A Brush With Greatness - The Gastronomic Version

Last month, as Fuzzy and I were flying home from our bayou hunting adventure, we happened to glance across the aisle from us there in first class and happened to spy Andrew Zimmern - the famous TV food personality.  You know, this guy:

As a Minnesota native, it should not have surprised us to find him there, flying from ATL to MSP.  What did surprise us was his choice in food.  Did he choose the salmon or the chicken salad that was being served in first?  No, he did not.  As the flight attendants brought out our appointed meals, he whipped out a bag of Arby's and chowed down.

Arby's.

It was just recently announced that Mr. Zimmern will be starring in a new series on MSNBC on politics and food.  Ah, just what the world needs - another show about politics!

Let's hope his choices of editorial for his show are better than his choices of what to eat when sitting at the front of the plane.

StarTribune Publishes SD Lion Hunter's Name as "News"

Yesterday, in an outrageous act of doxxing and under the auspices of some kind of journalism the StarTribune published not only the name but home town of a South Dakota hunter who was granted a license to take a lion in Africa.  Not stopping there, the rag also linked to a list of all 33 license holders.

This isn't journalism, this is blatant hope that someone harasses this individual.  Or worse.  In situations like this, people have suffered a loss of a job, physical violence, and even threats to their lives.  All for engaging in a legal activity.

If harm should come to the South Dakota hunter, "journalist" Paul Walsh and the Star Tribune should absolutely inherit some of the blame.

As a hunter, this is a sick precedent, as it's only a matter of time when the doxxing crowd moves on to any form of hunting.  

"We Have a Great Chance To Inflict One On Him (a Political Price)"

"Journalist" John Heilemann lets the mask slip, and shows just exactly what we all already knew - the media = the Democratic party:



Not only that but Heilemann's rant generates a full swoon by his on-air partner.

Journalism in 2018.

Ron Schara Says Goodbye

For a Minnesota outdoorsman there's no bigger icon than Ron Schara.  He's been writing outdoor columns for the StarTribune for as long as I can remember, and his suite of outdoor TV shows reflect his folksy passion for the outdoors.

Now at the end of his career, he's saying goodbye, and did so in a very sweet moment of a recent episode:



His was a unique voice, and a uniquely Minnesotan voice, and it will be missed.

Shame on 60 Minutes

Last night 60 Minutes treated us to a 20-minute segment on the lynching of blacks.  Their reporting included extremely grizzly photography, stomach-turning news stories, and a firm blame that because of lynchings over 100 years ago in our history, black people are still being discriminated against in a grotesque manner to this day.

To what end, 60 Minutes?  Sure seems like your goal is to fan racial hate.  I'm not sure there was any other objective.

Perhaps it can be couched as making us face our history, like keeping the concentration camps open in Germany?  Sure.  This was an ugly part of our history, and we need to own it.  However, to make the leap to blame lynching on the current incarceration statistics while failing to ignore the facts that blacks from single-parent families commit crimes in wildly higher numbers than any other group, and that single-parent families are rampant in the black community ignores data. 

Our disgusting history of lynchings isn't responsible for the sorry state of race relations in this country.  The replacement of the nuclear family, starting with Johnson's great society and continuing unabated ever since has everything to do with it. 

But 60 Minutes isn't concerned about race relations, or the truth, or facts.  As long as we can blame each other for our ills, and as long as that continues to manifest itself in hate, well folks that there is some good TV.

Justice Delayed. Why?

This past year there were two massive stories, and neither of them made sense.  First, a Somali police officer shot and killed a woman who had reported a crime.  She came out to talk to the officers, stood at the driver's side of the vehicle, did nothing inappropriate, but the Somali officer grabbed his gun and shot the woman in cold blood, across the body of his "partner."

To date, we've been offered no explanation or any kind of justice.

Second, after planning and executing preparation for the deed, a man at the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino rained down death in a mass shooter rampage.  58 people were killed, and over 800 were injured.  

Again, to date, we've been offered no explanation.  We don't know the motives of the killer, or if there is any kind of future risk.  Just silence.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist.  I'm really not.  However, something REALLY stinks in these cases.  After months and millions spent in investigation, we still know nothing?  Really?

I'm not buying it.  Some truth in both of these cases, regardless of how horrific, would be appreciated. 

More on Oprah

I had a very wide-ranging discussion with Mrs. YDP last night on the Golden Globes.  She put forth the postulate that Oprah's speech was a good one, and the Oprah alone could not have "fixed" Hollywood.

Maybe.

However, in YDP's world, if you see evil and choose to do nothing (especially because it is fiscally prudent to do so), that makes you evil as well.  You're simply no better than the ones committing the atrocities.  

