Shot in the Dark

Category: Entitled America!

  • The Kids Are Not Really Alright

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: I get calls from people wanting to know how to fix problems with real estate title documents, almost always sound like 20-something women, who treat commas as question marks with a rising voice inflection.  It’s painful to listen long enough that I can give the obvious answer.  “Hi.  My…

  • By Gaslight

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: I’m old enough that having amateur debaters attempt to play their tricks on me has become tiresome.  In a recent on-line exchange, my opponent said “I can see you have a lot of anger on this issue.  You need help.”  Nice try, but no cigar.  I know that trick…

  • With Nominees Like This…

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: It’s painful to watch the Republican Presidential nominee join in clamoring for a secret, non-appealable Enemies List of un-persons who have been stripped of civil rights by some unaccountable bureaucrat in the federal administration: four years ago, no right to raise money for voter education; last year, no right…

  • Entitlement

    I’m not sure what disturbs me more; that so many on the left are so depraved at heart… …or that so many feel they’re entitled to be that way.

  • Quote Of The Day

    Williamson’s Victor Davis Hanson’s 1 piece – on the bureaucracy full of smug, entitled, thirtysomething bureaucrats who have such disporportionate control over this country today – is worth a read from beginning to end. But this quote was the payoff: Most men in Dayton or Huntsville do not lounge around in the morning in their pajamas, with…

  • Further Proof Western Civilization Is In Deep Trouble

    Pet owners demanding “Paw-Ternity” leave. Money quote:  I couldn’t help but think that, just as Jameson was getting used to me, he feared I, too, was abandoning him. The guilt continues today: While my co-workers with kids walk out the door at 6 p.m., no one seems to care that I also have a child…

  • Fingers In Your Pockets

    A friend of this blog writes: So there was a letter to the Villager editor, which I thought made quite a bit of sense regarding paid family leave. Then, I happened to see a discussion on Twitter about that letter. The responses on Twitter seem to be what is wrong with the entitlement generation/class. (I…

  • He Could Ban Me From Facebook…

    …but Mark Zuckerberg and his Zuckerminions can’t ban me from my blog for posting this: Or…can they? Stay tuned.

  • First Amendment: Abolished In Saint Paul

    I’m not a big Donald Trump fan. No.  Really .  Not.  A.  Fan. But I’m reminded of Churchill’s statement about Stalin; he didn’t care for him, but if Satan were Hitler’s enemy, Churchill would at least do lunch with him. And so the Saint Paul City Council might be responsible for me doing  lunch with The Donald,…

  • Doakes Sunday: Low Expectation

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: The student was disrupting the class. The teacher couldn’t get her to stop being disruptive.  The teacher called the Principal. The Principal couldn’t get her to stop being disruptive.  The Principal called for a Deputy Sheriff. The Deputy couldn’t get her to stop being disruptive.  The Principal gave the…

  • Unfashionable

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: Mel Brooks poked fun at racists in Blazing Saddles with the line:  “We’ll take the Blacks and the Asians . . . but we don’t want the Irish!” Well, maybe not the Asians, either. Joe Doakes Affirmative action penalizes Asians in higher education. And yet, outside Vietnamese and Koreans,…

  • Privilege

    Earlier this week, while listening to Jack and Andrew on the lesser talk station, I caught them running through this piece about 38 examples of liberal privelege on college campuses.  The piece is very much worth a read. Of course, if you live in a place like the Twin Cities, you realize there’d be room…

  • Quintuple Whammy

    A year or so after he finally departed the Minnesota Vikings, the City Pages has finally pulled its collective head out of Chris Kluwe’s ass long enough to do some reporting about the taxpayer-funded improvments to Zygi Wilf’s real estate portfolio the Vikings and their stadium. And while Corey Zurowski’s piece is not quite on par with the reporting the…

  • Bills

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: I overheard a young woman in the building talking on the phone in the break-room.  She’s stressed out today.  She thought she was current on her debt consolidation loan but the bank claims she’s been a month behind for ages.  Out of every $60 payment she makes, $40 goes…

  • Cis-Schlub

    Rachel Dolezal has “identified” as black since she was 5. I’ve “identified” as a Chicago Bears middle linebacker, an F-15 pilot, as James Honeyman-Scott (albeit not dead) and as a very wealthy guy since I was 6, 12, 16 and 35, respectively. Let’s show those cis-athletes, cis-pilots, cis-rock starts and cis-plutocrats who’s boss, shall we?

  • Privilege

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: A friend has a Facebook page. He linked to this Immediately, a Black woman responded: “People will stop talking white privilege when society doesn’t provide significant benefits to one group for arbitrary reasons. Until then, we have a problem…unless you’re a white male and you’re the one getting all…

  • The Bulletin Factory Releases A Bulletin

    News Flash from our “Elite” Media:  people who grow up realizing, via their own precocious cognition or through family tradition, pressure or persuasion, that attending an “elite” school gives one a disproportionate shot at “elite” jobs, have a vastly disproportionate shot at getting “elite jobs”: Lauren A. Rivera, an associate professor of management and organizations…

  • Balance

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: A former colleague was laid off last year, he’s been struggling. He writes: *** Applied for a job with [unit of government name redacted]. Sorry, they needed a person of color to achieve diversity in the workforce. Applied for a job with [downtown law firm name redacted]. Sorry, they…

  • Let Them Eat Paper

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: Divorce case recently appealed to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, sent back for more fact-finding on this question: were the parties even married? The Court of Appeals’ reasoning infuriates me. When you fled to Thailand in 1975 to escape the Communists after the Americans abandoned Southeast Asia, and you…

  • Chicago: Going Greek?

    After four years under firmer Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Chicago has run up an absolute mountain of debt, and is among the ranks of cities that could easily go bankrupt in the near future. So naturally, inveterate democrat Chicago voters appear likely to go the Greek route, and kick the physical can down…

  • Chanting Points Memo: Our Collective Burden

    I got a brief shot at listening to the Jack Tomczak show this morning, on the lesser talk station. They were talking about Minnesota’s “budget surplus”. And they played an audio clip of Gov. Dayton, which pretty completely summed up the disconnect the DFL has on this issue. In the audio clip, the governor referred…

  • Life’s Rough. Wear A Helmet.

    Two quick points as background: It stinks to have a job offer rescinded.  I’ve had it happen once; a contracting agency made me an offer to work a contract at Northern States Power, back when that still existed.  In the two weeks that followed, NSP re-aligned its priorities.  The agency rescinded my offer; there was…

  • Thanks, Tea Party!

    Federal spending (as a percentage of US GDP) drops close to the historical average… The federal budget is shrinking as a percentage of gross domestic product, falling just below 20 percent in the third quarter of 2014. That’s down four points from its peak of 24 percent in 2011, according to market analysis firm Strategas’ survey…

  • Getting Ahead By Staying Behind

    Walmart stores in 21 states are taking money away from salaries normally paid to higher skilled workers – including those who work their way up from minimum-wage – to pay for minimum wage hikes: The new laws have prompted Wal-Mart to adjust the minimum premium paid to its higher-skilled employees and combine its lowest three…

  • Double Shot Of Doakes: We’ll Get Back To You On The Details

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: Discussed Mall of America protest with a co-worker. What’s the point. To raise awareness. Of what? That police are killing Black people. Why do I care? You don’t care? Not really, I’m a law-abiding White citizen so I’m in no danger; besides, how does disrupting my Christmas shopping make…