Mark Valentine

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Brexit and The News Five months ago, I posted “The End Of Europe.” We are not quite there yet. The U.K. voting itself out of the E.U. (the Brexit vote) took us closer. We could talk about what comes next. We could talk about the financial implications, the social implications. We could talk about what it foreshadows for the American Presidential elections. Those are all interesting subjects. Those are all being talked about by lots of other people.Lets talk about what Brexit showed us about our American news sources.

NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC were all surprised and shocked. The New York Times had the “Remain” camp with an 80 percent chance of winning on the day of the vote. They did not see it coming. How is that possible? Bookies in the U.K. had the information. That means that the facts were there, but they were overlooked. We could try to guess the reasons for this bad investigative reporting.  Instead, we should just add a large grain of salt to the so-called information that comes from these sources.

Most of the talking heads immediately began calling the Brexit voters xenophobic, racist and ignorant of the turmoil they have caused. Those pundits have revealed to us that they are globalists. They believe that a few “smart” people in a central location know what is good for us. The only way they can process the rejection is to paint those who disagree in a negative light. They are only in favor of democracy if it supports their beliefs. Democracy requires sovereignty. Reject that, and you reject democracy itself.

There was a huge imbalance of Stay propaganda compared to Remain propaganda in the U.K. The fear among American Democrats is that our citizens will also reject the propaganda that we call news. They have groomed us to accept sources that hide the truth. They have become more invested in proving the “other side” is wrong rather than reporting all the facts. It seems like the U.S. is engaged in a giant court battle of “You’re Wrong vs No You’re Wrong.”

Here are a few facts about the E.U. that Americans rarely see. It began in 1951 as the European Coal and Steel Community.  Six nations tried to heal the wounded relations caused by World War II through duty-free trade. The Treaty of Rome created the European Economic Community, or Common Market in 1957. President Charles de Gaulle of France vetoed Britain’s application in 1963 and in 1967. Britain finally joined in 1973. That explains some of Britain’s feelings toward the E.U.

Most Americans don’t have a good picture of who actually voted on Brexit. British citizens 18 and older, citizens abroad who have been registered to vote at home in the last 15 years and residents of Britain who are citizens of Ireland or of the Commonwealth, which consists of 53 countries, including Australia, Canada, India and South Africa. The information about who voted runs contrary to the US talking heads that give us a picture of racist, white factory workers rising up against the more educated Europeans.

There are lots of instructive parallels in Europe for us, but the flow of “information” is eye-opening. Every day, we should force ourselves to listen to news sources that disagree with our feelings. Maybe we should tone down the Democrats vs Republicans and be a bit open to reality.

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Muhammad Ali Was The Donald Trump Of His Day

Refrain for a moment from cherry picking the beautiful things he said.  Look at the total of Muhammad Ali’s words. By far, most of what he said was, “I am the best.” The second most common thing he said was, “I will ridicule those who oppose me.” There was also a large dose of, “I don’t like the people in power right now.” That sounds a lot like Donald Trump.

What was the public reaction to Muhammad Ali? At the time, he was polarizing. At the time, many people vehemently mouthed hatred for him.  Sports writers likened him to "those unwashed punks who picket and demonstrate," and said "boxing should throw Clay (Ali) out on his inflated head." Even Sports Illustrated tagged him “The Louisville Lip.” The New York Times, as an official policy, refused to refer to the Heavyweight Champion as Muhammad Ali and continued to refer to him as “Cassius Clay” until about 1970.

Many Americans are appalled that Donald Trump calls people names. This week Hillary said, “You can’t insult your way to the presidency.”

Look at Ali’s greatest fights. He called Joe Frazier names. Some were so vile and personal, Joe Frazier could never quite forgive Ali. Ali said Joe was ignorant and he likened him to a gorilla. He regularly called him “chump,” “impostor,” “amateur” and “tramp.”  Ali also said Frazier and his black supporters were “Uncle Toms.”  In the build-up to “The Thrilla in Manila,” Ali called Frazier “the other type of negro,” “ugly,” “dumb,” and “gorilla,” while waving around a hand-held toy gorilla he used with the media when taunting Frazier.

The result was a lot of free press to promote the Muhammad Ali brand. Does that sound familiar?

