American universities are producing graduates with no hope and no skills. Why not just skip college?

In this proud land, we grew up strong.
We were wanted all along.
I was taught to fight, taught to win.
I never thought I could fail.
No fight left, or so it seems.
I am a man whose dreams have all deserted.
I've changed my face, I've changed my name.
But no one wants you when you lose.

   Don't Give  Up

Sung by Willie Nelson and Sinead O'Connor

American universities went all in on affirmative action, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Hiring committees seeking to be more "inclusive" often hired new faculty members based on race, ethnicity, and sexual identity—not merit. Colleges hired thousands of highly paid DEI officers—1,100 at the University of Michigan alone.

According to one report, “the current undergraduate population at public universities will spend at least 40 million hours” taking required classes focused on DEI. Colleges created academic programs in gender studies, ethnic studies, Queer Studies, LGBTQ+ studies, Marxist and Socialist Studies, Equity Studies, and Social Justice.

Professors in traditional academic disciplines got on the bandwagon and adopted the philosophy of critical race theory as the cutting-edge pedagogy in the humanities, social studies, and liberal arts. Students exposed to this drivel were actually being indoctrinated in victimology--the belief that all human endeavors are conflicts between oppressors and the oppressed.

At the same time higher education was wallowing in DEI, grade inflation seeped into the academic assessment. Professors became too lazy to grade students rigorously; even at Harvard, most undergraduates were honor students.

Higher education's obsession with race, sexual orientation, and victimhood contributed to the spiraling cost of going to college. Few students can afford tuition pegged at $60,000 a year, but the federal government cheerfully loaned them the money.

The result? Millions of young people hit the job market with no reasoning or problem-solving skills, an inability to express themselves verbally or in writing, and no training in a substantive field of work. And they were burdened with massive student debt.

What's worse is that many students exposed to the universities's radical curricula became openly racist. It became acceptable and even chic to be anti-Semitic and to call for the destruction of Israel.

Minorities identified a "whiteness problem," and whites harbored the unspoken suspicion that students of color were the unworthy beneficiaries of DEI.

So, what do these clueless college graduates do? Some go to graduate school and acquire more debt without improving their marketability. Others take do-nothing government jobs or work the DEI hustle.

No wonder the United States is full of seething and resentful college graduates who can't figure out what to do with their lives or how to become productive citizens.

What's the solution? I don't know, but I am confident that no one should take out student loans to major in liberal arts, the humanities, or social sciences. If that is all you can think of to study, skip college altogether, get some vocational training, and work in the trades.

You'll meet a better class of people if you enter the world of actual work, and you'll probably meet fewer racists.

Image credit: Reuters

Is Senator Bernie Sanders auditioning for the lead role in the Bad Grandpa sequel?

Winter in southwest Mississippi is a lovely time. Even in February, the woods are dotted with green trees: magnolias, cedar, and pine.  Now that duck season is over, and the shotgun blasts have died away, Lake Mary, where I live, is especially placid. 

Unfortunately, I was anxious about President Trump's cabinet nominations, and I watched TV instead of contemplating the tranquil beauty of rural Mississippi. Would Trump's cabinet picks get through the Senate confirmation process and be confirmed, or would they be shot down like ducks in flight, destroyed by mean-spirited  Democratic senators delivering nasty questions like shotgun blasts?

Identifying the most boorish senator in last week's senate hearings would be difficult. Still, my vote goes to Bernie Sanders, Vermont's geriatric Jeremiah, who shouted at Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Trump's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

Sanders seemed to be interviewing for the lead role in the sequel to Bad Grandpa. When Kennedy accused Sanders of taking money from the pharmaceutical industry, Bernie went nuts. Why? Because Sanders indeed took money from Big Pharma--$1.4 million in 2019-2020. 

Sanders was not the only Democratic senator who behaved clownishly. It seemed that all the Democratic senators were acting out comedic roles. 

As I recently wrote, Senator Warren reminded me of Emily Litella, the scatterbrained citizen protester played by Gilda Radner on Saturday Night Live. Did Warren realize how ridiculous she looked as she screeched and shook her fists at the cabinet nominees?

Warren stridently accused Kennedy of profiting from vaccine lawsuits, yet like other Democratic senators, she took money from the pharmaceutical industry ($822,000 in 2019-2020).

