Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Migrant crisis: The Biden admin 'created this nightmare'
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Mark Dice: The Democrats' latest scheme to take down Trump is beyond a farce!
Monday, January 29, 2024
Two shot to death and at least 12 others wounded over weekend in Chicago
Over this past weekend in Chicago, two people were shot to death.
Early Saturday morning a 28-year-old was found dead in Auburn-Gresham with a gunshot wound to the chest. And on Sunday, about 24 hours later, just to the north another man, also with a gunshot wound to the chest, was discovered dead in Englewood, after driving his pickup truck into a tree.
Citywide there were at least 12 people wounded by gunfire.
Not included in the weekend totals were the two male students, a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old, who were fatally shot while leaving Innovations High School Friday afternoon in the Loop.
Sunday, January 28, 2024
From Da Tech Guy: Leftist group of Chicago municipal staffers cheers on students cutting class to attend Gaza ceasefire rally
Then again, what will these kids learn in school?
From my post at Da Tech Guy: Leftist group of Chicago municipal staffers cheers on students cutting class to attend Gaza ceasefire rally.
Saturday, January 27, 2024
Van Morrison: "Magic Time" live, BBC Four sessions
Friday, January 26, 2024
'Race is over': Nikki Haley trailing behind Trump in home state of South Carolina
Thursday, January 25, 2024
'The Five': Pelosi gets 'confused' while questioning Trump's mental fitness
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Megyn Kelly: Georgia DA Fani Willis could be deposed in divorce case of her prosecutor
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Dems created a monster and now he's turning on them: Gutfeld
Monday, January 22, 2024
Mark Dice: DeSantis quits! - Trump forgives! - Nikki Haley in denial and stays IN - Here's what's next for 2024
Sunday, January 21, 2024
From Da Tech Guy: Chicago mainstream media ignores rumors that Mayor Brandon Johnson has suffered panic attacks
Panic time in Chicago?
From my post at Da Tech Guy: Chicago mainstream media ignores rumors that Mayor Brandon Johnson has suffered panic attacks.
Saturday, January 20, 2024
John Prine - "Hello in There" live
Thursday, January 18, 2024
Reporter grills Karine Jean-Pierre over admin falsely blaming Texas officials for migrant deaths
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Vivek with Tucker: “We’re on the Cusp of a Revolution”
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
Mark Dice: Trump massive victory at Iowa Caucus, Vivek endorses him! - Nikki Haley delusional
Sunday, January 14, 2024
From Da Tech Guy, Damning OIG report leads to an obvious conclusion: Chicago Public Schools system has too much money
Chicago is a cesspool in so many ways.
From my post at Da Tech Guy:
Damning OIG report leads to an obvious conclusion: Chicago Public Schools system has too much money.
Saturday, January 13, 2024
The Tremeloes - Here Comes My Baby (1967)
Friday, January 12, 2024
Wednesday, January 10, 2024
Doocy GRILLS White House: Why should we believe you?
Tuesday, January 09, 2024
Black voters rejecting Biden: 'Everything was better' under Trump
Monday, January 08, 2024
'NO ONE KNEW': Biden, WH, reps unaware about Lloyd Austin's hospitalization
Sunday, January 07, 2024
From Da Tech Guy, Ouch-ouch: Failures of Latvia’s new electric trains serve as a warning for the rest of us
I return to Europe for my weekly post at Da Tech Guy: Failures of Latvia’s new electric trains serve as a warning for the rest of us.
Saturday, January 06, 2024
XTC - Real by Reel - Paris 1979
Friday, January 05, 2024
Sen. Kennedy: Biden is 'running out of toes to shoot off'
Thursday, January 04, 2024
Mark Dice: Billionaire activist has awakening about diversity agenda - and is now on on a new mission
Wednesday, January 03, 2024
‘Atrocious’: CNN reporter blames ‘sloppy attribution’ for Harvard University president resignation
Tuesday, January 02, 2024
Book review, American Refugees: The Untold Story of the Mass Migration from Blue to Red States by Roger L. Simon
Still, deep down, I had no real idea why I had chosen Tennessee, and not say, Florida or South Carolina, other than that wife and daughter favored the former. Had Tennessee, bizarre as it may sound, chosen me? Or maybe it was all random. Regardless, I had had enough of California and needed to get out.
