Sun AM

Crazy, crazy Michigan!  Two weeks ago today we had single-digit temperatures and last Sunday the temps reached the mid-50s.  Today, it's snow, if only half an inch or an inch.  But I surely prefer the snow and current temperatures to the rain we've been having.

So, the state wants to close two or three dozen "underperforming" schools in Detroit?  Just last fall, the Detroit Public Schools were turned back over to the newly elected school board.  The state, though, still wants to close the schools.  The "underperforming" occurred, not under the Detroit School Board's leadership, but, you guessed it, that of the state.  And a Free Press editorial calls for the state to fix the schools.  What has the state been doing for five years?  It certainly wasn't taking care of the water in Flint.

And hundreds of families have faced bankruptcy when a state agency accused them of unemployment fraud.  It appears the accusations were in error.  Many people lost tax refunds, personal property, etc., not to mention having their lives made much more difficult.

Gee, can we get just a little more government to control our lives?

Nolan Finley had a good editorial in today's Det News.  He echoed (Hey, who reads this blog anyway?) what I've been saying for a couple of months now.  The Establishment, esp the LameStream Media, "still don't get Trump voters."  I have discovered this time after time.  It's so easy to characterize them as "racists," "bigots," and "stupid people."  I didn't vote for Trump (as regulars know), but recognized that, as Finley notes, "Trump voters have been furious and frightened for years."  Nobody paid attention to them, certainly not the arrogant elitists of the Establishment, the politicians and media.  Remember when Hillary Clinton called the Trump supporters "deplorable?"  I know she tried to back away from it, but I think she really meant what she said.  She also reflected the views of a lot her supporters, the arrogant elitists.

People were angry at a Presidential administration and entire political party that laughed at them, made fun of their values and morals.  No matter how unethical and immoral the Establishment, including Obama, not the common folks, it claimed "moral high ground."  And think of the irony of that, of the corruption and dishonesty that have been exposed, the broken promises that were never intended to be kept in the first place--by both parties!

Two things come to mind when thinking about the Establishment's failure to comprehend what happened.  Hey, maybe it's willful blindness.  A couple of terms back a local man ran for the US House of Representatives.  Yes, the fact that he was on the ballot in the first place was a miscue.  But he was continually referred to as "a reindeer farmer" who "played Santa Claus at Christmas."  What?  Are those things bad, really "deplorable?"  Are they worse than, say, a career politician who has continually fed at the public trough, coming away with more money than you will ever earn in our entire lifetimes?  And think of the arrogance of these name-callers.  Maybe I'm not very smart, but I still don't see what's so bad about one being "a reindeer farmer" who "played Santa Clause at Christmas."  The man may or may not have been qualified for the House, but how he was characterized by the Establishment is symptomatic of Trump voters' anger and frustration.

The other I noted a couple of weeks ago, when a caller to a local radio show responded to requests for view of Trump's Inaugural Address.  He said he "choked up" at the speech, only to be met with chuckles from the radio hosts.  Then he blurted, probably before anyone could hang up on him!, "Hey, I don't have a cushy job making the big bucks like you two......"  Yep.  In a nutshell, those two episodes explain the Trump voters and the failure of the arrogant elitists to understand what happened, not only in November, but the entire nomination and election campaigns.

I wonder if they will ever "get it."