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What is the definition of a hero?

According to Dictionary.com: a hero is a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.

I think that James Craig is a hero. 

“Who is James Craig,” you might ask.

James Craig is the Chief of Police in Detroit. He was recently interviewed on the Tucker Carlson Show because Detroit has distinguished itself. It is a big city run by Democrats that has avoided the chaos and the turmoil of “lawful” protests evolving into “riots.” When he was asked why this is, his answer basically involved the following three things:

First, he said, “We don’t retreat here in Detroit. We’re just not gonna do it. You saw the images … of streets where there was lawlessness, looting, burning. No sign of police officers. We weren’t giving up ground to the radicals. We just didn’t do it.” (This in contrast to Seattle where CHAZ was allowed to take over city blocks. This in contrast to New York City where damage, destruction, and looting were widespread and monumental.)

Second, Chief Craig mentioned the support that the police get from the mayor.

“So when you talk about what’s different here, we have a city that has stood together and oh, by the way, I know there’s a lot of conversation about the mayors in some of these big cities. Our mayor stands with this police chief, stands with this police department [and] we are not going to tolerate this uptick in violence. That’s key.” (This in contrast to Chicago and New York where the mayors seem to relish insulting and talking down to police in their city.)

Third,the people that live in Detroit apparently are not afraid to speak out against the thugs that are the ones encouraging violence.

In apparent contrast to Portland, Craig told Carlson, citizens of Detroit are “fed up with these radical protests.”

“I’m not to talking about these peaceful protests … [I mean] these misguided radicals that have tried to incite violence in our city,” the chief said. “They said, ‘We’re not going to put up with it.’ (This in contrast to those that live in Portland and Seattle who seem to be afraid to speak against those that are intent on destroying their cities.)

James Craig then summarized, “We’ve got a couple of things. We got a great police department, great leadership, but we have a community that stands with us and said, ‘enough is enough.'”

You can view his interview on YouTube . . . it’s worth watching to see what an actual hero looks like.

Of course the radical activist group, “Detroit Will Breathe” is calling for James Craig to resign. After watching him on TV, my guess is that he will resist and not fold . . . as that’s what a hero would do.

Facebook has taken down a video posted by right-wing news site, Breitbart, and retweeted by President Trump, showing a doctor at a press conference vehemently making claims that antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine is a “cure for Covid.” The Facebook post had allegedly racked up 17 million views before being removed. . . .Hmmm!

Luckily I was able to view this post before it was censored, and listened to the entire “press conference.” The best part was a fervent plea by a black primary care physician basically begging that hydroxychloroquine be given a reprieve from politicians who are not doctors. She also challenged Dr. Fauci to stop his aloofness on the drug (he had famously said, “we need to do controlled studies”) She wondered out loud if he had ever treated a Covid patient. FYI,  the answer is undoubtedly, “no.” In a retort to Dr. Fauci’s haughty demeanor, she stated that she was seeing 10+ Covid patients a day, and had prescribed hydroxychloroquine hundreds of times with excellent success and no significant side effects! In fact she and many of her clinic staff are presently taking hydroxychloroquine 200 mg. twice a week for prevention. . . . Hmmm!

Then just this morning I read about an article in Newsweek by Harvey Risch, a professor of epidemiology at Yale as well as the director of that school’s Molecular Cancer Epidemiology Laboratory. He argues in an op-ed that “the data fully support” the wide use of hydroxychloroquine as an effective treatment of COVID-19.

“When this inexpensive oral medication is given very early in the course of illness, before the virus has had time to multiply beyond control, it has shown to be highly effective,” Risch argues in the column.

Risch adds that multiple studies over the past several months have demonstrated that the drug is a safe and efficacious treatment method for COVID-19. . . . Hmmm! (I guess that it would be very difficult to censor Newsweek at this point!)

