Day?

"I think of all the summer holidays, it is the least understood, and the most dreaded by school age kids..."

Labor Day has always been an enigma to me. Ever since I was a little boy. It was a weird day. The least understood of the three major summer holidays. I understood Memorial Day as a day to honor the fallen. I understood Independence Day as a day to celebrate our, well - Independence. But Labor Day? What does it really mean, besides the end of summer? The end of the State Fair? The start of the dreaded school year?

Actually Labor Day started out in the 1800's as a regional holiday. It started out as just a parade in New York City. The date - September 5th, 1882. It was a parade to honor the strength of labor and trade organizations in the city. It soon became an annual event in New York City, even though it was unofficial. Word spread, and soon other cities started having parades also - always on the first Monday in September.

It was not without its problems however. One year in Chicago, there was a riot which is now referred to as the Haymarket Riot. It was a bloody affair, which left 8 dead and many wounded. It was so bad it almost killed the labor movement in America.

Then in 1894, there was the now famous Pullman Strike. It was a nationwide strike that idled our nation's railways. President Grover Cleveland needed to do something to mollify the labor unions. He wanted to keep crippling strikes like Pullman from happening again.

Using the same date that New York City had used years ago to hold their annual labor parade, Cleveland decided to designate the first Monday in September as a federal holiday. A day to honor organized labor. Even though the labor organizations thought May 1st of each year would be a better day, President Cleveland did not want any confusion with our Labor Day and some Communist celebration.

So there it is. A day to honor labor. But the question today is this - what kind of labor? Is it only organized labor? If so, we are honoring only around 11.3% of the population in labor unions. Of that number, about 1/5 are in private labor unions and the rest are in (you guessed it) public unions. The dreaded and often hated public unions.

So if you are in the 89% of the population who are not in a union, what does this day mean for you? Does it honor your labor also? If not, this day becomes as distant for the 89% as watching the French celebrate Bastille Day. 

So happy Labor Day. If you are going to the fair, look for those final day values. If you are getting kids ready for school, good luck. It was always a stressful time in our household. If you think this is the last day of summer, and if you live in Minnesota, you are close to being right. Other than that, Labor Day to many, remains somewhat of an enigma.