Friday Follies...

Looks like we made it (hmm...be a good title for a song).
The weekend has finally arrived. Can we stand the strain?
All this and only THREE weeks until CHRISTMAS...the atheists must be having fits (good, maybe it'll plotz a few of them along the way).
Doesn't look like we'll be suffering any major winter events, and that's always good.
Our Hoosierland weather will see us with partly cloudy skies, a tad on the breezy side with a high today around the mid-40s. Still gets cold enough at night, though.
So, what say we all get a nice soothing cup or glass of Friday Fortitude poured and parked nearby as we see what's been going on elsewhere, hmm?
*** First out of bed is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
December 4 -
---Today is NATIONAL COOKIE DAY

(Christmas cookies are the best, imho - can't wait to bake some)
---And, it's NATIONAL DICE DAY

(craps, I wonder if Andrew "Dice" Clay is observing this? Roll them bones.)

AH, the good old days...

---It's also FAUX FUR FRIDAY

(sounds like some tree-hugging hippie holiday)
*** Since it's the weekend, let's see what stuff we can all get into over the next 72 hours:
December 5 -
---Saturday is BATHTUB PARTY DAY

(seriously?)
---It's also INTERNATIONAL NINJA DAY

(YOU go hug one...I'll pass)
---And, it's AFL-CIO DAY

(While they once helped the working class, they grew too big for their own shoes, like every labor union)
---It's also NATIONAL SACHER TORTE DAY

(sounds like some sort of dessert for the upper class to me)
December 6 -
---Sunday is NATIONAL PAWNBROKERS DAY

(Now THEY hang those brass balls outside)
---It's also NATIONAL MICROWAVE OVEN DAY

(seems like that's EVERY day around our place)
---And, it's NATIONAL GAZPACHO DAY

Who threw up in the bowl?

(sorry, not into that one)
---It's NATIONAL MINER'S DAY

(that's with an "I" and NOT with an "O"...just for the NAMBLA perverts out there)
So there you have it...choose wisely and you'll stay OUT of jail.
Moving on...
*** Next up, it looks like the recently-deceased "Farook the puke" was radicalized overseas (when he met the also recently-deceased missus). Imagine that.

And, he was no stranger to things that go BOOM, as evidenced by the storehouse discovered by law-enforcement where they lived.
Somel IED devices were found (12 pipe bombs), along with several thousand rounds of 9 mm ammo and R/C car "detonators".
Here's the story link:
http://www.fox9.com/news/55511949-story

Hey, maybe we should get the leftards to BAN those nasty radio-controlled cars (for kids)...
Or, what about PIPES?
Maybe we should BAN those, too?
You can see that such lunacy can get way out of hand real fast here.
Let's just say this couple returned to the holiday party PREPARED (for mayhem) and managed to pull it off with relative ease. Perhaps if only ONE person with a gun was there, much (if not all) of this massacre COULD have been avoided. We all know the BEST way to stop a BAD guy with a gun, is with a GOOD guy with a gun.
That's just the way history has proven that particular tactic correct.
*** Next up, the war on CHRISTMAS is once again in full swing with this story out of South Bend, Indiana:
http://www.fox28.com/story/30654400/2015/12/02/federal-judge-bans-2015-concord-high-schools-live-nativity-performance

So, it's a FEDERAL judge  making the call here...and at the behest of both the ACLU and the Freedom From Religion jerkoffs...amazing.

We again see that because of a FEW, the masses are DENIED a mere 12-minute part of an annual Christmas pageant at Concord High School out there.

Looks like some ARE being denied their RELIGION, folks.

The school plans to appeal the ruling by this (obvious) leftist, libtard "judge", who is also in the pocket of the current socialist administration infesting our nation's capitol.

Sounds about right.

One "might" take to task this judge, because he/she is in FACT going against the very reason this nativity IS being banned. Here's an excerpt from this "slip-and-fall attorney"  (one Sam Grover...Grover? Where's Bert and Ernie?) for the FFR foundation:
"It ensures that we as Americans have the freedom to worship or not worship as we choose," said Grover.
You could not be MORE WRONG if you tried to remove your head from your ass (where it apparently has resided for years).
The ruling CLEARLY DENIES that "freedom" you mentioned for the kids in this show in favor of those who practice none tp speak of.
The school should go and COUNTER-SUE you idiots. These leftard kooks even politicize RELIGION. I thought we kept them "separate" (by your own mantra)?

Congrats, heathens You earned it..

You want no religion or another religion?
Fine...go plan and perform your OWN stinking pageant instead of ruining a school TRADITION (something you jackasses know nothing about), and while we're at it go STFD and STFU you morons.
Do people of ANY religion come to all the atheist or Freedom From Religion meetings and decry what YOU do and then sue your sorry secular socialist asses?

