I try and laugh about it hiding the tears in my eyes.....

After a long weekend of rest, I am ready to get back to the airwaves today. The 2-hour extravaganza known as The Closer will kick off right at 1:00 pm Central Time.

No guests scheduled today, so it will be a veritable mixed bag of topics including Thanksgiving memories, Green Bay Packers legend Brett Favre being honored at Lambeau Field, the continued saga over Syrian refugees, leftist media attempting to keep narratives straight, etc.

So please give me a call at (651) 289-4488 if you'd like to discuss any of the topics I plan on addressing. You can also text comments/questions to (651) 243-0390.

You can listen live in the Twin Cities at AM 1280 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. 

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 #narn or "Like" our Facebook page.

Until then.....

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Back-asswards

So I inquired earlier this week as to why someone like comedienne Amy Schumer is held in such high esteem, specifically for her alleged role in "empowering women." After all, Schumer's whole bit is how she pretty much willingly shtoops any guy with a body temperature. I guess that's where I'm befuddled. Isn't one of the central themes of "empowering women" to emphasize they're so much more than sex objects? Again, color me confused.

Anyhow, I bring this all up again after I read a story about perhaps one the more polarizing names in not only the sports world but also the cultural realm.

For once, it's not Tim Tebow who's having trouble scoring - it's his girlfriend.

Confidenti@l is told the QB's model squeeze Olivia Culpo has dumped him after a two-month relationship - because he won't have sex with her.

The former Miss USA, who was first reported to be seeing Tebow in early October, has told friends that she can't deal with the famously abstinent star's nookie-less lifestyle.

"He was really into her," a source close to the model told us, "he was sending her love letters and cute notes and professing his love for her."

When this story first came out, I saw many posts on social media ridiculing Tebow for his decision to remain celibate until marriage. There were some who questioned not only Tebow's manhood but also his sexual orientation.

In a nutshell, you have a professed mattress-back comedienne who is revered for "empowering women" while a man who chooses to "save himself" for marriage being ridiculed for not nailing all these hot chicks who throw themselves at him.

At the risk of sounding like I'm part of the "get off my lawn" ilk, these are bizzaro times we live in.

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New look

After about 10 years with the same look, I've decided to change the blog template. Granted it's not a radical change but it is a little different.

Anyhow, blogging will be somewhat light this week with my busy schedule at the workplace (cramming 5 days of work into 3) as well as the Thanksgiving holiday.

Speaking of which, have you ever come across those vapid left-wing (pardon the redundancy) web sites which every holiday season posts a "How to survive your family's (insert holiday) arguments on (insert contentious political issue)" article? Typically it's the authors of said articles who give off the impression that they're the insufferable jerks during holiday gatherings.

Regardless, here's to another festive and blessed Thanksgiving week!

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Something I don't get

I've been seeing a lot of effusive praise showered upon comedienne Amy Schumer, particularly in the way she "empowers women." I guess it's partly based on the fact she's attained fame and fortune while not having one of those typical Hollywood starlet bodies where you can see the gal's rib cage. From what I've seen of Ms. Schumer's stand-up routine, it typically entails stories of carnal knowledge with myriad men.

Here's what I don't get. What exactly is empowering? Is it the fact that a normal sized woman can have countless sexual encounters and then brag about such exploits like some men are wont to do? Is that how she's "empowering," her proving that women can be just as lascivious as men? Seriously, I'm genuinely befuddled by this one.

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It's time to free the lions from the circus cages.....

It's Packers-Vikings Sunday!! Even better news is that the game doesn't kick off until 3:25, so you have no reason to not tune in to The Closer from 1:00 until 3:00 PM Central Time. 

A lot to get to this week, including the continued debate over whether or not the U.S. should accept Syrian refugees, the Obama administration's horrible optics after the Paris attacks, the aftermath of the Jamar Clark shooting, etc. 

At 2:30, North Dakota blogger/political observer Rob Port will check in to discuss the University of North Dakota officially changing the college's nickname from Fighting Sioux to Fighting Hawks. 