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You Can’t Prove Anything Is A Bad Slogan

 The problem with talking national politics when you are from Kansas City is that nobody thinks you know anything beyond what has already been said by somebody in Washington or New York. But sometimes you have to get a little distance from a problem to see something that closer people can’t see.

Hillary Clinton’s private server allowed her to trade State secrets all along. The Clinton Foundation has actively traded sensitive information for cash, influence and favors through its “unsecured” server.

Putting that information on the server was the same as leaving a folder on a table in a restaurant. Informing the “donor” where to find the information was the same as a covert drop. This is not a hard concept to understand.

The Clinton Foundation amassed several hundred million dollars in a short time. Their only product is access. Speeches are a shallow disguise that is easily exposed. Bill Clinton gave two speeches during Hillary Clinton’s time as Secretary of State that exceeded $500,000 apiece. Hillary says that you can’t prove that she altered her actions at The State Department because of the money, but we can’t see what happened on her server at that time. The actions may not have taken place in The State Department. The actions took place on her server.

She says it was for convenience. It is a lot of work to set up and maintain a server and a separate email system. It is a lot of work to take it down and have it destroyed. It is a lot of work knowing that oversight committees will hound you. All of that is a lot more work than following the rules and the law. Convenience is not a plausible reason.

There are many layers of criminality surrounding The Clinton’s server. It is interesting to rehash the News from a Kansas City perspective. But this is a probability that has not been pointed out by any of the highly respected brains in the field.

You are welcome.

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Hello. This is Washington. How can I disconnect you?

It flew under most people’s radar. The United States paid $500 million into the United Nations' Green Climate Fund last week. It was the first payment of the $3 billion The Obama Administration pledged to the Paris Climate Change Agreement. Can the government we fund be any more disconnected from actually serving the people paying for it?

In current events, $500 million is the estimated cost to fix the water system that has poisoned the families living in Flint, Michigan. It seems so much more difficult to find that money.

$500 million was the amount The Obama Administration spent on the program to train and equip Syrian fighters. We got 4 or 5 fighters from that program.

$500 million makes the $43 million The Obama Administration spent on a gas station in Sheberghan, Afghanistan seem like a bargain until you realize nobody can use it.

The Paris Climate Change Agreement was born disconnected from American Citizens. If you can put it in historical context, a few days earlier ISIS launched three coordinated attacks in Paris, killing 129 people and wounding hundreds. It was difficult to suspend disbelief as our rulers declared the greatest threat to the world was Climate Change. The live News feeds showed they had not yet cleaned the blood of the victims from the streets of Paris.

The Obama Administration flaunted this disconnect from those required to pay for The Paris Climate Change Agreement. They publically bragged about having no intention of submitting The Agreement to the democratically elected Senate for its advice and consent. Josh Earnest, The Obama spokesman said, “I think it’s hard to take seriously from some Members of Congress who deny the fact that climate change exists, that they should have some opportunity to render judgment about a climate change agreement.”

The problem is that it has all the hallmarks of a treaty that should be submitted to the Senate for its advice and consent under Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. Also, The Agreement contains targets and timetables for emissions reductions. The Administration’s failure to submit the Agreement to the Senate breaches a commitment made by the executive branch to the Senate in 1992 in regard to ratification of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The Treaty itself makes little scientific sense. There is voluntary monitoring of emissions, but its language is mainly focused on actual temperatures and financial pledges. Basically, it is an agreement that money will be taken from the taxpayers of larger countries and sent to the UN to be distributed in a vague way to the smaller countries of the world.

Last month, The Supreme Court froze The Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan. That may have some impact on The Paris Agreement.

Now that they have US taxpayer money, Héla Cheikhrouhou, the fund's executive director is hiring 120 new staff members. She is optimistic that The Obama Administration, without any input from Congress, has pledged $2.5 billion more after making the initial $500 million deposit.

The Republic of Fiji has marked history by being the first country in the world to ratify the Paris Climate Change deal. Does anyone really think this has much to do with pollution?

