Tag: election

The Memphis Mayoral Election: Character Won

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

th (39)History was made in my Hometown of Memphis, Tennessee on Thursday Night.

The Commercial Appeal has the story:

Voters in majority-black Memphis on Thursday elected the city’s first white mayor in 24 years as City Councilman Jim Strickland’s message of change propelled him over incumbent A C Wharton.

Although a glitch caused a delay of several hours in tallying the vote, Wharton conceded to Strickland shortly after 10 p.m., saying he had no regrets about the race. Strickland declared victory a few minutes later.

Complete but unofficial returns showed Strickland took 42 percent of the vote to Wharton’s 22 percent. Harold Collins captured 18 percent and Mike Williams had 16 percent. Six other candidates stood at less than 1 percent each. There is no runoff in the mayor’s race.

Strickland was the only white contender among the four major candidates.

It was a rare victory for a challenger against an incumbent — the most recent was Willie Herenton’s historic 1991 win over Dick Hackett — and the first time a council member will move into the city’s top job since 1972.

“Today the people of Memphis spoke loudly and clearly. You want a new direction for this city,” Strickland told a crowd at the Memphis Botanic Garden. “Today, the people of Memphis — you — said we want change.”

Wharton conceded to Strickland in an upbeat concession speech to supporters.

“This is Memphis, Tennessee, known for its graciousness and its hospitality. And I’ve tried to epitomize that throughout all my public service and nothing is going to change,” Wharton said. “That’s just the way I roll.”

Watching Wharton’s speech on a borrowed cell phone, Strickland was asked by an aide how he felt. “Good,” he simply said.

In his victory speech a few moments later to deafening cheers, Strickland said he would be the mayor for all Memphis — including the people who didn’t vote for him. He said he would spend the next four years trying to win them over as well.

The crowd included well-known names from Memphis: Convention & Visitors Bureau chief Kevin Kane, County Commissioner Steve Basar, and friend and fellow City Council member Alan Crone. And joining him in the back, shortly before Wharton made the call, was County Mayor Mark Luttrell.

Strickland called Wharton “an outstanding ambassador for the city of Memphis” and thanked him for his service.

For Wharton, toward the end of the evening, none of it — the 510 colorful balloons, the skewered chicken and crab cakes, the overpowering live band, or even the cash bar — could lift the watch party’s spirits or candidate Wharton to a victory Thursday night.

Ultimately, Wharton descended from his Holiday Inn-University of Memphis hotel room to deliver an upbeat, undaunted concession speech.

“It’s been a good run,” the smiling 71-year-old said as 15 of his family members stood behind him on the stage.

Not for Memphis, it hasn’t, A.C.

Immediately after the controversial Mayoral Election referenced in the article, in which Former Controversial School Board President W.W. Herenton was elected Mayor, in an election, which by any measure, should have been investigated for chicanery, the demographics of Memphis, Tennessee, slowly and irrevocably began to change.

As with any major American City, more and more suburbs began to be built, to accommodate the movement of Memphians seeking to leave the city proper.

By 1997, I was one of them.

In what has become almost stereotypical, the City of Memphis began to decline under the leadership, more accurately, lack thereof, of its first Black Democratic Mayor.

And, while taxpayers left, the size of Memphis City Government expanded, like Rosie O’ Donnell at an all-you-can-eat buffet, while cronyism flourished, leading to hundreds of new City Employees, “working” in dozens of new departments, with such euphemistic “duties” as teaching the citizenry how to “Dress For Success”.

I’m not kiddin’.

While the Memphis City Government was expanding and the taxpayers were leaving, Herenton was raising property taxes and any other kind of taxes he could raise.

If you wanted to see “King Willie”, you could find him every evening, hanging out at the magnificent Lobby Bar of the historic Peabody Hotel.

Here’s a clue: Hizzoner wasn’t there to watch the Peabody Ducks. He was interested in other “birds”.

Anyway, eventually, King Willie was forced out of office by a FBI Probe, which led to the coronation of A.C. Wharton.

Instead of turning around the Bluff City’s Downhill Spiral, Wharton succeeded in putting the pedal to the metal and actually accelerating it, keeping all of Herenton’s “appointees” and adding his own, chasing even more taxpayers out of the city, through his inability to stop the burgeoning crime rate, which has led to a reluctance of major corporations to relocate to the Memphis Area.