So please give me a call at (651) 289-4488 if you'd like to discuss any of the topics I plan on addressing. You can also text comments/questions to (651) 243-0390.

You can listen live in the Twin Cities at AM 1280 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. 

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 #narn or "Like" our Facebook page.

Until then.....

Our perpetually petulant President

Barack Obama has previously stated he believes he could win a third term as President of the United States were he eligible to run again. Given his recent behavior, I'm not 100% certain he has the capacity to complete the remaining 14 months of his current term. While he's always given off the vibe of being somewhat petulant and thin-skinned, his rhetoric over the past week since the ISIS attacks in Paris has ratcheted up (even members of his own party have been dismayed with his behavior).

When upwards of 30 U.S. governors (most of them Republicans) vowed not to cooperate with the Federal government in accepting Syrian refugees, Obama lashed out, essentially calling them recruiters for ISIL. He also dismissed GOP concerns of the ineffective refugee vetting program by flat out mocking Republicans, saying they're "scared of widows and orphans." That's the ultimate strawman to be sure, especially when you consider it's not unprecedented that jihadists have gone into other countries under the guise of being refugees.

What the President is conveniently leaving out of his diatribe is a recent U.S. House proposal to merely pause in accepting refugees until screening is shored up. Another inconvenient truth is some House Democrats are supporting the measure to "bolster security checks on Syrian and Iraqi refugees," something a majority of Americans support.

I've pretty much had my fill of this asinine assertion that compassion and precautionary measures are mutually exclusive. I'm also fed up that Obama always seems more angered and outraged towards his political detractors than jihadists who see Americans as infidels and look to commit workplace violence kill us.

Get a grip, Mr. President.

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Botched rationale

As Election Day in the 2006 midterms was approaching, it appeared Republicans were going to lose complete control of Congress. Such a coup would render GOP President George W. Bush moot in his final two years in the White House. While the Dems ultimately were able to wrest control of the House and Senate, it wasn't due to lack of effort by the GOP, especially when they attempted to use then Senator John Kerry's ill fated attempt at humor against Democrats.

"Education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

Hearing the statement, one would ascertain that Kerry was implying our soldiers were dumb. He attempted to explain it away as a "botched joke."

Kerry said yesterday that he meant it as a dig at Bush, and his office released a copy of the prepared remarks he was supposed to deliver: "I can't overstress the importance of a great education. Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush."

While Kerry's party wasn't harmed at the polls in 2006, it effectively ended any aspirations he may have had to once again run for President in 2008. Heck, even his fellow Democrat Senator (and '08 presidential hopeful) Hillary Clinton threw Kerry under the bus, calling his comment "inappropriate." Conservative writer Jonah Goldberg piled on, calling him a "human toothache with the charisma of a 19th-century Oxford Latin tutor."

Fast forward nine years to Tuesday where Kerry still demonstrated verbal ineptitude.

Secretary of State John Kerry suggested on Tuesday that there was a “rationale” for the assault on satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo, unlike the more recent attacks in Paris.

“There’s something different about what happened from Charlie Hebdo, and I think everybody would feel that," Kerry said in Paris, according to a transcript of his remarks. "There was a sort of particularized focus and perhaps even a legitimacy in terms of — not a legitimacy, but a rationale that you could attach yourself to somehow and say, OK, they’re really angry because of this and that.”

“This Friday was absolutely indiscriminate. It wasn’t to aggrieve one particular sense of wrong. It was to terrorize people,” he continued.

Of course, many on the political right were quick to jump on those remarks, essentially saying that Kerry was insinuating the staff at Charlie Hebdo had it coming. Personally, I don't believe that is at all what he was attempting to say, especially given his reputation for rhetorical missteps.

With all that said, I can hardly be critical of those who believe Kerry implied the CH employees were "asking for it." After all, the Obama administration has a recent history of not standing firm on the tenets of free speech, particularly in the aftermath of both the Charlie Hebdo and Benghazi incidents. Heck, as part of the butt-covering exercise in blaming a YouTube video for the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, the filmmaker of said video was arrested.