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Time To Rethink Capitalism, Kids Don’t call Bernie Sanders a Socialist. He is a Democratic Socialist. When you try to look that up, you will find that it only ends up in sites about Bernie Sanders. At first, it seems to be made up like “Compassionate Conservative.” Go to the official website DSAUSA.org and see the picture they paint of themselves. “The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is the largest socialist organization in the United States, and the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International.” So unlike “Compassionate Conservatives,” these Socialists are affiliated with a foreign organization. That organization was formed in Germany in 1951. It has put 54 political parties in power in other countries.

Has the United States ever had a domestic political party affiliated with an external party? There has been several other political parties besides Republicans and Democrats but none have called a foreign political organization an affiliate. This would be a good time to question the source of Bernie Sanders fundraising. Millions of small donations are very hard to track. A search of the internet will turn up several blog posts that come from Europeans that have donated to Sanders. That would be illegal, so I am sure Bernie has returned all of that money. After all, he is only spending about $5million a week on ads. Socialists do not seem to be great at math, so it should be noted that is sarcasm. Sanders is spending a lot more than Clinton. A Republican from Texas said Hitler was a Democratic Socialist as well. That is not true. Hitler named his party “National Socialist” which was also made up, but not affiliated with the international group that formed in 1951. The German connection is probably a coincidence. What do these Socialists say about themselves on the official website? “Democratic Socialists believe that both the economy and society should be run democratically to meet human needs, not to make profits for a few.”  So profits are either a bad thing or they are in the wrong hands. It is not clear. No doubt, that vagueness is crucial to gathering followers. How did these Socialists recruit so many Americans and convince them that our national problem is companies that make profits? Here is what they say, “We are a political and activist organization, not a party; through campus and community-based chapters.” They openly target our kids. “DSA has a youth section, Young Democratic Socialists (YDS), made up of students from colleges and high schools.” What is their goal? “As we are unlikely to see an immediate end to capitalism tomorrow, DSA fights for reforms today that will weaken the power of corporations.” They can’t “end capitalism tomorrow” suggests they intend to end it someday. They specifically want to weaken corporations. Without those corporations, where would we work? What would we do? Imagine America without those jobs. Imagine any city without them. What would Kansas City be like without Ford, GM or Harley plants? What would Kansas City be like without the companies that are based here like Sprint, Garmin, Applebee’s, Hallmark, H&R Block, Marion Merrell Dow, Black & Veatch, Cerner, Boulevard Brewing, J.E. Dunn, KC Southern, DST? The city depends on them to make a profit. They need to pay the workers who buy the houses, shop in the stores and fund the school districts. That is what a city calls a tax base. Would any city be better off if the companies made less profit? Time to rethink Capitalism, kids.

If the goal is to grab political power by misleading kids, we had better get our kids to think it through. Those kids spend most of their time on iPhones and iPads. Would that big part of their life be possible without Capitalism? Apple is worth $500 billion. Would those kids rather not have an iPhone because it is not fair? Time to rethink Capitalism, kids.

Most of the growing Socialist movement is powered by Social Media. FaceBook is now worth more than Walmart or General Electric. Can those young Socialists imagine a world without this product? Would they even know about Bernie without Social Media? Time to rethink Capitalism, kids.

The music industry is worth about $150 billion a year. Do the young Socialists really want that to be less flashy with smaller networks? I have never heard the chant, “What do we want? Less Production. When do we want it? Now.” Time to rethink Capitalism, kids.

Is this Democratic Socialism just based on self-interest? It seems the driving force for these young Socialists is a promise of Free College and a forgiveness of Student Debt. No one can say how “free college” would look or work. Maybe it would look like The Detroit School System. Who will teach? Where will the free students go to class? Who will keep them safe? A more interesting thought is that this would take time, so would the current young Socialists still support it if they knew it would not include them? In 10 short years, those kids will be working with families and may be on the verge of actually having a career. Will they still want those high taxes when they are “The Rich?” Time to rethink Capitalism, kids.

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The Cliff Hanger

If we shot a picture of the world from the heart of America six weeks into the new year, it would seem like an unlikely scene from a bad movie.

In the foreground, the election process is in full swing. The Republicans have the usual governors, a young Cuban senator, a black brain surgeon, a female head of a Fortune 500 company and an unfiltered self-funded billionaire. The Democrats have a grandma who would already be in jail if she wasn’t so well connected and an aging Socialist. The electorate is so unhappy with the government that the bellicose billionaire and the angry old Socialist are trouncing the more mainstream candidates.