According to the FBI, in 2014, in Memphis,

11,399 violent crimes were logged compared to 10,894 in 2013;

Homicides increased from 124 in 2013 to 140 in 2014;

501 rapes were reported in 2014 and 437 in 2013.

Property crimes declined nearly 2 percent;

Motor-vehicle thefts were up 11 percent, an anomaly in the overall drop in property crimes.

Notable among the crimes in Memphis in 2014, was the outbreak of violence committed by “Youth Mobs”, which made Memphis the object of local and national news.

Last September, I wrote that

My beloved hometown of Memphis, Tennessee has been gutted by decades of poor financial stewardship and corrupt Black Democratic Leadership, who never saw a dollar they couldn’t spend, or a relative or friend that they couldn’t give a job with the city to.

And now, Memphis’ chickens have come home… to roost…brought about by a failed school system which turned in its charter in a successful scheme to take over the more affluent county school system, only to see the county municipalities start their own individual systems, Memphis’ black citizens murdering each other every night, and gangs of black teenagers beating the snot out of innocent people, simply because they’re bored, they have no parental guidance, and they know, as “juvenile offenders”, that nothing will happen to them.

Wharton’s solution was to open the community centers until Midnight, so that the “troubled youths” could play basketball.

Sheesh.

As I reported earlier in the week, the final nail in the coffin in the re-election bid of Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton came when it was discovered that there some more corruption in his Administration involving an

$880,000 deal between the maker of MPD’s body cameras and his campaign manager. The city required TASER International to hire a woman or minority PR company to educate the public about their new body cameras for MPD.TASER chose Deidre Malone, who also runs Wharton’s re-election campaign.

“It’s my understanding that Taser and Ms Malone by mutual consent agreed to cancel that contract,” said Wharton.

TASER said it was “disappointed” Malone didn’t tell them about her connection, and they’re committed to ethical business practices.

The mayor said he didn’t see the deal but didn’t think there was anything legally or ethically wrong with it, and apparently neither did his inner circle.

Everyone from his campaign manager, chief administrators, lawyers, and police leaders were aware of the issue.

“Had I wished I’d known before there was communication so I could say don’t do that, but it didn’t happen, and I’ll move on,” said Wharton.

The city said the money wasn’t all profit but to pay for billboards and TV ad’s, but it’s unclear how much.

Wharton said someone else will get the job, and they’ll be a minority too.

Now that the dust has cleared from Thursday Night’s Historic Election, Jim Strickland will begin the process of assembling a team, through which to attempt to undo, or at least begin to make a dent in 24 years of a level of corruption in Memphis City Government that the legendary Memphis Mayor “Boss” Crump could have never even have conceived of.

The Memphis Mayoral Election made the National News because of the fact that Jim Strickland, who happens to be White, defeated a Black Sitting Mayor in Memphis, Tennessee, a city which is almost 75% Black.

What it all boils down to is this:

The citizens of Memphis did not elect Jim Strickland based on the color of his skin…but, rather, the content of his character.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Biden to Seek Democratic Nomination? Dem Voters to Choose Between Bozo or Broomhilda

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

Uncle-Joe-600-LI (2)

The Democrats’ Battle for their Party’s Nomination as Presidential Candidate is getting interesting.

But, first…

How do average Americans feel about the shenanigans of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s lying about the use of her private email server to transmit Top Secret State Department Official E-mails ?

According to Rasmussen Reports,

Growing national security questions about Hillary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server during her time as secretary of State are drowning out much of her message as a presidential candidate and causing many of her fellow Democrats to worry about the future of her campaign. Is it time for Clinton to put her campaign on temporary hold?

Voters are almost evenly divided on that question: the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 46% of Likely U.S. Voters believe Clinton should suspend her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination until all of the legal questions about her use of the private e-mail server are resolved. Nearly as many (44%) disagree. Nine percent (9%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Even one-in-four Democrats (24%) agree that the front-runner for their party’s nomination should suspend her campaign for the time being. But that compares to 73% of Republicans and 46% of voters not affiliated with either major party.