NO, they don't, so stay the f$ck away from the religious meetings, events, pageants shows, et al...
(and a MERRY F$CKING CHRISTMAS to the lot of you dumbasses - you need one)
*** Next, Kevin Leininger puts his take on the retail "initiative" being touted by our mayor,  "king" Henry. Here's the link to his column:
http://www.news-sentinel.com/news/local/History-shows-the-complexity-of-the-south-side-s-commercial-demise----and-of-its-rebirth--too
Yes, it IS complex...very complex.
(but I would stop at calling it a "new" challenge or problem)
Kevin gives a good timeline view of the demise of retail down here, and while he doesn't go into specific stores, he does mention the mall closing and events leading up to it.
He cites not being able to buy a can of TENNIS BALLS at the SEARS that once was at Southtown, for example.
(catering to the "perceived" demographic, no doubt?)
There's that "P" word again.
Kevin equates such decisions (by the stores) as a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom...and he would be CORRECT there.
What is not mentioned (and should be) is the FACT that crime DID get a stranglehold on the SE side of town...and has not really released it's Herculean grip.
We've lost HUNDREDS of businesses since I've lived here, and Wifey can back me up on this, because she lived here when Southtown Mall was THE place to shop in this part of the city.

Former K-Mart: Nice and VACANT for years.

That's also when a LOT more revenue was flowing uptown to the city hall coffers - something that has ebbed to a trickle since the turn of this century.

Stand alone stores have disappeared, and I've mentioned many of them here over the years.
Nothing was done to halt or slow their departure, either.
Not that lone ago, King Henry was willing to GIVE AWAY land near the old Southtown area to any retailers wanting to "buy into" a crime-ridden predominantly minority-occupied part of the city...to no avail. Wonder why?

TWICE nothing is STILL NOTHING, sire!

When you can't even GIVE sh*t away, something is drastically wrong, right?
And developer Don Steiniger said that crime is a major deterrent in THIS story from 1 June 2015::
http://wane.com/2015/06/01/developer-crime-deters-business-on-southeast-side/
Hey, it's NOT JUST ME saying this, but I am being proven correct in MY assessment here.

The ONLY game down here these days.

Our mayor is at the "grasping at straws" point and finds himself befuddled by the obvious.
People cause the crime, and people have chased businesses away...doesn't get any easier to figure out.
Since the problem CAN be PROPERLY defined, a solution IS possible, right?
*** And speaking of shopping (like SEARS), Wifey and I are getting our 2015 K-MART holiday bear (we still are going to need a much bigger sofa).

The "newbie"

The neat thing is that you can ORDER the bear from K-Mart (the nearest one being in WARSAW, INDIANA, thanks to the closings of ALL stores in Fort Wayne).
Then, K-Mart ships the bear to the Sears at Glenbrook Square Mall, where you can pick it up.
Sure, it costs a bit MORE this way, but at least we DON'T have to drive 50+ miles to get one, and in the process, actually SAVE a few bucks (gas versus price).
Amazing how much you MISS having simple things like a K-Mart on the SOUTH side of town.
Maybe we can go for ice cream at ATZ'S later (oh, wait, they closed down too)...maybe get a Christmas tree at Franks Nursery on S. Anthony?
Nope, they closed too.
Perhaps stop by Target? Nah, they've been gone for a decade, too.
What IS left for shopping options?

Welcome to the SOUTH side of Fort Wayne.

Well, plenty of fast food joints (especially if you prefer ribs and chicken and Mexican foods), convenience stores out the ass, a few liquor stores (when they're not being held up), one Menards and one Wal-Mart.
That's all she wrote. And you can't give away the land for development...LOL.
*** Last back to the breakfast table...Since Wifey and I moved into the "Fortress" back in 1998, we've seen our part of town swirl down the crapper...year after painful year. And we looked for OTHER places to get what we both needed and wanted.
Sometimes, we succeed, and other times, not so much.
Many of the "residents" down here tend to see THEIR universe as three square city blocks, and that's typical of their choices in life.

They vote democrat, wear blinders, and love to follow in lockstep with whatever the leftists ask (read demand and expect) of them. That's not representative of who AMERICA is, however.
We used to be a MUCH better people, open to ideas, willing to push OURSELVES further, become BETTER individuals and always wanting more for our children.
My, how that has been turned on it's ear in such a short time.
Funny thing, Wifey and I still hold to such values, and do not choose to "settle for less" and call it more.
We are the ones (looked upon as an anachronism) who still "give a damn" as I mentioned yesterday. We would gladly shop down here...IF we had shopping (like we used to).
Perhaps that is why I have to (virtually) slap around those who run this city, because (as Darth Vader would say):

City leaders have pretty much abandoned our part of town (and lie about it to boot), and only NOW, are they realizing the results of such folly.
It's hurting their "bottom line"...they're getting short on revenue and long on crime.
And some "think" that pushing retail down here WITHOUT (first) dealing with the criminal element will be that "magic bullet" (no pun intended) this part of town needs.
Sorry, WRONG answer.

All that will accomplish will be to add more businesses that will get robbed and the potential for more people to get hurt (or killed).
Time to take off those blinders, wake the hell up and smell the coffee burning (or is that another abandoned house?), because the future you tried to postpone is HERE...NOW.
Time for the city leaders to spend some time in reality for a change...as NORMAL people prefer. And them's the facts, people.
Do have yourselves a good weekend.

Be well, make a difference to someone today, and as always...
Stay SAFE out there, America.