Mika - once again...

"She continued on, 'People don't like to be reminded of the past as they realize how they are no better off than they were years ago. And their kids are no better off either.'"

I have made this confession before. I do watch (not every day) a few minutes of Morning Joe on MSNBC. I do so because it gives me just enough of a glimpse of how the other side is thinking, without viewing so much I need to have my stomach pumped before noon.

Mika Brzezinski is your consummate liberal. She fits the definition perfectly of being a left leaning, liberal newscaster. Is she biased? Absolutely - and unabashedly. She and her co-host (Scarborough) will often banter with each other on political points. However, Joe needs to be careful on how far right he argues. This is after all, MSNBC. 

This morning was one of those "ah-ha" moments for our favorite morning blond. The subject was Hillary. And how both Bernie and The Donald were going after her. Mika then said, "They are going to not only paint her as a friend of Wall Street, but also someone from the past." And then the best part came. She continued on, "People don't like to be reminded of the past as they realize how they are no better off than they were years ago. And their kids are no better off either."

Bingo Mika! That is a start to enlightenment! But only just a start. Truth be known, people are not in a static position from 7 plus years ago. They are worse off. Many have gone in reverse.

For example, the Democrat's biggest monolithic voting group (black voters) give Obama an approval rating of a whopping 85%! All that while black unemployment is twice what white unemployment is. Plus, the unemployment rate for black youth has risen to 40%. And yet, even thought the Democrats keep promising the moon and more to the black community (and delivering nothing), in 2016 it is projected that either Bernie or Hillary will get almost 90% of the black vote! Go figure.

As far as the economy is concerned in general, there are almost too many indicators to go into this morning. Citing just a few however, under Obama's Presidency average household income has fallen almost 5%. Over 5 million more people are living in poverty as our income inequality has grown during his term. People receiving food stamps has gone up almost 50%. And yes, our national debt has almost doubled.

This seven plus years of our "post racial era" ushered in by the election of our first mixed race President has been nothing but a disaster. People are worse off, there is no light at the end of the tunnel, and the financial disaster of ObamaCare is just starting to be known. Our race relations suck, our military is demoralized, and tin horned dictators from every corner of the globe are kicking sand in our collective faces. 

So thank you Mika, for finally starting to wake up. Now tell your brothers and sister on the Loony Left to also get out of bed. This country is in deep, deep trouble and electing more of the same will only result in more of the same. The time is now to do something. And this November we really, really need to change our direction.

  

None of your damn business!

"The SWLRT is a train wreck of almost biblical proportions!"

I am getting ready to throw up in my mouth over this entire Southwest Light Rail bull crap. I mean really! It is bad enough we had our junior statist senator (Al Franken) groveling for the legislature to spend $135M of our hard earned tax dollars on this boon doggle. But now we also have some of our esteemed business leaders drinking the same kool aide. And I thought these guys were supposed to be smart!

Who are these business leaders who support this project? The must be smart, right? First off, they are a bunch of multi-millionaires. Here are just a few of them who have penned support for this train to nowhere:

• Doug Baker - Ecolab
• Richard Davis - US Bank
• Scott Wine - Polaris
• Hubert Joly - Best Buy
• Ken Powell - General Mills
• Chris Policinski - Land O' Lakes
• Brian Cornell - Target

These folks combined could take just a fraction of their combined net worth and pay the entire $135M themselves. Remember? They are the dreaded "1% Club" Bernie keeps talking about. But here is the real, and I mean REAL knee slapper! Lets look to see where these guys are located:

• Ecolab - HQ in St. Paul, manufacturing in Eagan
• US Bank - HQ in Minneapolis, operations in St. Paul
• Best Buy - HQ in Richfield
• General Mills - HQ in Golden Valley
• Land O' Lakes - HQ in Arden Hills
• Target - HQ in Minneapolis, HUGE operations in Brooklyn Park

Why do I point this out? Folly, sheer folly. Very few of these folks have a dog in this fight. A very small, maybe minute percentage of their employees would benefit from this hard to build train line. So who gets stuck with the tab when very few employees ride this thing to work? Hint - the same bunch of suckers who are holding the paper for the last few trains who are now bleeding money.

Now I am not a CEO, never have been, nor do I play one on TV. However, I will give some advice to the folks I have listed in this article. Stay out of local politics. It is none of your damn business! The SWLRT is a train wreck of almost biblical proportions. If you really want to get involved with some politics which would help your companies, contact your Senators or Congressmen in getting Dodd-Frank and ObamaCare repealed. They are like cancers who are eating away at your profits.

Folks, don't be afraid to contact your representatives. Tell them to stay strong. The session is almost over. Logic will win out over emotion each and every time if we just let it.

The 3/10 of one percent solution

"And celebrities like Bruce (now Caitlyn) Jenner have done NOTHING put poured gas on this fire."

3/10 of one percent. That is the number I keep hearing. Or putting it a different way, that is about 1 out of every 300 people. That is who is now has the disease (or condition) du jour of the new millennium. Yes, I am talking transsexuals. Or trans-genders. Or whatever name is now being called. And celebrities like Bruce (now Caitlin) Jenner have done NOTHING put pour gas on this fire.

