Monday, April 30, 2018

Box Score of the Week

It was 10-cent beer night at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium on June 4, 1974 when the Indians hosted the Texas Rangers.

What could go wrong?

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The Cleveland Plain Dealer carried a story about this incident on the 40th anniversary.

Retired sportswriter Dan Coughlin, who was in attendance, summed it up this way:

There were 25,134 fans.

60,000 Genesee beers at 10 cents each.

50 cops.

19 streakers

7 emergency room injuries.

9 arrests.

2 bare moons.

2 bouncing breasts.

1 sportswriter punched in the jaw.

It was the perfect storm. If they ever make a movie out of it, George Clooney will have to play the lead.


With the game tied after nine innings, the umpires declared a forfeit and awarded the visiting Rangers the victory.

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Sunday, April 29, 2018

We're the best of friends insisting that the world keep turnin' our way....

Another Sunday, yet another broadcast of my radio program The Closer. The one-hour festivities get kicked off at 2:00 PM Central Time.

So much to get to, so little time. I hope to weigh in on the horrific situation surrounding British tot Alfie Evans, who basically was forced to die as opposed to the government allowing his parents to take him elsewhere for treatment. Also, should we on the political right embrace an allegedly "woke" Kanye?


So please call (651) 289-4488 if you'd like to weigh in on any of the topics we plan on addressing. You can also text comments/questions to (651) 243-0390.

You can listen live in the Twin Cities at AM 1280 or, if you're near downtown Minneapolis/West Metro area, 107.5 FM on your radio dial. In and out of the Minneapolis-St Paul area, you can listen to the program on the Internet by clicking this link, or check us out via iheart radio. If you're unable to tune in live, please check out my podcast page for the latest show post.

And if you're so inclined, follow along on Twitter at #NARNShow or "Like" our Facebook page.

Until then.....

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Friday, April 27, 2018

Well whatta ya know!

Reports of the demise of AM/FM radio in the world of podcasts, satellite radio, etc. has been greatly exaggerated.

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Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Unconventional hero

By now you've likely heard the story of the Tennessee man who wrestled a rifle away from a gunman at an Antioch, TN Waffle House. After four people were already shot dead, an unarmed man by the name of James Shaw, Jr. somehow mustered the courage to confront the shooter.

Shaw Jr. rushed the gunman, grabbed the gun’s barrel, pulled it away and threw it over the Waffle House counter. He suffered a gunshot wound and burns from grabbing the gun’s barrel.

Shaw Jr. said he doesn’t feel like a hero.

He was only trying to stay alive.

“It feels selfish,” Shaw Jr. “I was just trying to get myself out. I saw the opportunity and pretty much took it.”

The gunman then fled the scene but was eventually apprehended after a 34-hour manhunt.

There's no denying that Mr. Shaw is a hero despite the fact he eschews that label. And I don't believe it's a stretch to say he's very very lucky to escape that confrontation with relatively minor injuries.

OK, now let's address the proverbial elephant in the room. How did the gun grabber crowd demagogue this latest shooting? I figured it would be the obligatory blaming the NRA or declaring that Congress needs to enact strict "gun control" measures. While I didn't think it was possible, the gun grabbers somehow managed to come up with a rationale even more asinine than their normal bilge.

Many of (the gun grabbers) immediately pointed to Shaw as proof that you don't need a gun to defend yourself against an armed assailant. The Parkland activists, in particular, were quick to seize on this idea. As Emma Gonzalez put it:

"The local police say a man at the scene wrestled his gun away - looks like you don’t need to arm a teacher (or a resource officer) to stop a shooting. There goes the sales pitch for @SmithWessonCorp."

That tweet was "liked" 20,000 times. David Hogg's tweet making the same argument was "liked" more than 50,000 times. Apparently the gun grabbers believe they've really stumbled onto some kind of brilliant point here.

They have not. On the contrary, they have stumbled onto something utterly nonsensical.