The President has just signed a nuclear treaty with Iran. The nation that was founded on the concept of “Death To America” now has a path to a nuclear weapon. The President says it is a good deal although every General and Intelligence Officer disagrees. Right before he releases over 100 billion dollars to Iran, Iran fires a ballistic missile to signal that they can reach the USA with a bomb. Right after he releases the money to Iran, they capture an American Navy vessel, film the sailors and use the footage as propaganda. In an odd plot twist, The US Secretary of State thanks Iran for their actions.

Like an over the top Batman movie, there needs to be multiple villains. North Korea detonates a nuclear device. Everyone decides it wasn’t a really big one and ridicules the little dictator for the size of his bomb. He then steps up his game and launches a ballistic missile on the morning of the Super Bowl. The North Koreans put something into orbit over the stadium. Initially everyone is fairly relaxed because it is only North Korea after all. Then it sinks in that the missile came from Iran. The two villains just signaled that together they have a bomb and a missile system. Cut to the President as he scolds the Republicans for being too divisive.

As the next layer of the picture comes into focus, we see The Heads of all the security agencies testifying before Congress. Violent extremists are active in about 40 countries and there currently exist more terrorist safe havens "than at any time in history." The extremists are “using the refugee exodus from violence in Iraq and Syria to hide among innocent civilians in order to reach other countries.” The Security heads go on to say it is much more likely now for our enemies to use detained American citizens as "bargaining pieces to achieve financial or political concessions."

But the picture has even more layers. Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper points out that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "the first leader since Stalin to expand Russia's territory." Clapper also raises cybersecurity as a major concern, saying, "China continues cyberespionage against the United States," and warning that non-state actors like ISIS are developing a cyber capability.”

And that brings us full circle to the election process. Which candidate can bring a happy ending to the picture that is on the screen?

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The End of Europe It is frightening to watch so much work and political capital go down the drain. The European Union with a single currency and porous borders is on the edge of demise. The powers that founded this powerhouse are under attack from the guardians of culture in each country. The powers that funded the concept are switching to defensive positions as they watch their assets dissolve. Death from a thousand cuts? Maybe. The bailouts of Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Cyprus and Spain as well the bribes to keep counties in the Union have hurt. The Euro Debt Crisis has been a very sticky problem since 2009. The European Central Bank and The IMF (mostly American money) has been able prop up the Euro. But the death blow that keeps coming is the influx of refugees from the unrest in the Middle East. We can get into the weeds, but let’s cut to the chase. German money is the biggest glue that holds the EU together. Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, pushed to let in a million migrants from another culture (The Middle East) into the country. Over the holidays, the refugee men organized sexual assaults at German public events. The German government got caught trying to cover this up while scolding German women for not dressing in a different way to accommodate the new “citizens.” All this took place with the backdrop of Islamic atrocities in France, Belgium, Italy as well as the non-European world. The imminent collapse was clearly signaled last week when EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker warned that Europe is on its "last chance." He even used phrases like, "at the beginning of the end." The EU’s biggest champion, Merkel called Europe "vulnerable." She said the fate of the euro is "directly linked" to resolving the migration crisis. France and Britain, the other two big powers in the EU, are also having major problems with violent cultural invaders. It is quickly becoming a choice of whether to keep the Union and its currency or protect your country. Imagine what border fences represent emotionally to Germans who remember East Germany. But in the face of organized rapes that are condoned by the cultural invaders, Germans may demand those fences. That will be the end of the dream of modern Europe. Europe's passport-free Schengen zone will cease to exist. Without it, the Euro has no function.

The leaders have said there must be a solution by spring or else. There is a meeting in February. Watch the language carefully. It may contain plans that will dismantle the bloc. Probably the best hope is to bribe Turkey to close its borders to cut off access to Greece. As The European Union breaks apart, the chance of war increases. Russia will take advantage. China will take advantage. Iran will take advantage. America needs to get ready. The pressures of the New World face our next President. God bless whoever that will be.

