Violence Begets Violence Begets Violence Begets Violence...

 Where the children learn this from?  From the Adults.

Doubling down on dumb, I coined it.  Same as it ever was/same as it ever was/same as it ever was...

• Three teens were shot at a funeral reception on Friday night in St. Paul for the 15-year-old student fatally stabbed at a St. Paul high school, according to authorities, Mara Gottfried reports.

 

Rebates and spending remain priorities as MN budget surplus holds at $17.5 billion

	Tax revenues continue to outperform expectations.

People are Naturally Curious

Especially about things that should make us contemplate, after the fact, when the "emergency" is over:  "What the Hell Just Happened?!"

Asking people to simply... MoveOn.

To not question what they just went through...

That's kind of like not having a national reckoning after the WarOnIraq, and expecting that government business, voting, military enrollment, stuff like that... will just go back to the Pre-Time.  They don't.  As we saw with the historic Obama election, and the Trump election that followed that...

I hope our national "leaders" (who do an awful lot of "leading from behind" lately) and our MSM influencers (who often seem locked into a narrative they are telling, rather than following facts where they may lead) don't make the same mistake.  

With either the CoVid investigation follow up, or the American People's true committment to financing -- or fighting -- the War on Russia as being currently staged from Ukraine. 

More later on the latter, but... to get a feel of the former, perhaps this is worth reading today:

I do not completely accept that COVID-19 was created in the Wuhan Laboratories using money provided by US NIH and authorized by Francis Collins and Anthony Fauci to get around legal restrictions on US labs designed to prevent the development of bio weapons, and subsequently accidentally released into the human population.

I’m wondering whether the release wasn’t deliberate.

It's a simple, snarky comment online, from one of the unknown unwashed masses, but it's the same type of "end of the bar talk" or "early-morning-daily-coffee at the diner" talk* that runs like an undercurrent across the country, and is usually ignored until the weeks leading up to elections, when expensed-accounts-up "reporters" jet in on the scene to sample the state of the nation.

Listen now?

People want to know, "What the Hell Just Happened?!" to us, officially starting just 3 short years ago next month.  

(And don't kid yourself to pretend that the national leaders currently jetting in to Ukraine, making long-term promises without even taking time to explain to the American people:  what "victory" looks like; what the ceiling on America's contribution to defenind Ukraine will be;  how every single dollar of the billions we are spending are currently being accounted for... represent the guys at the bars, barbershops, diners, or dinner tables of America.)

Some of our leaders of late -- like Dr. Fauci and his department -- got some 'splaining to do.  And if the media doesn't like that narrative, and thinks the questions in people's minds will go away, or that everything can be pinned on OrangeManTrump (it's okay to namecall and bully on appearance in certain situations it seems), they might just be in for another:

"What the Hell Just Happened?!" moment themselves, I suspect.**

* Those guys never buy breakfast.  They can milk that cup of coffee for a looong time while discussing the state of the township though.  And they're not good tippers, fwiw.  Just regulars, so they're tolerated because they keep the doors open... 

** Best to start paying attention now, no??  Nobody likes to be shellacked afterall.

One More for your Monday morn...

 I think that I shall never see...

anything more beautiful than a growing tree!

Simply beautiful.

Look Away? America has moved on...

 to helping the Ukrainian women and children and vulnerable elders with our war funds right now...

Dying Children and Frozen Flocks in Afghanistan’s Bitter Winter of Crisis

Hundreds have died in plunging temperatures, and malnutrition has been rampant as the Taliban government’s ban on female workers has hampered international aid.

U.S. Foreign Policy Funds This...

 Revenge Attacks After Killing of 2 Israeli Brothers Leave West Bank on Edge

Settlers burned and vandalized hundreds of cars and homes in four Palestinian villages, according to Israeli rights groups and Palestinian officials, and the area was braced for more violence.

------------------------

Can we simply cut off "defensive" funding for Israel from American taxpayers, and let them bring the extremist settlers under control there?  We're really not funding justice and fairness for the "underdog" anymore..

Time to say, the evangelists working to bring about End Times -- with our money -- no longer have the upper hand in American politics.  It's time!  long past time, really...

Bad Things Happen in Wartime.

1. Russian shelling causes blackouts in Odesa, the latest test for Ukraine’s power system.

   This was featured in live coverage.

