Random Thoughts

Here are my thoughts on a few things in the news...

Chicago State University
Budgetary issues may force the closing of CSU. It's not the only public institution of higher education in the state that is dealing with budget issues, but CSU's situation is by far the worse. This is mainly due to the school's higher reliance on state funding.  The political side of this story is the impasse between Gov. Bruce Rauner and House Speaker Michael Madigan. Eventually, the budget issue will be resolved. When that will be, who can say?  But the other side of this story concerns academics.  I have read numerous articles about the sad state of affairs at CSU, including the unacceptably high dropout rate. A search on the internet for student reviews of the school returns a mix of lackluster comments about the CSU experience.

Will Socialism Make America Better?

It's apparent that lots of people, perhaps nearly half the country, believe that America has failed them. To them the American Dream is a fallacy, and only exists for a select few.  And that select few in their view, have amassed their wealth by lying, cheating and stealing from everyone else.  They believe that the only way to end this American Nightmare is to radically transform the country by upending our values, system of government and way of life.  These are the people who cheer on Bernie Sanders, the democratic socialist, when he says that America can only become better by being more like Denmark or Sweden or any other socialist country.

A different crowd, but the same people, beam with pride when Hillary Clinton shifts into high socialist gear, assuring the crowd that she can teach Bernie Sanders a thing or two when it comes to central planning.  These are the people who will vote for any candidate that promises to greatly expand the government and its power over our lives.  Like hungry little birds, they flutter with excitement at the thought of  receiving "free" this or "free" that from big government. And I'm sure they get all tingly when they hear the "r" word (redistribution).

In a sense, I understand how they became champions of socialism.  Looking at the country today, it's apparent that many people are struggling. The economy sucks.  Wages are stagnant. College is too expensive. Underemployment is real. And far too many politicians (on both sides of the aisle) have pledged their loyalties to special interests instead of to the American people. In short, the nation is in trouble, big trouble. But failing institutions, be they financial, political, social or what have you, are just that, failing institutions. However, the heart and soul of America is not its institutions, its the American people.

Unfortunately, too many Americans are being seduced by the hypnotic incantations of socialist fairies whose desire is for Americans to exorcise the one thing that has made this country great, and that's

"Blacks Lost Economic Ground Under Obama"...So What!

Tavis Smiley has done it again.  He has caused a controversy for stating that under President Obama, blacks have lost economic ground in every indicator.  He actually predicted this would happen a couple of years ago when he said, "The data is going to indicate sadly that when the Obama administration is over, black people will have lost ground in every single leading economic indicator category."  And just as it was back in October of 2013 when he made the prediction, so it is today...people really don't like what he said (well, some people, that is).

Warning to Democratic Presidential Candidates...Don't Say White Lives Matter

Democratic presidential hopeful Martin O'Malley (and later Bernie Sanders) were invited to appear before an energized crowd at the annual convention of Netroots Nation, a far-left, political activist organization formed by the liberal political blog, Daily Kos. Early on, a large group of protesters from Black Lives Matter paraded into the convention hall shouting "Black lives matter" and "Say her name" while calling out the names of black women who died while in police custody.

When it was time to introduce former Maryland Governor O'Malley, a woman walks on stage and begins an impassioned plea for more attention to be given to the issue of police brutality and spoke of the "national emergency" concerning the lack of safety for black and brown people at the hands of police.  When O'Malley began to speak, he said a couple of things that did not sit well with some members of the audience, most notably that "All Americans have a responsibility to recognize the