Thoughts For Thursday...

If you found yesterday's scattered sunshine to your liking, forget about today.
Not gonna see THAT much of old Mr. Sol (we're supposed to have some rain moving in later tonight).
But, if you like FREEZING conditions, then NEXT week will be right up your alley (hopefully not near any dead bodies...more on that anon).
Our Hoosierland weather for today brings us mostly cloudy skies, temps rising to the low 40s,  and not much else to speak of, so no kite-flying or sun-bathing...got it?

Now, let's get some major caffeine in us with either a hot or cold drink, as we take a look at what else has been going on...
*** First out of the microwave is the answer to yesterday's WHO SAID THAT? quote of the week:

"Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas."
This was spoken by none other than John Calvin Coolidge Jr. (July 4, 1872 – January 5, 1933) who was the 30th President of the United States (1923–29). And here is his WIKI:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Coolidge
((A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state. His response to the Boston Police Strike of 1919 thrust him into the national spotlight and gave him a reputation as a man of decisive action. Soon after, he was elected as the 29th vice president in 1920 and succeeded to the presidency upon the sudden death of Warren G. Harding in 1923. Elected in his own right in 1924, he gained a reputation as a small-government conservative, and also as a man who said very little, although having a rather dry sense of humor.))
We covered his life before back on 26 December of 2013 and this is the FIRST time we've repeated a weekly quote, simply because such true words bear repetition. So, if these words sound familiar, you HAVE read them before (and right here).
The WIKI is a semi=long read, but worth your time, if you prefer your politics more on the conservative side.
Moving on...
*** Next, we've a lot of entries in our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature, so let's get started:
DECEMBER 21 -
---It's Anne and Samantha Day

For more information, check this out:
http://www.anneandsamantha.com/
---It's Crossword Puzzle Day

(knock yourselves out and always use a #2 pencil)
---It's Humbug Day

(another personal favorite of mine...heh)
---It's National Flashlight Day

(note: lightsabers DO qualify, if you have one)
---It's National French Fried Shrimp Day

(Now THAT would be a great dinner ANY day f the week)
---It's National Homeless Persons' Remembrance Day

(not all of them want to stay homeless...that's worth remembering)
---It's National Re-Gifting Day

(stop passing that fruitcake around)
---It's Phineas Fogg Win a Wager Day

(To win a wager, one must first MAKE a wager)
---It's the Winter Solstice

(shortest day - longest night. Simple, huh?)
---It's Yule

(Think Germanic paganistic midwinter festival stuff)
That was a lot of things going on today.
*** Next up, we're nearing the new benchmark of homicides in Fort Wayne, with number 39.
(40 seems to be the new 25)

Here's what's known so far:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/police-fire/20171221/mans-body-found-lying-in-alley-shot-multiple-times

A man was found by police after responding to a call of a "man down" in an alley behind the house (in the alley) located at 5511 Webster St,. We're seeing southeast crimes in the southWEST now...as I predicted years ago.
That's why I let you know every week about the man down calls...they can turn out to be fatal.
The man was shot multiple times, and should be the 39th homicide of the year (we can still make it to 40...we got more than a week to go, right?).
((Neighbor Melissa Stewart said she was the one who called police after she found the victim. Stewart said the man was lying face down and had several shots to the left side of his back. She said she also believed the victim drove a Cadillac, but she did not know who he was.

“It scares me,” she said.))
This kind of thing SHOULD make you damn sacred...scared enough to DO something other than move away...like report ANY suspicious (or annoying) activity to police instead of looking the other way.
((Larry Walker, who has lived for 36 years next to 5511 Webster St., said he believed he heard gunshots about 11:30 p.m. or midnight, but another neighbor across the street from the scene said she heard gunshots about 9:30 p.m.))
Funny, if I heard gunshots THAT damn close to MY house, I'd be on the phone at warp speed, giving as much information as I could to the FWPD, in the hope they could find something or someone causing this crap.
((Asked why the homicides were taking place, Stewart had an answer.
“Street life,” she said.))

Try THIS "life" instead.

Sorry, that's NO answer. That's even a rather poor excuse, if you ask me.
*** Next, and along these same lines of thought, there's THIS story from Indy:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/us/20171221/urban-killings-more-concentrated

Now, how about that...URBAN killings are more "concentrated".
Who knew?
((The results of an Associated Press analysis of homicide data that showed some large cities seem to be getting safer and more dangerous at the same time.
Slayings in Chicago, St. Louis and Indianapolis are becoming concentrated into small areas where people are dying at a pace not seen in years, if ever. Around them, much of the rest of the city is growing more peaceful, even as the total number of homicides rises.))
Now, I wonder what all these cities have IN COMMON?
((The neighborhoods enduring the most violence were largely poor and African-American, as were the killers and the victims.