   1h ago

 Civilians suffer, even if their military "leaders" are cutting records with American musical stars.  Please God, don't let Joe Biden promise to pay to rebuild Ukraine's electrical grid while our own system here at home renders people without power in some regions for a good amount of time, due to nature, overhead wires, and the lack of manpower to get in there and get things fixed fast.

Why are we sending billions to keep a war going "over there" -- and undoubtedly prolonging the destruction of a country, and the suffering of a people under seige -- when we have our own needs here at home?

Let America be the beacon -- the shining light on the hill -- where we set the example of excellence, showing the world how it can be done withOUT weapons and relying only on the goodwill of people who have the incentive of working together, in a free land that permits equality not to legacies and those satisfied with the status quo, but to those willing to work hard to better THIS place.

If not now, when?   If things don't get fixed under Joe Biden's leadership, who WILL address the problems today our nation faces?  Trump tried, but he was too hated to break through.  The problems here at home aren't going away though, and we are simply producing more and more need in the future here, but refusing to fix the system as it is...

In the Inbox...

Warm greetings from FLA: 

Keep the Schools Safe for the Workers...

and the children required to be in them:

Three days after one student killed another with a knife in the halls of Harding High School, the school staff gathered for a meeting with Superintendent Joe Gothard.

When someone asked, “Who here was not surprised that this happened?” almost every hand went up, according to three teachers who attended the meeting.

“This wasn’t a one-time thing. It was inevitable,” one teacher told the Pioneer Press.

The Pioneer Press granted anonymity to five Harding teachers who wanted to talk about school safety but say they feared reprisal from a district with a history of retaliation. Here's the report, from Sunday's front page, from Josh Verges.

Child Workers. In America. Today.

Where is the outrage, President Biden?

What are you doing -- today -- about this issue, Congress?

These children aren't being sheltered in locked and fenced holding pens at the border waiting to be processed.  They're here -- in country -- and being exploited by some of our biggest American brands.

Is this acceptable because we need workers in today's labor force?  

If not, where is the outcry to protect the child workers, to protect those working alongside them, and to protect the products they are helping to produce?

We're not communist China.

We're the good guys -- the U.S.A.

We struggled with child labor issues at the beginning of the century -- LAST century.  We have rules in place, and organizations -- OSHA -- with people staffed to protect our laborers and our children.  Where are they, and has the president made this a priority?  (He's back from his European vacation/war trip, right?)

Where is the outrage in the national media, as well as the local media where these factories and plants are located?  This is way more abusive than the photo-ops of newcomers being sleeping on concrete slabs in enclosed shelters as their refugee bids were processed.

It was one thing when America "looked the other way" as adult men came in to work and support themselves.  Even when women arrived, looking for work.   But the children...

That always bothered me, as the child of a legal immigrant myself.  I was born here, but I know how immigrant families struggle to compete against "legacies" -- those with generational capital who can afford the going rates of automobiles, homes, luxuries and everyday expenses, the costs of which have only soared in recent years.

How can you come in with nothing, and expect to feed, shelter, and take care of children?  That's why adult males, like my father, came in, worked, saved and waited to get a foothold here before marrying and conceiving children they could support and educate.

When we saw pictures of poor women, and multiple children -- some unaccompanied -- crossing the border... how do you think those people will support themselves living here, especially if they do not  qualify for government aid?  My immediate thoughts were:  sex work.

It's just not fair to the children.

The liberals who tell us:  we NEED immigrants because of our low work-force participation rate;  we need children because of our low domestic birthrate...  think they are "helping" by letting them in to our country, unseen and as non-citizens.  They IGNORE how people live because they simply have so much, and insurance to cover what they have, that they are clueless as to what it takes to get a foothold.

If America continues to look the other way as children cross our borders and assimilate into our work force, doing the dirty jobs that American workers are asking for more money and better benefits to perform, you know what?

We're no better than the Chinese, where so many of our corporations have moved their factories in order to take advantage of the low-cost workers, and yes -- child laborers.

Where is the legal academy protesting this?  The unions?  The American parents of children?  Is this okay, morally, with you, to "offer up" other people's little bodies to serve our consumer needs and keep prices low as inflation rises?

Not with me.  What happens "over there" is one thing.  But this is my country.  This is my homeland, where I was born and educated.  We're better than this, America is.

We NEED to close the door NOW and make it clear that child-labor laws -- hard fought in American court systems -- WILL be enforced even as our immigration polices are not.  We NEED to protect the children, as so many pundits of late are piously proclaiming.

Where are you?  Will we need to see bodies of dead children, little workers with darkened faces like the child coal miners of a century ago -- to awake America to what we have become?