This very small minority now has our republic all tied up in knots. According to our very biased Justice Department, this is a civil rights issue. It ranks right up there with separate whites and colored rest rooms from fifty years ago. And what is today's issue? Where a trans-gendered person can go pee. 

It really is very simple. The good people of North Carolina think that men and woman should pee in rest rooms that match their personal plumbing. The federal government on the other hand, think people should pee where ever they feel the most comfortable. In other words, if I wake up feeling a bit female, I could use the women's restroom that day. The next day if I woke up feeling manly, I could go back to using the men's room.

Now part of me thinks "so what?", since much of the world use communal bathrooms anyhow. The other part of me thinks this is the stupidest issue I have ever heard of. It is nothing more than an open door for that other small minority of our society who have sexual perversions. And all it is going to take is one instance where some guy dressed as a woman gropes a small girl in a woman's bathroom. Then all hell is going to break loose.

Now we have dueling lawsuits between North Carolina and the federal government. Many legal scholars think this is a total overreach for the feds and a violation of states rights. I am in that camp. Should however, the bench side with the feds on this one, two things will happen. First, it will be precedence setting. No bathroom in this country will be the way it once was. Then second, it will show just how left leaning and corrupt our judicial system has become - from SCOTUS on down.

Once again in this country, we have the tail wagging the dog. And for some reason, it always seems to come from the Loony Left. I mean, who among us could ever forget the Left telling us that oral sex was not sex? The bottom line is this - we now have a solution looking for a problem. And I fear that problems will come in bunches should the bench rule the wrong way on this one. 

Our Blue Balance

They elect some Euphoria like Mayor who then appoints a soft police chief and all of a sudden wallah - there is a growing crime wave in the city.    

A very important article in the paper this weekend. Was I surprised to read it? Not a bit. I could see this one coming a mile away. Other big blue cities have had a similar problem. And they never have figured it out. It is the Minneapolis Police Department. They are now being accused by some of "under-policing".

I have addressed my feelings on our police forces before. And that includes the MPD (Minneapolis Police Department). I have a lot of respect for them. Every watch, when they put on the uniform and strap on their belts, there is a chance they will not be coming home. They put their lives on the line each and every watch to protect and serve. Now are there some occasional problems within the ranks? Yes, but the police have ways (along with civilian oversight) to police themselves.

In the 1990's New York City had a huge, huge problem. It was a city spinning out of control. David Dinkins was the Mayor in the early 1990's and his social experiment with the city was going poorly. Then the citizens of New York elected a guy who knew what he was doing. A former federal prosecutor, he knew the law. And he knew which police chief to pick. So in 1994, New York elected Rudy Giuliani as Mayor and Giuliani picked William Bratton as his Police Commissioner.

Both Giuliani and Bratton were disciples of "broken window policing" including "stop and frisk". The crime rate started to drop immediately. Some say it had already started due to the surge of economic activity from the 1980's (thank you Reaganomics!) In any event during his eight years as Mayor, violent crime dropped 56%; murder and robberies 66%; and aggravated assault, 28%. The city that many feared at night became somewhat safe once again.

Fact of life. You can't have officers of the law, sworn to uphold the law, turn a blind eye when some minor level offense happens. And that is what is happening in many larger blue cities. They elect some Euphoria like Mayor who then appoints a soft police chief and all of a sudden wallah - there is a growing crime wave in the city.

How much is the Mayor and Police Chief feared in this town? Last week after a couple of late night murders, the Chief had a presser. "This will not be tolerated." The next night, there was more shootings. Groups like Black Lives Matter (BLM) has the Mayor so wrapped up in knots, the police force all of a sudden has been painted as evil doers rather than heroes. And BLM can tie up traffic on major roads without one arrest being made.

Do the police need a delicate balance? Yes. I think we can all agree on that. However, in many cities (including ours) the balance is gone. So long as cities elect Mayors who listen to the criminals more than the police, problems will continue to fester. Under-policing leads to more crime. Over-policing leads to citizen protests. The delicate blue balance which is now needed, continues to elude us all.       


  

Eating our young

"Besmirching character, integrity, veracity, personal appearance, spouses, parents, nothing was off limits."

I really don't know where it started. Or when it started. All I know is that it is here. And I hate it. It is as ugly as ugly gets. For some reason unknown to me, people on my side of the fence have decided to turn their guns on each other. I would like to remind them that the target is on the other side of the fence. And after the past seven plus years, the target we are looking at is huge. And the two people on the other side who are vying to replace the President have equally big targets on their backs.

Maybe the way we treat each other started during the Republican debates. It was painful to watch those many fine people go after each other not only with vigor, but also with callous indifference. Besmirching character, integrity, veracity, personal appearance, spouses, parents - nothing seemed to be off limits. When I watched some of the exchanges, that old trite saying came back to me - "With friends like this, who needs enemies?"