Perhaps the least intelligent senator on Capitol Hill, Senator Mazie Hirono, reminded me of Roseanne Rosannadanna, one of Gilda Radner's SNL characters, who often began her commentaries by saying, "It's always something." During Kelly Loeffler's confirmation hearing, Hirono gratuitously asked Loeffler if she had ever been accused of making unwanted sexual advances. Such trashy behavior!

Senator Richard Blumenthal, who looks uncannily like Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Neuman, behaved like a bully at Kash Patel's confirmation hearing. Blumenthal concluded a partisan sermon by demanding Kash Patel answer a "yes or no" question. Patel answered the question honestly and forthrightly, but Blumenthal maliciously chose to misinterpret Patel's response.

In my mind, last week's senate confirmation hearings came across as one long episode of Saturday Night Live; the Blue State Democrats appeared to be reciting their lines for laughs.

As I watched these disgraceful proceedings, I asked myself this question. If the Democrats behave so churlishly when out of power, how would they behave if Kamala Harris had been elected president?

Is Bernie Sanders auditioning for the title role of Bad Grandpa?

 

Is Senator Elizabeth Warren auditioning to replace Gilda Radner's Emily Litella on SNL?

To paraphrase Will Rogers, when Elizabeth Warren left Oklahoma for Massachusetts, she raised the IQ of both states.

Senator Warren's unhinged rants at Robert F. Kennedy's Senate confirmation hearing should embarrass all Americans, especially Bay State voters who elected Warren to the U.S. Senate. 

In tones that were almost hysterical, Warren insinuated that Mr. Kennedy would use his cabinet appointment to enrich himself and that his public service over the years was motivated by veniality.  To his credit, Kennedy never lost his aplomb and accused Warren of trying to make him out as a shill.

Warren's shrill and gratuitously combative interrogatories at both Kennedy's confirmation hearing and Pete Hegseth's hearing were appalling and unbecoming of a U.S. Senator and former presidential candidate. 

Indeed, Warren's demeanor reminded me of Gilda Radner's Saturday Night Live character, Emily Litella, the addled and perpetually outraged busybody who raved on about topics she knew nothing about. 

"What's all this talk about youth in Asia?" Emily would ask during one of NSL's weekly paradodies of a national news program. "What's all this I hear about violins on television?"

These hilarious skits would end with the deadpan news anchor (usually played by Chevy Chase) explaining that the issue she was complaining about was violence on television, not violins; and euthanasia, not youth in Asia.

Radner's response, after being corrected, was always a congenial "Never mind."

Everyone agrees that healthcare in America is too expensive and that Americans on the whole are not as healthy as the citizens of other western countries. Moreover, actuarial statistics show that some U.S. demograhic groups are experiencing shorter life expectancies. 

RFK Jr., President Trump's pick to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services, has innovative ideas about how to solve these problems. Why were  Senate Democrats, with Senator Warren in the lead, so rude and dismissive? 

I would like to think Warren will eventually come to her senses about Mr. Kennedy and apologize for bullying him.  Unfortnately, unlike Emily Litella, I don't think Senator Warren will ever say "Never mind." 

Instead she will continue shaking her fists and pointing her fingers at Americans who strive to be good public servants until the people of Massachusetts have the good sense to vote her out of office.

Fifteen minutes of fame: The leftist media goes gaga over Bishop Marriann Budde

 In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.

 

Andy Warhol

Donald Trump had hardly been sworn into office as the nation's 47th President when Bishop Mariann Budde, dressed in clerical splendor, scolded him. She entreated him to be merciful to the LGBT community, many of whom, Budde attested, feared for their lives.

It was a golden opportunity for Budde, a princess of a dying Protestant denomination. Trump showed up with his wife for the traditional post-inauguration prayer service at Washington National Cathedral, and thus, the Trumps were a captive audience for Budde's self-righteous sermon.

Instantly, Budde snatched herself from obscurity for her 15 minutes of world fame. She became the darling of the left-wing media and was interviewed by The New Yorker, MSNBC, NPR, and The View.

These are my thoughts. 

First, as I said in an earlier post, it is not accurate, as Budde insinuated,  that LGBT folks are in fear for their lives at the prospect of a Trump presidency. Why would they be? All that Trump has done on the sexual identity issue is to affirm that there are only two sexes and stop the bizarre trend of allowing men dressed as women to compete in women's sports.

Second, I acknowledge that Bishop Budde might have acted courageously when she "spoke truth to power" at the National Cathedral. Nevertheless, it was highly inappropriate for her to embarrass the President in the manner that she did.