A man may use his hands to eat spaghetti but that doesn't universally negate the need for forks. A man may swim across the English Channel but that doesn't mean we should get rid of all the boats in the world. A man may sleep outside in a tent but that doesn't prove that houses are unnecessary. A man may jog from New York to Los Angeles but that isn't a sufficient reason to abolish air travel. A man may charge into gunfire and disarm an attacker with his bare hands but that is not an argument against the Second Amendment.

Again, I have the utmost admiration for Mr. Shaw (the fact he's also been raising money for the victims' families only fortifies that sentiment). He is definitely in an infinitesimal minority of people who would have confronted the shooter in such a manner. But if I had a choice to be protected by an unarmed man with extraordinary courage or an armed individual who is proficient in the use of a firearm, the latter wins out every time. And anyone who says differently is either delusional or a bald faced liar. So with that in mind, I guess it makes sense why gun grabbers would attempt to use this incident to strengthen their anti-gun position.

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Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Leftism: still a mental disorder

Former NFL kicker Jay Feely stood between his daughter and her prom date while holding a gun. Anyone with a scintilla of a sense of humor would realize that such a photo was merely perpetuating the stereotype of an overprotective dad sending a message that his daughter needs to be treated with respect. Ah, but since many of today's leftists possess neither a sense of humor nor rational thought, there was a downright freakout in reaction to Feely's Twitter post. Feely would later apologize.

Then you had superstar singer Shania Twain (who, keep in mind, is Canadian and ineligible to vote in the U.S.) saying that she would have voted Donald Trump for President were she an American. Once again, there was the predictable leftist sh*t fit which resulted in a Twain mea culpa.

I've said it many times before but it bears repeating. Leftism has devolved into little more than politicizing every aspect of life to the point where there is to be a Dean Vernon Wormer directive of "NO MORE FUN OF ANY KIND!!" The "progressive" movement has also shown to have zero interest in engaging its ideological opposites within the arena of ideas simply because they've come to realize how outside the mainstream their collective worldview has become. No, for proggies it's more efficient to utilize fascist tactics.

Until the victims of such irrational mobs quit apologizing for merely engaging in harmless fun or expressing an unpopular opinion, such actions will only become that much more overwhelming.

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Monday, April 23, 2018

Box Score of the Week

Minnesota Twins at Oakland Athletics - April 6, 1973.

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The 1973 MLB season was the first year the Designated Hitter was used in American League batting orders. In this game, the Twins' Tony Oliva became the first DH to to hit a home run. 

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Sunday, April 22, 2018

There's a gun and ammunition just inside the doorway...

What a difference a week makes. Last Sunday I didn't leave my house the entire day due to the constant snowfall. But today it will legitimately feel like spring, so The Closer will return to the airwaves. The one-hour broadcast gets started at 2:00 PM Central Time.

We'll discuss the news of this past week, including the latest in the Minnesota gubernatorial race as well as the North Star state possibly being one of the few bright spots for the GOP in 2018.

At 2:30 I will be joined by Hot Gas Air blogger and Northern Alliance Radio Network alum Ed Morrissey. Taking place next Sunday evening is the highly touted Patriot event Overtime with Hugh Hewitt and Mike Gallagher, which will be emceed by Ed. As such, we hope to receive a sneak preview of content of the next week's forum.


So please call (651) 289-4488 if you'd like to weigh in on any of the topics we plan on addressing. You can also text comments/questions to (651) 243-0390.

You can listen live in the Twin Cities at AM 1280 or, if you're near downtown Minneapolis/West Metro area, 107.5 FM on your radio dial. In and out of the Minneapolis-St Paul area, you can listen to the program on the Internet by clicking this link, or check us out via iheart radio. If you're unable to tune in live, please check out my podcast page for the latest show post.

And if you're so inclined, follow along on Twitter at #NARNShow or "Like" our Facebook page.

Until then.....

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Thursday, April 19, 2018

Downey out

The only thing that surprised me about this latest development on the GOP side of the Minnesota gubernatorial race is that it took so long.

