Dan Bonjino does an epic rant on the flap that’s blown up over Baltimore and Trump calling a crappy place a crappy place. Some facts I’d not known, like that it has been run 100% by Democrats since 1942 and during that time moved from 7% above the national average income to 22% below… Way to go, Dems! You OWN it!
58 minutes:
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Musings from the Chiefio 
This is another Trump trap. After he blasted Cummings about it, some Baltimorians started sending in pictures. And of course there is the written record (B-Sun), Audio Record (Mayor, Sanders, etc.) of every democrat saying what Trump did or worse.
But the democrats have to rally around and play the race card once again even though they are the only ones talking about race. Of course the left is going ape shit about it. But I suspect most of the rest are ignoring it. or like me, wondering how such racists can still be fooling half the people all the time. The democrats have dropped all pretense to their racism now.
Another Ian, in another thread, pointed out this list.
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/07/23/delingpole-twenty-ways-boris-johnson-can-make-britain-great-again/
In that list, item number 4 was Law and Order.
“Britain’s policing has become a national embarrassment which requires root and branch reform. Yes, the police need more resources to do their job: but only if it goes on beat officers pursuing actual crime rather than politically correct nonsense.”
That struck me, as I had just finished watching Season One of “Line of Duty”, a Brit TV drama.
Traditionally, Brit TV drama has been head and shoulders above the Hollywood products. I’m not so sure about this one compared to older series, but it is better than Hollywood. The series is very popular. Note that I am years behind in watching it. I will catch up soon.
One thing that struck me is that the Britain it shows is one I would avoid going to. My thought was like Tijuana or Baltimore. Ever since then Baltimore has been in the news. Coincidence?
The other thing that struck me was that while Hollywood is chasing rogue agents, this drama has a theme of corruption and incompetence. Police who do things (or not) according to how many forms they would have to fill out. Police who get hired or promoted based on how many boxes they tick. Police who are clue blind.
It reminds me of John Le Carré, who is also British.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2303687/
@YMMV:
One of my newer (and growing…) rules of thumb is that: Politicians corrupt everything they contact. The longer the contact, the more likely the thing will be perverted to serve their personal ends and desires.
The end case of this is the collapse of a society under Official Corruption. (See most South American countries at one time or another and the bulk of African countries too…) What is relatively new is that this kind of Terminal Corruption is arriving in the Anglosphere that had been firmly rooted in the old British Ways of fair play, honesty, etc. etc.
So a corollary to that would be that: When, upon inspection, an agency is seen to serve the needs of the Political Class more than the supposed clients, it can be said to be corrupt.
Apply those two to the cities where Antifa is given free reign, Conservative Speakers are not protected by police, police are used to “investigate” conservatives while ignoring “connected” democrats, and the Federal policing and intelligence agencies perverted to persecute an elected President (and him as a candidate).
The necessary conclusion is that the Federal Government AND Democrat dominated States and Cities are corrupt governments. (It pains me greatly to see that conclusion, but logic is what it is. The premises yield the conclusion not the person turning the crank of formal logic – which is as immutable as arithmetic in its rules…)
So Boris saying that the Police in the UK need to get off of the POLITICAL “correctness” kick and back onto real crimes says he’s seen the corruption too and wants it gone.
Lord spare us from Democrat ‘help’.
I live in the sub-sub-suburbs (cf my farm reports around my neighborhood) and worked in the city. Growing up, the schools, services, and amenities of the city were the envy of the region. We had Democrat mayors and Republican mayors, but either way, the mayors of the past were all about ‘Making Our Fair City Great’ (is MOFCG a thing?).
To your point about government corruption, E.M., I’m sure there were petty bribes and kickbacks when the city was thriving, but the old boys were pikers compared to the pols of recent years. The city is pretty much totally corrupt now as the Democrats have had free reign for about 30 years.
Anyhow, the article brought to mind our last Democrat mayor that was City first, Party second, and Skimming a Bit of Gravy third or even lower. He was a four-time mayor whose last term ended in 1970. I’d vote for that guy again if he was still alive.
He lived a few blocks from where my folks bought a modest retirement house in a blue-collar neighborhood. My folk’s house was about 1,000 square feet and the mayor’s place was a nice one in the neighborhood at about 1,300 or 1,400 square feet at best. He lived in that blue-collar neighborhood before and during his mayoral terms and remained there until he passed away about 20 years after his last term. So he abided by the consequences of his decisions. None of that ‘crumbs for thee and steak for me’ horsepuckey.
