Last week, social conservatives on social media vented their disgust at a mother whose son had been shot and killed in an armed robbery attempt; the woman infamously asked how it was her son was supposed to get money for clothes, being in “the hood” and all.
The landed punditry pummeled the mother; with such an upbringing, how was the kid supposed to grow up? was a common refrain.
I’m not going to bag on a distraught mother. She’ll have an eternity to wonder about what she did or didn’t do wrong as a mom. I’m not going to chuckle at grief, even if it provides what seems to be a window into a worldview utterly foreign to mine.
And because there’s a much more galling example of corrosive entitlement happening on a much bigger, but less dramatic, scale.
The Detroit Way: A dozen current and former Detroit school administrators received the equivalent of federal indictments for bribery and kickbacks totaling over a million dollars over 13 years. The administrators allegedly worked with a crooked vendor to take kickbacks for school supplies that weren’t delivered, funneling funds through dummy companies set up to try to fool auditors.
That case will wend its merry way through the courts for many more years, no doubt.
But if I may, I’ll ask the world’s collective dogs to leave the grieving mother of the late robber alone, and take a gander at this ripe turd of entitlement (with emphasis added):
“It’s pitiful that they’re going after principals who are probably just doing what they need to do even if it might be a little bit unethical in order to provide the students in their schools with the supplies and materials that they need that district and the state should be providing us,” teacher Cathy Brackett said. “They should be going after the big thieves who have come into the district under the guise of emergency managers and consultants who have skimmed not just thousands of dollars but millions of dollars away from our students and just move on to their next gig, seemingly without repercussions.”
While Ms. Brackett is right to a point – the educational consulting racket is basically an under-the-table wealth transfer from the taxpayers to the political class, which in Detroit means Democrat hangers-on – it’s that emphasized bit that made me forget all about the robber’s mom’s outburst; people skimming taxpayer money are “probably” doing it for their kids’ benefit? Read it for yourself.
You’ll notice that this happens only in cities where one-party rule has ossified into a permanent political overclass – which happens only in Democrat-run cities, as it happens.
If this reasoning catches on, it could save me a fortune in pizzas, magazines, wreaths and all the other junk my grandkids sell to raise money. Just send the little urchins out to steal it. Read Charles Dickens for the instruction manual – get your classical literature and useful life skilz at the same time.
Another education ‘golden oldie’ is for districts, with an upcoming mil levy vote, will threaten voters with cuts to theater, music, sports, whatever, if they don’t get their money.
Here is the thing Mitch, NO. This doesn’t represent one party Democratic rule in the slightest. It is dishonest cherry picking and fails to look at all the successes of Democratic administrations.
Secondly, seriously do you really want to bring up generations and who to blame for kids getting in trouble? Are you willing to involve politics and your own parenting or any other conservative’s parenting when conservative middle class kids do the same things?
Yes, some principles in Detroit were indicted. I can find plenty of examples of crooked conservatives taking kickbacks or worse.
The reality is that poor black communities struggle more than middle class white communities, yet those white communities – out int he burbs not the hood – have higher drug use and other problems. It is also true that our economic growth is better under Dems, which at least helps alleviate some of the poverty in the hood if not all of it. Your lot do nothing having any effectiveness to do so.
Dog gone is firehosing ignorance as usual.
“It is also true that our economic growth is better under Dems”
What the Hell is she even talking about? FDR and the Great Depression? Obama’s record of annual GDP growth is about half the post WW2 norm. There is no way Obama’s policies can be called ‘pro-GDP-growth.’ Bill Clinton’s policies were pro-GDP-growth. Those policies have since been repudiated, not only by every national Democrat politician, including Bernie Sanders, but by Clinton’s own wife.
Raising the minimum wage may be desirable policy for several reasons, but it is not a pro-GDP-growth policy, any more than cashing out your bank account, piling the money in the back yard, and setting it on fire is a policy that will increase your personal wealth.
This doesn’t represent one party Democratic rule in the slightest. It is dishonest cherry picking and fails to look at all the successes of Democratic administrations.
Look at government corruption, arrests of government officials for major corruption, urban blight, crime rates, and economic decay.
THOSE are “the successes of Democrat administrations”.
While there are some Democrat-run cities that function well enough (for now), there ARE no GOP-run jurisdictions on the list of America’s most blighted, crime-ridden, corrupt places.
None.
economic growth is better under Dems
I wrote about that long ago, DG. It’s not true.
Yes, some principles in Detroit were indicted. I can find plenty of examples of crooked conservatives taking kickbacks or worse.
Go ahead. Let’s see them. And for every one you find, I can point to a dozen Rangels. And as usual, “facts” you pull out of your ass are not admissible. And of course you’ll get right on it, as soon as you find on a map where Pinal county borders Mexico. Snap to it, little doggie.
I can find plenty of examples
Reminds me of an old joke: I can play violin better than Paganini, I just don’t want to.
Yes, some principles in Detroit were indicted.
Which principles? Entitlement, dishonesty, and Democrat policy excusing the lawlessness of certain groups based on the melanin content of their skin? Or the rule of law?
(Yeah, I shouldn’t rag on pointing out how much “smarter” our resident progressive commentator is, but I can’t resist.)
I can find plenty of examples of crooked conservatives taking kickbacks or worse.
Challenge accepted: list examples of conservatives that through criminal activities have enriched themselves stealing directly from school children on anywhere near the scale of Detroit in the last two decades. List examples of conservatives who have enriched themselves by hiding their own educational malfeasance like down in Atlanta in that same time frame.
Kudos to Nerdbert; I missed this on first pass:
I can find plenty of examples of crooked conservatives taking kickbacks or worse.
Go for it!
I’ll spot you one: Randy Cunningham.
