Don Surber: Don’t mess with Lawrence Welk:

Welk was a hard-working, intelligent man who ran a music and real estate empire with a fourth-grade education.

In his obituary, The Sun said, “In 1956, ABC-TV broadcast Mr. Welk from coast to coast, and for the ensuing 16 years the Welk show missed only one week — in the aftermath of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963.

“ABC finally dropped the show in 1971, deciding that Mr. Welk’s audience was too old to attract commercial sponsors looking for a more youthful and affluent market. His sponsors at the time reflected Mr. Welk’s demographics: Geritol and Sominex.

“Mr. Welk responded by syndicating his own show, which ultimately was picked up by more than 250 stations around the country — more, even, than had aired his show on ABC.

“The program did not miss a week of air time until weekly production ended in 1982.”

A guy like Welk is a great Danger to the left because he demonstrate the ability to make it not only without a public education but was able to bypass the networks because he through hard work created something that the people wanted.


Pirates Cove talks about the efforts to make it harder for law abiding citizens to defend themselves in Oregon:

opponents say forcing people to keep guns locked up could waste precious moments if they need to defend themselves against armed intruders.

Jim Mischel, of Sheridan, Oregon, described how his wife woke up when he was away one night in 1981. She heard a noise, went to investigate and saw that a man had broken into their home.

She returned to the bedroom and tried to get to a pistol that was in a locked gun box in the nightstand.

“She was unable to get the box unlocked and the pistol out before he got into the bedroom and threatened her with his gun,” Mischel said. “She has never recovered.”

Criminals will know this. They will know that lots of people will comply (why do Dem voters even have guns in places like Portland? Aren’t they anti-gun? Or just anti-gun for Other People?). Law abiding citizens will have a choice: lock the guns up making them almost worthless for home defense, or be a criminal by making sure they are handy. I wonder how much influence the gun storage industry has on this, and other similar, bills.

People unable to defend themselves from armed Democrat Voters thugs is a feature not a bug to those in Oregon.


At Gateway Pundit a point I’ve often made is repeated:

Senator Gray responded to a similar question from Spicer after Spicer said, “you’ll recount the ballots and you’ll get the same number”:

We have a lot of concerned voters who don’t trust the system, so the whole purpose of this verifying to the voters that this system was accurate.   And of course, it is the legislature’s responsibility to deal with election laws.  So if there are any problems, we need to change some statutes and adjust to make sure what we are doing is appropriate.”

Fann then shared this:

Unfortunately and what is interesting is from the get-go it has been nothing but certifying election integrity.  But the fact that we have been pushed back.  They have sued us.  They are threatening to sue us again.  Maricopa County supervisors have done everything in their power to prevent us from doing this and now I’m beginning to wonder why would they not want to prove that their election system works, that it’s perfect.  I don’t understand why we are getting threatened, sued and threatened, when all we want to do is election integrity here.”

People who know their election is above board and honest and want to convince those in doubt should be happy to have an audit confirm it.

People who have stolen an election do not.


Granite Grok notes how sunlight is the best way to change a pols mind particularly on a local level:

The big news was released at the beginning of the meeting. Chairman Ross McLeod announced the Selectmen had decided it was more appropriate to forego their non-public (secret) meeting and choose their forensic analyst in public view at next Monday’s meeting.

That decision was triggered by a considerable amount of public input and addressed concerns that the process should be transparent to reflect legislative intent.

The massive number of emails that were received by Town Hall represented the enormous displeasure of the public.

If you can’t stop the audit of the ballots the next best thing is to play game with the selection process. Thanks to the public these games are over and the first stone of the wall of silence might now come down.


Finally Motus AD’s post on the small risings in the woke land of expensive education ends with an interesting note:

Perhaps the most telling aspect of this little morality play being acted out in real time is the fact that neither the New York Times (America’s Newpaper of Record) [SIC] nor The Washington Post (Democracy Dies In Darkness) have covered either story. Nor have they covered any other stories concerning the ideological takeover of the schools…or media. When you’re part of the cabal you decide all the news that’s fit to print.

Personally I think the more people know about what is happening in the school systems the more likely people will cheer them remaining closed.

Going up the country

Posted: April 20, 2021 by chrisharper in Uncomfortable Truths
Tags: ,

By Christopher Harper

After living in Philadelphia for the past 15 years, it’s difficult for me not to look at the news there.

Unfortunately, almost all of the news is bad!

According to the Pew Charitable Trusts’ annual State of the City report, Philadelphia’s average unemployment rate last year trailed only Detroit and Cleveland among 10 major U.S. cities. 

Philadelphia’s average unemployment rate of 12.2% was more than four points above the U.S. average, compared with a difference of less than two points in 2019.

The jobless statistics suggest that Philadelphia faces a more challenging economic situation than similar cities. Washington, for example, had slightly higher unemployment than Philadelphia before the pandemic. But the nation’s capital saw its average jobless rate increase just 2.4 percentage points last year, while Philadelphia’s increased by seven points.