Budde's denomination is on its last legs. Hundreds of thousands of lay Episcopalians have left the Episcopal Church because of the clergy's sexual politics, with many choosing to become Roman Catholics. Budde's self-indulgent prank will likely cause thousands more to leave. 

The Episcopal Church has controlled the National Cathedral for over one hundred years. It is time for this national institution to sever its ties with the Episcopalians. Let's give other denominations a chance to run the place for a few years on a rotating basis.

I nominate the Jehovah's Witnesses to serve the next term, followed by the Pentecostals. Both groups are theologically far apart from the Episcopalians, but I'll bet church leaders in those groups know how to deliver a sermon without gratuitously embarrassing our President.

Lousy sermon, cool socks
Photo credit: The New Yorker

What's the Difference Between a Liberal Democrat and an Episcopal Bishop? Bishop Budde Lectures Our President

 A riddle:

Question: How can you tell the difference between a liberal Democrat and an Episcopal bishop?

Answer: An Episcopal bishop wears a funny hat.

On my tortuous road to the Catholic Church, I abided for a time with the Episcopalians. While studying at Harvard, I went through confirmation classes at Boston's Trinity Church. I was attracted by the pageantry of Trinity's religious services and by the Episcopal liturgy. 

In time, however, I became disenchanted. I realized that being an Episcopalian was very little different from being a progressive Democrat. Thus, I left the Episcopalian and became Catholic.

Other Episcopalians have become disaffected with their denomination. One article reported that the venerable denomination fell from a peak membership of 3.4 million in 1959 to 1.58 million in 2020. Indeed, the Episcopal Church is losing members so fast that one commentator predicted its demise by 2040. 

However, the Episcopal hierarchy is unbowed, and the elaborately robed bishops continue to lead their flocks toward oblivion. In this spirit of self-destruction, Bishop Mariann Budde delivered a disrespectful lecture (disguised as a sermon) to President Trump at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC. President Trump demanded an apology, which he is unlikely to get.

Bishop Budde made two main political points. First, she expressed fear for gay, lesbian, and transgender Americans, saying: 

I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now . . . There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives.

Second, the Bishop challenged President Trump's immigration policy. "The vast majority of immigrants are not criminals," the Bishop exhorted and begged the President to show mercy "on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here."

I want to briefly challenge Bishop Budde's political themes. First, I don't believe that American gays, lesbians, and transgender people fear for their lives. Nor do I think President Trump has ever said or done anything that should frighten our nation's LGBTQ communities.

Second, Budde's insinuation that Trump would harass or deport immigrants who entered this country to escape persecution is not entirely accurate. The President is merely requiring immigrants to follow established legal processes and trying to stop the entry of criminals and drug traffickers from entering the United States.

Deportation processes may indeed disrupt some immigrant families, but I believe our government can remove illegal immigrants humanely. We will soon see.

Speaking as a Catholic and ex-Episcopalian, I suggest Bishop Budde pursue her political agenda as a layperson. Perhaps she should become an employee of the Democratic Party. I'm sure the Democrats would be happy to hire her and allow her to continue wearing her funny hat.

Biden pardons his buddies: I'm ambivalent

 This morning, President Joe Biden issued another raft of pardons. Anthony Fauci, Liz Cheney, and General Mark Milley were among his cronies who received "Get Out of Jail Free" cards. He also pardoned everyone on the Congressional January 6 Committee. 

I'm ambivalent. On the one hand, I agree with critics who warn against the precedent of granting wholesale pardons to friends, family members, and political allies for uncharged and unspecified crimes. Such a practice fosters lawlessness and disrespect for the law.

On the other hand, President Trump once said that General Milley deserved to be executed and Liz Cheney should be criminally prosecuted. Those were imprudent things to say and provide some justification for Biden pardoning the two.

Most of the people who harassed Trump over the last eight years are lawyers. Several of them prosecuted Trump in the criminal courts for political reasons. In my view, this conduct constitutes malicious prosecution or abuse of process. Also, pursuing criminal charges against an individual for political reasons violates the ethical standards for attorneys.

Americans are tired of the interminable and dishonorable litigation that raged during Biden's presidency. I would like to see all the lawyers who pursued Trump through the courts for political reasons disbarred.

However, disbarment proceedings are within the purview of the various state judiciaries and bar associations, and these bodies are unlikely to act.

