Today’s read comes from Walter E. Williams, a professor of economics at George Mason University.
At the heart of big-city exoduses is a process that I call accumulative decay.
Intelligent mayors could prevent, halt and perhaps reverse their city decline by…
Read the entire column here.
THIS WEEKLY BLOG PROMOTES A CULTURE OF LIFE
Don’t miss our closing heartwarming story every week!
The Franklin Common Council voted 3-3 at its April 17, 2018 meeting to approve financing the design of a roundabout at 51st and Drexel just north of Franklin High School.
Aldermen Steve Taylor, Kristen Wilhelm and Mark Dandrea voted YES. Aldermen Dan Mayer, Mike Barber, and John Nelson voted NO.
Mayor Steve Olson then broke the tie by voting in favor.
The city will now spend $89,933.78 to have the firm R.A. Smith design a one-lane roundabout at the intersection.
The resolution presented to the council at the meeting noted that 51st and Drexel is a heavily congested intersection in Franklin. The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) in its analysis of the intersection determined that a single lane roundabout design is the most appropriate solution for that location.
Prior to the vote some residents spoke in opposition.
One woman said during the citizen comment period the proposed roundabout was “too close to the high school and fire station.” She asked other residents to attend the meeting to speak out they told her it wouldn’t do any good.
“They don’t listen to us, they already have their minds made up,” she was told.
Another woman voiced concern that accidents would increase at the intersection because of a roundabout.
Mayor Olson said the issue boiled down to leadership.
“You make your decision based on what’s best for the community in the long term.”
Aware that motorists may not know how to maneuver the roundabout, including senior citizens (Claire Meadows Senior Apartments is right down the street on 51st), Olson noted that he recently traveled to Rome, drove through a roundabout there, and he was “just fine.”
Well then, I guess the entire matter is settled, right?
Olson continued with a statement I believe probably required more thought.
“Seniors complain they don’t like roundabouts. Well, how much longer are they going to drive? I’m sorry. It’s a plain fact,” said Olson.
Alderman Steve Taylor argued doing nothing is not an option and that motorists would be able to handle the roundabout.
“I think the residents of Franklin are pretty smart,” said Taylor.
Now that the design services have been approved the issue is just a formality. Next will be the actual construction that is planned to begin after the last day of school for the 2018-19 school year (June 7, 2019) with the project set for completion prior to the start of school that fall (mid-August 2019).
My thoughts:
I don’t like roundabouts and never have, even though I know how to drive in them. I recall how the roundabouts in New Berlin caused mayhem.
I’d love to hear more concrete evidence/data that the roundabouts a) will work, although government agencies like the state DOT have always been wildly pro-roundabout and b) if this one is absolutely necessary.
Many years ago on my old blog on FranklinNOW I posted figures I received from the Franklin Police Department about accidents with a period of several years that occurred near the high school, including the 51st and Drexel intersection. The number was incredibly small, not even noteworthy. This aspect was never brought up at the meeting.
On April 17, the Common Council did what it does best. It voted to spend a lot of money that I submit could very well be unnecessary and result in less, not more safety.
And no one, no one has been more publicly supportive of Mayor Olsen than me. But his tie-breaking vote was disappointing.
There are the Never Trumpers. You probably know some. I know I do.
I grant they are strongly committed to their convictions, passionate about their principles.
But what about those principles?
One of my new favorite writers, Kurt Schlichter has just authored a scathing piece ripping those who can’t stomach or even imagine liking this president.
Oh yeah, every election you promised to fight, and after every election all you did was fail. But you had a good gig, as long as the bipartisan elite grift was in effect. When the GOP won, you were the in-crowd, and you raked in donations and media hits with the promise that you would use the power we gave you to make real conservative change.
But that never seemed to happen.
But you still have your principles, your precious principles, and the liberals will let you act out your Never Trump charade on their shows and in their pages because it’s helpful to them to have little Mr. Helper playing Sad Conservative Has-been Against Trump. But they don’t respect you. And they don’t like you. And when they are finished with you, it’s back in the gimp box.
Ouch.
You can read the entire sizzling piece here.
Here are my most popular blogs from last week, Sunday – Saturday:
1) Taylor’s Take: Patti Logsdon’s Rough First Day
2) UPDATE: Franklin water: Should Franklin dump Oak Creek and go with Milwaukee?