The bottom line is jihadists don't draw any distinctions when wreaking havoc. Whether people are mocking the prophet Mohammed or partaking in western culture indulgences, radical Islamists don't seem to concern themselves with what is the greater affront to their cause.

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What's it going to take?

If a debate among Democrat presidential candidates occurs on a Saturday evening during college football season, did it really even occur?

Apparently some in the news media tuned in to the latest Dem debate, particularly the panel on Monday's installment of the MSNBC program Morning Joe. Among the items discussed was the reluctance of candidates Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley to even utter the phrase "radical Islam" despite what had occurred in Paris, France a little more than 24 hours earlier.

I don't believe Faisal Saeed Al Mutar was inspired specifically by Saturday's debate ineptitude but a recent Facebook post of his certainly digs at the proverbial bleeding hearts.

It must be incredibly frustrating as an Islamic terrorist not to have your views and motives taken seriously by the societies you terrorize, even after you have explicitly and repeatedly stated them. Even worse, those on the regressive left, in their endless capacity for masochism and self-loathing, have attempted to shift blame inwardly on themselves, denying the terrorists even the satisfaction of claiming responsibility.

It's like a bad Monty Python sketch:

"We did this because our holy texts exhort us to to do it."

"No you didn't."

"Wait, what? Yes we did..."

"No, this has nothing to do with religion. You guys are just using religion as a front for social and geopolitical reasons."

"WHAT!? Did you even read our official statement? We give explicit Quranic justification. This is jihad, a holy crusade against pagans, blasphemers, and disbelievers."

"No, this is definitely not a Muslim thing. You guys are not true Muslims, and you defame a great religion by saying so."

"Huh!? Who are you to tell us we're not true Muslims!? Islam is literally at the core of everything we do, and we have implemented the truest most literal and honest interpretation of its founding texts. It is our very reason for being."

"Nope. We created you. We installed a social and economic system that alienates and disenfranchises you, and that's why you did this. We're sorry."

"What? Why are you apologizing? We just slaughtered you mercilessly in the streets. We targeted unwitting civilians - disenfranchisement doesn't even enter into it!"

"Listen, it's our fault. We don't blame you for feeling unwelcome and lashing out."

"Seriously, stop taking credit for this! We worked really hard to pull this off, and we're not going to let you take it away from us."

"No, we nourished your extremism. We accept full blame."

"OMG, how many people do we have to kill around here to finally get our message across?"

While the post is mostly tongue in cheek, there are elements of hard hitting truth. That final sentence is especially salient. What more has to happen? I pray it doesn't have to be another 9/11 type event.

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Same issue, different city

When 18-year old Michael Brown (a black man) was shot by white police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, MO more than a year ago, it caused significant unrest in that town. It was made worse when an eyewitness claimed that Brown threw his hands up and cried "don't shoot!"As a result, an already tense situation escalated into looting and violence within the city. After a long, thorough investigation, Wilson was not indicted by a grand jury due to a) overwhelming forensic evidence clearing him of wrongdoing and b) the whole "hands up, don't shoot!!" being a flat out fabrication. Regardless, riots and looting again ensued when the grand jury ruled "no bill."

Sadly, a similar situation is playing out in the Twin Cities.

A man suspected of assault was shot on a north Minneapolis street by a police officer early Sunday while allegedly hindering emergency responders from aiding his victim.

The shooting ignited a chaotic scene of shouting and taunting bystanders who believed the man was handcuffed before police opened fire.

Police Chief Janeé Harteau said Sunday afternoon that her department’s preliminary information is that the man was not handcuffed when police shot him.

An damning eyewitness account conflicting with that of law enforcement's information. Can you see where this is going?

Police did not identify the man, but Nekima Levy-Pounds, president of the Minneapolis NAACP, said in a statement that he was Jamar Clark, a black man in his mid-20s, and that he had been “shot and killed” by police.

