Three things

 As I said, the blog is still alive, but posting will likely remain light until we get closer to Benster time. I am posting at least a few times a week at Mitch Berg's place.

As it happens, the last two posts I've featured here are of men, both recently deceased, who like to swear a lot. I assure you that's coincidental and not a preview of coming attractions.

If you have a moment, say a prayer for our friend King David, who has been fighting heart disease and has had a rough go of it recently. We're hoping for good news. 

 

Boogie Down Productions

 For the record, this is the guy who on whose behalf "protesters" are "protesting"* in Minneapolis at the moment. Winston "Boogie" Smith would like to offer you a few posthumous words (incredibly NSFW):

Guy swore more than Jerry Burns.

He was turning his life around, though. Or so we've heard.

*based on the available evidence, the protesters by day are the usual dumpy leftists you see at such things. In the evening, the people setting fire to dumpsters and looting area shops are more diverse and often disguised.

RIP, Jerry Burns

He had a hell of a run. And there was never any doubt he loved #@*@#! Bob Schnelker and @*#(#&@! Rich Karlis, either. Video is, obviously, NSFW:

 

Shot in the D

The post is up now, so I can now reveal that I am writing at Shot in the Dark, Mitch Berg's longtime blog. Mitch is one of the most prolific bloggers in Minnesota and he has been at the blogging game for almost 20 years. He has also hosted a weekend radio show at AM 1280 for about 16-17 years now. He also has a pretty big audience.

This is a great opportunity for me and I'm glad Mitch asked. I will not abandon this blog -- after over 15 years of writing here, there's way too much history to let it go away. However, I assume much of what you see here will be either (a) less political and (b) more about Benster's sports views. But we'll see.

Changes afoot

 Blogging has, despite my best intentions, been spotty around here lately. An opportunity awaits for me. I'll have more to say about it in the next few days. Yes, that last sentence channels an annoying habit from the likes of Tim Walz, who is constantly announcing he's going to make an announcement, but I have to do some thinking about what the opportunity means for this blog.

It's all good, though. Trust me on that. More soon.

Prediction

 In re the Aaron Rodgers saga, ahem: Rodgers will be at the Kentucky Derby today. NBC will have approximately 248 reporters crawling around Churchill Downs, so I imagine one of them (best guess: Tirico) will be able to button-hole him. My prediction: he'll say something with just enough ambiguity to keep the door open, which will (a) give us fleeting hope and (b) show Schefter, Florio and the rest of the gossip gang his ass.

Mock

 I had other priorities, so I missed Joe Biden's speech to a mostly empty House chamber last night. It appears to have been his usual mixture of bad faith, kabuki and crap, so that's probably just as well. People are starting to realize what a dumpster fire we have in Washington, but the official line will remain that competence and unity are rising in Washington. Hunger Games all the way down, frankly.

Making all his nowhere plans for nobody

NFL draft is tonight. I expect the locals to draft an offensive lineman and I hope the Packers pick a butt-kicking linebacker. I don't know who the Lions will pick, but the guy will likely fail. The Bears? Who knows? Guess we'll find out soon enough.

Guilty on all three counts

 Derek Chauvin found guilty on all three charges -- manslaughter, 3rd degree murder, 2nd degree murder. A few thoughts:

• I am somewhat surprised Chauvin got Murder Two, but given the enormous fear this region has been feeling ever since this all began, it's not a complete surprise. A jury that did not deliver what the mob wanted was gonna get doxxed and threatened. 
• Chauvin may have a chance at an appeal because of Maxine Waters, but he'd have had a better chance in a state where the judiciary isn't a wholly owned subsidiary of the DFL. This would have gone down very differently across the St. Croix, I think.
• And that's part of what sticks in my craw about all this. I don't hold any brief for Chauvin, who was the bully boy cop from central casting. Police are, at best, a necessary evil, and this dude was not a hero by any means. Having said that, Chauvin was doing what he was asked to do. And that means we should stop asking the Chauvins of the world to do such bidding. All regimes hire rough men to protect the vulnerable, but if we're not serious about protecting the vulnerable any more, and based on the available evidence we aren't serious, we should stop with the bullshit half measures.
• And therein lies the larger question: why are Chauvin, and by extension all police, doing the things they are asked to do? George Floyd might have died that day anyway, given that he had a likely lethal amount of fentanyl in his system. The danger to the public, I suppose, is if he drove off and caused a pileup on the interstate. That's a hypothetical. What officers actually do is more about financial considerations. Many of the tasks police pursue are revenue generation and not public safety. That question is even more relevant in the Daunte Wright case -- he was stopped because of an expired license tab. That's not a public safety issue, but the Wright case became a public safety issue because we ask our law enforcement to do these penny ante shakedowns. And since the cop in that instance had a brain fart and shot the guy, we've been living in fear for weeks.
• Finally, we need to be honest about the precise reasons we live in fear around there. We have seen vast swathes of our city burned and looted and our elected (not be me, mind you) representatives have ceded control of the city to the woke and their grasping acolytes. This town is chock full of grifters and grievance entrepreneurs at all times, but we also now import 'em, too. This screen shot (h/t Mitch Berg) sums things up nicely:

Grievance is lucrative

• Seriously, get back on yer plane and leave us alone, Al. 

Where we are

 Writing for PJ Media, Victoria Taft says it out loud:

When antifa and BLM stir as much fear as Pablo Escobar and his henchmen, which prevents you from doing your damned job and following the Constitution, we’ve arrived at Banana Republic status.

Welcome to Medellín, Minnesota, where judges, elected officials, and cops are afraid of the race cartels.

Do you dispute that idea? If so, tell me why. 

Dreary Brearley and the Brooklyn Center Extravaganza

 I have no idea who Andrew Gutmann is, but he has been paying north of 50K/year to have his daughter educated at Brearley, a hyper-exclusive all-girls prep school in New York. But he's had enough. Bari Weiss has the details:

I object to the view that I should be judged by the color of my skin. I cannot tolerate a school that not only judges my daughter by the color of her skin, but encourages and instructs her to prejudge others by theirs. By viewing every element of education, every aspect of history, and every facet of society through the lens of skin color and race, we are desecrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and utterly violating the movement for which such civil rights leaders believed, fought, and died. 

He's just getting warmed up:

I object to Brearley’s vacuous, inappropriate, and fanatical use of words such as “equity,” “diversity” and “inclusiveness.” If Brearley’s administration was truly concerned about so-called “equity,” it would be discussing the cessation of admissions preferences for legacies, siblings, and those families with especially deep pockets. If the administration was genuinely serious about “diversity,” it would not insist on the indoctrination of its students, and their families, to a single mindset, most reminiscent of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Instead, the school would foster an environment of intellectual openness and freedom of thought. And if Brearley really cared about “inclusiveness,” the school would return to the concepts encapsulated in the motto “One Brearley,” instead of teaching the extraordinarily divisive idea that there are only, and always, two groups in this country: victims and oppressors.

In the current environment, mentioning the Chinese Cultural Revolution is likely prima facie evidence of racism. Stop Asian Hate, pal. But let's keep going:

We have today in our country, from both political parties, and at all levels of government, the most unwise and unvirtuous leaders in our nation’s history. Schools like Brearley are supposed to be the training grounds for those leaders. Our nation will not survive a generation of leadership even more poorly educated than we have now, nor will we survive a generation of students taught to hate its own country and despise its history. 

There are obvious consequences to all this and we are seeing it unfold on our doorstep now. Our leaders in Minnesota are as Mr. Gutmann describes -- unwise and unvirtuous. We have the specter of mob rule hanging over Minneapolis and Brooklyn Center. And beyond the lack of virtue, there's also a lack of competence:

Initially, the city planned no curfew for the first time this week to "take a different approach," the mayor said in a statement. But around 10:30 p.m., Operation Safety Net announced the mayor had declared an emergency curfew that starts at 11 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Saturday.

The curfew followed unrest outside the police department. Shortly after 9:30 p.m. Friday, protesters breached the secondary barrier surrounding the Brooklyn Center police department. In response, law enforcement used flash bangs and pepper spray to push the crowd back. Officials repaired the fence. Protesters continued to throw items, such as glass bottles, over the barricades.

And the officials are pointing fingers at one another:

 Col. Matt Langer of the Minnesota State Patrol expressed frustration that the same strategy was not as effective Friday night. Authorities say a small group carrying bats were among the agitators.