3) WI has very tough penalties for sexually assaulting children
4) Photos of the Week (04/15/18)
5) Welcome Steve Taylor to This Just In…
6) Why this Patti Logsdon stumble on her first day in office is a big deal
7) The Best Cartoons of the Week (04/21/18)
8) 2ND UPDATE: Why do you want to be a police officer?
9) Goodnight everyone, and have a twang you can feel down to the soles of your feet weekend!
Culinary no-no began on Father’s Day 2007, a beautiful summer day, when I wrote about grilling brats. And eating brats. And topping those brats. I was inspired by my wife, Jennifer who, in my admittedly unscientific opinion, ruins brats by squirting ketchup on them. Other dining taboos quickly came to mind. The original idea was to take this concept only a few months, till the end of summer and then pull the plug. Then the unexpected happened. People started reading Culinary no-no. Lots of folks. So we keep doing the no-no.
This week, no ketchup on a brat, no green peppers on pizza, no avocado on a hamburger.
In this installment we’re talking, if I may borrow the term, “social justice.”
I don’t mind telling you I’m loving watching the aftermath of the controversy surrounding what happened inside a Philadelphia Starbucks.
That’s right. Loving it.
I’ll clarify and explain later. This is Culinary no-no. We’ll get to it.
First, you needed to be a hermit in a cave somewhere not to hear about what occurred in one of Starbucks’ liberal coffee temples in the City of Brotherly Love (love that).
But we’ll go through the backstory via a timeline so as to provide the proper perspective. It all began on…
Thursday, April 12
Twitter user Melissa DePino posted a video of two men being taken away in handcuffs by police.
“@Starbucks The police were called because these men hadn’t ordered anything,” she wrote. “They were waiting for a friend to show up, who did as they were taken out in handcuffs for doing nothing. All the other white ppl are wondering why it’s never happened to us when we do the same thing.””
The white man seen questioning the police in the viral video is Andrew Yaffe, a real estate developer who said the two arrested men were there to meet him.
Friday, April 13 – Saturday, April 14
Now the latte hits he fan. DePino’s video goes viral and America is up in arms with the obligatory charges of racism.
Adding to the inflammatory aspects of the story: Police Commissioner Richard Ross, said the officers “did absolutely nothing wrong” and were professional in their conduct toward the individuals but “got the opposite back. As an African American male, I am very aware of implicit bias; we are committed to fair and unbiased policing,” Ross said. But he added “If a business calls and they say that ‘Someone is here that I no longer wish to be in my business’ (officers) now have a legal obligation to carry out their duties and they did just that.”
Later the same day Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson wrote a letter that read in part:
Dear Starbucks Partners and Customers:
By now, you may be aware of a disheartening situation in one of our Philadelphia-area stores this past Thursday, that led to a reprehensible outcome.
I’m writing this evening to convey three things:
First, to once again express our deepest apologies to the two men who were arrested with a goal of doing whatever we can to make things right. Second, to let you know of our plans to investigate the pertinent facts and make any necessary changes to our practices that would help prevent such an occurrence from ever happening again. And third, to reassure you that Starbucks stands firmly against discrimination or racial profiling.
Philly Mayor Jim Kenney chimed in:
“I am heartbroken to see Philadelphia in the headlines for an incident that — at least based on what we know at this point — appears to exemplify what racial discrimination looks like in 2018. For many, Starbucks is not just a place to buy a cup of coffee, but a place to meet up with friends or family members, or to get some work done. Like all retail establishments in our city, Starbucks should be a place where everyone is treated the same, no matter the color of their skin.”
Sunday, April 15
Black Lives Matter protester Asa Khalif led a protest at the Starbucks where many demanded the firing of the employee who called police. A photo of Khalif armed with a bullhorn inside of the store also went viral.
Monday, April 16
The protests continued.
Meanwhile Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America to issue a public apology. Johnson also flew to Philadelphia meet with the two men as well as government officials and community leaders.
Mayor Kenney and Philadelphia’s Police Advisory Commission still maintained the officers who responded followed procedures.
Tuesday, April 17
Starbucks announced it would close all of its U.S. locations on the afternoon of May 29 so workers can undergo “racial-bias education.”