Forty-five percent (45%) of all voters – but only 18% of Democrats – now consider the national security questions raised about Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server while serving as secretary of State to be a serious scandal. Twenty-eight percent (28%) of likely voters consider the matter an embarrassing situation, while nearly as many (23%) say it’s no big deal.

At the same time, Vice President Joe Biden is reportedly moving closer to a decision whether to challenge Clinton for the Democratic nomination because of her e-mail woes. Our latest Hillary Meter shows the former first lady losing ground noticeably among voters, but Democrats weren’t overly enthusiastic about a Biden run earlier this month.

Clinton has been far and away the leader of the Democratic presidential pack in surveys for months. Rasmussen Reports will release its latest numbers from the Democratic presidential race at 8:30 a.m. Eastern tomorrow (Wednesday). 

So, our ‘Intercontinental”American Vice- President, he of the Russian hands and Roman fingers, is considering jumping into the race for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency of the United States of America.

CNN reports that

Vice President Joe Biden received President Barack Obama’s “blessing” to make a 2016 bid for the White House, according to a senior Democrat.

But that’s if Biden chooses to run — the decision is his. While he doesn’t need the President’s permission, of course, a potential presidential candidacy was among the topics of their lunch Monday at the White House. The President made clear he would not stand in his way or counsel him against a run, the senior Democrat said.

The Vice President’s office downplayed the speculation about Biden’s political future.

“Sources continue to speculate about something they know nothing about,” Biden spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said. “This lunch was a private meeting between two people — the President and the Vice President.”

The Vice President was expected to huddle at his home Monday night with Anita Dunn and Bob Bauer, the husband-and-wife team who have been at Obama’s side for much of the last decade, two people familiar with the meeting told CNN. Steve Ricchetti, the Vice President’s chief of staff, was also expected to attend.

“As a general rule, we are not going to confirm the Vice President’s private meetings or provide a readout of them,” an aide to the Vice President told CNN on Monday.

Dunn, a former White House communications director, and Bauer, a longtime lawyer to Obama, were among those invited to a meeting at the Naval Observatory in Washington. Ted Kaufman, a loyal Biden confidant who briefly occupied his Senate seat from Delaware, was also among those gathering to discuss how Biden could run, if he decides to do so.

Biden is leaning toward running, several people involved in discussions told CNN, but they stress that he has not yet firmly made up his mind.

The meeting on Monday night, along with his private session on Saturday with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, underscores the length he is going to explore a run.

While many top Democrats have already signed onto Hillary Clinton’s candidacy, several former Obama advisers tell CNN they would work for Biden if he jumps into the race.

So, boys and girls, the question of the day is, which would you rather have as the Democratic nominee for President of the United States?

A woman, who where she spits, grass never grows again or crazy Uncle Joe?

What a choice. Can I have a Reuben Sandwich, instead?

The possible entry of Joe Biden into the race, not only brings the average IQ of the Democratic Candidates Candidates down to subterranean levels, it also adds the “Clown Factor” to the race.

You already have a lying woman who leaves bodies in her wake, a self-professed socialist, who is only popular among fellow socialists and the residents of his very tiny New England State, which he represents, and, some unknown guy from Maryland named O’Malley.

If 4 old white folks is your idea of diversity, then you should be in hog heaven.

Another question comes to mind though:

Who is President Barack Hussein Obama going to choose as his candidate of choice?

His current vice president or his former Secretary of State, whom he inherited as a result of a business deal designed to secure his presidential nomination from the Democratic Party.

Bozo or Broomhilda?

Unfortunately for the current occupant of the White House, he cannot follow the majority of the nation, as concerns these two potential Democratic Candidates for President, and choose None of the Above.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Romney: A Failure to Communicate

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

romney4Conservatives, such as myself, were presented a raw deal by the GOP in the past election. Their chosen one, Willard Mitt Romney, was no Conservative. He was a Moderate, who, regarding many Social Issues in his past history, took stances to the Left of the Political Spectrum. On top of that, “Romneycare” in Massachusetts, was the Godfather of the State-run Healthcare Monster known as Obamacare.

That was an awful lot of baggage for a Republican candidate to be carrying.

When the Conservative Base raised questions about the GOP Elites’ predetermined candidate, were their concerns met with empathy?

Hardly.

Shut up!

the GOP Establishment and New England Moderate wing explained.