Recently I read about a study treating for severely ill Covid patients with hydroxychloroquine. The study was out of Henry Ford hospital in Detroit, and the mortality of patients treated with this drug was half compared to those without this drug. That sounds very impressive to me, but I have not read about these results in our local paper. . . . Hmmm!

Does anyone think that the pooh-pooling of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19 has anything to do with the fact that in March, 2020 President Trump came out in favor of using that same drug? . . . Hmmm!

As most of you are aware, I do not watch much television, but I read something today about a reasonably large group that potentially may be another small group of Trump 2020 voters.

From Townhall:

There had been a show on A&E called ‘Live PD’, created by Dan Abrams. It was a better version of COPS that began airing in 2016. It had dozens of crews following police officers from all over the country, allowing them to cut.

When Black Lives Matter came on the scene, ‘Live PD’ offered something that could not be allowed to survive because it showed :

(I a) that cops are decent human beings; 

(b) at times offered how hard this job can be in certain  situations.

The show ran against the narrative that cops were all quasi-Nazis, so the network axed it. 

“Live PD” which followed  police on their rounds in multiple cities simultaneously, averaged about 1.9 million viewers for its Friday and Saturday night episodes, and repeatedly re-aired on other days. It spawned several successful spinoff shows, also canceled.

The result of that woke move . . . Ratings for A&E Network have plummeted since it canceled “Live PD” on June 10, a sign of how much the network relies on law-enforcement programming.

Average prime-time viewership for A&E between June 11 and July 19 was 498,000 people, down 49% from the same period last year, according to data from Nielsen. In the key demographics of adults 18-49 and 25-54, the declines are 55% and 53%, respectively.

A&E lost nearly half its viewers (via WSJ), and this cannot be good for any TV station!

Now that it’s viewers are Alienated and Estranged, A&E will soon no longer considered either Affluent or Established.

Perhaps the final chapter of this story will be Chapter 11 (one can only hope!), and if so the moral of this A&E saga will be:

“Go “woke” and go broke!”

Reading the Sunday paper used to be one of my favorite things to do. Not so much anymore. In fact these days the paper reminds me of a noose . . . a Zero!

The sports page seems now more focused on how many of the players are kneeling etc. during the National Anthem. (For those of you who were not aware, at one of the WNBA games, the players walked off the court during the National Anthem. . . . For me, “no me importa,” as I never have watched a WNBA game, and the walking off the court during the National Anthem guarantees that I never will!)

Other than the “sports non-page,” the only things in my noose-paper are either anti-Trump, pro-Covid, or about Dem-cities’ “protests.” Since I am tired of reading these types of articles, today I spent a fair amount of time reading the obits. Yes, yes, I was bored! Actually the obits can be interesting. The life lines of different individuals are often very interesting – much more than he/she was born, lived,and died. There were thirty-four obits, and thirty-one of these deceased individuals were more than seventy-five years old, which only proves the point that it is mainly the older folk that die . . . both with and without Covid.

You might ask, “How could I spend time reading the obits?”

The answer is quite simple . . . In the thirty-four total obits, there was not one mention of Trump, Covid, or “protests.”

As I pointed out in my first book (The Quirky Contrarian) one of the reasons that Donald Trump won in 2016 had to do with his ability to appeal to various unrelated small groups. I think that this was a brilliant strategy back in 2016 as for many individuals there was one issue that they were gung-ho on. A relatively small group voted for Trump basically because of his support for issue A. Likewise there were those who were gung-ho on issue B, and Trump strategically focused on issue B. These voters in multiple small groups voted for Trump, because he supported A, B, C, D, etc.

Different than in 2016 a lot of the issues, like A and B referenced above, are no longer key relevant issues, so the question in 2020 is whether or not President Trump will have a similar type of  strategy. My answer is unquestionably yes, and in fact he has already started down that path.