Pew did not explain why Philadelphia fared worse than other cities. But it noted the sectors that helped fuel the city’s resurgence during the last decade — hospitality, restaurants, and arts and culture — shut down early in the pandemic. Philadelphia also faces high poverty rates, lower educational attainment, and other issues.

But there’s more bad news.

The murder rate is headed for an all-time high after reaching the second-highest level in the city’s history only last year when 499 people died.

Another Pew study found that the pandemic hit Philadelphians hard in ways that affect their jobs, economic security, and mental and physical health. See https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2020/10/how-covid-19-has-undercut-philadelphians-physical-and-financial-well-being

After the deaths of civilians at the hands of police and the resulting civil unrest, Philadelphia residents said they feel less safe in their neighborhoods than at any other time in recent memory. 

Only 49% of Philadelphians say they feel safe outside in their neighborhoods at night, the lowest figure Pew has recorded in more than a decade of polling. Typically, the percentage has been in the 55% to 60% range. Blacks and Hispanics said they are less likely to say they feel safe than in past surveys.

More than 40% of Philadelphians say that events related to the pandemic and the demonstrations have made the city a less desirable place to live. Amazingly, about two-thirds of the population said they expect to be living in the city five to 10 years from now. 

Maybe they feel trapped by family or a job. Whatever the case, I feel fortunate that my wife and I could get out of Dodge! 

My Very Simple Brian Sicknick Question

Posted: April 20, 2021 by datechguy in Uncategorized

Who is more likely to invent a false narrative and spend weeks selling it to the public: A group of people who won an election fair and square who are not afraid of scrutiny of their honest election victory OR a group of people who stole an election from the voters of a nation who are desperate to keep scrutiny away from what has been done and discredit those who call them out?

or as I’ve been saying for a while

I’ll believe those who say that claim that election 2020 was stolen are simply a conspiracy theory when those who loudly claim that such claims are a conspiracy theory stop acting like conspirators with something to hide.

By:  Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – I have two rescue dogs; one is a black lab who my son found near death abandoned by a dumpster when the pup was about six weeks old. We named him Jazz and he is now twelve years old. We have another rescue, Kipper, who turns four this week. Kipper’s mother was a Boston Terrier and nobody knows what dad was, but everyone that sees Kipper thinks he looks like an American Pitbull. I do not. Kipper is not that big, not that chunky, not that muscular. But he sure is cute.

I have a real soft spot for dogs and I know the names of more dogs in my neighborhood than I do people. There is Toby who walks by everyday with his person. Toby has some sheepdog in him; he is also a rescue. Toby is one of those dogs that is just goofy and has such a happy look on his face. We always go outside and visit with Toby and his person when they come by. In fact, Toby will stop on the sidewalk in front of our house and wait for us to come outside. As soon as we open the door he will bound across the yard to say hello. He makes me smile.

Buddy is a black lab mix that lives around the corner and I see Buddy whenever I walk the block. Buddy lives on a corner lot and so there is a lot of traffic by his fence; his people have used brackets to put a wire basket filled with tennis balls on the outside of the wrought iron fence so people can say hi to Buddy and throw a ball for him. Buddy has more friends than most people I know.

Rico and Colt live next door to me. Colt is an Australian Shepherd and never ever sits still. He is the very definition of a live-wire. Rico is a Chow and he has some kind of lupus that causes sores on his nose. His nose is always raw and it is aggravated by the sun. His people have installed a series of large umbrellas across their patio to protect Rico from too much direct sunlight when he is outside. Rico seems totally unbothered by his condition, however, and is as happy and loving as he can be. He is a stunningly beautiful dog.

Demi lives across the street. Demi’s mother used to have the most beautiful, manicured yard that she worked in all of the time, but dogs have a way of changing the way you live, and Demi digs holes. There is an iron fence around their front yard and I can see Demi digging holes from my front window. Some of the holes are probably close to the water table; sometimes I look over there and can see nothing  but Demi’s tail and dirt flying.

There is something about a dog that makes me happy and calms me down. There’s that whole unconditional love thing, but it’s more than that. They are always glad to see you; they never question you and they don’t care about your politics. I can not imagine a home without a pup, and when we lose them it is like losing a family member. It hurts just as badly. I have a friend who is a chemist, and she lost her dog of twelve years about three years ago. She and her son still drive out to his grave, in a local Pet Cemetery, two or three times a month to place flowers.

I’ve always believed rescue dogs are more grateful, but that probably is not true. It’s just that I’ve always had rescue dogs. Even as I type this, Kipper is asleep next to me on the couch and Jazz is asleep on the floor at my feet. Just another lazy afternoon. And the older I get, and the crazier the world gets, I find that I more often prefer the company of dogs than to people.

Any dog lovers out there? Tell me about your dog!

Pat Austin blogs at And So it Goes in Shreveport, at Medium, and is the author of Cane River Bohemia: Cammie Henry and her Circle at Melrose Plantation. Follow her on Instagram @patbecker25 and Twitter @paustin110.