The debate on the public stage is showing no signs of easing. The Minneapolis chapter of Black Lives Matter has scheduled a news conference for 9 a.m. Monday outside the Police Department precinct headquarters on the North Side. The chapter is calling for the release of any video police might have of the shooting as well as disclosure of the names of the officers involved.

Ah yes, the obligatory unreasonable demands. Whenever there is an officer involved shooting, that officer is placed on paid administrative leave until an investigation is completed. And the officer is never named unless he/she is found to have been in violation of the law and thus becomes subject to a trial.

As is custom with the local chapter of BLM when their unreasonable (and at times outrageous) demands are not met, they descend into disrupting the lives of others.

Hundreds of protesters have shut down northbound Interstate 94 in Minneapolis between 7th St. and Broadway Ave.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation reports protesters are on the freeway, attempting to block traffic. The shutdown first started around 7 p.m. Several area metro police departments are on scene attempting to control the situation. According to the Minnesota State Patrol, protesters were given four warnings to disperse or be subject to arrest. Shortly before 9 p.m., authorities began arresting protesters.

If the police officer who shot Clark gets off with any punishment short of being drawn and quartered, expect more incidents like this in the aftermath. Nobody will come out of this in a positive light. Nobody.

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1991 vs. 2015

Whenever the Detroit Lions have traveled to Lambeau Field to take on the Green Bay Packers in recent years, it's pretty much been a guaranteed loss for the Motor City Kitties. In fact, I always like to point out that the last time the Lions won in Green Bay was December 1991. To put that in perspective, that was two months after my Minnesota Twins last won a World Series. As a Twins fan, that feels like forever ago.

Well, would you believe that Lions finally broke through with a win in Green Bay on Sunday?!?! It's true!

To put that streak in even further perspective, here is what I looked like in late 1991: 

And here I am in similar attire a few months ago: 

Yeah, I'll take any opportunity I have to post pictures of myself in a tuxedo. I clean up pretty good, eh?

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Been runnin' blind, under a broken sky.....

The Vikings don't play until 3:00 this afternoon, so you fans of The Purple can tune in live for the entire two hours of The Closer! The show kicks off at 1:00 pm Central Time.

Obviously the terrorist attacks in Paris are still resonating nearly 48 hours later, so I'll certainly discuss that atrocity. I will also weigh in on the ouster of the University of Missouri president as well as its aftermath, which showed a seemingly petulant student body.

At 2:00 I will be joined by my friend, fellow Senate District 35 resident and newly endorsed GOP candidate for MN State Senate Andy Aplikowski. Andy now moves on to the special election taking place early next year where he will seek to replace Sen. Branden Petersen, who resigned effective October 31.

So please give me a call at (651) 289-4488 if you'd like to discuss any of the topics I plan on addressing. You can also text comments/questions to (651) 243-0390.

You can listen live in the Twin Cities at AM 1280 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. 

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 #narn or "Like" our Facebook page.

Until then.....

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Priez pour la France.

"Bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive."  
- Vice President Joe Biden, April 26, 2012



“The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a (J.V.) team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant,” Obama said, resorting to an uncharacteristically flip analogy. “I think there is a distinction between the capacity and reach of a bin Laden and a network that is actively planning major terrorist plots against the homeland versus jihadists who are engaged in various local power struggles and disputes, often sectarian.

“Let’s just keep in mind, Falluja is a profoundly conservative Sunni city in a country that, independent of anything we do, is deeply divided along sectarian lines. And how we think about terrorism has to be defined and specific enough that it doesn’t lead us to think that any horrible actions that take place around the world that are motivated in part by an extremist Islamic ideology are a direct threat to us or something that we have to wade into.”
- President Barack Obama, January 2014



“From the start, our goal has been first to contain (ISIS), and we have contained them,” Obama told ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos in a Thursday afternoon interview that took place before the strike against Emwazi.
- President Obama, November 12, 2015, little more than 24 hours before the attacks in Paris



After more than 150 people were reported dead as a result of a terrorist attack in Paris, France Friday evening, the French president was not nearly as reserved as America's leaders have been in the face of heightened jihadist activity.