So, dutifully, out of love for our country, Reagan Conservatives held our noses and voted for Mitt Romney…because anyone would be better than the present occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC.

…And…he lost.

Why? How could he? Obama was, and is,  an anti-American, Muslim-sympathizing, political-pandering, class warfare-preaching, tax-the-rich, spread-the-wealth, card-carrying Communist.

Michael Barone, writing for the Washington Examiner, presents the following theory:

In both elections [2004, 2012], each candidate concentrated on a more or less fixed list of target states, and in both elections the challenger depended heavily on outside groups’ spending that failed to achieve optimal results.

The popular vote margins were similar — 51 to 48 percent for George W. Bush in 2004, 51 to 47 percent for Barack Obama in 2012.

The one enormous difference was turnout. Turnout between the 2000 and 2004 elections rose from 105 million to 122 million, plus 16 percent. Turnout between the 2008 and 2012 elections fell from 131 million to 128 million, minus 2 percent.

Turnout is a measure of organization but also of spontaneous enthusiasm.

In 2004 John Kerry got 16 percent more popular votes than Al Gore had four years before. But he lost because George W. Bush got 23 percent more popular votes than he had four years before.

Kerry voters were motivated more by negative feelings for Bush than by positive feelings for their candidate. They disagreed with Bush’s major policies and disliked him personally. The Texas twang, the swagger, the garbled sentence structure — it was like hearing someone scratch his fingers on a blackboard.

Bush voters were more positively motivated. Political reporters had a hard time picking this up. His job rating was weak, but Bush voters tended to have a lot of warmth for him.

He had carried us through 9/11, he had confronted our enemies directly, he had pushed through with bipartisan support popular domestic measures like his education bill and the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

His criticism of his opponents was measured and never personal, and he blamed none of his difficulties on his predecessor (who had blamed none of his on his).

This affection evaporated pretty quickly, in the summer of 2005, with scenes of disorder in the streets of Baghdad and New Orleans. But it was there in 2004 and you can see it in that 23 percent turnout increase.

The 2012 election was different. Barack Obama got 6 percent fewer popular votes than he had gotten in 2008. And Mitt Romney got only 1 percent more popular votes than John McCain had four years before.

In retrospect, it looks like both campaigns fell short of their turnout goals. Yes, examination of election returns and exit polls indicates that the Obama campaign turned out voters where it really needed them.

That enabled him to carry Florida by 1 percent, Ohio by 3 percent, Virginia by 4 percent, and Colorado and Pennsylvania by 5 percent. Without those states he would have gotten only 243 electoral votes and would now be planning his presidential library.

But the conservative bloggers who argued that the Obama campaign’s early voting numbers were below target may have been right. If Mitt Romney had gotten 16 percent more popular votes than his predecessor, as John Kerry did, he would have led Obama by 4 million votes and won the popular vote 51 to 48 percent.

Romney, like Kerry, depended on voters’ distaste for the incumbent; he could not hope to inspire the devotion Bush enjoyed in 2004 and that Obama had from a diminished number in 2008.

But, to continue this counterfactual scenario, if Obama had won 23 percent more popular votes this year than in 2008, he would have beaten Romney by 85 million to 69 million votes and by 54 to 44 percent.

Unfortunately, if “ifs” and “buts” were candy and nuts, we all would have had a Merry Christmas!

The reality is, Mitt Romney lost. And, now, his son, Tagg Romney, tells us, his Dad never really wanted to be president, in the first place.

Okay, kid. Thanks for telling us…after the election is long over.

I have a couple of questions, then.

1. If he did not want to be president, why did he run?

2. If he did not want to be president, why did he attack the other primary candidates, especially the Conservative Republicans, with a fury reminiscent of Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan, rolling around in an African river, as he killed a humongous crocodile with his knife?

Was he put up to this by the GOP Elite, so desperate for an easily-manipulated Washington Insider, that they overlooked Romney’s failures as a candidate in previous elections?

If you will notice, immediately after the man-made disaster, known on November 6th, 2012, the GOP Elite were calling for the direction of the Party to move even farther Left, in order to “be more competitive”.

Sorry, boys. All that backroom cigar smoke has rotted your brains.

The majority of Americans, except for those little blue dots in the urban areas, denoting Democrat voters, on the map showing the election results, remain Conservative.