Former Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Keith Downey today pulled the plug on his campaign for governor, saying he could not “see a path to victory” after former Gov. Tim Pawlenty joined the race this month.

Downey, a former state representative from Edina, said in a letter to supporters that he believed he had the right message. “But the opportunity for me to win in November has closed,” he wrote.

When Pawlenty entered the race, “the landscape changed dramatically,” he said.

The former governor raised more than $1 million for his campaign less than a month before announcing he’d seek a third term.

Downey reported raising $182,338 this year, placing him third in the GOP money contest behind Pawlenty and Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson.

Downey finished second in a straw poll at the Republican precinct caucuses Feb. 6 with 15 percent of the vote. Johnson won the straw poll (45 percent) and was considered the front-runner for the GOP endorsement until Pawlenty entered the race.



Downey's porous performance at the aforementioned GOP caucus straw poll was the strongest sign that he needed to move on, yet he vowed to continue. He even barraged MN Republican voters with emails regarding his desire to engage the other GOP candidates in a "real debate" as opposed to the numerous candidate forums. I guess Downey believed he could prevail in such a venue, but it never came to fruition.

Truth be told, I never took Downey's candidacy seriously when he entered the race last summer. While it appeared the state party apparatus made some mild financial progress under his leadership, Downey had some significant public relations blunders. The aftermath of party delegates' 2014 endorsement of Michelle MacDonald for Supreme Court of MN was (as my friend and NARN colleague Mitch Berg described it) a proverbial goat rodeo. Also, Downey's rhetorical nuking of his deputy chair Chris Fields (who sought to replace Downey as chair in 2017 when he chose not to seek reelection) was incredibly off-putting to a good number of GOP grassroots activists. The idea he could then turn around and gain their support for the party's nomination for governor seemed (to be charitable) far fetched. 

It was also peculiar that Downey attempted to paint himself as an "outsider" candidate (a la Donald Trump at the national level) despite the fact he served two terms in the MN House, ran unsuccessfully for MN Senate in 2012 and was state party chair for four years. Not sure where Downey goes from here but I have a hard time believing he has a future in electoral politics.

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Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Barbara Bush: 1925-2018

It's a 12-minute segment, but the memories of former First Lady Barbara Bush conveyed by these veteran politicos and journalists are well worth checking out.




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Monday, April 16, 2018

Box Score of the Week

With yesterday being "Jackie Robinson Day" across Major League Baseball, I'm featuring a game from his illustrious 10-year big league career. It was his Brooklyn Dodgers taking on the St. Louis Cardinals in 1948.

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In the illustrious 135-year history of the  Brooklyn Atlantics / Brooklyn Grays / Brooklyn Bridegrooms / Brooklyn Superbas / Brooklyn Robins / Brooklyn Dodgers / Los Angeles Dodgers franchise, only 10 different players have hit for the cycle. Jackie Robinson did so in the 1948 game I've referenced here. 

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Saturday, April 14, 2018

Another in-kind contribution to Trump 2020

Leftists: "I'm so sick of &%$&#)@ Trump and his divisive rhetoric."


Also leftists:




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Friday, April 13, 2018

Full circle

On Wednesday evening the Minnesota Timberwolves clinched a spot in the NBA playoffs, a feat they hadn't accomplished since April 2004.

What else was happening on the Minnesota sports landscape in the spring of 2004?


  • University of Minnesota women's basketball star Lindsay Whalen capped off a brilliant 4-year career by leading the lady Gophers to a Final Four appearance. She was also a member of the All-Big Ten team for third consecutive season. She would go on to be the fourth overall pick in the WNBA draft, selected by the Connecticut Sun.

  • A 21-year old catching phenom from St. Paul by the name of Joe Mauer made his major league debut with his hometown Minnesota Twins. Despite an injury plagued '04 season that limited his time on the field, the top overall pick from the 2001 MLB draft still held a lot of promise for a stellar big league career.


So how does this all tie together? In the 24-hour span since the Wolves clinched that elusive postseason berth, Whalen, who was a member of 4 WNBA championship teams with her hometown Minnesota Lynx, was named the head basketball coach at her alma mater. And Mauer collected his 2,000th career base hit.