There was never a sign that he was living any higher on the hog or getting any more money than what was expected from a decent mayor’s salary. If there was any ‘corruption’ then I’d say it was one very nice extra park around that neighborhood compared to the rest of the city, but that would just about be it.
They are now building like crazy out my way and my burbs are going Blue, with all the attendant liberal bullshit, as the Democrats who ruined/are ruining the city will no longer live there and are escaping to the tidy, well-run township I’m in. The government bloat here over the past 10 years has been very noticeable and we are beginning to be afflicted with ‘PC’ and ‘Sustainability’ disease along with more useless projects that require ever more in taxes.
You still can’t get elected in my county (adjacent to the county the city is in) if you have a (D) after your name. It must be an (R). However, the regressive Dems have learned to run as (R)s, so you have to dig very deeply into their background to know what you will actually be getting. The Regressives send word out to the resident Dems as to which “R’ to vote for.
I’m hoping to be dead before the Regressive ruination of my township and county is complete, but it will be a close race.
thanks for the “Bonjino does an epic rant on the flap that’s blown up over Baltimore and Trump” vid link.
in the UK all we ever get in the “news” is the negative spin on anything Trump says or does, usually with a tweet by him (not quoted in context) & response by the PC brigade trying to convince the public he is racist/homophobic etc.
seldom or never do we hear a balanced news report from the UK news channels.
most people in the UK could not give a toss about what is happening in the US (hello Brexit), but the news channels jurnos just hate Trump & hammer him.
ps – love it when he by passed the media by using twitter & tells some media lovies to piss off.
@DFHunter:
You are most welcome. FWIW, I’ve found the Roku device very helpful for bypassing news bias. There are just so many sources of news that you can rapidly A/B them and spot the slime. Oddly, RT (Russia) is usually unbiased and has a nice perspective on all things non-Russia. (Just don’t ever expect them to criticize Putin or show where Russia “has issues”). They do have a couple of shows that are classical “Anti-Capitalism” (Banks Bad! Capitalism Bad! ;-) but I think that’s just to generally weaken the view of the prosperous western democracies. Al Jazeera is similarly good for all things non-Muslim. Just expect that in any war with Islam on one side they will be talking dirt about the other (cough, Israel, cough…).
I used to watch a lot of France 24 and Sky (Britain), but since Macron got in, France 24 seems to have gone even further over the edge into Climate Derangement Syndrome. (CDS – it’s a thing ;-) So I’ve cut them back a lot. Nice thing is you can just slide over the list of stories and pick what interests you, leaving the propaganda on the shelf… So all things Climate and Trump, I skip. Reports on the Yellow Vests? First rate. Similar (if somewhat more mild) issue with Sky. Nice BREXIT coverage, Trump not so much, climate not at all.
Then there is Youtube. Despite their algorithm changes, with a bit of directed searching, you can get all sorts of decent news. There’s a lot more Fox News lately (usually a day late it seems) and a whole lot of independent journalists. So, for example, I’ve had a week tour of Venezuela “on the street” seeing the place “for myself”. From the favellas with no food in the stores and kids eating one meal a day provided by foreign donors, to the Rich Government Neighborhoods with fully stocked shelves and where a single serving can cost a 1 month’s wages for a poor person. Very enlightening about the place and explains why it hasn’t collapsed yet. All the people in power are doing fine… and the poor if they get cranky get taken out.
Similarly, there’s a dozen other shows I occasionally check out for variety of viewpoint. From time to time I’ll post one as an article / pointer.
Yes, you can pretty much do all that with a computer, too. Just easier to get it big screen on the TV with the Roku…
I think I’ve probably told this story before, but around 2014 my kid brought some schoolmates for a home-cooked supper–my specialty slow-baked pot roast. The top gets really dark, but the inside is like Arby’s roast beef. It makes great leftovers! Even when my kid was young, it was a favorite.
Anyway, one of these young people was an exchange student from Venezuela. We actually sat around the dinner table to eat(!). When we all had had a serving of everything, the exchange student shyly asked if she could have more of the pot roast. I said, “Sure! Help yourself.” She said they hardly ever had food like that anymore. Then we talked a little about conditions back home, how there’s hardly any food in the stores, etc. Sad.
I had not met anyone from Venezuela before. Speaking of people coming from unusual places, I have seen more French names lately. I even saw a Swedish name this week.