I’ll wait.
While you’re at it, do us a favor. Show us a city or other jurisdiction run by conservatives that is a fiscal and social basket-case along the lines of Detroit, Newark, Camden, Baltimore, New Orleans, Saint Louis, Detroit, Oakland, south Chicago, north MInneapolis, Oakland, South Central LA or Stockton. Don’t answer “the rural south”, either – they’re just as much a victim of big government as Detroit and NOLA!
And if you answer “Kansas”, the mockery will resound from the heavens. Go ahead. Make my day.
Not that you’ll answer. Your name should be Poop and Gone.
Billy Kenoi, mayor of my Island, once considered a rising star in the Democrat party, was indicted for theft of public money earlier this week. The charges concerned about $12,000 worth of private expenses charged to a county credit card.
The facts of the case have been known for over a year. The Democratic-dominated county council refused to reprimand Kenoi. He was indicted by the county prosecutor following a grand jury investigation.
http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/local-news/kenoi-will-go-trial-hawaii-county-mayor-pleads-not-guilty-charges-pcard-probe
BG, yet another reason to abolish Grand Jury, as per Cano.
Kenoi started out admitting wrong doing. He had made the charges as a matter of convenience, he said, and later reimbursed the county with personal funds. The charges are now public, and it looks like it is a lot worse than he said it was. More than once he charged the county for personal meals at restaurants (a few hundred dollars each time), and then falsified receipts to indicate that the money charged was for official county events that took place at other times.
Regarding the likelihood of conservatives vs. liberals falling into corruption, it ought to be pointed out that the central tendency of liberals–to assume that more and more things are public goods and insist on the propriety of those programs–also will necessarily offer more opportunities for graft.
Or, put differently, corrupt people go to where the money is, and when conservatives run things, there simply is a lot less money to be had in government.
BB, you’ve tangentially hit one of my sore spots. Having been inside the Civil Service system and having dealt with government procurement I’ll make this observation: the whole system is set up to prevent bad actors from enriching themselves through bad practices such as happened in Detroit. It doesn’t work in practice since crooks are cleverer than bureaucrats, but it gives politicians and professional administrators the ability to claim that they’ve “fixed” something. But it does succeed in making life miserable for employees just trying to do their job, and it does make those who administer the procurement system exceptionally valuable to the small number of vendors who manage to pass the screening procedures and are willing to put up with the excessive micromanaging of Federal purchasing departments. And it’s amazing how those who setup and direct the Byzantine purchasing regs manage to “retire” to companies that are eager to comply with those regs.
bikebubba, there is probably a reason why large, urban areas, even in nominally Republican dominated regions, tend to be controlled by Democrats. That, as they say, is beyond the scope of my discussion.
In my state, the law says that a politician or a bureaucrat has a conflict of interest in awarding a contract only if the recipient is the spouse or child of the bureaucrat. This leads to a lot of siblings and ex-spouses being awarded contracts. In one case, the bureaucrat (highways dept.) awarded a contract to her ex-husband (with whom she still shared property and other interests). The conflict only came to light because there was federal money involved. The feds audited the project and found it was not being performed to specifications (I believe the issue was gravel that was too large. It is cheaper to make big gravel than small gravel).
Mitch, Cunningham was a garden variety white collar crook. Those educators in Detroit stole directly from “the children” we’re always hearing about from our “betters” that deserve our unconditional and unlimited financial support. Given that this is a direct assault on the education and job prospects of minority students, “Progressives” such as the female doggie should be incandescently outraged. But we see their real reaction was more along the lines of, “Darn. Didn’t get my share. And don’t go blaming the politicians who should have been watching for this because they meant well!”
I can find plenty of examples of crooked conservatives taking kickbacks or worse.
Find me one (1) example of a Republican school administrator stealing money, you witless harpy. You won’t, because fucking kids over is a Democrat specialty.
Swiftee, don’t you mean ‘fucking over other people’s kids is a democrat specialty’?
Children being ripped off to line the pockets of Democrats? I’m sure Sen. Al “Air America” Franken will want to look into that. Those VP campaigns don’t fund themselves, you know.
NW……Crazy Al is busy trying to figure out how to spin his Super Delegate vote for Hillary when Minnesota overwhelming voted for The Bern.
You are right, Bento. I stand corrected.
NW, if you want to see Angry Al scuttle off double time, remind him of the time he helped rip the kids from Gloria Wise Boys and Girls club off for $800k.
These people are beneath contempt.
It is nice to see so many special snowflakes learning how our system works.
That is a second place entry, Emery, and I know you can do better. Go on, prove you can write the stupidest comment on this post. I believe in you.
Chupacabra: I’ll concede that honor to you ..LOL
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Yo estoy la chupacabra.
As you can tell by my name, Bento Guzman, I identify as Hispanic these days. It is a race, you know. Unlike the other races, Caucasian, Negroid, and Mongoloid, we Hispanics like fritos corn chips,. We love them, we do.
Nerdbert: I’m honored to have hit one of your sore points. You are correct that the system is only as good as those who monitor it, of course. One of my recent suspicions, along these lines, is that the waning fortunes of “The Combover” starting in the 1990s had a lot to do with Rudi Giuliani putting mobsters in prison. Without the Mob elevating construction prices (and looking the other way when Drumpf brought construction costs down to market levels), his easy money went away.
Can I prove it to a court? Of course not, but there has to be a reason he stopped doing the easy real estate deals that were raking in millions. One possibility is that those deals were no longer easy because Guido wasn’t coming by to collect protection money.
The Fed goosing the economy is ***usually*** the real reason. Greenspan went nuts under the end of Clinton’s term. The actually got rid of the 30 year bond for a while.
Now look at everything. 20 years of goosing.