For instance let’s look at the major issue of the day . . . children going back to school. For many young parents this is a humongous problem. If the kids do not go back to school, both of the parents cannot go to work. If both parents are not able to work, then there is trouble paying the rent, etc., etc. By going out on the proverbial limb on this issue, Donald Trump has established himself as the only candidate that a lot of these young parents will vote for. They may not agree with a lot of other things that Trump stands for, and they may not even like him . . . but their kids need to get back to school!

A payroll tax cut is something that President Trump supports and the Democrats do not. A lot of working Americans are struggling to regain their footing as the coronavirus and its consequent economic residua have set them back a fair amount. For a lot of people a payroll tax cut could be the life-line that they need. If this is the key issue for this group, they will vote for Trump. . . . another relatively small group.

The issue of ongoing protests and consequent mantra of “defund the police” will be a huge plus for the President. Those leftists who live in these chaotic cities will never be persuaded in voting for Trump. However, there are a lot of innocent independents living in these Democratic cities who can see nothing but big trouble for them and their families if there is a lack of police presence in their communities. Joe Biden apparently does not view this situation the same as President Trump. I do not anticipate Trump winning the overall vote in any of these Democrat run cities, but this is another small group for which this could well be the key issue.

Gun ownership. There are literally millions of new gun owners in the U.S over the past few months. The felony charges leveled against the armed St. Louis homeowners who refused to kneel to the protesters who broke onto their property in June was a clear message from Democrat prosecutors to all Americans. This relatively small group of new gun owners do not have to be aligned with the NRA, but when they see other gun owners being chastised and now prosecuted for what should be their right, i.e. defending their property without firing a shot, who are they now going to vote for? Guess!

And finally a repeat issue is the appointment of another Supreme Court Justice. There have been a slew of recent 5-4 decisions with Justice Ginsberg voting her usual. Ig Ginsberg were to be replaced by a conservative or even by a moderate, then some of liberal 5-4 decisions could have easily been 5-4 the other way. Here it doesn’t matter if the case in question concerns Indians in Oklahoma, transgender job discrimination, or D.A.C.A. Again to various small groups the appointment of an additional Justice is the key issue, as Justice Roberts continues to be lost and confused.

There will be more small groups that I will describe as we get closer to the election. Mark my words, Trump will again win them all.

As some of you may know I like to write and I recently had an idea upon which I could write my next novella. Let me first set up the basic plot:

What if in the year 2032 there was a close presidential election which was won by the older candidate, Joseph Delaware, and what if Mr. Delaware had specially chosen his running mate in order to appeal to various specifics  portion of society. 

The  VP-elect was Hispanic (Yes, Mr. Delaware did get the Hispanic vote.) The VP-elect was a female. (Yes, Mr. Delaware did overwhelming win the female vote.) The VP-elect was gay. (Yes, Me. Delaware did win the gay vote.) The VP-elect was born in New York, and presently lived in California. (Yes, Mr. Delaware did win the vote in both New York and California.) The VP-elect was a Harvard educated lawyer. (Yes, Mr. Delaware did win both the Harvard vote and the lawyer vote.) What if no one really knew much about the VP-elect other than she was an Hispanic gay lawyer who had been in Congress. (Actually not that much different from the VP candidate from about ten years prior.)

What if in 2032 there were no Presidential debates and no VP debates, because many years prior it had been decided that these debates were giving an unfair advantage to one of the candidates.

What if between the election in November and the inauguration in January the President-elect was said to have supposedly suffered a mild stroke which only affected his cognitive abilities. There were no other signs of a stroke, but Mr. Delaware now had an Alzheimer’s-like condition. Would he then be able to function as the President? Would he be sworn in, and then immediately step down? What if it became apparent that while the VP-elect was a nice person, she was in fact, a bit ditzy? Would his VP-elect be then immediately sworn in as the President?

Even though I think that this would be a terrific storyline for a novella, I decided not to embark on writing this because . . . who would believe that this could actually happen? After all is there anybody that could believe that the President-elect developed an Alzheimer’s-like condition between the election and the inauguration? Would anybody swallow the fact the neither the President-elect or the VP-elect were not asked some difficult questions because there had been no debates? Would anybody believe that the country would elect a VP that was not actually qualified to be the President?