Yep. A lot has happened in the 14 years since that glorious spring of 2004.

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Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Quick Hits: Volume CLXII

- Upon John Boehner resigning as Speaker of the U.S. House in late 2015, one of the names immediately considered to succeed him was Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). However, Ryan was reluctant to pursue the post given his commitment to a young family as well as his lack of desire to aggressively fund raise on behalf of the House GOP caucus. Eventually Ryan chose to run for House Speaker once the more polarizing factions of the party (i.e. "The Establishment" and "Freedom Caucus") were each willing to give majority support. Ryan was then officially elected in October 2015.

For the past several weeks, rumors have been circulating that Ryan will not only resign as House Speaker but that he won't even seek reelection for his Congressional seat this year. Said rumors were confirmed on Wednesday.

The Wisconsin Republican cast the decision to end his 20-year career as a personal one, saying he did not want his children growing up with a "weekend dad." He told reporters he believes he's leaving with strong accomplishments his party can sell to voters ahead of November elections. A self-styled budget guru, Ryan had made tax cuts a centerpiece of his legislative agenda, and a personal cause, and Congress delivered on that late last year.

"I have given this job everything I have," he said. "We're going to have a great record to run on."

Ryan's plans have been the source of much speculation and will set off a scramble among his lieutenants to take the helm. It will also fuel speculation that Ryan is eyeing a coming Democratic surge, fueled by opposition to President Donald Trump, that could wrest control of the House from Republicans' grip. Several GOP veterans have announced plans to retire in recent months and another, Rep. Dennis Ross of Florida, quickly followed Ryan on Wednesday.

Ryan, 48, first announced his plans at a closed-door meeting of House Republicans Wednesday morning. His tone was somber, and he read directly from prepared remarks. Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., said an emotional Ryan "choked up a few times trying to get through" his remarks to colleagues and received three standing ovations.

Moments later, Ryan told reporters that if he were to stay for one more term, his children — now all teens — would only know him as a weekend dad.

"I can't let that happen," he said.

Personally I'll miss Ryan, particularly his terrific communication skills in conveying the party's agenda as well as his ability to (mostly) bring all factions of the House GOP together. That was the one area where his predecessor, Boehner, was sorely lacking. Also, I can't think of any other politicians who could have so deftly managed the chaos brought on by the top elected official in the party, President Donald J. Trump.

I still can't help but lament that it should be a Vice President Ryan in the midst of a second term with President Romney. Regardless, enjoy retirement Mr. Speaker.


- There were several cringe-inducing moments at Tuesday's Senate Judiciary and Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee meetings where they interrogated Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Specifically, it was a good number of septuagenarian (and, in some cases, older) senators who probably still believe that televisions operate on vacuum tubes, yet they can get a handle on the challenges technology giants face regarding data privacy practices? Absurd.

I believe Sean Davis from The Federalist said it best:





Indeed.


- I've made no secret about my enjoyment of 1980s pop culture and its cast of characters, particularly actress Molly Ringwald. Sure, she's a pablum puking leftist today, but I refuse to let that soil the memories I have of what I consider her stellar '80s performances.

Ah, but Molly herself appears even more unyielding in undermining the fondness many people my age have for that era, particularly when referencing the cinematic classic The Breakfast Club.

It’s a strange experience, watching a younger, more innocent version of yourself onscreen. It’s stranger still—surreal, even—watching it with your child when she is much closer in age to that version of yourself than you are. My friend was right: my daughter didn’t really seem to register most of the sex stuff, though she did audibly gasp when she thought I had showed my underwear. At one point in the film, the bad-boy character, John Bender, ducks under the table where my character, Claire, is sitting, to hide from a teacher. While there, he takes the opportunity to peek under Claire’s skirt and, though the audience doesn’t see, it is implied that he touches her inappropriately. I was quick to point out to my daughter that the person in the underwear wasn’t really me, though that clarification seemed inconsequential. We kept watching, and, despite my best intentions to give context to the uncomfortable bits, I didn’t elaborate on what might have gone on under the table. She expressed no curiosity in anything sexual, so I decided to follow her lead, and discuss what seemed to resonate with her more. Maybe I just chickened out.