The Philadelphia Police Department released recordings of the 911 call from Starbucks and radio traffic between officers who responded and dispatchers. In the 911 call, a woman said there were “two gentlemen” in the “cafe who are refusing to make a purchase or leave.” In the subsequent radio traffic, a man reported a “group of males” was “causing a disturbance” before calling for backup and a supervisor.
The police incident report notes that the two men cursed at the store manager and refused to leave even though officers asked “multiple times.” It also accused the men of insulting police by saying, “Cops don’t know the laws,” and “Y’all make 45G a year.”
Wednesday, April 18
Starbucks Executive Chairman Howard Schultz appeared on CBS This Morning, saying he was both “ashamed” and “embarrassed.
Thursday, April 19
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said he made the situation surrounding the arrests worse, by saying his officers did nothing wrong. He said he would have used different words had he known Starbucks allowed people to stay in its cafes for hours without making a purchase. The officers also did not know that, he said, but asserted that they acted within the scope of the law and were respectful to the two men.
The two men spoke publicly. Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, friends since elementary school, are hoping it won’t happen again.
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s office declined to have the men arraigned because of lack of evidence. Commissioner Ross said the men were released because after the paperwork was processed, PPD “discovered” Starbucks no longer wanted to press charges.
That’s what we know up to date.
How liberal is Starbucks?
For further context and perspective, let’s understand Starbucks is a liberal corporation, real liberal.
Let’s examine.
Former CEO Howard Schultz a few years ago said at their annual meeting “If you support traditional marriage, we don’t want your business.”
After Schultz announced that Starbucks would hire 10,000 refugees, the General Counsel for the group of Starbucks’ stockholders Justin Danhof asked Schultz “How much will Starbucks investors have to spend so that the company can properly vet refugees that the federal government admits it can’t afford to vet?”
He also asked Schultz why he condemned President Donald Trump’s immigration order but “lacked the courage to speak out against the Obama-Clinton travel ban?”
Schultz endorsed Hillary Clinton and was a potential pick for Secretary of Labor.
Remember when Starbucks launched and almost immediately scrapped an initiative to have baristas talk to customers about race?
Baristas were once told to write ‘Trump” on their cups after a white man claimed he was racially discriminated against at a Starbucks.
This is why I derive pleasure at what’s happened at that Starbucks in Philly.
It’s so sweet to see liberals all in an uncomfortable tizzy, flailing away hypocritically condemning their fellow leftists for stuff they are so quick to accuse so many others.
Harvard-educated Eugene Scott writes about identity politics for the Washington Post and posted some scornful tweets:
This is much fun to watch. Bend, Starbucks. Prostrate yourself before the liberal rage mob you helped create. Let them spit on you.
This Starbucks controversy is evidence that even if you bend over backwards to champion trendy liberal causes for decades, all it takes is one of your 200,000 employees to act poorly for the visceral outrage machine to turn on you anyway
Partisanship aside, the incident does draw attention to an issue that some on the left are not often vocal about: Companies that champion liberal values are not free of the racial bias and insensitivity. Even companies headquartered in deeply blue Seattle with tuition assistance programs and headed with leaders who speak out against entry bans from Muslim countries are capable of harboring racism.
…the training is just a start in Starbucks’s effort to deal with potential racism within the company. But the incident also provides an opportunity for the left to open the door to see how well they do at policing bigotry within their own tribe.
