The Continuing Debacle That Is and Will Be Our New Airport

I have to hand it to our Kansas City Star.

They've been behind a new airport for us from the start and they are just not going to let up on it, that seems clear. Here's their latest contribution.

New KCI will help region grow faster than U.S.

A bit from the article:

Kansas City’s economy will fly higher than the rest of the nation in coming years, as construction of a new airport terminal masks the region’s “disappointing” comparison to similar markets, said a forecast released Friday.

The $1.4 billion project at Kansas City International Airport stands at the center of economist Frank Lenk’s outlook for the region in 2019 and 2020. Lenk provided his annual economic projections at a Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce breakfast Friday at the Kansas City Marriott Downtown.

Apparently, just building, building an airport makes an area's economy soar.

Sure it does.

More from the article:

Lenk’s outlook reminded his audience that Harley-Davidson is shutting down its factory next year, and Procter & Gamble is heading that way in 2020, taking other jobs with them. T-Mobile plans to turn Sprint’s Overland Park headquarters campus into a secondary propertyif Washington approves the companies’ plans to merge.

Those setbacks, his report noted, will be offset by continued expansion at the Cerner Innovation Campus and Garmin’s Olathe operations, job growth at Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies and Burns & McDonnell, and new call centers and distribution centers opening here.

This is the normal churn of an active economy, saidLenk’s prepared report, which was provided to The Star ahead of his presentation.

This is the part that slays me.

KCI is something different.

“Because the funds to build the airport are coming from the airlines and not local taxpayers, this expenditure brings net new dollars to the regional economy that would not otherwise be expected,” Lenk’s report said.

Specifically, KCI’s new terminal means construction jobs. Spending by those workers means more jobs in other fields.

Wow.  "...the funds to build the airport are coming from the airlines and not local taxpayers."

O.M.G.

I don't know where the author of the article and the Star think those airlines get their funds Someone needs to tell them about plane tickets. One day very soon we'll have conversations beginning like this: "Remember when it didn't used to cost that much to fly out of Kansas City?"

And the second part of that? Where "Spending by those (construction) workers means more jobs in other fields."

That's another beauty.

How much do people think these construction workers make, anyway?

And then, if they weren't building the airport, do people really think these same construction workers would be just sitting around, not working, not making their own paychecks?

Really?

Construction workers, getting their regular paychecks that they would be getting anyway are going to lift the Kansas City economy? Really? That's how that will work?

And check out that cost.

Before this was voted on and passed, it was promised it would't be that expensive. 

Before the vote, I said it would hit a 1 billion dollar cost.

Now?

Ground isn't even plowed and it's going to cost 1.4 billion.

As if that, the cost, isn't enough, our same paper posted this 4 months ago.

Opening of new KCI terminal, originally November 2021, is already delayed

So it's going to cost us far more than estimated, projected--promised--and it's going to be late, too.

But hey, the airlines are going to build it, not us, so that makes everything a-okay.

Thanks, Kansas City Star! Thanks, City Hall!

We'll love walking away from our existing facilities, the terminals and all, just so we can build this expensive, very late boondoggle.

Costs and environment be damned.

Republicans and Their Very Official, Un-American Work of Disenfranchising Fellow Americans

If you aren't familiar with the Republican Party's efforts and work, over many years, to disenfranchise anyone and everyone who doesn't think, and so, vote, as they wish, you need to pay attention.

The fact is, Republicans have been gerrymandering the nation and for at least decades.

The power that gerrymandering has brought to Republicans

What is gerrymandering someone might ask? Defined, it is 

"...In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries to create partisan-advantaged districts.

The fact is, what they, Republicans, have been doing and trying to do is to get anyone and everyone who might not be aligned with their voting patterns, from being able to vote. This would include the following groups, proven, historically:

--Young
--Elderly--at least, elderly who aren't already-wealthy
--Poor and/or impoverished
--The physically-challenged
--Minorities including:

• --Blacks and African-Americans
• --Hispanics and Latinos

This took place 2016:

North Carolina's Deliberate Disenfranchisement of Black Voters

Not to be done there, this happened 3 days ago.

Black seniors kicked off bus taking them to vote in Georgia

This story broke only yesterday and it's happening right next door, no less, in neighboring Kansas.