At an overnight press conference, law enforcement laid out items, including cans, umbrellas, paint cans and wooden shields, that had been brought into the rally by protesters.

"If we want change in policing, we want reform in policing - let's do that. Let's get together and start reform," said Hennepin County David Hutchinson. "This profession needs help. We can admit that. We're not perfect. We can be better. But these people are not people you should be supporting." 

You can't act clearly unless you operate from clear moral principles. Unfortunately, at our current moment, the principle in place is might makes right. We may not have as many Mean Tweets, but there's a meanness in the land. We're at a tipping point.

Under Curfew

 We're okay here. I don't think a curfew is necessary, but whatever. About the only way our neighborhood would go up in flames is if we were in the midst of an apocalypse. And despite some of the rhetoric we're hearing lately, we are not in an apocalypse. We are, most certainly, in a time where cynics and opportunists are in the saddle.

The Golden Ticket

 So I got my vaccine yesterday, amusingly enough at the Vikings headquarters in Eagan:

Purple pride

It was the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine, which requires only a single dose, so I will not have to return to the Vikings fortress. After 24 hours, the side effects have been minimal; a little bit of a runny nose and general fatigue, but I've been able to work and approach normal productivity. And if everything goes as it should, I will be able to say I'm fully vaccinated within a month. 

Most importantly, I have my card, which may shape up to be the most important document in my possession if the gubmint has anything to say about it:

As coronavirus vaccinations slowly release the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new question is emerging: Should countries and the private sector embrace the idea of a digital vaccine passport for travel, working and dining? Though proving you're vaccinated to travel isn't a new concept (some countries have required yellow fever vaccines for years), doing so for COVID-19 would be on a far grander scale than ever before.

This is a terrible idea, for all the obvious reasons. If your ability to travel, to conduct your life in a normal fashion, to have a life at all, are contingent on jumping through a hoop of Joe Biden's choosing, we're well and truly screwed. But why should I worry? Dobie Gray explained it to us way back in '65:

I'm in with the in crowd (Do-do-do)

I go where the in crowd goes (Do-do-do)

I'm in with the in crowd (Do-do-do)

And I know what the in crowd knows (Da-da-da-da)

It's worth noting I got my vaccine because I got the call from the State of Minnesota, after providing the grandees a lot of information that has nothing to do with my actual need for the vaccine. At this point, it's still a lottery and there are others I know who likely are at greater risk than I was, but they wait. But I have the card, the golden ticket. Does it make sense?

The blog is still alive

Have not written lately. Obviously.

Needless to say, much is going on. I will get back to weighing in soon. Thanks for reading!

Welcome back my friends, to the Chauvin that never ends

 We're going to be starting the Derek Chauvin trial tomorrow and Minneapolis will again be in the spotlight. I haven't gone downtown much in recent months to see the fortifications for myself, but there's enough concertina wire and barricades up around the government center to stop much from happening at the place where the trial will take place. 

Tunnel of love

I don't know who the grandees are trying to protect, but this sort of fortification suggests an extraordinary level of fear. The trial is going to last for at least a few weeks and while there are certainly going to be all manner of protesters downtown, it's highly unlikely that anyone is going to breach the perimeter, but I also think the problems will be elsewhere in town. 

The problem for the local government is simple enough -- the optics of George Floyd's demise are both egregious and potentially incorrect. Although Keith Ellison and his merry band of prosecutors will never admit it publicly, they don't have an airtight case. It's quite possible Floyd was already a dead man by the time Chauvin got to the scene. He had a lot of fentanyl in his system at the time of death, quite possibly a lethal dose. His defense team will certainly present evidence to that effect to the jury. 

I sincerely hope Ellison and his team have an answer prepared. If not, someone may end up on the business end of that concertina wire.

RIP, Rush Limbaugh

 It's on his site:

Sui generis

I didn't listen to Rush that much -- he was on the air while I was at work and the only times I would hear him was if I had a day off or was in transit as part of something I was doing on the job. It would have been impossible to work and listen to him at the same time, because he would command your attention.

When I first became of aware of Limbaugh and his program, I assumed he would be destroyed, labeled a modern-day Father Coughlin, driven from the airwaves and polite company generally. He was driven from ESPN, but that was a side gig. He always engaged a massive audience with his microphone and his show was appointment radio for tens of millions of listeners for over 30 years. 