Therefore, I am content to see Fani Willis, Alvin Bragg, Jack Smith, and dozens of others fade into obscurity—perhaps to write their memoirs. To paraphrase the lyrics of a famous country song, they only did what they had to do, and now they're growing old.

Photo credit: Bill Moore and Amsterdam News

Pete Hegseth's Senate Confirmation Hearing: Did Senator Elizabeth Warren Get Above Her Raising?

Senator Elizabeth Warren and I have three things in common. We were both born in Oklahoma and have law degrees, and neither of us is a Native American. 

I grew up in Anadarko, near where several Native tribes were settled in the late 19th century: the Comanche, Kiowa, Fort Sill Apache, Wichita, Caddo, and Delaware.  

Riverside Indian School operated a couple of miles from the city limits. In the 1890s, St. Katharine Drexel established St. Patrick's Catholic Mission to educate Native children, and the mission grounds were less than a mile from my childhood home.

Native culture was all around me. The Southern Plains Indian Museum, a federal facility, was located just outside the town, along with the National Hall of Fame for Famous American Indians. Our movie theatre was named The Redskin before that word became politically incorrect and had a magnificent neon marque.

It never occurred to me to try to get ahead by claiming Native American status, although I'm sure I was probably a lot closer to Native American life than Senator Warren. It would be dishonest to call myself a Kiowa or a Comanche, and it would be ridiculous to make such a claim. After all, my great-grandfather immigrated from England in the 1880s and was already married to a British woman when he arrived in America.

Senator Warren's false claim that she was a Cherokee is water under the bridge. She apologized to the Cherokees for taking a DNA test to prove her Indian ancestry, which was a commendable gesture.

I would not raise the matter if Warren hadn't acted so beastly towards Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth. She and her fellow Democratic harpies repeatedly trolled through Hegseth's personal life, suggesting ad nauseam that anyone who had done what they accused Hegseth of doing was unfit to be the nation's Secretary of Defense.

I wish someone would ask Warren if a person who misrepresented her ethnicity to advance her career is fit to be a senator. 

Warren is a citizen of Massachusetts now and probably doesn't reconnect much with her Oklahoma friends and relatives. However, if she were to return to her roots, Oklahomans might remind her not to get above her raising. In other words, don't jettison the core values of your youth and childhood just to get ahead in the world.

Warren's despicable display of self-righteous hypocrisy at Hegseth's confirmation hearing may be acceptable to her Massachusetts constituency, but most Oklahomans find that kind of behavior offensive. They might ask her what good came from her Harvard connections if she forgot the rules of civility and courtesy.

 

Catastrophic Weather Events and the High Cost of Living Make Flyover Country More Appealing

 Wildfires in Los Angeles have driven thousands of Angelinos out of their homes, and many won't return. California, with its spectacular weather and stunning beauty, has become too difficult for anyone but the wealthy to live.

Catastrophic weather events--wildfires, mudslides, and earthquakes--coupled with stratospheric real estate prices, sky-high taxes, and directionless political leadership have transformed paradise into a nightmare for people of modest means.

So, where will discouraged Californians go? Many are going to Texas and Florida, but taxes and the cost of living have climbed in those sunny states.

 Austin, known for its low cost of living in the 1970s when I was a student at the University of Texas, has become so expensive that a person of modest means can't afford to migrate there. 

Florida has been a retirement haven for almost a century but has become too pricey for many older Americans on fixed incomes. And then there are the hurricanes.

How about Flyover country? Would that be a good region to move to? 

The Cambridge Dictionary defines Flyover Country as "parts of the United States which many people only see when they fly over them on journeys to the other coast, but which they would never visit." In other words, Flyover Country is made up of the regions of the U.S. that were once known as Middle America or the Heartland.

As the Wall Street Journal noted in a recent article, some parts of Flyover Country are becoming increasingly attractive—specifically Middle Appalachia: 

Drawn by lower housing costs and living expenses, lower taxes, lower insurance costs, low crime, warm weather (but with seasons) and less chance of hurricanes, an older, wealthier population is arriving [in Middle Appalachia]and demanding a level of services from governments and businesses that neither had to provide in the past.

Other parts of Flyover Country are just as enticing but have yet to be discovered by the frazzled Americans trying to escape the high cost of living on the East and West Coasts.