If you would have presented a Conservative candidate, who could articulate Conservatism and the Party Platform, and thereby, connect with us average Americans, living here in the Heartland, then that Republican would have beaten the Manchurian Candidate, Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm).

Instead, what we had heah, was, failure to communicate.

A Divided Nation

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics14 Comments

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. (Psalm 121:1-5 KJV)

I went to bed last night and tossed and turned for quite a while. I couldn’t believe it. Are Americans idiots? Had they completely given themselves over to Godless avarice? Had they learned nothing from the failed history of the teachings of Karl Marx?

Then, I looked at the Electoral Map this morning.

Brothers and sisters, we live in a divided nation.

Following years of the dumbing down of America’s population (Just look at the ACT/SAT scores.), an emboldening of the Fifth Column treasonous Main Stream Media, and three generations of a growing population of Americans who look to Uncle Sugar for their daily existence, America is divided between the worker Bees and the Drones, the Christians and the Lyin’s, and,unfortunately, the North and the South.

It has taken a while to make the Marx/Alinsky dream come true.  From the time of the Democrat’s Great Society, through Barack Hussein Obama’s Together We thrive (on taxpayers’ money), America has traveled a path of growing dependence on Big Government, horrifyingly similar to that of Europe, now in the throes of an Armaggedon of Class Warfare.

For a year and a half, I worked at a local state-run  Jobs Center, where folks could come in, register with the state,use the computers to find a job they wanted to apply for, and then talk to a counselor, who, 9 times out of 10, qualified or not, would refer them to that employer, in order to reach their quota.

People would also come up there to report how they looked for work, in order to receive their Unemployment Check. It was simple: You have to have contacted three employers, by phone, computer, or person-to-person.

I can’t tell you how many showed up with nothing filled out on their contact sheet, and then got mad when we told them they had to have it filled out. They then, sat down at a table and made contacts up, in order to continue to receive “their benefits”.

Heck, during the summer, you would have generations of families from small towns in Northwest Mississippi carpool in together. While they would be waiting to be seen, they would have a party with friends or family that were up there, getting “their benefits”, also.

But, its not just these professional Moochers (like the First Lady) that voted for the Manchurian President last night. It was those well-meaning, I’m-smarter than-you, I-feel-more-than-you, you-ignorant-redneck-racist-Christianist hick Liberals up in the Northeast corridor, who proudly proclaim on Conservative websites:

Hey, I’m a Moderate!

Trust me. I’ve been fighting them on the Conservative website, hotair.com, since Obama was elected the first time. It was their influence that got Romney-Ryan nominated.

Now, don’t get me wrong: Mitt Romney seems to be , as Rush Limbaugh described him, a gentleman. But, as Rush also said:

Mitt Romney is no Conservative.

And, despite what the Beltway Pundits will proclaim today, America is still a Center-right country.

Just look at all those Red States, sitting squarely in the Heartland of our nation. These states are, to this very moment, populated by hard-working American Christians, loving God and country, and doing their best, against a rising tide, to live by God’s Word, and to continue to uphold the Judeo-Christian Values that this nation was founded upon.

I know, because I am surrounded by them. I work with them everyday. I attend church on Sunday, go to Small Group on Tuesday night, and spend time with them socially. They are my family and friends…and they are just as upset and torqued off, as I am.

The bright side to this monumental stupidity shown by the American people last night is tri-fold:

1. God is still in control. He said it. I believe it. That settles it. You can’t outrun Him and you can’t out-love Him.

2. Conservatives are still the largest political ideology in this country. Don’t believe the garbage that you will be hearing from the Beltway Pundits in the upcoming days. They don’t know you. They are as far-removed from our daily lives as Michelle Obama is from a Thigh Master.

3. We still hold the House of Representatives. We must hold Boehner and the rest of the RINOs’ pedicured feet to the fire. They must hold the line against the, as Victoria Jackson sang, “Communist in the White House”.

As I watch the sun come up once again in Northwest Mississippi, I’m reminded of the words of my sainted Daddy’s favorite Hymn (and mine, as well):

I will cling to the Old Rugged Cross,

and exchange it someday for a crown.

Obama got it wrong back in 2008.

Christian Americans don’t bitterly cling.

We joyfully cling.

Until He comes,

KJ