French President Francois Hollande promised early Saturday morning that France would respond to terrorist attacks that killed more than 120 people with a "pitiless" war against the group responsible.

"We are going to lead a war which will be pitiless," he said at the Bataclan, the site of one of the attacks, according to the Guardian.

"Because when terrorists are capable of committing such atrocities, they must be certain that they are facing a determined France, a united France, a France that is together and does not let itself be moved, even if today we express infinite sorrow," Hollande added.

It was a little more than two years when France was the United States' only major European ally willing to assist with military action in Syria. In fact, they were even willing to lead militarily. Ultimately the U.S. declined to intervene in the Syrian civil war.

Two years later we can surmise President Hollande's comments as a message to America which essentially says "We got this." 

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Quick Hits: Volume CXX

- ESPN carnival barker sports personality Chris Berman has been a fixture at the network pretty much since it's inception in 1979. Truth be told, I literally turn the volume all the way down or switch channels altogether when he emerges on my TV screen. His shtick containing a hyper, bombastic delivery became passe 20 years ago.

Apparently Berman must still bring in some decent ratings, otherwise ESPN would have fired him as opposed to settling a sexual harassment suit brought against him.

A former ESPN makeup artist recently settled a sexual harassment claim against ESPN, and the focus of her claim was NFL host Chris Berman, multiple people tell The Big Lead.

The former ESPN makeup artist, Sue Baumann, was represented by the office of high profile lawyer Gloria Allred. A person familiar with the matter told The Big Lead that there were allegations against Berman – including comments he allegedly made in the makeup room and text messages going back a few years – and ESPN decided to settle. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the claims.

Can't ya just hear it? Upon walking away from Berman after applying his makeup, Baumann hears him say "Baby, you got BACK, BACK, BACK, BACK, BACK!!!!"


- Does anyone else find it somewhat ironic that the majority of University of Missouri students who demanded that former president Tim Wolfe acknowledge his "white privilege" will likely be casting votes for Hillary Clinton next year?


- I don't have a lot to say about Tuesday's GOP presidential debate since I've only seen highlights.

But based on the reaction via social media, I've ascertained the following:

Big Winners: Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Voters who care about substantive issues.

Big Losers: John Kasich, The mainstream media (particularly CNBC).

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Quick Hits: Volume CXIX

Mizzou: Mob rule or speaking truth to power?

The president of the University of Missouri system and the head of its flagship campus resigned Monday with the football team and others on campus in open revolt over what they saw as indifference to racial tensions at the school.

President Tim Wolfe, a former business executive with no previous experience in academic leadership, took "full responsibility for the frustration" students expressed and said their complaints were "clear" and "real."

For months, black student groups had complained that Wolfe was unresponsive to racial slurs and other slights on the overwhelmingly white main campus of the state's four-college system. The complaints came to a head two days ago, when at least 30 black football players announced they would not play until the president left. A graduate student went on a weeklong hunger strike.

It appears Wolfe's statements upon his resignation were.....interesting.

"This is not the way change comes about," he said, alluding to recent protests, in a halting statement that was simultaneously apologetic, clumsy and defiant. "We stopped listening to each other."

He urged students, faculty and staff to use the resignation "to heal and start talking again to make the changes necessary."

Heck, if Wolfe was gonna come off so buffoon-ish, I wish he had said something to the effect "To be clear, I am NOT resigning over boycott threats by members of the football team. I mean, are you aware of their record? They suck!"

I digress.

Many of the protests have been led by an organization called Concerned Student 1950, which gets its name from the year the university accepted its first black student. Group members besieged Wolfe's car at the parade, and they conducted a weeklong sit-in on a campus plaza.