I live on Lake Mary in South Mississippi, in the heart of Flyover Country, and I find it a congenial place to live. I admit that Lake Mary is not as prestigious as Lake Tahoe. We fish for catfish here instead of rainbow trout, but real estate is a lot cheaper in Mississippi than in the famous Nevada vacation spot, and the people are more interesting. 

And life in South Mississippi offers attractions you can't find on Cape Cod or the Hamptons. For example, we have an alligator season in Mississippi, and you can hunt feral hogs here day or night all year round. 

Marlin fishing in the Keys is all well and good, but it's nothing like hooking into a monster alligator gar or Asian carp on Lake Mary. And you can take my word: a fried Mississippi catfish tastes as good as any seafood you will eat on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. 

Not all Flyover Country is idyllic. We need better schools in the rural South and an economy that produces more middle-class jobs. Nevertheless, as coastal cities become increasingly expensive and crime rates rise, Flyover Country might be a better place to live and raise a family.

Image credit:  TV Tropes

Los Angeles Wild Fires: The Lord's Burning Rain

This old town is filled with sin

It'll swallow you in

If you've got some money to burn

Take it home right away

You've got three years to pay

But Satan is waiting his turn.

Gram Parsons, "Sin City"

I'm not blaming anybody for the Los Angeles wildfires. Yes, the water hydrants ran dry in some burning neighborhoods, but no one could possibly have envisioned a conflagration as massive and catastrophic as the inferno that overwhelmed the LA firefighting infrastructure.

And I'm not blaming Mayor Karen Bass for the fire disaster. She had no business traveling to West Africa on a political junket while a disaster was looming, but Bass didn't start the fires.

For me, the LA wildfire is nationally significant as a sign of the arrogance and cluelessness of America's political and media elites. The people in LA's elite neighborhoods sneered at the working folk in Flyover Country as they insulated themselves from the real world with chauffered limousines, gated communities, and private bodyguards. 

The glitterati labeled working-class patriots as "white Christian nationalists," despising them as racists because they worried about crime and our country's open southern border.

Hollywood moguls made boring, overlong films full of woke DEI drivel and then wondered why movie attendance was down.

Movie stars donated millions of campaign dollars to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris even though they knew both were idiots.

Now, the chickens have come home to roost, and the Tinseltown world of the West Coast elites is falling apart.

I feel sorry for the average Angelinos who lost their homes in the wildfires, but I have no sympathy for the wealthy assholes who got rich under Bidenomics and whose cosmos is going up in smoke.

Mayor Karen Bass and her DEI minions are done--exposed as incompetent dolts. Governor Newsom and Kamala Harris are done as important political figures, having shown no talent for leadership. George Clooney and Julia Roberts, sycophantic fundraisers for the Democratic Party, are done as respected movie stars.

Many West Coast elitists are still rich, but their wealth won't save them from irrelevance. As Gram Parsons put it, "On the thirty-first floor, a gold-plated door won't keep out the Lord's burning rain."

President Biden Gives Presidential Medal to Hillary Clinton and George Soros. Flipping the Bird at Flyover Country

As Joe Biden's disastrous presidency wound down, he searched for ways to display his middle finger at the people living in Flyover Country—particularly those who voted for Donald Trump. Handing out prestigious honors to his political cronies was the perfect strategy.

Thus, President Joe Biden awarded George Soros and Hillary Clinton the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award. 

Let's start with George Soros, one of the wealthiest men in America and a megadonor to the Democratic Party. Soros bankrolled so-called progressive candidates for various district attorney positions in many of the nation's cities. 

As reported by Thomas Hogan, Soros-backed candidates won D.A. races in "Manhattan, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Portland, San Francisco, . . . and other population hubs." Hogan quoted an estimate that 20 percent of Americans lived in districts served by prosecutors that Soros supported.

These prosecutors promised to focus on serious crimes rather than divert resources to prosecute non-violent offenders accused of petty offenses. But, as a Heritage Foundation article observed:

[O]nce these candidates get elected, they quickly turn their anodyne statements into something different and engage in prosecutorial nullification by refusing to prosecute entire categories of crimes, watering down felonies, refusing to ask for bail, and refusing to prosecute violent juveniles as adults. 

The result of this tragically flawed strategy was that crime rates went up in many of the cities where Soros-assisted prosecutors held office. 