She's goes on to throw late director John Hughes, with whom she collaborated on multiple successful '80s films, under the proverbial bus for having "such a glaring blind spot." She even went on to equate her situation with the female entertainers victimized by sleazy Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. Seriously!

National Review entertainment writer Kyle Smith also thought that was a bridge too far.

Dropping the name Harvey Weinstein like a smoke bomb, to ensure maximum confusion and panic, she writes, “If attitudes toward female subjugation are systemic, and I believe that they are, it stands to reason that the art we consume and sanction plays some part in reinforcing those same attitudes.” There is question-begging in both the dependent clause and the independent clause of that sentence. Consider how vacuous the same argument has come to look when it comes to violence instead of sex: We have shootings in reality because there are shootings in video games and movies. What Ringwald seizes upon as Exhibit A in “female subjugation” looks more like a throwaway sex joke, and anyway, just as shootings have sharply declined over the last generation, so have rates of rape and sexual assault.

I can't tell if this is Ringwald genuinely feeling exploited or merely a lackluster attempt to conjure up her own #MeToo story in an effort to become a more credible voice for the issue.

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Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Monday, April 09, 2018

Box Score of the Week

Goin' way, way back to 1921 when the Detroit Tigers took on the New York Yankees.

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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim rookie phenom Shohei Ohtani was the starting (and winning) pitcher in his club's April 1 game vs. Oakland. The next game he played in was two days later as the Angels' DH against Cleveland. Ohtani hit a home run in that game, becoming the first player since Babe Ruth in 1921 to win a game as a starting pitcher one day and then hit a home run the following game he played. 

This week's featured game is where Ruth homered a day after notching a victory as a starting pitcher. 

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Sunday, April 08, 2018

It really comes as no surprise to find that you planned it all along.....

So what if it's April yet there's snow on the ground and temperatures in the 30s! All the more reason to be inside to check out this week's Sunday edition of the Northern Alliance Radio Network. The one-hour extravaganza gets started at 2:00 PM Central Time.

At about 2:20, I'll be joined via phone by Salem Media Group-Twin Cities promotions guru Stacey Tourtin. With some big time events coming up involving Salem's national personalities, Stacy will be on to share the exciting details.

Then at 2:30 I will be joined by Congressional candidate Jim Hagedorn. After falling just short in the 2016 U.S. House race in Minnesota CD-1, Mr. Hagedorn will once again vie to be the Republican nominee in that district's 2018 contest.



So please call (651) 289-4488 if you'd like to weigh in on any of the topics we plan on addressing. You can also text comments/questions to (651) 243-0390.

You can listen live in the Twin Cities at AM 1280 or, if you're near downtown Minneapolis/West Metro area, 107.5 FM on your radio dial. In and out of the Minneapolis-St Paul area, you can listen to the program on the Internet by clicking this link, or check us out via iheart radio. If you're unable to tune in live, please check out my podcast page for the latest show post.

And if you're so inclined, follow along on Twitter at #NARNShow or "Like" our Facebook page.

Until then.....

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Saturday, April 07, 2018

Mr. 3,000

It was near the end of a work day in late October 2004 when I logged into blogger.com to create a "blog." There were myriad reasons why I was inspired to do so. Sure, I had heard of the blogging lawyers who exposed legendary news anchor Dan Rather as a fraud. However, I was not laboring under any delusion that I would be able to pull off a similar earth-shattering conquest. No, I looked at this merely as a cathartic exercise so I wouldn't have to rant and rave at people who couldn't care less what I believe. But with a blog, folks would be able to indulge in my opinions only if they so desired.

