What a Joke

My morning routine, after crawling out of bed, includes perusing Drudge.  Lately its been to see if the parents of the EU can tell their cranky, whiny child that, no, you can't spend whatever you want on whatever you want and expect us to keep giving you more allowance.  Since it seems the parents are going to cave I've sort of moved on.

This morning two articles caught my eye.  Both regarding the city of Baltimore.  This one in particular made me laugh.

Baltimore is one of those cities that could be nice.  It's true.  But truth be told, it's not.  Two years ago I worked an event at John's Hopkins.  I took YB and the kids with me.  We stayed three blocks from the Inner Harbor.  Our hotel was literally on the border of the touristy section where things were relatively safe and not safe at all, and that during the day.  We did not go out at night.

That was two years ago.

Baltimore is on my "You Can't Come" list now.  YB and the kids are not allowed to come when I travel there and that includes the day I was to be at Orioles Park.  So you'll understand when I chuckle when the writer states,

One drove what was then still called a paddy wagon. He was the first person I ever heard speak of a “rough ride.” Baltimore prosecutors say Gray went for a rough ride in a police wagon on April 12, and died a week later from spinal injuries that appear to have been sustained while in police custody.

That could be because the roads in Baltimore haven't been maintained in years.  It's like off-roading anywhere inside city limits.  I think about getting my vehicle re-alligned whenever I'm done with an event.

Or how about this one,

Meanwhile, there is widespread public feeling that the police have stopped policing. This may in no small way be because of aggressive citizens who have taken to stalking cops with cameras.

Why does it strike me as funny that the police are basically being told, "Make your presence known but don't do anything or I'll get you in trouble"?

Then there's this,

Baltimore is a poor city surrounded by five relatively prosperous counties, and many residents of those counties regard Baltimore as a deadbeat relative with his hand out.

Or this,

...theirs is a city with a certain amount of corruption, whether it’s rogue cops, the last mayor who resigned in a corruption scandal (she’s seeking re-election) or a weird citywide speed-camera controversy that involved millions of dollars. The administrator of the city’s free downtown bus shuttle and water-taxi system was sent to federal prison last month on a bribery and money-laundering conviction. 

Sounds like Chicago and isn't there a candidate running for President who used to be Baltimore's mayor?  Sounds like a winner to me.

How about this one,

One consequence of the riots was that hundreds of thousands of doses of hard drugs are on the streets after an uncountable number of drug stores — 27 is the accepted figure — and two methadone clinics were looted. Baltimore already had a drug problem. Before he was replaced, Batts said there were enough illegal drugs on the streets to keep the city high for a year.

Definitely a city I want to visit and work in, a place I'd love to bring the family.

Meanwhile, the Gray killing continues to haunt Baltimore. Citizens from suburbia and out of state write to the Baltimore Sun and various websites vowing they will never come to the city again. Attendance at public events is off. Students accepted at local colleges and universities are said to be thinking twice about coming here.

I have news for the author.  It's not the Gray killing that is haunting Baltimore.  It's the years of rhetoric and liberal ideology.  And I'm pretty sure the drop off in tourism and college attendance was already happening.  The riots and consequently lack of policing is speeding the pace of that statistic.  I've never walked through Baltimore without having some part of my radar going off.

Baltimore is among a growing list of cities that can be compared to the modern world in Atlas Shrugged.  Some of these places may not be revived until they are allowed to die in their ideology.  We may be seeing the beginning of the end.