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Connecting The Wrong Dots Death comes in threes. A lot of people believe that. They link three deaths together and say, “See? I told you.” Truthfully, the only real thing that usually links those deaths is the person’s beliefs. They connect dots that are not really connected. The American Political Left is doing that now with gun deaths. President Obama called for gun control after the Islamic terrorist attack in California. He did that before the police cars left the crime scene. California has very tough gun laws. It did not help. Nancy Pelosi just said common sense gun reforms worked in California. How much farther from reality can that statement get? The dots don’t connect. Neil deGrasse Tyson sent out a tweet that stated 3400 people have died from terrorists in the USA since 2001 but 3400 people have died from guns in the last 5 weeks. It was a statement designed to shock America into a rush for gun control. But 60% of those gun deaths were suicide and most of the rest were criminal activity. Neither of those categories would be affected by gun control. Apparently, Mr. Tyson is no longer a scientist. He is connecting dots that are not really connected. Knowing that 90% of gun deaths in the US are suicide or criminal activity should logically reduce the emotional cry for stricter gun laws. But there are some other categories that we should examine. If there are things we can do, we should consider them. Reducing gun deaths by 5-10% is a goal worth pursuing. Terrorist attacks are in the news. It is a nightmare for citizens from Paris to San Bernadino. In the USA, there seems to be two major categories that are reoccurring. The Islamic terrorist attacks like California, Boston and Fort Hood are one kind. Teen psycho terrorism attacks like Columbine and Aurora are the other major reoccurring type. They are very different. More gun laws will not stop Islamic terrorist attacks. They make bombs out of welding supplies. If you are motivated by a death cult, anything becomes a weapon. There may be a solution, but it is not gun control. When you look at how strict the laws are in Paris and how many people died there, you know those dots do not connect. A reduction in teen psycho terrorism may be attainable. It looks like most of those perps have psychiatrists. They are taking meds. They play first person shooter computer/video games and they have access to guns. We can break that chain at the doctor level, the parent level or at the school level. Training and legal responsibility for any of the adults involved will mostly end this kind of attack. Most of the other shootings are accidental. Kids and adults that somehow have a gun in their hand without any training. This seems largely to be a problem of too many guns. They end up in wrong places. There are inherited guns. There are unsecured gun collections. There are personal security guns that end up with someone other than the owner. It is difficult to come up with a real solution that would fit all the scenarios. Buy-back programs would get a lot of these guns off the street. Incentives to have trigger locks and gun safes would help a little. But these types of shootings are not our country’s big problem. These issues don’t relate to mass shootings. The dots do not connect. When you hear someone demanding more gun control after an Islamic terror attack you have to realize their solutions are not fact driven. All of us could see it when President Obama was in Paris days after an Islamic terror attack and said the USA is the only place these things happen. It was a stunning disconnect. We can only imagine how the French felt when he said it. Let us be careful to do the right things and not the emotional things. Let us make sure the changes we make will solve our actual problems.

We all need to connect the right dots. The Left needs to be kind to people who are really trying to think it through. They are not your enemy. The Right needs to be kind to people who just want to do something even if it doesn’t really help. Those people are driven by emotions and truly believe they are doing good things. They are not our enemies. They just are connecting the wrong dots

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Kansas City Has Good Taste It surprises people when Kansas City comes out on top. Frankly, it even surprises us. So this is fair warning, Kansas City is going to have a Top Chef on The Bravo network.

“Top Chef” is a very popular cooking show. In fact, this will be its 13th season. The December 2nd launch will be a two night edition to kick off the national competition. The Bravo Network has selected 17 contenders this season. All of them are from California except for Renee Kelly. She is from Kansas City. She is the tasty choice. Her restaurant is called “Harvest.” It is in the quiet suburb of Shawnee, Kansas. The locals call it “Renee Kelly’s Castle.” And yes, it is actually a castle. She bought it over 10 years ago and has been transforming it into a great event space. For those of you who keep score, she is the 3rd Kansas City chef to appear on the Top Chef show. This season is in the can. It took three weeks to film it. Renee Kelly will not give a hint about the outcome.  We will just have to watch on December 2 with the rest of the country.

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Judging Historical Figures Out Of Context Ivy League students at Princeton University are protesting. They want Woodrow Wilson’s name removed from University buildings. The attitudes he had 100 years ago would clearly be racist by today’s standards. He was president of Princeton in 1903. He was a two term President of The United States of America in 1913. Every university associated with a U.S. president has a building with their name on it, but let that pass. Judging historic figures out of their historical context must be our new standard.