And then there's Hillary, who also received a Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is now well known that Hillary and her presidential campaign created and circulated the false story that Trump was in collusion with the Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The Wall Street Journal summarized this tawdry tale in a 2022 editorial:

[T]he Clinton campaign created the [Trump-Russia collusion] allegation, fed it to a credulous press that failed to confirm the allegations but ran with them anyway, then promoted the story as if it was legitimate news. The campaign also delivered the claims to the FBI, giving journalists another excuse to portray the accusations as serious and perhaps true.

As the Wall Street Journal correctly noted:

 [T]he Russia-Trump narrative that Mrs. Clinton sanctioned did enormous harm to the country. It disgraced the FBI, humiliated the press, and sent the country on a three-year investigation to nowhere. Vladimir Putin never came close to doing as much disinformation damage.

Biden's award to these two disreputable public figures was his way of showing his complete contempt for the American people.  But maybe this disgraceful episode will have an epilogue. If there is any justice in the world, perhaps Hillary will become the first Medal of Freedom winner to be disbarred.

Photo credit: Associated Press

 

Don't Go Hating on Chick-fil-A

 Not long ago, St. Mary's Medical Center, a hospital in Duluth, Minnesota, distributed free chicken sandwiches to staff members. That's good, right?

No, that's bad. Chick-fil-A, a popular fast-food chain, donated the sandwiches, and some St. Mary's employees complained. Why? The company's CEO once expressed his opposition to same-sex marriage. 

The hospital quickly issued an apology, written in classic wokespeak.

We have received feedback from some colleagues who were concerned or offended by this occurence [free sandwiches] , and we value colleagues feeling comfortable expressing their reservations. . . .

We would like to thank our colleagues who had the courage to speak up to widen our lens of inclusivity, and we appreciate all colleagues continuing to live our values of respect and justice.

A couple of thoughts. 

First, Chick-fil-A restaurants make very good chicken sandwiches, and their employees are invariably courteous. I live not far from a cluster of popular fast-food outlets: Chick-fil-A, Atomic Burger,  McDonald's, and Whataburger. When I drive by, the take-out line is always longest at Chic-fil-A.

Second, St Mary's Medical Center is in the healing businees, and its staff should be focused solely on their patients' health and wellbeing. Do hospital employees have time to complain about a free and delicious chicken sandwich?

One thing for certain, people who are admitted to St. Mary's should keep their political opinions to themselves. You wouldn't want your doctor to let you bleed out because you let it slip that you once ate a sandwich at Chick-fil-A.

Photo credit: NPR

Why get drunk on Bourbon Street? Reflection on the French Quarter Terrorist Attack

My father was a cattle stockman in southwestern Oklahoma. As a child, I often accompanied him as he drove his pickup truck from pasture to pasture to feed his cows.

Many of my father's pastures lined a country road, and the entrance gates into these properties offered a convenient spot to park a car. On countless occasions, I would find a couple of dozen beer cans and bottles, evidence of a late-night drinking party. As I recall, the revelers favored Jax, Stag, Schlitz, and quart bottles of Coors.

It was my job to pick up the debris and throw it into the bed of my dad's truck. I remember wondering why someone would want to get drunk on a lonely Oklahoma road. How much fun could that be?

Early this morning, a terrorist drove a truck down Bourbon Street in New Orleans' French Quarter, killing at least fifteen people and injuring many more. The street was crowded with New Year's revelers, many drunk.

I've walked down Bourbon Street many times over the years. Believe me when I say it's nothing special. Bourbon is just a street lined with bars, strip joints, souvenir shops, and tourist-trap restaurants, and parts of the street smell like urine. Why would anyone think they would have a good time getting drunk and strolling down Bourbon Street at three o'clock in the morning?

American life is becoming increasingly dangerous, particularly for people attending mass events. Last year, numerous people were killed or wounded at nightclubs, large parties, and sports venues.

Average citizens can do little to protect themselves from being victims at these events, but maybe they should reconsider whether some events are worth the risk.

Partying in the French Quarter in the middle of the night is risky every night of the year. Muggers and pickpockets lurk in the shadows, looking for victims who are alone or drunk. It's true that the risk of being killed by a terrorist on Bourbon Street is low, but the New Orleans crime rate is high.

Isn't there somewhere safer to let your guard down from consuming too much alcohol than Bourbon Street on New Year's Eve at three o'clock in the morning?