That's exactly why, upon liberation of the Nazi concentration camps in WWII, GIs forced the local populace into the camps to clean them and to serve witness to what was committed in their backyard, with their permission.

If Oprah had blown a whistle ten years ago, could she have changed things?  Maybe, maybe not.  But here's what I know for sure:

• She's arguably the most powerful woman in the world.  Part of being a good leader is understanding how to use power.  If she can't understand that, I'd argue she wouldn't make a very good president
• Because she didn't do anything hundreds if not thousands of people were harmed.  She needs to own that.  She was happy to stand by and watch.
• Not only did she watch, but she did this:

Still think Oprah is presidential material?

Gross.  Just gross.

True heroes expose evil.  They fight evil.  Even up to their deaths.

They don't go around protecting evil with their silence, and they certainly don't go around kissing evil...

Oprah's Speech

Everyone is positively euphoric of Oprah's speech at the Golden Globes.  "An history moment."  "The picture of speaking truth to power."  "Her candidacy for the presidency begins now."

One problem:  They knew.  They ALL knew.  For decades.   How many lives were trashed because, until now, it would have been personally inconvenient to say anything?  

Shame on you, Hollywood.

That includes you too, Oprah.

StarTribune, Taxes, and Fake News

Here's the breathless headline on the front page of the StarTribune:

Republican tax bill could alter landscape for homeowners?  I thought the tax bill was a good thing?  

However, in reading the article, 18 paragraphs into it (!), we find that mortgage interest deduction only goes away for mortgages greater than $750,000.  Which means that it applies to nobody except the very rich, or those that live in markets where real estate is completely out of hand (I'm looking at you, California).

Wonder why people accuse the media of fake news?  Here's your sign. 

Left to Suffer - Expose by the StarTribune

The media has won a well-deserved reputation of being biased do-nothings.  As their audiences have crumbled, they've lost a lot of the resources that enabled them to do actual traditional investigative journalism.  They've kind of been rendered as not much better than the loudmouths that bray in the comment sections of their articles.

However, every once and a while they hit it.  That was the case in a recent expose by the StarTribune called "Left to Suffer."  In it, they cover the rampant amount of abuse being conducted in Minnesota senior care facilities, and the shocking lack of protection and prosecution going on.

How bad is it?  In it, they report that maltreatment allocations rose to a volume of 25,000 cases in 2016 alone (a doubling of 2011 levels), while just over 3% of those cases were even investigated.

It is a very scary proposition.  It's made even scarier for someone like my wife and myself that have no children to serve as our advocates.

Good work, StarTribune.

Dumpster Fire

A joke of a president.  Sexual misdeeds rampant and new stories breaking on a daily basis.  A very bloody and brutal war with North Korea looking more and more likely.

Our world has developed into a dumpster fire.  And not a nice, paper-based fire either.  I'm talking burning rancid grease fire.  On a 100 degree day.

A couple of quick thoughts on the latest news:

• Garrison Keillor's explanation is unmitigated bullshit.  NPR isn't going to slaughter their bell cow over rubbing a woman's bare back.  This is Keillor getting ahead of the story.   Expect other shoes to fall if he doesn't change his tune and remains unrepentant.
• Matt Lauer is a pig, and so are all the people that knew it and turned a blind eye.
• Interesting that those in the media that have been accused have lost their job.  Those in "Public Service" are still getting paid.  A lot.

Oh, the smell...

Charlie Rose is a Pig

If you harass people that work for you, you're a pig.  If you grab their thigh while you're driving, you're a pig.  And for Pete's sake, if you march around naked in front of someone you work with, you, Charlie Rose, are a disgusting, filthy pig.

Who's next?

Where's Woody Allen?

Hollywood is going through its purge of sexual deviants, attempting to clean itself of its longest and deepest rooted sins.  The witch hunt is in full swing, and the witches are burning, baby.

Except one.

Woody Allen continues to skate.  HE MARRIED HIS DAUGHTER.  But he continues to skate.

Sorry, but whatever the torrid story du jour hits, it won't stack up to Allen and what he's done.  Yet Hollywood still hails him a genius.

These are the EXACT same people that demanded that we "move on" from what Bill Clinton did multiple times to an intern.  

Until things get serious there, and guys like Allen (and Roman Polanski, for Pete's sake) are made to pay for their crimes - and I most certainly mean crimes - I view what's happening in Hollywood to be nothing but pandering for the politically correct crowd.

What a cesspool.  

Bill O'Reilly is Toast

Hard to believe, but the biggest voice in all of cable news has been brought silent.  To their credit (albeit very late), Fox conducted its own investigation, and what they turned up could not have been good, as their golden goose was scattered to the wind.  Bill must have known they had the goods as well, as he chose to not put up a fight and just rolled over.