The scary  thing is that something very similar could happen this year if the Dems can come up with a reason not to go through with the debates.

Recently I used the word, “pejorative” in one of my posts, and one of my thousand or so readers responded that I should have used the phrase, “ad hominem” instead. Ad hominem means “ attacking an opponent’s character rather than answering his argument.” For those that are not aware this is a typical tactic of the left.

An interesting example of this ad hominem response occurred recently in California, in Redwood City to be precise. The interesting part of this story , however, is not the predictable ad hominem responses from the looney leftists, but the twist . . . namely the response of Redwood City. 

Let me set the stage. 

From the Western Journal:

A “Black Lives Matter” mural was requested by city resident Dan Pease, who painted it in big, yellow letters on Broadway Street, one of the city’s main thoroughfares, as part of a Fourth of July public art celebration. The city not only agreed to allow the message – it even supplied the paint to put it down.

So far, par for the course in NorCal.

However then Maria Rutenburg, a real estate attorney steps into the picture.

She said that because the city had made the street a public forum, it should be open space for a political message she favored – and one that isn’t popular in liberal San Mateo County.

Rutenberg said, 

“I asked Redwood City to allow me to paint MAGA2020 next to BLM on the Broadway. . . . I stand for the 1st Amendment and everyone ‘s right to express their political views in a new public forum of street asphalts.”

The response of Redwood City was to remove the mural with the words “Black Lives Matter” painted on a city street after Ms. Rutenberg requested permission to put in her own sign proclaiming “MAGA 2020.”

(Interestingly, the city removed the BLM street letters in the middle of the night!)

Well what do you think happened next? Not surprising the “ad hominem” attack spigot was opened.

Unfortunately, it was predictable that Rutenburg would get vicious backlash. A quick glance at social media posts shows efforts obviously aimed at intimidation and harassment. Nobody seemed interested in arguing her point, but rather attacked her person . . . “ad hominem.”

An additional interesting twist was pointed out in the Western Journal article:

If trying to add “MAGA 2020” to the “BLM street art” worked in NorCal, it could potentially work anywhere! 

Yesterday I read three totally unrelated newspaper stories that in typical times should have no relationship to each other, but in today’s world . . . yowser!

The first article involved rescinding or cancelling the emeritus status of professors if they do or have done anything that harms the reputation of San Diego State University. This is obviously a way to stifle free speech and to punish someone for something said in the undefinable past. [In other words, if a professor has said anything in either the present or in the past that “those that know best” do not agree with . . . tough, your emeritus status is hereby cancelled (including your health benefits, etc.)] I always find it suspicious when the spokesperson for the group that first suggested this “cancel culture”-like policy at SDSU, the Academy Policy and Planning Committee, refuses to comment!

The second article described how Trader Joe’s caved to the accusation that it “belies a narrative of exoticism that perpetuates harmful stereotypes.” (When I read this, I must confess that I had no idea what the accusation actually meant!) An online petition by “Change.org” argued that a Trader Joe policy of “naming” certain foods after ethnic variations . . . in other words naming Middle Eastern foods, “Arabian Joe,” or naming “Trader Joe San” for Japanese foods was ?offensive – offensive to whom?, I might ask.

(To put this in perspective some yo-yo was “offended” by “Trader Giotto’s” for Italian foods, and got a bunch of similarly”offended” yo-yo’s to sign this ludicrous petition . . . and Trader Joe’s caved and is cancelling its further use of “ethnic-Joe” anything!

The third article involved a suit against Whole Foods by employees in Cambridge, Berkeley, and Seattle because Whole Foods would not allow them to wear face masks with “Black Lives Matter” on them. This despite the fact that the company policy prohibits any slogans, messages, or logos on worker’s attire. It will be interesting to see if Whole Foods changes its policy and caves to idiocy.