Bourbon Street after a terrorist attack on New Year's Day

Photo credit: Fox News

Feral Pig Ribs: Better Than Store Bought

 A tornado blew through Wilkinson County a few days ago and knocked out an electrical substation. Woodville, the county seat, and my family's home on Lake Mary lost power for several days.

Our butchered hog lay cut up and packaged in our refrigerator when we lost power, and I had a harrowing thought about what that hog would smell like when it thawed out if we didn't find a way to keep it from unfreezing,

Kim and I loaded all the pig meat into ice chests, iced it down, and distributed it among various family members living in Baton Rouge. 

As we parceled the meat, I came across the ribs, which had been packaged in four freezer bags and were still frozen. Let's cook 'em!

Under normal circumstances, we would have slow-smoked the ribs in our electric smoker. However, our smoker was in Mississippi, where the power was out, so we elected to cook them in our kitchen oven in Baton Rouge. 

Here's our extemporaneous recipe:

• First, we marinated the ribs for about an hour in Italian salad dressing. Then, we removed them from the marinade and applied a dry rub of salt, black pepper, cajan pepper, and garlic powder.

• Next, we prepared a glaze of honey, a little whiskey, butter, wine vinegar, and barbecue sauce.

• After we slathered the glaze on both sides of the ribs, we wrapped each rack in a double layer of heavy foil, put the packaged ribs in a shallow baking pan, and popped them into a preheated oven, taking care to place them with their fatty sides up.

• We cooked the ribs at 350 degrees for two and a half hours. Then, we unwrapped them, applied more glaze, and broiled the uncovered ribs for five minutes to make the glaze crunchy.

We ate the ribs with Bush's baked beans, which we supercharged with bacon and onions. The ribs paired nicely with a Stella Artis beer.

Our first attempt at cooking feral hog ribs was a success. They tasted better than the pork ribs I buy at the grocery store.

As you can see, we cooked our hog ribs using a scratch recipe. To achieve a similar result, you can use your favorite marinade and grocery store barbecue sauce. 

 Indeed, If you've ever cooked store-bought ribs, you can cook wild pig ribs the same way, and they will taste just as good. As my friends assured me after my family butchering our first feral hog. wild pigs taste delicious if you don't try to eat a big boar.

90-Second Food Review: A Dummy's Guide To Tex-Mex Restaurants

I grew up in western Oklahoma, a region unknown for its cuisine. Even as a small child, I longed for spicy food, but the only condiment in my family's kitchen cabinet was Worcestershire sauce.

When I was a little older, I discovered Tex-Mex food. My family began dining at the El Chico restaurant in downtown Oklahoma City. 

I loved that restaurant! I was astounded by the complimentary tortilla chips and salsa—manna from heaven. I always ordered a combination plate with a tamale, an enchilada, and lots of chili gravy.

Unfortunately, El Chico banned us from the restaurant after my father and grandfather got into a loud and acrimonious dispute over who would pay our lunch bill. To this day, a copy of my father's driver's license is taped to the cash register with this warning: 

Precaución. No sirvas a este gringo ni a su familia Fossey. ¡Llámale a la policía!

Since those days, I've eaten in over a hundred Tex-Mex joints, and I consider myself an authority on this ethnic cuisine. Here are some tips to help you find a good Tex-Mex restaurant.

First, a Tex-Mex restaurant's popularity is primarily based on the strength of its margaritas.  If the joint's margaritas contain adequate tequila (fortified perhaps with Everclear), you will give the eatery a five-star review.

How can you determine if the margaritas are sturdy? Order a house margarita on the rocks. When you've finished it, a little voice in your head will tell you to switch to beer.

Ignore that voice, order a second drink,  and chug it down. If the proprietor deprives you of your car keys, you'll know the margaritas are strong enough.

Here are a few other pointers: 

First, Mexican beer is the only beer to drink when eating Mexican food, and it must be ice cold. I favor the obscure brands: Carta Blanca or Victoria. My friends like Corona, but I find it tastes too much like Bud Light.

Second, your server should serve your food on a hot plate. Nothing tastes worse than tepid Mexican food, and a good Tex-Mex restaurant will present you with a searing platter that will give you a second-degree burn if you unwisely touch it.

Finally, Mexican food is inexpensive, and most Tex-Mex restaurants are consistently good. I ate many meals at El Patio restaurant on Guadalupe Street in Austin while working my way through law school in the 1970s. The dinner plate only cost a buck fifty.