Missing fingers, dark circles under their eyes, pure ignorance of basic remedial schoolchild skills -- like reading and writing English, performing basic sums, or taking care of their own hygiene?

Children -- and women -- can be easily manipulated in the workforce.  We know that.  Why in the world America believes we need to admit more underage workers, and poor desperados who will do anything to survive, is beyond me.

We have billions to send making war on Russia, and threatening to kill Putin.  We have the money to enforce our labor laws and ensure that no child today -- American citizen or non -- is being unlawfully exploited because we need their little bodies and they will accept pay to perform.

"We Need Workers" they tell us.

 Congress is in charge of immigration, but they won't do their jobs.

"Relax the regulations" they tell us, and just look away when building codes are not met (in years to come, we will pay for that:  see the earthquake photos worldwide).

Now, it's the labor rules that are falling as Corporate America understands they can exploit labor and non-citizen workers to feed America's growing needs...

Is this what you want when you call for Open Borders, liberal conversationalists?  THEIR children working to support your unmet needs, not ours?  Sad, but when you put coyotes in charge of immigration policy, and don't care a whit about working people, you devolve.

Let's turn back the clock a century in America, and let Big Business, Corporate Elites, and the YellowRag media set the country's agenda?  Nope.  Too many young people coming up today reject their wars, their public policies, and their legacy plans for selectively seeding the country's future.

It gonna backfire.  You got babies working in your factories to churn out your goods now.  Yup, here at home.

Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across U.S.

Children are producing goods for some of the world’s most recognizable brands. That work violates child labor laws, a Times investigation found.

10+ MIN READ

The Morning: The illegal use of child labor is an open secret. So what can be done?

6 MIN READ

From "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street"

 Twilight Zone episode ending, from the Baby Boom years:

Rod Serling:

The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices... to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill... and suspicion can destroy... and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own—for the children and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone.

Dilbert and Friends Have Left the Office

Hard to believe none of that crew took an early buyout and retired to live off their 401ks years ago.  Dilbert's creator chose the opposite of Bill Watterson, who was penning Calvin and Hobbes during the same years Dilbert was starting out...

One respected his creation and did not show the travails of coming of age in the modern political world. Dilbert's father kept him working through it all, and instead of charting his own  path -- running that sled off-trail, as the boy and his tiger often did -- the corporate overloads always controlled Dilbert and his gang, his work gang, as they grew increasingly frustrated with their workplace but never succeeded in changing anything.

Today, they decided his journey ended.  For whatever reason -- (I stopped reading news of Scott Adams' brain long long ago.  Some of the cartoons were cute; he never should have been "followed" as a social commentator beyond his artwork, in the same way nobody really should be listening to Joe "Is Fear a Factor for You?" Rogan to develop political leanings or get politically educated.

Somtimes you gotta think for yourself, stop aping others just going along to get along, and go to the source material for the basics on which to think...

Calvin (and Hobbes) understood that from the get-go.  Dilbert never did.

---------------

Bill Watterson:

William Boyd Watterson II (born July 5, 1958) is an American cartoonist and the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, which was syndicated from 1985 to 1995. Watterson stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes at the end of 1995, with a short statement to newspaper editors and his readers that he felt he had achieved all he could in the medium. Watterson is known for his negative views on comic syndication and licensing, his efforts to expand and elevate the newspaper comic as an art form, and his move back into private life after he stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes. Watterson was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. The suburban Midwestern United States setting of Ohio was part of the inspiration for Calvin and Hobbes.

Scott Raymond Adams (born June 8, 1957)^[2] is an American author and cartoonist. He writes in a satirical, often sarcastic way about the social and psychological landscape of white-collar workers in modern corporations. He is the creator of the syndicated Dilbert comic strip, and the author of several nonfiction works of satire, commentary, and business. Adams worked in various business roles before he became a full-time cartoonist in 1995. He worked at Pacific Bell between 1986 and June 30, 1995; the personalities he encountered there inspired many of his Dilbert characters.^[14] Adams launched Dilbert with United Media in 1989, while at Pacific Bell. He continued to draw his cartoons at 4 a.m., maintaining his income. His first paycheck for Dilbert was a monthly royalty check of $368.62.^[9] Dilbert gradually became more popular. It was syndicated in 100 newspapers in 1991 and 400 by 1994. 