For me any store that allows BLM attire on its employees will no longer be receiving any of my business, and I encourage everyone to do the same.

Anyone who has been paying any attention knows that Chicago is a mess . . . Actually even those who are not paying attention know that Chicago is a mess! Furthermore anyone who has been paying attention knows that the Mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, is out of her league . . . Again I am not even sure that you have to be paying attention to realize that Chicago’s Mayor is a Double A baseball player masquerading as a Major League player. 

 Last week Brian Bennett, a Time magazine White House correspondent reported, 

“White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany just called Lori Lightfoot ‘the derelict mayor of Chicago’ and said she should request federal help to secure the city.”

To those of us who are paying attention actually agree with Ms. McEnany’s words, as ‘derelict’ means ‘neglectful of duty.’ Isn’t it part of the duty of any mayor in any city or town to keep his/her citizens safe? The citizens of Chicago are far from safe . . . ergo Mayor Lightfoot is derelict.

Now since Mayor Lightfoot is not only a lawyer, but also a graduate of the University of Michigan one could reasonably expect an intelligent response.

Mayor Lightfoot’s response – “Hey Karen, watch your mouth!” 

A classy response? Not quite!

A typical Democrat response . . . yes; attack the speaker, not what was said!

To me, this sounds like the sort of a weak defensive response that was said in anger . . .perhaps said in anger because she is realizing that she is not adept at playing in the big leagues.

(Err, at this point I should probably apologize to the University of Michigan for mentioning that she is a graduate.)

For those of you that have not been paying attention:

“Karen” is a pejorative term that has come to prominence to label a demanding, middle-aged white woman who displays a sense of overbearing entitlement in various societal confrontations.

(Err, at this point, I should probably apologize to all lawyers also!)

So what are some facts? 

Every weekend is a mess  in Chicago, especially for the poor people who happen to live in certain regions of the city, like my old neighborhood, Austin.

This last weekend in Lightfoot’s city … 68 shot, 14 dead! And last weekend was not out the ordinary for Chicago. This is typical! What a mess!

So far between January 1 and July 12, 182 children have been shot in the city. 34 of those kids died.

What does  Mayor Lightfoot say to the parents of those children that have been killed? Considering her “derelict response,”  my guess . . . Nothing, as I don’t Care(n)!

On Sunday my wife suggested that we go down to Mission Bay and go for a walk. It was a nice day although a bit on the hot side, so why not go somewhere that has wonderful scenery and is about eight degrees cooler to  boot.

 I thought it was a good idea so, “Okay. Let’s go.”

As we left our street there was a handwritten neighbor sign that said, “Wear masks; save lives.” (Maybe, but I am far from convinced, even though I always have my mask ready.) While on the freeway the electric signs that notify the populace of a child abduction today read: “ Wear Face Covering To save Lives” (Again … maybe, and I had my mask in my hand, ready to go.)

I was surprised that the traffic on the freeway seemed to be back to the pre-lockdown levels . . . somewhat of a surprise as my local newspaper is constantly describing that Covid cases here are “surging!”

When we got down to Mission Bay, what was surging was the number of people down there! It was jammed! At least a thousand people along the shore near DeAnza Cove – scattered along an approximate half-mile stretch with about a hundred pop-up tents Multiple,multiple groups of from four to twenty people,all within close proximity to each other. No recognizable spatial distancing that I could identify. Black, white, brown. No BLM signs or T-shirts.

About one thousand individuals enjoying the sunshine and the water in San Diego with their friends and families, despite that our governor now says that kids cannot go to in-person school.

What about masks? . . . I actually counted . . . despite the neighborhood sign and the electric freeway sign . . . fifteen masks all told! I will repeat that . . . Fifteen!! I had my mask in hand, but did not put it on as if I did, I would have been immediately identified as an outlier.

Could it be that these “wear masks” signs do not apply on Sundays? . . .  or perhaps they do not apply to those that go down near the ocean?

Consistency ?