Next in line should be Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Yes, FDR defined 20th century Liberalism, but he ordered Japanese-Americans to be held in prison camps. Any president who would arrest and jail US citizens based on their ethnicity must be pilloried in the public square. Harvard students must rise up against him or be condemned themselves.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy will be a painful addition to the hit list, but only to the older folks. History is clear. Kennedy voted against Eisenhower’s 1957 Civil Rights Act. As President, Kennedy ordered the FBI to break into Martin Luther King's office and home to install bugs. His instructed the agents about the "delicacy of this particular matter" hoped they didn't get caught installing them. Kennedy added that he wanted to be personally informed of any pertinent information. It looks like Harvard students really need to rise up twice.

Sadly, Martin Luther King must also be put on our list. In the late 1950s, MLK told a gay teenager, “I would suggest that you see a good psychiatrist who can assist you in bringing to the forefront of conscience all of those experiences and circumstances that lead to the habit.” His obvious anti-gay stance became clear when he fired Bayard Rustin, a top advisor, for being gay. The students of Morehouse may have a tough time with this one. They may leave it for the next wave of freshmen who need something to protest.

The new standard of out-of-context judging is easier when the history is older.

Did you ever stop to think that the United States of America was formed by men in high heels who wore wigs?

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Trump Sends A Signal To America The Washington pundits have spent a lot of time talking about Trump. They all seem to agree that he has captured the discontent voters feel toward a dysfunctional government. They all seem to agree that he is not a normal politician. They all have their theories about why a candidate can say things like Trump says and still rise in the polls. They tend to agree that he is a master at manipulating the media.

They have all missed the big signal that his candidacy sends to the nation. We passed a tipping point. There is now more money in government than the private sector. Donald Trump has enjoyed the hunt for money his whole life. He has not changed. America has changed so much that a government job is now attractive to even the most successful capitalists.

Look at the numbers. 2015 signaled the first time in history that the majority of Congressmen are millionaires. Obama’s net worth has risen 450% since he ran for office. Bill Clinton is now in the top 10 richest presidents in history with a net worth of nearly $60 million. It is especially on point to note these last two presidents because they never worked in the private sector.

The Left wants to get money out of politics. Clearly, that is not happening by voting Democrat. Maybe this would be a good time to mention that Al Gore is worth over $200 million.

The Right wants to have a smaller Federal Government. Clearly, that is not happening by voting Republican. The growth of Washington has never slowed under their control. This might be a good time to mention the tax revenue for this year will be close to $4 trillion.

The median sale price of a house in Washington DC is over $500k. The same house would sell for $145k in Kansas City. The median salary for a Federal worker in Washington is $102,000. The median household ( not individual) income in Kansas City is $45,000.

Keep talking about your theories of why Donald trump is topping the polls. Tactics are amusing pieces of conversation. Pundits can display their big brains and take their bows. It may be more important to look at why he wants to be president. Has anyone noticed the canary quit singing in that coal mine?

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Good Show Hooray!  Kansas City is a world class sports town. The world looks at the pictures in awe. It was amazing to see that many people wearing a blue shirt that says “Kansas City.”  We are still an amazingly good music town. Our musicians are constantly been noticed by millions around the world. They are just harder to pick out because they don’t wear a blue shirt that says Kansas City. When Jason Pritchett made it to the finals of America’s Got talent two seasons ago, not very many people in Kansas City knew him. It seemed like we discovered his talent at the same moment the rest of the country became aware. The “Independence Cowboy” spent the year or so after the show traveling the country playing music. That is what they call living the dream. He doesn’t travel so much now because he has a show at The Starlight Theater in Branson. That is living a little better and easier dream. His song, “Good Show” was in the Top 20 on the Billboard charts. That earned him a spot in last Wednesday’s Country Music Awards Show. It is always good to see a Kansas City guy doing well. The CMAs is a real step up from the Truman High School choir shows he was doing not so many years ago. Good show, old man.

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Count The Money. Make The Money Count.