Adams attributes his success to his idea of including his e-mail address in the panels, thus facilitating reader feedback and suggestions.^[9]

Dilbert gained national prominence during the downsizing period in 1990s America and reached a worldwide audience. In addition Adams has written books in various other areas, including the spiritual experiment God's Debris encapsulating a form of pandeism, and books on political and management topics, including Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter.

------------------

‘Dilbert’ dropped by The Post, other newspapers, after cartoonist’s racist rant

Scott Adams, creator of the long-running comic strip, called Black Americans a "hate group."

By Thomas Floyd and Michael Cavna1 hour ago

Who are Buster and PawPaw?

New Saturday Morning Feature:

 Answer my question and show me how closely you are following ...  ... The News of The Week.

(If you don't know, make something up from context clues...) ;

I enjoy reading.

Peter Benchley, on writing

 If anything, my father discouraged me from becoming a writer. His father had been a writer and actor, Robert Benchley; he himself had been a reporter and a critic and was now a freelance writer, and he knew all too well how hard it was to make a living as a writer. He scratched for every dollar and was barely able to pay my tuitions. I worked at a more-or-less full-time job while I was at college, to earn my own walking-around money.

But once he saw that I was interested in writing, he did a wonderful thing. For two summers, when I was 15 and 16, he paid me the going wage I might make as a gardener or a soda jerk or a club attendant, and my only duty was to sit alone in a room with a typewriter for four hours every day, or until I produced a thousand words, whichever came first. He didn’t want to read it; I never had to do anything with it. But I had to produce it. He wanted me to experience both the solitude and the discipline that are requisites of a writing life, to see if I could tolerate them. If I couldn’t, he said, I’d better start looking in another direction.

As things turned out, I not only tolerated discipline and isolation, I liked them, and so, at the age of 17, I became half a professional writer: I say half because although I sent story after story to The New Yorker and other magazines, none of the stories sold. So I was a professional in that I wrote to make money, but I wasn’t a professional in that I never made any.

 TRANSPORTATION

Weeks after Ohio derailment, feds mull merger set to bring more freight trains to the Chicago area

By Sarah Freishtat and Ezra Maille

-----------

Long before the Ohio train derailment, the proposed $31 billion merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern drew consternation from west suburban communities and Metra commuter rail, whose Milwaukee District West line to Elgin is expected to be affected. Communities have raised concerns about traffic and commuter train delays, noise, vibrations, health and safety hazards, and potential problems for first responders trying to reach emergencies who find their paths blocked by trains at road crossings.

The merger would create the only railroad linking Canada, Mexico and the United States, and would be the first major railroad merger since the 1990s.

It is also projected to bring more trains to the Milwaukee District West line, where Metra shares tracks with Canadian Pacific. The railroad is projecting the merger could add an average of eight extra freight trains per day to parts of the line, bringing the total number to an average of just over 11 trains per day by 2027.

Several entities, including Metra, have disputed Canadian Pacific’s estimates and questioned the railroad’s modeling. In federal filings, Canadian Pacific has said concerns about higher-than-estimated numbers of trains passing through the area are unfounded and disputed that the merger will affect Metra, saying there is enough capacity on the line to handle more trains.

... Every day, more than 1,300 freight and passenger trains pass through the Chicago region, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Though the amount of derailments has been on a steady decline since the 1970s, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the number of tankers carrying hazardous materials on derailed trains has risen. In 2019, railroads in Illinois handled about 9.95 million tons of hazardous materials, according to the Illinois Commerce Commission.

... According to the Association of American Railroads, the chemical industry is one of the largest in the United States, and 19% of its transport costs are attributable to rail. The highest-volume chemical carried by U.S. railroads is ethanol. Over half of all rail chemical carloads contain various industrial chemicals, including soda ash, caustic soda, sulfuric acid and anhydrous ammonia. Plastic materials and synthetic resins account for nearly a quarter of rail chemical carloads and most of the rest are agricultural chemicals.

contemplations: "Think On These Things"

It was a bright, sunny cold Friday. Back at it, after the storm... 

The plants are growing inside, and the air is good. Much work to be done in February what remains. 

Darling You Know It Looks Bad

 We could all write a movie in our heads off that line, eh?

VisionQuest Rodgers: What kind of Spirit Animal do You Think he will Be?

 Talk about cultural appropriation,

and maximum showmanship...

-------------------------------------

*Paging DavidBlaine: this guy wants to be you.

Negative Four right now, with a high of 12 degrees predicted...

I thought it felt cold by the windows! 