We can do better folks. We really can. Are we going to hate each other to death before the first vote is taken? We know who the enemy is, and it is not us. Not by a long shot. So then why do we seem to hate each other so much? Why do we not save some of that venom for the other side? If someone knows the answer to that one, please, please let us know!

I have made my decision on what I am going to do this November. And I will keep that decision private, at least for now. That being said, others have made their choices loud and clear. And you will not hear one bit of negative critique coming out of me (unless of course, the vote is for the other side of the ticket).

So on this beautiful Sunday morning, on this once a year event called Mother's Day, let us all remember some of the sage advice most of us received from Mom. "If you can't say something kind, don't say anything at all." I know I sure heard that from my Mother - numerous times.

Behind enemy lines

And speaking of the casino train, some idiot from the Duluth area penned an editorial saying the casino train would actually save the state money and lives. Typical DFL logic.

For those of us who remain in Minnesota, this state really does feel like enemy territory. Never used to. But is sure does now. This state, my state, has been coopted by the statists. By the DFL elitists. By taxers and spenders from days gone by. By the people who really should know we are living in a different reality today. What is that reality? Every year we have more takers than makers. And the takers don't pay taxes.

The coopters don't really care about all that. They are just fine with pushing a huge bonding bill (and selling it as almost "free money"). Of course in that bonding bill will hide funding for the SWLRT and maybe even the casino train. And speaking of the casino train, some idiot from the Duluth area recently penned an editorial saying the casino train would actually save the state money and lives. Typical DFL logic.

Another one of our captors wants to run for a seat on our local county board. His logic is simple - even though things in this county are working very well right now (thank you), his position is "We don't need less government, we need better government". I ran that statement through my DFL translator and this is what it came up with - we need more taxes. 

Some of my friends think we should just cede the entire state to the Democrats. It is lost. No hope of ever being the same again. It saddens me when I hear that. We were here first. Long before the "prairie populists" as they like to be called launched their first invasion. And just like the science fiction movie "The Fifth Wave", with each new wave in Minnesota, the statists kept taking more and more liberty and freedom out of our state. 

They have torted our thinking so badly right now, just to mention the word "budget" or "restraint" is met with shrill accusations of heartlessness from the DFL . Once programs are in place, they never die. They just keep on ticking. Largess, which once was almost used as an invective, is now worn like a badge of honor by the elites. All money garnered by the state is considered communal rather than the private property of the citizens. 

So I sit here, all hunkered down. Hiding. I am way, way behind enemy lines. However, the county I live in is part of the resistance within the collective. A ray of hope. There are a few of us who remain. But every year, our numbers grow less. As my kids say, the struggle is real. And it is a struggle to stay living here.  

Blue city blues

"And this woman who represents District 9 in Minneapolis (Alondra Cano) is a poster child for what is wrong with many blue cities."

Good news for the little children in Detroit. They get to go to school today. Why? The teachers have decided not to have another day of the teacher version of the "blue flu". Why some were not fired for this act of total insubordination is way beyond me. But Detroit, who has been run by the Democrats since Moses was a boy, has literally been run into the ground. 

What caused the two day sick out in Detroit anyhow? It seems the city with no money told the teachers they would not get paid for some days worked. So the city leaders managed to scrounge up a few million dollars to ensure everyone got paid. And all of a sudden, this mystery illness hitting the teachers went away. But the problems for Detroit are far, far from being over. 

Both Illinois and Michigan are in such bad shape they have elected Republican Governors. It might be too little, too late. Detroit and Chicago however have maintained dysfunctional Democratic leadership. And that is the big problem. Blue cities that have been run into the ground. And Minneapolis has started on the same trajectory. 

Minneapolis over the years has gone from light purple to dark purple to hopelessly blue. That old saying about the Twin Cities is true. The only thing more scarce than hen's teeth in the heart of the metro area are Republicans. The Mayor in Minneapolis and the Minneapolis City Council are all off in lala land. And this woman who represents District 9 in Minneapolis (Alondra Cano) is a poster child for what is wrong with many blue cities.

Cano has no idea how to govern a city this large. Even people in her own party criticize her for her for her lack of preparedness and candor. As the crime wave in Minneapolis continues to grow, Cano and the Mayor are much more concerned about social engineering. It is no wonder there is a stampede for businesses and people of means to get out of town.

Here is my unsolicited recommendation for not only the Twin Cities, but also many other blue cities which have just become shells of what they once were. You need sound fiscal leadership. If you don't have the talent to give you that, bring people in from outside the area. You need to follow a tight budget. There really are no money trees - anywhere. The state, the feds are not going to help you. They are broke also.

Curb your crime waves. If you have to use broken window policing, do it. In really bad areas of town, consider initiating stop and frisk. You can't cede some areas of your town to be toxic waste dumps. People have to live there. Toughen sentences for ALL crimes. Get the bad guys off the streets and in jails or prisons.

I know however, nothing will change. Blue cities are caught in a hopeless rut. The Democrats got them there. And the folks who live there can't stop voting for this same group of incompetents who keep them is this quagmire. Blue city blues. No wonder they are singing the blues.