Simon then takes us on a Nashville journey, as well a diversion to its wealthy former exurb, now a suburb, Franklin. In American Refugees, Simon does ponder whether a second American Civil War is coming. Ironically, Franklin and Nashville were the sites of two pivotal Civil War battles--both Union victories.
Simon meets a lot of people as he familiarizes himself in Tennessee. including connecting with "Rocky Top," a Tennesse blogger who writes anonymously. Rocky Top recounts a story about two Californians who moved to a small town in the Volunteer State. "'We're from California,' she said, before adding quicky, 'But we're not bringing California values with us...in case you were wondering.'"
Simon discovers that the established Republican establishment tends to be less conservative than the new GOPers--the refugees. Those fed up with failed government in California, as well as New York and my own Illinois, have stronger faith in conservatism.
Later in the book, Simon recalls a conversation with Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit and University of Tennessee law professor, who used to favor kiosks to greet Blue State refugees in Tennessee. It turns out, at least for now, they aren't needed.
For now, I'd like to add, they aren't needed.
DuPage County, Illinois, like Orange County in southern California, used to be a solid Republican stronghold. Used to be. For generations, Chicagoans from heavily Democratic Chicago left for DuPage County Either those Chicagoans were part of the GOP minority in the city, or they saw the light once they put down roots in the western suburbs. Up until maybe 20 years ago, you'd see lawn signs there declaring, "If you like DuPage County, thank a Republican." But Democrats have taken over DuPage, bad schools, crime, and wokeness followed.
Tennessee needs such signs. And of course, Tennessee needs to continue to produce good, if not great governing, such as not having a state income tax. Marsha Blackburn, now a US Senator, while a member of the state legislature, played a key role in blocking its implementation, Simon notes.
There are some fish-out-of-water contrasts in American Refugees. Simon is floored over how much more friendly Tennesseans are. Although he might think a bit differently if he attended a Nashville Predators game wearing Chicago Blackhawks sweaters when the Blackhawks visit, as my wife and I did a few years ago.
If you want to immerse yourself in the political folkways and psyche of Tennessee, then Roger L. Simon's American Refugees is the book you need.
My wife and I live just north of Chicago. We are fed up with Illinois, and you probably know why. If you don't, here is why: Illinois has an income tax, in addition to high property and gasoline taxes, as well as rampant crime, and abject political corruption. Some people stay, despite the threats to themselves. Abandoning friends and family, being the biggest reason. Simon covers those who stay in Blue States,
Because of my right-of-center political views, I have fewer friends now. As for my wife, an immigrant from Latvia, moving away means leaving behind a reasonably large Latvian community in Chicago. Reasonably large, because there are few Latvian-Americans.
But I've noticed in my trips to the South that the southern United States is filled with clubs and organizations, something Simon touches on in American Refugees. Simon plays tennis, I'm a runner. I can find a new running club.
In short, we can meet new friends. And Tennessee tops our list for our next, and likely final, home,
One of my wife's Latvian friends, who lives in Michigan, is considering moving to a university town east of Nashville where her son lives. If we relocate to that city too, then there will be a Latvian community of three there. It's start.
Sports is one warm connection I still maintain with Chicago. I suspect it's a bluff, but the Chicago White Sox want a new taxpayer-funded ballpark and they have mentioned--this story will sound very familiar--that they'll move to a different city if Chicago and Illinois officials don't cough up giveaways. If the South Siders move to the South, to Nashville, as I remarked over at Da Tech Guy blog, I might be already living in Tennessee to welcome them.
Simon concludes American Refugees with thoughts about Chicago.
As for the refugee flow--given the recent mayoral election in Chicago, with Brandon Johnson (a former public school teacher and union organizer who tends to have more sympathy with criminals than their victims) defeating former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas (who campaigned on public safety for the bloody streets of that city), not to mention political mayhem in New York, California, San Francisco, and many other blue state redoubts--it is highly unlikely to stop.
American Refugees: The Untold Story of the Mass Migration from Blue to Red States is available on Amazon.com.
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