Researchers say the disparity may be linked to increased joblessness, segregation and the growth of the so-called wealth gap. Over the past three decades, the wealthiest Americans have grown markedly richer while low earners lost jobs and struggled and some turned to violence.))
Not so fast there...Can you tell me HOW poor people can buy new vehicles and killer sound systems? If they're THAT poor, how they can come into a neighborhood, get damn near free housing plus utilities and then take a once nice area and tear it down to the level of a modern day GHETTO in no time?
THIS is what is being repeated around our nation in most every damn state.

It's all about THIS.

((In Indy, one predominantly African-American neighborhood grew steadily poorer in recent years. Lost working-class jobs were a possible factor. The city has 10,000 fewer manufacturing jobs today than in 2007.))
Neighborhoods grow "poor" because of the influx of government-sponsored lowlifes, the crime they bring, and the subsequent vacating of the businesses that once drove that area's economy...it's simple enough to figure out,because I'VE WATCHED IT HAPPEN...and in less than 20 years here in southeast Fort Wayne.
There is a solution, but few want to entertain anything close to it.
And perhaps THAT is the real crime being perpetrated in these communities.
*** Next up, but don't take my word for it...
1) Here's a story about a black male from Ft. Wayne arrested for robbing a bank in Kendallville.
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/police-fire/20171221/city-man-held-in-bank-robbery

Dumbass.

Whatsamatter? You run OUT of SE side banks to rob here?
Danurell M. Blair, 39 is the loser in this incident.
Who the hell NAMES these people? "Danurell"???
It's people like this that make me question such studies, because I don't believe THIS guy was that poor.
And if you're that poor HOW the hell do you still manage to get a gun?
(no one I know is handing them out...you have to BUY them)
Helluva way to spend Christmas...should be wearing red or green...but no, YOU are gonna be wearing ORANGE.
2) And there's THIS story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/police-fire/20171221/man-accused-of-robbery-kidnapping

Double dumbass.

((Myron Banks, 32, was arrested about 11:15 p.m. Tuesday after he and two other men had robbed the couple at their home, tied them up and forced the woman into a car. They were driving to El Paraiso restaurant with intentions of robbing the business when they were caught by police, according to documents filed Wednesday in Allen Superior Court. Banks, of the 1700 block of Reed Road, was at Allen County Jail on Wednesday, being held in lieu of $78,250 bail.))
And a LOT of other charges leveled against his sorry ass.
Doesn't seem all that POOR to me, except when it comes to HIS ABILITY TO THINK like a normal person.
*** Next, let's put this crap aside and take a stroll over to our "Kitten Corner"...

To say the kids were good yesterday would be a lie. Well, they were MOSTLY good, until I went and put the tree up.

Then, they had to climb INTO it. At one point, both of them were up in the branches (it's a fake tree), and I had to chase them down. Cute only goes so far along such lines.

Wasn't that much later I come into the family room and find the tree ON THE FLOOR...sideways. Yep, they knocked it over. And they knew I was PO'ed over that. Had to straighten out the branches, and fortunately, neither cat bothered with the tree the rest of the evening.

Now, how to DECORATE the tree so as not to draw more attention to it than we need to attract the cats.
THAT will certainly become a Herculean challenge.
*** Next, time to check in with "Midnight and Company"...

It was "Wet Food Wednesday" yesterday, and that chicken and cheese cat food was VERY well received by our furry twosome.

Whenever they get wet food in winter, I bring their plates in and heat them first.
Nothing better than a :"hot" meal when it's cold outside, right?
Midnight was across the street (later on) and I had to call him back over.
Whiskers just hangs close by in her shelter.
With it getting REAL cold next week, I hope BOTH of them take to the shelters.
And thawing out the water dish will be a study in futility for the most part.
But, we'll give it the old college try anyway.
*** Last back to the countertop...we really need to start calling things as they ARE, and not how we (want to) "think" they are...like this whole poverty driving crime rates bullshit.
If anything, crime drives all the other problems in urban areas such as businesses leaving, good people moving away, property blight and the like.
Few if any mention that we still have the RICHEST poor people on the whole damn planet.
How many "poor" households still have all the amenities that everyone ELSE has, hmm?
Cable-satellite, television (big screen at that), computers & Internet access, microwaves, air-conditioning, nice vehicles, salon hair and nails, not to mention the basics like electricity, running water, heating, trash pickup and the like that ALL serve to prove that being "poor" in America is pretty damn good when compared to most any OTHER nation around the world.
We've made being poor actually PROFITABLE in many respects, with people not having to pay their debts to society when they DO commit crimes...at least not in a proper sense (less jail time, if any, plea deals and such).
And the worst part is that our society sees these poor people as someone to feel sorry for. They choose NOT to work, live off the taxpayers, and still commit whater crime and mayhem we permit.
That's about as far from a society based on morality as you can probably get.

We need to stop patting ourselves on the back for all the programs costing billions (yet accomplishing nothing) and start making everyone accountable in the SAME manner.
In a season where giving to others should be job-one, we perhaps need to take time to admonish those to whom everything is already given...and never appreciated.

Give to the TRULY needy.

It's a "new" way to give to others. It has the novelty of never having been tried yet.
And will only benefit everyone in the end as we try to create a better society.

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