I am friends with two guys who are weekend talk show hosts and bloggers here in the Twin Cities, Mitch Berg and Brad Carlson. I've been on Brad's show several times over the years, mostly to talk about football and a few times to discuss Catholic issues. Doing radio well is hard work -- you have to engage your audience every time or you'll be gone soon. Even as a guest, it's a challenge. You have to be able to present your ideas quickly and cogently and keep things moving. The list of successful long-time talk show hosts is short, precisely because it's so tough to do. Rush Limbaugh made it seem effortless, but it wasn't. He had to be able to buttress every utterance he made. He had enemies who spent three decades trying to chase him from the air. He had to be on guard every moment. And he pulled it off. He towered over his enemies and challengers. No one was ever close to him.

Rush leaves the microphone at a parlous time. His detractors control the executive and legislative branches and they are in a hurry to change the world. These same detractors are eager to control discourse; wokeness is loose upon the land and hatred is in the saddle. Our voices may not be as authoritative or engaging as Rush Limbaugh's, but we have to make our voices heard.

Artifact

One of our usual Wednesday night stops during the summer of 1983. As you can see from the flyer, it was easy to get altered for a low, low price: 

We liked the Vulcan Mind Probes WAAAAY too much

Factored for inflation, the 2021 cost of one of these drinks would be about $3.50. You can't actually get something like this for less than $10 any more. Sin is not as cost-effective as it used to be.

You should not find it surprising...

... that the modern Democratic Party is full of scoundrels. But in case you weren't sure, spend two minutes with this video.

 

Creeps in this petty place

 The title isn't precisely what Shakespeare wrote. But for our purposes, it works. Your betters have a pronouncement:

Told by an idiot

No, it's Shakespeare. The full passage:

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

Andrea Mitchell, it should be noted, has a degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania, a member in good standing of the Ivy League. By the way, she shares alumni status at Penn with the Bad Orange Man, but that's a secondary issue here.

Ted Cruz was correct. Andrea Mitchell was wrong. Jennifer Rubin is non compos mentis on her best days. Our betters, who hold the commanding heights of power and influence in this moment, are dumb. Especially when they try to dunk on other people on Twitter. 

Benster and D Pick Your Games---Super Bowl Mercenary Bucs Edition

 Yes, I'm still here, and not bitter at all about the NFC Championship Game. Life goes on, and we can talk about the Super Bowl. 

Well, I'm bitter. But there's not much to be done about it now, so yeah, on with the Superb Owl. And let's have some halftime entertainment!

That ain't The Weeknd, old dude. And I've never seen so many rugby shirts in my life, by the way.

Nah, it's Up With People, as compared to most Super Bowl halftime shows these days, which are usually Up Yours.

Left Shark does not approve. 

But anyway, back to the game. The one thing that is clear for me is that 99% of America is rooting for the Chiefs. The only people rooting for the Bucs are Bucs fans, Brady bandwagon fans that followed him from the Patriots, and AFC West rivals. I'm not one of those three groups of people. I never have rooted for the Bucs, I don't like Brady, and I root for the Packers, who last I checked play in the NFC North. 

A useful sorting out, Grasshopper. Very well done. By the way, what are you feeling?

I am still feeling the HYYYYYYPPPEEEEE!, and it is time to watch me work.

Kansas City Chiefs (-3) vs. Tampa Bay Bucs The Chiefs are back to defend their title and return to face a Bucs team that they beat in this very stadium in late November. It must be acknowledged that the Bucs have a huge advantage in not being able to travel, and will make history as the first team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium. My big question is how in the world did the Bucs get so many mercenaries under the salary cap? It's like they were borrowing tips from the Saints. Tampa has a lot of unlikeable people on their roster. Brady is a proven cheater thanks to Deflategate, and was part of Patriots teams that was caught breaking NFL rules multiple times. AB is the dictionary definition of a diva wideout and is one of the few players I never want the Packers to sign or trade for. Suh is a dirty player, and Gronk just annoys me with his frat bro stuff. Yeah, I know that Tyreek Hill has his own legal troubles, but the Bucs have far more people who football fans can find easy to hate. The Chiefs will have a healthier Patrick Mahomes. Sorry Patrick, you are not the MVP of the league. The MVP wears 12 and plays for Green Bay. The Chiefs have more experience than the Bucs, and should be the first team to repeat since the Patriots back during their first dynasty. I also love how explosive the Chiefs can be on offense, and they have a better defense than people think. Chiefs 35, Mercenary Bucs 21.