For a long time I have fancied myself a trivia buff, someone who is interested in fascinating facts. So for my first post, I conveyed similarities between the 1988 Presidential race & Major League Baseball season to the same venues in 2004. Sure, it wasn't exactly hard hitting analysis or provocative rhetoric, but it was an amalgam of a few of my passions: sports, politics and trivia.

Over the first 12 months of this blog, I put forth 17 posts. But over the next 12-1/2 years I've posted 2,983 times on this site for a grand total of 3,000 entries!! Did I ever believe that I would stay in the blogging game long enough to generate that kind of content? I guess I never really gave it that much thought, but I have zero regrets for enduring for that period of time. This blog has directly or indirectly resulted in my forming many new friendships, an ability to think more critically, the urge to expand my interests beyond sports and, of course, my nearly 7-year stint as a weekly radio host (radio broadcasting was something I dreamed of doing since I was 12) for the Northern Alliance Radio Network. Given all that, how can I look at this endeavor as anything but a net positive?

My heartfelt thanks to anyone who has read even once sentence I've typed here. While I have never had the expectations of a Power Line sized readership, I am always pleased to have at least a handful of page views daily. Here's to another few thousand posts or so!

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Able to quash multiple anti-gun narratives in a single speech..........

I may have shouted "AMEN!" a time or ten.





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Thursday, April 05, 2018

Only the right kind of diversity is allowed

I've sensed for some time that political leftists are no longer interested in a free exchange of ideas, rather they want to quash conservative thought altogether. Whether it's rioting on college campuses in response to a right-leaning personality scheduled to give a speech or demands that non-leftist op eds in major newspapers be met with retribution (see the NY Times' Bret Stephens and Bari Weiss), leftists are not even trying to hide their efforts to squelch viewpoints which fly in the face of their own.

The latest kowtowing to the mob had to do with a left-leaning publication's change of plans in its hiring of a prominent conservative voice. 

The Atlantic magazine on Thursday terminated its relationship with Kevin D. Williamson, the conservative writer whose hiring last month angered liberals and sparked an online debate about what views are considered acceptable in mainstream publications.

It was Mr. Williamson’s hard-line stance on abortion — namely, that it should be treated as premeditated homicide and punished accordingly, perhaps by hanging — that generated the initial controversy over his hiring.

It was that same viewpoint that led to his abrupt departure.

Mr. Williamson expressed it during a Twitter exchange in September 2014. After hiring him in late March, Jeffrey Goldberg, the magazine’s editor in chief, defended Mr. Williamson, saying that he did not want to judge people for their “worst tweets, or assertions, in isolation.”

But on Thursday, Mr. Goldberg wrote in a memo to his staff that he had come to see the writer’s remarks on Twitter as something more than merely trollish. The editor cited a podcast episode from the same month in which Mr. Williamson elaborated on his anti-abortion views — which seemed in keeping with how he had described them on Twitter.

“The tweet was not merely an impulsive, decontextualized, heat-of-the-moment post, as Kevin had explained it,” Mr. Goldberg wrote. “Furthermore, the language used in the podcast was callous and violent. This runs contrary to The Atlantic’s tradition of respectful, well-reasoned debate, and to the values of our workplace.”

“I have come to the conclusion,” Mr. Goldberg added, “that The Atlantic is not the best fit for his talents, and so we are parting ways.”

David French, who was a colleague of Williamson's at National Review, could not hide his disgust.

After Kevin was fired, Guardian columnist Jessica Valenti tweeted that she was “very relieved for the women” who work at The Atlantic. Why? What was Kevin going to do to them? Write things that made them angry? God forbid! His ideas might hurt? Have mercy!

And so it goes, the steady, inexorable division of America into the tolerable and the intolerable — with the range of tolerable people narrowing ever-so-rapidly. There’s no grace in this brave new world. There’s no charity. It’s not enough to disagree. Now we must ruin. Now we must humiliate. Saying “you’re wrong” is no longer enough. The argument isn’t sufficient.

One final note, The Atlantic was attracted to Kevin in part because of his independence, because he was willing to say what he thought even if he infuriated members of his own ideological tribe. And he often did. In return, he didn’t face a mere news cycle of fury. He faced it for weeks that stretched into months and have now stretched into years. The Atlantic couldn’t face friendly fire for a few days. Its cowardice hurts us all.