Ever since those days, Tex-Mex has been my favorite comfort food. Hot and flavorful, with an orange glow rising from the melted cheese, a Tex-Mex meal signals to me that all's right with the world.

The Enchilada plate at an El Paso restaurant. What's not to like?

A Recipe from Flyover Country: Wild Pig Tenderloin and Honeycrisp Apples

 As I wrote in an earlier blog, my family killed a feral hog at our Mississippi home a while back, and we've been experimenting ever since about how to cook and eat it.

First, a young family member cooked an excellent wild hog and rutabaga stew. If you're wondering what to do with your rutabagas, I suggest you cook them with a feral pig pork shoulder.

More recently, my wife, Kim, selected the tenderloin, a choice cut from our feral hog harvest, and concocted a recipe for wild pig tenderloin and Honeycrisp apples. Here's the recipe:

• Cut the tenderloin into one-inch thick medallions and marinate them in Italian salad dressing or your favorite marinade. 

• Wrap each medallion in a thick slice of bacon, securing the wrap with toothpicks. 

• Sear both sides of the medallions in a hot skillet, using a tablespoon of vegetable oil to keep the meat from sticking. 

• Slice one Honeycrisp apple into wedges and arrange them among the pork medallions. 

• Add two tablespoons of Worcester sauce to the pan and drizzle a small amount of Steen's cane sugar syrup over the medallions and apples. 

• Place the pan in a preheated oven and cook uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the pork's internal temperature is 145 degrees. 

Kim served the tenderloin with baked Louisiana sweet potatoes seasoned with butter and brown sugar. Mustard greens or collard greens would also pair well with the pork.

Our next project: Mesquite Smoke Wild Hog Ribs!

Wild Pig and Honeycrisp Apples: Very Tasty

A woman is burned alive on the NYC subway: "A bad moon on the rise"

Well don't go around tonight . . .

[I]t's bound to take your life

There's a bad moon on the rise.

John C. Fogerty

An illegal alien from Guatemala was arrested a few days ago, accused of killing a sleeping subway rider by setting her on fire. According to witnesses, the attacker sat calmly in the subway car, watching his victim burn--perhaps even fanning the flames.

Plenty of subway riders witnessed the attack, and several people videotaped the horrific assault on their cellphones.  Apparently, no one thought to take off their winter coats and use them to smother the flames.

Perhaps bystanders were thinking of Daniel Penny, who subdued Jordan Neely, an addled homeless man who was terrorizing subway passengers riding the New York subway. Neely died, and Penny was prosecuted for criminal manslaughter. A jury acquitted Penny of the criminal charges, but he's being sued by one of Neely's relatives. 

What did subway riders learn from Penny's travail? In New York City, it's better to do nothing than intervene to protect someone from violence.

Veteran New Yorkers may dismiss this latest tragedy as an isolated event. After all, millions of people ride the NYC subways each week, and only one person has been burned to death. 

Of course, they're right. Nevertheless, I wonder whether city authorities are doing enough to keep New Yorkers safe.

I rode the Paris subways a couple of years ago and was surprised to see that the subway stations had transparent barriers that protected Parisians from falling or being pushed onto the train tracks.

What a good idea! I wonder why New York hasn't installed these safety devices. Wouldn't that be a better financial investment than hosting illegal aliens in luxury hotels?

And wouldn't it be wiser for the New York District Attorney's Office to praise people like Daniel Penny for stepping up to protect others from violence rather than spending public money to put these Good Samaritans in prison?

Of course, I speak from the perspective of a guy who lives in rural Mississippi next to a lake inhabited by alligators and invasive Asian carp. What do I know about life in urban America? 

As Lynyrd Skynyrd put it, I know a little and can guess the rest. The quality of life is deteriorating for average urbanites--the ones who buy their own groceries and don't have chauffeurs and private security guards. 

These folks may laugh at the people living in Flyover Country, dismissing them as "white Christian nationalists." Some urban progressives might go so far as to call rural Americans fascists because they refused to vote for the Democratic presidential candidate.

Urban Americans should consider the possibility that life in Flyover Country may be better than life in the inner cities--even though we don't live within walking distance of MOMA or a good Korean barbecue restaurant.

One thing for certain. If an illegal alien set a woman on fire in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, there would be no bystanders.  Someone would smother the flames with a camouflage hunting jacket, and a passerby with a gun would shoot the son of a bitch who set the blaze.

Photo credit: Associated Press