That's all spot-on. The Chiefs can deal destruction in multiple ways and in Mahomes they have a quarterback for the ages. Brady has done amazing things in his career and he was just barely good enough to beat a Packers team that went moronic at the worst possible time. The Chiefs are simply a better team, top to bottom. Bet the chalk and take the points. Kansas City 34, Tampa Bay 26.

Enjoy your football this weekend, and thanks for reading this feature all season long. Until September, Ben out. 

No one for the Hall?

 We'll get the announcement this evening -- will anyone make the Baseball Hall of Fame this year? To be honest, I doubt it. Here's the list of candidates:

Curt Schilling -- I think he's worthy. The only guy with a shot this year. His tendency to be a conservative loudmouth has hurt his candidacy. It shouldn't matter, but sportswriters tend to be PC and it's hurt him. He has one more year on the ballot and the writers may decide to throw him a bone then; otherwise, he's a cinch on a Veterans' Committee in the future.

Bloody socks and bloody shirts

Roger Clemens -- Steroid guy; not proven but strongly suspected. Also a prickly personality. He was clearly the greatest pitcher of his generation and probably top 5-6 of all time, but he's probably not going to make it.

Barry Bonds -- Mr. BALCO. If he'd been able to control his jealousy at McGwire and Sosa and had stayed off the juice, he'd have been in the HOF years ago. Now, probably not.

Omar Vizquel -- great defensive player and ended up close to 3000 hits. Unfortunately, he seems to be a domestic abuser as well. Don't think he's gonna make it.

Scott Rolen -- one of the best third basemen in history, but he wasn't flashy and didn't attract attention to himself, so he's underrated. He's climbing the ladder and should make it as early as 2022 or 2023.

Billy Wagner -- dominant lefty relief pitcher. Not sure he's special enough to make it.

Gary Sheffield -- a legitimately fearsome hitter, but has the steroid taint and was also roundly considered a bad dude. Not likely to make it.

Todd Helton -- climbing the ladder; he played his entire career for the Rockies, so his power numbers are suspect, but he was a great hitter and won three Gold Gloves. Not this year, but eventually, yes.

Manny Ramírez -- like Sheffield, a legitimately great hitter and one of the most colorful characters in the history of the game. But he's lousy with steroids so he's not going to make it.

Jeff Kent -- a great hitter at a traditional defensive position (second base); has the numbers, but never seems to get the traction. A candidate for the Veterans Committee in the future.

Andruw Jones -- defensively elite center fielder who also hit more than 400 home runs, but his career fell off a cliff at the age of 30. He may make it eventually primarily for his defensive excellence, but he's a borderline case in any event.

Sammy Sosa -- over 600 homers and while he's never admitted to steroid use, everyone thinks he did. He's gotten weird post-career as well. No chance.

Andy Pettitte -- great pitcher, but a serious steroid taint. Not likely to overcome the stigma.

Bobby Abreu -- a modern-day Ken Singleton or Dusty Baker; a talented player who is seriously underrated. But no one thinks Baker or Singleton is a Hall of Famer, either.

There are three first year players who I think could stay on the ballot, although I don't see any of them making the HOF during the normal 10-year process. They are:

Mark Buehrle -- a high-quality lefty who mostly pitched for the White Sox. He's a lot like Mickey Lolich, but only old guys like me remember Lolich. 

Torii Hunter -- like all Twins fans, I love Torii Hunter. And he was a hell of a player, one of the best center fielders of his era. But he's not going to make it.

Tim Hudson -- a good righthander who won over 200 games in his career. His career numbers are quite similar to Catfish Hunter, who is in the HOF, but Hudson's taste in teammates wasn't as good. 

The rest of the 1st year players (Dan Haren, Barry Zito, Aramis Ramirez, Shane Victorino, A. J. Burnett, Nick Swisher, LaTroy Hawkins, and Michael Cuddyer) aren't going to make it. Even die-hard Twins fans would admit Hawkins and Cuddyer aren't worthy.