And Christine Flowers, a lawyer and columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News sums up my feelings perfectly:
I’m kind of thrilled that a company that touts its liberal cred from the mountaintops has gotten a comeuppance. This is a place that waves the rainbow flag, that strongly supports Planned Parenthood and its mission to make America safe for “choice,” and that has been fairly clear about its position on the Trump administration. To be exposed for its lack of sensitivity to minorities is delightfully ironic
CULINARY NO-NO BONUSES
Americans waste an astounding amount of food — and healthy eaters are the worst
1) Mourners attend the visitation for former first lady Barbara Bush at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church on April 20, 2018 in Houston, Texas. Bush, who died at her home in Houston on April 17, was the wife of former president George H. W. Bush and the mother of former president George W. Bush. Her funeral service was Saturday April 21. Photo By: Scott Olson
2) George HW Bush looks at Barbara Bush’s casket with his daughter Dorothy “Doro” Bush Koch. The wife of the 41st president, George HW Bush, and mother of the 43rd, George W Bush, died on Tuesday at her Houston home. She was 92. Photograph: Handout/Office of George HW Bush
3) In this handout provided by the Office of George H.W. Bush, former President George H. W. Bush greets the mourners with his daughter Dorothy “Doro” Bush Koch during the visitation of former first lady Barbara Bush at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church Friday, April 20, 2018, in Houston, Texas. Barbara Bush died on April 17, 2018, at the age of 92. Photo By: Handout
4) President George H. W. Bush accompanied by his son president George Bush and his family follow the casket of former First Lady Barbara Bush at the St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, Saturday, April 21, 2018, in Houston. Photo: Marie D. De Jesus, Houston Chronicle
5) Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama greet first lady Melania Trump at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church for a funeral service for former first lady Barbara Bush, Saturday, April 21, 2018, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
6) Former president and first lady Bill and Hillary Clinton arrive to the funeral for former first lady Barbara Bush at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church on Saturday, April 21, 2018, in Houston. Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle
7) Dorothy “Doro” Bush Koch wraps her arm around her father, former president George H.W. Bush, during the funeral for former first lady Barbara Bush at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church on Saturday, April 21, 2018, in Houston. Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle
8) Jenna Bush Hager speaks during the funeral for former First Lady Barbara Bush on Saturday, April 21, 2018, at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston. Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle
9) Barbara Bush, daughter of George W. and Laura Bush speaks during the funeral for former First Lady Barbara Bush on Saturday, April 21, 2018, at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston. Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle
10) Jeb Bush speaks during the funeral for his mother, former first lady Barbara Bush at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church on Saturday, April 21, 2018, in Houston. Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle
11) Former President George H. W. Bush and family exit St. Martin’s Episcopal Church during the funeral for his wife, former First Lady Barbara Bush, on Saturday, April 21, 2018, in Houston. Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle
12) Bert McCormik carries two, out of the 65 American flags, he brought to watch the motorcade for former First Lady Barbara Bush pass by Frazier’s Ornamental Concrete store, which is next to Highway 6 Saturday, April 21, 2018, in Hempstead, Texas. Photo: Godofredo A. Vasquez, Houston Chronicle
13) Haley Wilburn holds a sign as she joined hundreds of others who lined the street to watch the motorcade for former First Lady Barbara Bush pass by on George Bush Drive enroute to the George Bush Presidential Library, Saturday, April 21, 2018, in College Station. Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle
14) U.S. NTSB investigators examine the damage to an engine of a Southwest Airlines plane in this image released from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 17, 2018. A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737, with 149 people aboard, was forced to make an emergency landing on Tuesday after a catastrophic failure of one of its engines. One passenger was killed in the incident. Photo: Reuters
15) Adult film actress Stormy Daniels (Stephanie Clifford) and her lawyer Michael Avenatti, left, arrive at the United States District Court Southern District of New York for a hearing related to Michael Cohen, President Trump’s longtime personal attorney and confidante, April 16 in New York. Cohen and lawyers representing President Trump are asking the court to block Justice Department officials from reading documents and materials related to Cohen’s relationship with President Trump that they believe should be protected by attorney-client privilege. Officials with the FBI, armed with a search warrant, raided Cohen’s office and two private residences last week. Photo: Yana Paskova / Getty Images
16) Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, with her 10-day-old baby Maile Pearl Bowlsbey, leaves the Senate floor after voting on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on April 19, 2018. Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP
17) Riot police officers knock down and march over a female protester during clashes on the sidelines of a demonstration on April 19, 2018, in Paris, France. The demonstration is part of a day of protest called by French unions CGT and Solidaires against the French president’s policies, amid a rail strike and spreading student sit-ins. President Emmanuel Macron faced mass protests as trade unionists sought to galvanize angry students, public sector workers, and striking train drivers into a joint movement against his multi-pronged drive to overhaul the French economy. Photo: AFP / Getty