Iconic Dodge City Moves Its Only Polling Place Outside Town

The entire city has 27000 residents. 60% of those residents are Hispanic. So if you're white and Right Wing and Republican, what to do??  Why, move the one polling place, as it says, outside the city limits.

It is stunning.

This, too, is going on now, in Georgia.

Georgia’s ‘exact match’ law could disenfranchise 909,540

And it's how they got a man with a horrible reputation even in his own political party and with zero government experience elected to the White House, the highest office in the land even though he got at least 3 million less popular votes than his political opponent. Sure, you get out-voted but hey, load the voting districts your way and voila! The Electoral College makes you President anyway!

And sure, Democrats are legally capable of gerrymandering also but the fact is, Republicans have used it and been using it to load their--our--voting districts for years now, as I've said and shown here.

Partisan gerrymandering has benefited Republicans more

Not done there, not done with just gerrymandering, this political party took it further, much further, too. Not only do they use these voter ID laws to help them in elections, disenfranchising fellow citizens in the process, but they've publicly admitted it, as well.

Some Republicans Acknowledge Leveraging Voter ID Laws for Political Gain

Republicans keep admitting that voter ID helps them win

Republicans Admit Voter ID Laws Are Aimed at Democratic Voters

This, to me, is the worst aspect of these voter ID laws and their requirements, this next point.

How Voter ID Laws Discriminate Against Racial Minorities

It's been also proved there is nearly zero true voter fraud, on anyone's part, too.

Myth of Voter Fraud | Brennan Center for Justice

There is a great "meme" out there on social networks I've seen recently. It asks, how bad is your political party if your way of "success" is to keep Americans from voting?

And the answer is, bad. Really, really bad. And not in a Michael Jackson way, by any stretch.

So what all this means, what we need to do, as a nation, as a people is, first, get the Republicans out of power, out of office, and then, once and for all, make gerrymandering and voter ID laws, both, illegal. We need to truly, truly take back the vote. 

We can do this. 

We must.

Vote November 6!

And VOTE BLUE!!  Vote Democratic!  Then let's work and fight for change.

Links:

Gerrymandering - Wikipedia

This is the best explanation of gerrymandering

AARP: Tits on a Boar

To what other conclusion can one come about AARP, ostensibly named the "American Association for Retired People" than that they are useless, ineffectual?

Sure, you can get discounts to buy things if you want, if you join as a member but when it comes down to representing, really representing those "retired people", do they do anything?

When one political party in this nation not only comes out for taking funds from even just Social Security, let alone Medicare and then Medicaid, too, all so already-wealthy people can get still more of the nation's wealth, does the AARP do anything? Do they speak up? Do they attack even the IDEA of depleting the Social Security fund, let alone the political party that wants to do this?

Oh, hell no.

No, they don't.

Not only do they not attack the idea or the person proposing it or the idea, AARP does----nothing.

And it's not that this has only happened once that a person in that political party has tried attacking, depleting the Social Security fund, as just one example, it keeps happening, again and again, over the years.

AARP?

Silent.  Deafeningly silent. Not a word.

If you're a member and get their magazine in the mail, what are the articles about? Some examples:

--Commit Yourself to an Exercise Routine

--Get Financial Advice Without Going Broke

--Test Your Knowledge of Voting Facts

--Find the Best Health Care Where You Live

And this one. I love this next one:

--Why a Vacation Might Make You Feel Better

Like we need an article for that.

All no doubt fine articles but let me say this again---ONE POLITICAL PARTY IS REPEATEDLY, OVER THE YEARS, WORKING, FIGHTING TO DEPLETE THE SOCIAL SECURITY FUND.

And if you're an AARP member, you wouldn't know it.

It's almost as though they don't want to upset or alienate any people in that political party--let's go ahead and say it---Republicans, either members or, God forbid, members of Congress.

Sure, don't upset any Republican or Republicans, even though they vote and have voted, time and again, to drain the Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid funds for other purposes.

And the latest use or attempted use of Social Security funds?