For the life of me, I cannot understand this behavior.  Why treat women so lousy?  Why risk tens of millions a year?  Why not control yourself?  Why?

We'll never know for sure, I guess.  Chalk it up to yet another example of someone in the highest of positions that just couldn't be a decent human being.  

Why is that so damned hard, especially for the most powerful?

Kendall Jenner Pepsi Ad and Liberal Outrage

As you're likely aware, media (both social and major) have piled on Pepsi for being so "tone deaf" in their production of an ad featuring Kendall Jenner.  Here is the offending ad:



It could not have been more Lefty.  Every bleeping lefty stereotype was included here, and all in your face.  However, despite it being a thorough homage to all things liberal, it was received with nothing but vitriol and hate from the Left.  

Why?  Because it leveraged the Black Lives Matter movement to sell soda.  Or so one would think.  Personally, I think the primary reason was that cops were treated too favorably, and there flat weren't enough dead pigs bleeding in the street.

This is yet another shining example that the real fascists are the Left.  Need proof?  If this video was a book, they would have burned it.  Every damned copy.

Think about that for a minute and let it soak in good and well.

Bill O'Reilly the Next Cosby?

Despite a sanctimonious demeanor (he's quick to tell you he never drinks and offers a "Tip of the Day" at the close of most shows), Bill O'Reilly is in hot water.  Multiple cases of sexual impropriety are quickly piling up against him, and the whispers are getting louder.

I take no joy in this.  I'm a fan of his show (as my suffering wife can attest) and his "Killing" series of books are simply outstanding.  Unfortunately, Bill appears to have a problem with the women with whom he works.

I'm not judging.  Are you a freak?  Well, my friend, there are outlets for that which are easy, easy, easy to find.  Especially for a guy worth tens of millions.  The last place you need to be flying your freak flag is a work.  With people that respect and admire you.

Bill looks dirty.  His responses to the allegations have a really funky smell.  Payouts have been increasing.  New stories are leaking.

American hero to zero, akin to Bill Cosby?  We'll see.  Right now, it doesn't look good. 

Susan Rice Unmasks Surveillance on Trump Team - Nobody Cares

Susan Rice is in hot water.  She "unmasked" intelligence about Trump and his team ahead of the election, seemingly only for political reasons.  This is outrageous behavior that very well may be criminal.  What Nixon did is chump change compared to this.

And yet, the only place you'll see this story is on right leaning news sources.  Nothing on CNN.  Nothing on the StarTribune.  Nothing.

Forget the concept of fake news.  When news outlets fail to inform the populace due solely to their political agenda, they're complicit in obstructing justice. 

That, in and of itself, is criminal.

Where are you getting your news, and what are they saying about this story?  If anything?

Chanhassen Principal - 10 More Counts of Child Porn

In Fuzzy's home town, the StarTribune is reporting that the former high school principal has been charged with an additional 10 counts of possessing child porn.  This highlights yet another example where teachers sure appear to be the leading sexual predators.

I'm creating a new label for these on this blog, as they need to be highlighted.  This is happening way, way too often.

Also, last week the StarTribune ran an article related to priest sexual abuse of a child, but they just so happened to leave the comments section up.  One could imagine what kind of comments it solicited.  

Funny, in all their stories of teachers abusing kids, I've never seen a comment section allowed.  Not once.

I pointed that out (via a comment) and lo and behold, the comment section disappeared.  Still, their bias was, and continues to be, obvious.

Note, I condone none of this.  Any person that sexualizes a child deserves more than I could ever describe here.  But let's not protect a profession that we hold on a pedestal while treating the church as a bastion of abuse.  

It's not.  

Schools?  I'm not sure... 

Tucker Carlson and NBC's Election Tampering

This is a really interesting perspective:

More Sexual Misconduct by a Teacher Involving Kids

The StarTribune reports this morning that the principal of Chanhassen Highschool was arrested due to a child pornography sting.  Stories like these are getting all too common.  It seems we can go just a couple of days and up pops another allegation of a teacher engaging in sexual conduct with kids.

When you think about it, it makes sense.  If one has a proclivity for sexual attraction for children, what better role for you than one in which you work with them, all day, every day?  If you're a wolf, why not go where the sheep are plentiful?

What I don't understand is that there is absolutely no backlash to these myriad incidents, let alone recognition that there is a problem.  Unlike the Catholic Church which is still being exonerated due to actions of predator priests, teachers are still held up on some pedestal.  I'd argue that it is because the left, which owns a monopoly on the media, also owns a similar monopoly on education.  Hence, these stories continue to be reported on a weekly basis (they can't be swept away), yet nobody ever connects the dots.

Pay attention going forward, and see if I'm right.  We have a problem with teachers putting our kids at risk, and nobody is doing or saying anything about it.