18) Demonstrator Jose Victor Salazar Balza, 28, catches fire during clashes with riot police within a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela, on May 3, 2017. Venezuela’s angry opposition rallied vowing huge street protests against Maduro’s plan to rewrite the constitution and accusing him of dodging elections to cling to power despite deadly unrest. The photo wins the ‘Picture of the Year 2018’ award as well as the ‘First Prize Singles: Spot News’ category. Photo: Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP – Getty Images
19) Same contest, here’s the Second Prize Singles: Spot News photo. People being thrown into the air as a car plows into a group of protesters demonstrating against a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12, 2017. Photo: Ryan M. Kelly / The Daily Progress
20) Second Prize Stories: Spot News. A passerby comforting U.S. tourist Melissa Cochran, injured in an attack on pedestrians at Westminster Bridge in London on March 22, 2017. Melissa survived, but lost her husband, Kurt, in the attack. Photo: Toby Melville / Reuters
21) Third Prize Singles: Spot News. An Iraqi Special Forces soldier some moments after shooting dead a suspected suicide bomber, during the offensive to retake Mosul, Iraq on March 3, 2017. Photo: Goran Tomasevic
22) Mount Sinabung volcano spews volcanic ash into the air during an eruption in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, on April 15, 2018. Photo: Maz Yons/ / Antara Foto Agency / Reuters
23) A boat is stranded on the grass-covered riverbed of the Poyang Lake, which has been hit by drought, in China’s Jiangxi province on April 17. Poyang Lake, once the largest freshwater lake in China, is fast drying-up and might soon become a prairie or a desert like the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan. Chinese scientists are reporting with alarm that more parts of the lake have dried up, leaving huge swathes of grassland in areas once inundated by up to 82 feet of water. That depth has been reduced on average to only 26 feet and even this level is in danger since water levels have fallen continuously. Photo: Xiong guotao / Imaginechina
24) A girl with Israel’s national flag painted on her face plays on the beach as part of the celebrations for Israel’s independence day, marking the 70th anniversary of the creation of the state, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on April 19, 2018. Photo: Amir Cohen / Reuters
25) People throw colored powder as they celebrate at the end of the Color Run 2018 race in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, on April 15, 2018. The Color Run is a 5 kilometer (3.1 mile) running event where participants are covered in bright colored powder at each check station. The event is less about speed than about enjoying a day with friends and family. Photo: Thibault Camus / AP
26) Merrymakers are sprayed with water from a stage during the second day of celebrations of Myanmar’s New Year Water Festival in Mandalay on April 14, 2018. Photo: Thein Zaw / AP
27) Runners splash through rain puddles as they cross the finish line of the 122nd Boston Marathon on April 16, 2018, in Boston, Massachusetts. Photo: Elise Amendola / AP
28) Desiree Linden, of Washington, Michigan, wins the women’s division of the 122nd Boston Marathon on April 16. The two-time Olympian splashed her way through icy rain and a near-gale headwind to finish in 2 hours, 39 minutes, 54 seconds. She is the first American woman to win the race since 1985. Photo: Charles Krupa / AP
29) In Gold Coast, Australia, Scotland’s Callum Hawkins lies on the ground a mile from the finish as Australia’s Michael Shelley runs past him and into the lead during the men’s marathon at the Commonwealth Games. Hawkins was later taken to a hospital. Photograph: Reuters
30) Owners and their dogs take part in HK Doggie Dash 2018, an event held to raise money for abandoned and surrendered dogs in Hong Kong. Dozens of pugs and dachshunds compensated for their modest speed with peppy spirit in the inaugural race. Photograph: Isaac Lawrence/AFP/Getty Images
31) An orca whale hunts sea lion pups on a beach at Punta Norte, Valdes Peninsula, Argentina, on April 17, 2018. This predatory ritual occurs annually along the southern Atlantic coast in March and April, coinciding with the development of the sea lions—when the young pups are learning to swim. Photo: Daniel Feldman / AP
32) Three little penguins are released back into the water by veterinarians from the Taronga Wildlife Hospital, at Shelly Beach on April 17, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. These three were part of a group of five little penguins that were nursed hack to health at the hospital over the past two months. Treatment was provided for conditions and injuries including dehydration, a fishing hook injury, and a broken foot. Photo: James D. Morgan / Getty
33) A zookeeper uses a puppet to imitate a bird parent as it feeds a one-month-old baby Javan green magpie at a zoo in Prague, Czech Republic on April 17. The Javan green magpie (Cissa thalassina) is one of the world’s most endangered birds. Photo: Martin Divisek / EPA
34) Way cool! An Emirati poses in Fred Flintstone’s mock-up car at the Warner Bros. World amusement park in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on April 18, 2018. Abu Dhabi will open the $1 billion indoor Warner Bros. amusement park this July, officials announced, the latest offering in a crowded market in the United Arab Emirates where one marquee park already faces serious financial problems. Photo: Kamran Jebreili / AP
35) Vayda Ojeda, 4, performs a passe, with an officer of the Greenfield Police Department. Ojeda and Vayda, who live in Milwaukee, stopped by the Greenfield Police Department several weeks ago and asked for photo op with an officer. Ojeda said they had Officer Daniel Orlowski on the spot within minutes. The two posed for the picture, which was captured on the department’s surveillance camera and shared on social media Friday. The young ballerina then captured pictures of her with Greenfield Fire Department personnel and random people at the Southridge Mall. Vayda and another student ended up winning the challenge and received tickets to the Milwaukee Ballet. (Photo: courtesy Maria Ojeda)
A look back at the people and events that made news the past week. Week-ends is a regular weekly feature of This Just In…
HEROES OF THE WEEK
VILLAINS OF THE WEEK
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“You write in your book about you went to President Obama and you were on the verge of tears, saying you were going to miss him. You also said you were dreading the next four years with Trump….I don’t want to know your politics. And a lot of the things you’re saying and doing are highly political.”