Never ones to be all that self-aware, these "Social Justice Warriors" demanding that Wolfe step down later put forth a stunning display of irony. After using their First Amendment rights to protest Wolfe remaining Missouri's president, they then tried to ban the media from covering the event once the "rally" appeared to spin out of control.

Finally, I'll just leave this here:

Brothers and Sisters, this is a momentus occassion but do not be moved! Our Brother can eat, but we are still owed Demands! Stay strong!

— ConcernedStudent1950 (@CS_1950) November 9, 2015

- I personally don't care if Starbucks decided not to put Christmas emblems on their red cups. Nor am I concerned if they're a secular organization attempting to stick a proverbial thumb in the eye of Christians. Unfortunately, some of my fellow Christians raised a big stink about such controversies that may or may not exist.

A word the wise: Quite being a tool. Such faux outrage is only helping Starbucks' brand.


- It'll be a busy political night for me on Tuesday.

I am actually looking forward to the "main event" portion of the GOP presidential debate, especially in light of the media's pathetic attempts to smear candidates Ben Carson and Marco Rubio. However, I'll have to DVR it as I will be attending a candidate forum taking place in my state senate district. With Sen. Branden Petersen having resigned, 4 Republican hopefuls will be vying for the party endorsement this weekend ahead of the special election early next year. As such, Tuesday evening is the candidates' final big opportunity to make their case to Senate District 35 delegates, of which I am one.

While the forum will not change whom I'm personally supporting, I will be interested in the rationale of one candidate who has said he will not commit to support the endorsed candidate if it's not him yet was publicly critical of me for supporting a candidate last year who also didn't commit to abiding.

Getcha popcorn.

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Rode bikes with no helmets and still here we are......

After a rare week off, I will be back in the Patriot bunker for today's Northern Alliance Radio Network broadcast. The 2-hour bonanza begins at 1:00 PM Central Time.

At 1:15, political wonk Matt Mackowiak will join the program to discuss last week's election results (specifically the Kentucky gubernatorial race and battle for control of the Virginia State Senate), the latest in the GOP presidential race and the early reviews of Paul Ryan as House Speaker.

In the non-guest segments I'll discuss the Ben Carson-West Point scholarship flap, social justice warriors getting their comeuppance, etc.

So please give me a call at (651) 289-4488 if you'd like to discuss any of the topics I plan on addressing. You can also text comments/questions to (651) 243-0390.

You can listen live in the Twin Cities at AM 1280 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. 

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 #narn or "Like" our Facebook page.

Until then.....

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Dear Democrats:

Certain politicians in your party have vowed to run on such hot button issues as gun control and Obamacare in 2016. 

Not that my perspective matters a whole lot, but in the event you're curious about my preference? Yes. Please. 

That is all.

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The repudiation continues

Let's face it: over the past 7 years, the Democrats only win elections consistently when Barack Obama is at the top of the ticket. When he's not on the ballot, Dems have been defeated soundly.

Tuesday night was yet another example of that.

Republican Matt Bevin easily won Kentucky’s governorship on Tuesday, as the GOP made major inroads in a state that had stubbornly resisted the party at the state level even as it voted reliably Republican in federal contests in recent years.

Bevin, a self-funding investment manager, rode a late surge of outside support from national Republicans to defeat Democrat Jack Conway, 53 percent to 44 percent, according to The Associated Press. Bevin will become just the second Republican to inhabit the governor’s mansion in Frankfort in more than four decades.

Some other interesting factoids in the Obama era:

-With Bevin's win, there are now 32 GOP governors in the U.S. with 17 Democrats and 1 Independent.

- Bevin's running mate, Jenean Hampton, becomes Kentucky's first African-American to be elected to any statewide office.

- Per my radio show's political wonk Matt Mackowiak, Kentucky is the 13th state in which Democrats have lost the governorship in the Obama era.

- Since Obama's first inauguration in January 2009, the GOP has gained 13 seats in the U.S. Senate and 67 seats in the House.