Well, those pesky Republicans voted for TAX CUTS FOR THE ALREADY-WEALTHY AND CORPORATIONS earlier this year. It's blowing up the deficit so THEY WANT TO TAKE MONEY FROM SOCIAL SECURITY and what they call "entitlements" to pay for those now deficits. Don't believe it? Check out the very recent headline:

The deficit is rising, so Republicans want to cut Social  Security, Medicare

And as I said above, they've been saying and working on and doing this over the years, too. This headline and story is from December, 2016:

GOP introduces plan to 

massively cut Social Security

You would think that, since they're supposed to be for retired people--it is in their name, after all--that each and every time a politician, any politician, from any party, even mentioned, once, aloud, draining the Social Security fund or Medicare or Medicaid, that that same organization would be screaming bloody murder to its members to, for heaven sake, contact their representative and express their disbelief and strong support for these programs.

But AARP?

Not a word. Never. Not a peep.

But if you want a tote bag with your new membership and 5% off your next purchase of some tchotchke or a roadside atlas or advice on why you might enjoy a vacation, well, then, AARP is just the group for you.

NYT Celebrates Our Kansas City Chiefs Today

Yes sir, the one and only New York Times has a very prominent, front sports page article on our own Kansas City Chiefs, our Patrick Mahomes and how we naturally, rightly like--love?--him.

‘He’s Ours. Patrick Mahomes Is Ours.’

Fans of the Kansas City Chiefs, accustomed to football disappointment, now have the most exciting player in the N.F.L. on their team, in their town.

And it's a great and of course, true article, we love our Patrick Mahomes and all this winning he's doing but in the print edition of the paper, the headline reads: "Kansas City finally found something to love."

Excuse me?

Excuse me, New York Times.....  Excuse us??

We have LOTS to love around here, make no mistake.

We love our Kansas City Chiefs, for starters. And that's all the time, not just when we're having a stellar season, like right this moment. Sure, we prefer winning them all, including the Super Bowl, like anyone and everyone else but we love our team ALL THE TIME.

Going on, we love our Kansas City Royals. For sure. Absolutely. And that's all the time, too. Sure, we prefer "going all the way" seasons like 1985 and 2015 but we love our team, let there be no doubt.

Going on from there, things we Kansas Citians love:

Our barbecue

The

Country Club Plaza 

All our fountains

Being the "Paris of the Plains"

Ward Parkway and our boulevard system

4 seasons--especially now that winters are milder

Mostly clean air, nearly all the time

Low traffic

Having and being two cities, not just one

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art

Union Station

American Jazz Museum

National WWI Museum and Memorial

Kansas City Museum

The Arabia Steamboat Museum

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

Arthur Bryant's Barbeque Restaurant

Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que

And a lot more, to be sure.

So thanks, New York Times for the article and coverage but please, ladies and gentlemen, give us more credit than this.

Please.

White Males Against Abortion, Unite!

I saw yet another very privileged, white, middle-class male railing on Facebook about abortion today.

Jeezus Effing C.

Unbelievable.

This guy was a high school friend. I believe he's college educated.

In spite of that education, he rambled something briefly--incoherently?--about "60 million abortions." I've no idea what that was an attempted reference to.

But wow. Freaking wow.

So I decided there needs to be a group for these people.

They need to call it White Male Patriarchy.

WIMP for short.

A white, middle class, at least, if not upper middle-class male, devoid of attachment to the female's situation, of course, since he hasn't and couldn't possibly have or understand that perspective, but also completely void of any lower-class and/or minority situation or issues. But by gosh, rail against abortions! Sure! Makes perfect sense.

The fact is, the numbers of abortions in the nation have been dropping, and steadily, for years.

More importantly, the Right Wing and Republicans have been whittling away at women's legal rights for abortions for years, as we know. Additionally, however, they've also been under-cutting funding for sex education for our children, nationally and locally, in our schools. Added to that, they've been fighting the development and use of "day after" contraception pills, which is really insane. With the availability of these, we could at least reduce, if not even possibly eliminate abortions in the nation if those were available.

It's insane.

It's irresponsible. It's unconscionable. It's certainly immoral--yes, immoral, I'm saying it--on their part.

So here's for all the WIMPs out there!

Long live WIMPs!

And now they have a real "leader" for them, with this Trumpian in the White House.

Wahoo.