No, It Is a Comedy Routine, Jemelle.

 One of the more likable NYT columnists tells us about the newest ... rising star! in the conservative (what passes for) young Republican circles today.  It's funny, but don't laugh if you're not in a safe place.

If you are though -- and it's all good where you are at? =Civil rights protections still matter. -- Feel free to laugh openly, and find release...

And how will this national divorce work in practice? Greene says that “red” states and “blue” states will simply go their separate ways.

On education, for example, “Red states would likely ban all gender lies and confusing theories, Drag Queen story times, and L.G.B.T.Q. indoctrinating teachers, and China’s money and influence in our education while blue states could have government-controlled gender transition schools.”

On gun policy, in red states, “law abiding gun owners wouldn’t go to jail for shooting an attacker” while in blue states, “the left could achieve their dreams of total and complete lawlessness.”

The federal government would still exist, Greene explains, but it would be a minimal state, devoted to border security and defense — an update, of sorts, of America under the Articles of Confederation. Everything else would be up to the discretion of the states, including voting and elections.

“In red states,” Greene wrote, “they would likely pursue one day elections with paper ballots and require voter ID with only the red state citizens or even red state tax payers voting. And blue states would be free to allow illegal aliens from all over the world to vote freely and frequently in their elections like the D.C. City Council wants. Dead people could still vote. Criminals in jail could vote that is if blue states even have jails or prisons anymore.”

You can probably tell, from the substance of Greene’s comments, that this “national divorce” is more paranoid fantasy than serious proposal. 

-----------------------

* She makes it sound like the Goofus vs. Gallant way of governing in America today.  Errbody goin goofus! lol.  See -- funny! 

(Humor's  where you find it. Maybe... the artists best communicate, and the political leaders purely entertain?  New conversations, fresh voices? it time)

Bring on the Happiness

Wake Up, wake up the happiness

Shake up, shake up the happiness...

It Time Today.

Can Marianne Williamson Beat Joe Biden, in a competitive Head-to-Head Democratic Primary?

Another long shot, but I think she could.  Now THAT would be a win.

The fuzzy future taking out the elite, stumbling-to-the-exits, establishment. Change happens abruptly.

Politically, it could happen. No matter the number crunchers, the entrenched mouthpieces, or what the lobbyists with connections tell you.  Politically, it could happen...

Only in America!  Just Do It.  The best way to really make a Change, is to start making changes, and sometimes that means necesssarily assembling a fresh set of characters... "Girl, You Know It's True"

Let's get Excited about voting again...

Let's put a woman in office;  let's counter

"There Will Be An Answer... Let It Be" 

How Many Billions For Railroad Security Measures? For Environmental Protection?

For those who live nearby train tracks -- here at home -- carrying toxic chemicals across our land today? This is where the elitists go wrong: they prefer to help "over there" than to address the issues affecting their fellow Americans today.  (See Joy Behar's remarks; read the NYT columnists today)

Everybody wants to destroy, and shoot down, and "target" evil. Nobody wants to clean up messes, and keep the peace....

Mediaite

@Mediaite

·

15h

'The View' Audience Loudly Gasps When Joy Behar Suggests Trump-Voting East Palestine Got What Was Coming: 'That's Who You Voted For!' https://mediaite.com/a/xknbe

 This is where the future of our country -- the majority young people with no independent voice in DC today, or our media and corporate worlds yet --  defeats the war-mongering sideline-sitting monsters from our past, who see every solution met with America's military. Who still has faith in that? Who believes that weapons of war are how the world is won...? 

It's not. They are deadly wrong -- the old guard leaders and mainstream media -- buying us only more war pain -- here at home, and misspending American taxpayer dollars to support toppling this or that regime abroad, while those strugglilng upward in our own nation pay the price for today's corporate shareholder greed...

We don't hate Ukraine or support Putin; we just love America and see she needs billions of dollars of peacetime investment here at home. Why don't you care to prioritize that -- rebuilding the American people, not bombing the world to smithereens and toppling unpopular world leaders every few years?  This is insanity, and unpopular wars let by the elites has always toppled empires that continually wage war to advance their expansion needs.  It's not Russia that will fall when our latest war adventures wrap up in years to come -- or sooner, but more of America here at home.  The old "leaders" and establishment-entrenched just do not see the civil society they are choosing to create by pitting American workers against the world  (Dixxon TM):  

The U.S. says it will spend another $2 billion on new drones and weapons for Ukraine. 

This was featured in live coverage.