If what Williamson has written and said is so objectionable and so far out of the mainstream, then it should be easy to refute, correct? Isn't that how you prevail in the proverbial arena of ideas, by showing what you believe is your ideological opposite's flawed thinking and then further combating it with your own intellectual prowess? Instead, leftists' modus operandi is to completely stifle dissent in the hopes it never reaches their readers, lest new and different ideas result in critical thinking.

If I didn't know better, I would guess that many proggies are woefully insecure when it comes to defending their worldview.

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Wednesday, April 04, 2018

Few things are more dangerous than a gun free zone (UPDATE: Suspect NOT a white male NRA member. Shocker!)

Regarding the shooting which took place Tuesday afternoon at the YouTube headquarters in California, I'm inclined to subscribe to Berg’s Eighteenth Law of Media Latency:

Nothing the media writes/says about any emotionally charged event – a mass shooting, a police shooting, anything – should be taken seriously for 48 hours after the original incident. It will largely be rubbish, as media outlets vie to “scoop” each other even on incorrect facts.

Nevertheless, you'll have the obligatory leftist rhetoric about how the National Rifle Association or GOP members of Congress have proverbial blood on their hands. Such inflammatory statements have become so knee-jerk that they border on cliche, but it's still the go-to sentiment.

While I didn't peruse social media much in the aftermath of the shooting, I'd be willing to bet some proggies went to the ever available "conservative rhetoric caused this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" For example, the ultra conservative PragerU filed a lawsuit alleging YouTube's censoring of conservative content. And there's nary a more convenient scapegoat than NRA TV, particularly in light of how they criticized YouTube over their banning of firearms tutorial videos. As such, a kooky conspiracy theory of a "right wing gun nut" being antagonized over the actions of conservative groups will likely be bandied about.

A couple of things to ponder: Doesn't the state of California have some of the more draconian gun laws in the country? And is anyone outside of law enforcement even allowed to carry a gun anywhere in San Francisco? Why, it's almost as if someone who wants to commit a violent act isn't all that concerned about such legalities. Huh.

UPDATE:






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Monday, April 02, 2018

Box Score of the Week

Rusty Staub, who played 23 seasons in the big leagues, passed away last week at the age of 73.

With that in mind, let's look back at a significant game in his career. It was the first game of a doubleheader on June 26, 1983 when Staub's Mets hosted the Philadelphia Phillies.

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In this game, pinch hitter extraordinaire Staub recorded his eighth consecutive pinch hit in the 1983 season. That tied a record for consecutive pinch hits in one season. 

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Sunday, April 01, 2018

The message is perfectly simple, the meaning is clear.....

Have ya heard the good news? He is risen!!!!

Yes today April 1st is Easter Sunday (no foolin') but the Northern Alliance Radio Network will be live! My one-hour broadcast The Closer will get started at 2:00 PM Central Time. 

Since I was out last week, I didn't have an opportunity to weigh in on the gun grabber "March for Our Lives" rallies which took place 8 days ago. Were these demonstrations fruitful exercises? I'll explain why I have my doubts.

I will of course wrap up my annual Easter show with the perpetual good news: Jesus is alive!!


So please call (651) 289-4488 if you'd like to weigh in on any of the topics we plan on addressing. You can also text comments/questions to (651) 243-0390.

You can listen live in the Twin Cities at AM 1280 or, if you're near downtown Minneapolis/West Metro area, 107.5 FM on your radio dial. In and out of the Minneapolis-St Paul area, you can listen to the program on the Internet by clicking this link, or check us out via iheart radio. If you're unable to tune in live, please check out my podcast page for the latest show post.

Even though I have a face for radio, there is a UStream channel where you can watch the broadcast if you so desire. Check it out here.

And if you're so inclined, follow along on Twitter at #NARNShow or "Like" our Facebook page.

Until then.....

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