Every American must submit an annual accounting. Every American is susceptible to an audit with the threat of a penalty. That is our system. We talk about how it needs to be changed, but none of the proposed changes do much to alter the basic fact that we must be accountable. Every government program should follow the same basic rule. They do not. Recently, it was discovered that Washington spent $43 million of taxpayer money to build a gas station in Afghanistan. The most expensive gas station in the world is not even usable. Where was the accounting? The program is closed now. There is nobody available to answer questions. To put the cost in perspective, that is the price tag for the new 300 unit green living apartment development in Kansas City’s River Market. Can we audit The Federal Reserve? No. Can we audit The IRS? No. Are we better at this locally? The government program that has hurt Kansas City the most is The Kansas City Public schools. $212.3 million taxpayer dollars is spent to educate less than 17,000 students. That comes out to $12,500 per student. Allan Tunis is currently the Interim Superintendent. He is number 27 in 45 years, so maybe they have all been “Interim Superintendents.” The last one, Stephen Green, left suddenly at the start of this school year. When James V. Shuls, director of education policy at the Show-Me Institute, started looking at questionable expenses on the district’s credit card, Stephen Green decided it was time to find another district. In a Channel 5 TV interview, Andrea Flinders, president of the Kansas City Federation of Teachers and School-Related Personnel Local 691 said, "It sends a really bad message, there have been cutback at the school level, cuts at the site level, but you have a superintendent dining at five-star restaurants... that's just wrong," Maybe the rich are not paying enough, but government is definitely not spending it responsibly.

Federal to local, government departments should submit an annual accounting and be susceptible to an audit with the threat of a penalty…. or none of us should.

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The Jack-o-Lantern Threat Here is a serious warning from The US Department of Energy: Jack-o-Lanterns are contributing to global warming. Yes, it does sound like a bad Halloween joke. Most of us wonder who sets priorities for this Federal Department. Some of the more conspiratorial among us wonder what real issue is being overlooked by floating this distraction. But here is the quote, “At landfills, (municipal solid waste) decomposes and eventually turns into methane—a harmful greenhouse gas that plays a part in climate change, with more than 20 times the warming effect of carbon dioxide (CO2),”

It seems like the political Left is against everything that is traditional and fun. No public schools are allowed to say Merry Christmas. We have become accustomed to that. Now it seems that the more Federal departments they control, the more we can expect an increase in the assault on our traditions. The Head of The Department of Energy (DOE) is a cabinet level bureaucrat, so he can really do some damage to our way of life. His duties include the handling of nuclear waste and spent jack-o-lanterns.

The Secretary controls $27 billion in tax dollars and spends more money on research than any other Federal Department. It was not made clear how much was spent on the jack-o-lantern study.

Now we anxiously await the new study, “Why we must feel bad about Thanksgiving”

[mvalentine-kc]

Diogenes The Rolling Stone story about the brutal campus gang rape turned out to be false. As it unravels, more reporters are saying how easy it would have been to find this out before they made the accusations that caused so much harm. The fraternity was harmed. The school was harmed. Even the future rape cases have been harmed. The story moved forward because the cause was so ideologically important that the facts became casualties. This is the pattern of The Left.  They have become overtly Machiavellian with the belief that "The ends justify the means."  Click backwards through your News Feed and you will see the pattern. “Hands up. Don’t shoot.” was repeated in Congress and across the nation. It was a lie. The man shot by police in Ferguson never had his hands up or said don’t shoot. Officers died. Buildings were burned. The Left has defended its dishonesty because the cause was more important than the facts. The end justified the means. The Affordable Health Care Act was sold to the citizens with the promise of lowering premiums by $2500 per year and you can keep your doctor. The architects of that bill knew they were lying when they made those promises. Now they refuse to look at those facts. They only change the subject to other parts of the law. The cause was too ideologically important to be burdened by facts. The end justified the means. Recently, Harry Reid took public pride when asked about his deliberate lie on the Senate floor about Mitt Romney not paying any taxes. He was quite smug in acknowledging that he knew he lied, but it kept Romney from being elected. The cause was too ideologically important to be burdened by facts. The end justified the means. When someone deliberately lies on a regular basis, it becomes harder to believe anything they say. Perhaps we should have a closer look at Global Warming, Immigration, Capitalism, The Iran Nuclear Deal. Those of us that are not hopelessly partisan are like modern day Diogenes looking for an honest reporter.