Tea and Vitriol

  Christmas 2021 is over and the year is quickly winding down. The next holiday some people will be looking forward to is New Year's Eve, which is amateur night for drinkers out and about town, and New Year's Day, with football games, parades and the farce of the inauguration of Rochester's latest mayor. I am not nostalgic about the old year or even hopeful about the new one. Why should I, or anyone else, be? Rochester is, and remains, in a state of chaos owing to a lack of political leadership and the moral turpitude of the elected officials and their hangers-on who supposedly govern this city. 2021 saw the resignation of cop-hating Lovely Warren as Mayor of Rochester to avoid being convicted of felonious criminal charges. She walked away with a slap on the wrist, her license to practice law and her pension intact, her ability to run for political office unaffected and her continued control of the majority of Rochester's Democratic political committees could make that

 Short reigns among the ruling elite are not unknown in history. They are unusual, to be sure, making such rulers mere footnotes in history. Having briefly achieved ultimate power, whether in hereditary monarchies or in elective offices in republics, they didn't really have the time to make a reputation for themselves, good or bad. The "might have beens" or "what ifs" can tantalize the historian or political scientist, but ultimately can only lead to an airy void.  And such short-term rulers become the subjects of all sorts of trivia games and television game shows that have been so popular over the years. Take, for instance, King John I of France and Navarre. He was the posthumous son of King Louis X of France and, as such, was born king. He lived only five days. He reigned but never ruled. He was succeeded by his uncle, Philip V. Possibly the shortest reign in history was that of Louis XIX of France, though he was never enumerated or recognized as such. He was

  Well, I'm back in Rochester. God alone knows why. I spent two of the last three months visiting my mother-in-law in Germany. Anyone who knows her can tell you it wasn't a vacation. But that isn't the issue here. While I was there, some friends and new acquaintances were curious about the United States in general and my hometown in particular. They have been familiar with my less than glowing reports about Rochester and were really surprised about what I had to say about our city. I encouraged them to Google anything that they really wanted to know about Rochester. They did and were shocked. They couldn't believe that I would choose to live in such a violent dangerous city, complete with a scandalous mayor, ex police chief and a more incompetent and uncaring than usual city council. Even more shocking and amusing to them was the violence in our schools, the dangers faced by teachers and students alike from feral urban humanoids there and the terminal assholism exhibite

In their euphoria over Tuesday's  national rejection of the hideous Democratic political philosophy known as "Bidenism," the Monroe County, NY GOP seems to have taken leave of their senses. One of the local proponents of Bidenism is none other than Congressman Joe Morelle, a long-time professional career politician and head honcho of the elitist faction of the local Democratic Party. Morelle is anathema to local Republicans and quite a few Democrats, especially minority Democrats. One of his acolytes lost their election bid on Tuesday to Republicans. That one was his own son, Little Joe. Morelle pere  comes up for re-election to the 25th congressional district next year. Keeping this in mind and intoxicated by national GOP victories, the Monroe County, NY GOP has chosen their candidate to run against Morelle: Rochester's disgraced and dispossessed police chief, La' Ron Singletary. I will not waste much time or space on the subject of Singletary, since he has been

Tomorrow, November 2, is Election Day. I am underwhelmed. There really isn't much choice in the elected offices in the City of Rochester that are up for grabs. That is because Rochester is a one-party, Democrat-controlled city, and the primary election this past summer has determined, more or less, the victors in the general election. Only Democrats can vote in the Democratic primary, and less than a third of registered Democrats bothered to vote in the primary. Apparently the Democrats couldn't be bothered to show up, knowing that, whoever won, they would probably be Democrats and that nothing would change. The focus of this blog is primarily on the City Council races, where five seats are up for grabs. The primary also determined the mayoral race, where a disgraced incumbent was defeated by an equally unsuitable, enigmatic opponent by what was touted as a "landslide" by the local media, although it was really no such thing.  But I've already discussed Lovely War

 Last year, on May 30, 2020 Rochester had its first riot since 1964. Egged on by Free the People, ROC terrorists, a "peaceful protest" over the death of drug addict and career criminal George Floyd in Minneapolis became violent. Injuries, vandalism and looting stores in Rochester, spilling over into the Town of Irondequoit, took place over the next few hours, setting the pace for a summer of unrest here. The mayor, Lovely Warren, and her then police chief, La'Ron Singletary, did nothing except warn people to stay out of the rioters' and looters' way. They caved in. So did City Council days later They also stated that the violence was caused by "outsiders" who had "taken over" the "peaceful protest." ANTIFA was the scapegoat, one conveniently used by all the cities experiencing riots over Floyd's death while in police custody.  The reality was very different. Within a few hours, video evidence revealed no such thing. The rioters, v

In the past, one of the contributing factors of a society's collapse has been a loss of faith or trust in the institutions that previously provided it with a modus vivendi. In our nation, our state and even in our city, we are seeing that now. Peaceful, law abiding citizens have been suffering a series of shocks regarding law enforcement and the judiciary, leaving them feeling unsafe, uncertain, downright frightened and betrayed. Liberal progressivism was responsible for the Bail Reform Act, which allowed judges to turn loose violent criminals without bail, prior to their trials. The result has been that these criminals go out, commit more crimes, are arrested and released back into the community again. And again. This not only frustrates the various law enforcement agencies, making a mockery of their job to make their communities safe. Or at least to feel safe. Criticizing this law only elicits responses of "racism," since the Black community was gung-ho for it. Then com