Obviously Obama is not running in 2016. The anointed Dem front runner, Hillary Clinton, is underwater in terms of trustworthiness and, despite the mainstream media's best efforts, the FBI is not letting go of the email scandal. If the Republican candidates for President can somehow figure out how to get out of their own way, winning in 2016 is more than possible.

Make it happen!

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Joyless existence

I've been opining on politics on this blog for more than 11 years now. I have been hosting a weekly radio show for almost 4-1/2 years on a politically conservative radio station. I even volunteer on behalf of political candidates in election seasons.

It's safe to say that the political world is a significant presence in my life, but it's far from being my entire life.

With all that said, if I ever get to the point where my worldview causes me to say crap like this......

Anti-gay Met Daniel Murphy lost his team the #WorldSeries. Good. https://t.co/ZwlPZFHdO1 pic.twitter.com/5loidpuYwi

— Slate (@Slate) November 2, 2015

....I might want to consider going completely off the grid.

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RIP, Fred.

If I were asked to list my Top 100 favorite movies, such films as No Way Out, In the Line of Fire and Die Hard 2 would be in there somewhere. Coincidentally, actor Fred Thompson was in all those movies, though only as a secondary character. Nevertheless, he had a presence about him which caused me to remember his roles (I guess a guy standing 6'6" with a booming voice emitting a southern drawl is pretty distinct).

I also remember when Thompson served as U.S. Senator out of his home state of Tennessee. He won a special election in 1994, joining a Republican wave that gave the GOP complete control of Congress for the first time in 40 years. He would claim a regular election victory in 1996 but did not seek reelection upon completion of that term. 

Yes, I've long been an admirer of Thompson, even contributing to a blog back in 2007 promoting his candidacy for President. While the initial enthusiasm for Thompson's presidential run was there in the summer of 2007, the campaign never really took off once he officially entered the race. A poor showing in the South Carolina primary in January 2008 (a state he focused on from the get go) effectively ended his bid. 

Over the next 7+ years, Thompson was still a prolific commentator, particularly on social media (The Daily Signal compiled a sizable list of Thompson's best quotes). Given that I am such a Twitter addict, it was a pleasant surprise when Thompson became one of my "followers!!!"

As you can imagine, I was saddened to hear the news Sunday that he passed away due to a recurrence of lymphoma. 

“It is with a heavy heart and a deep sense of grief that we share the passing of our brother, husband, father, and grandfather who died peacefully in Nashville surrounded by his family,” the statement said.

It continued: "Fred once said that the experiences he had growing up in small-town Tennessee formed the prism through which he viewed the world and shaped the way he dealt with life. Fred stood on principle and common sense, and had a deep love for and connection with the people across Tennessee whom he had the privilege to serve in the United States Senate. He enjoyed a hearty laugh, a strong handshake, a good cigar, and a healthy dose of humility. Fred was the same man on the floor of the Senate, the movie studio, or the town square of Lawrenceburg, his home."

"Fred believed that the greatness of our nation was defined by the hard work, faith, and honesty of its people. He had an enduring belief in the exceptionalism of our country, and that America could provide the opportunity for any boy or girl, in any corner of our country, to succeed in life. "

Thompson, born in 1942, served in the Senate from December 1994 to January 2003.

Following his time in the Senate, Thompson played District Attorney Arthur Branch on Law & Order for five seasons, leaving the show to run for president.

It's obvious he lived a rather interesting life having been an attorney, actor and politician.

Thompson graduated from Memphis State University in 1964 and earned his law degree from Vanderbilt University in 1967. To pay for school, he worked at a bicycle plant, post office and motel.

Thompson went on to become a lawyer in Nashville. In 1969, he became an assistant U.S. attorney, then volunteered in 1972 to work on the re-election campaign of former Republican Sen. Howard Baker. A year later, Baker selected Thompson to be chief minority counsel on the committee investigating the Watergate scandal.

I have to say that perhaps Thompson's most impressive legacy would be how he maintained a folksy demeanor despite having spent time in areas (i.e. politics and Hollywood) where moral vanity rules the day.

He'll be missed.

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