Meghan McCain on ABC’s The View, addressing James Comey and accusing him of going on a book tour for money and attention
“Not only is Tammie Jo a great pilot, but she is a person of character and integrity.”
Linda Maloney, who flew in the Navy with Tammie Jo Shults who successfully landed a Southwest Airlines flight following the explosion and loss of one engine
“The woman, Jennifer Riordan of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was the first passenger to die during a domestic U.S. commercial flight since 2009. The record is astounding. There have been approximately 300,000 deaths in auto accidents during that period and 40 deaths from train accidents, as well as thousands of other deaths on boats, on bicycles and even on foot. Unquestionably, the safest way to get from point A to point B of any major distance is to buy a commercial airline ticket.”
Columnist Linda Chavez
“I went to see her a week ago, Saturday. We had a wonderful visit. She and I were needling each other. The doctor came in and she said to the doctor, ‘Do you want to know why George W. is the way he is, doctor? Because I drank and smoked when I was pregnant with him.'”
President George W. Bush relaying a story about his mother, Barbara, following her death on Tuesday
“She was funny and fierce … and said her mind. She was a great role model for me, for sure. I learned how to be a first lady.”
Former first lady Laura Bush talking about her mother-in-law Barbara just after her death
“The Senate is leading by example and sending the important message that working parents everywhere deserve family-friendly workplace policies.”
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., on a rule change prompted by the birth of her daughter that allows newborns on the Senate floor during votes
“But what if there are 10 babies on the floor of the Senate?”
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah
“If you think that newborn is only 0-2 months, then in order to achieve the terrifying prospect of 10 newborns on the Senate floor, more than a quarter (roughly 28) of the Senate would need to be 30-year-old women actively trying to get pregnant. That is a Senate I can support.”
Alexandra Guisinger, Temple University political science professor
A large number of Americans HAVE LOST their principles, manners and virtue and it shows through from the sort of politicians they elect, to their rudeness online, to the sort of shallow hedonism and fame whoring they find appealing. Americans are increasingly becoming a soft and decadent people which is problematic because the challenges may change, but we can be certain that Americans will face future challenges every bit as difficult as the ones past generations had to tackle. This is frightening because if you look at the “principles, manners and virtue” of Americans today, they don’t seem capable of dealing with monumental events like the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Depression or World War II. Most people in their twenties probably couldn’t tell you why all those events were such challenges in the first place. When America faces a challenge bigger than we can handle because of ineffective politicians and our “amusing ourselves to death” population, there are no guarantees our republic will survive.
Conservative blogger John Hawkins
OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK
Images from terrifying Southwest flight show passengers didn’t put oxygen masks on right
MOST UNDER-REPORTED STORY OF THE WEEK
Concern Over Gun Control Drops, Not The Top Issue For Americans
MOST OVER-HYPED STORY OF THE WEEK
Donald Trump and Sean Hannity share a lawyer
STRANGEST, MOST UNUSUAL STORY OF THE WEEK
The Weirdest Ways That U.S. Cities Are Celebrating Earth Day
In case you missed them, here are this week’s highly interesting reads:
Today’s highly interesting read (04/20/18): People Are Losing Their Minds Over Starbucks
Today’s highly interesting read (04/17/18): Don’t expect Comey’s book to end Trump’s presidency
