The Blaisdell Blog

In August of 1944 General Dwight D. Eisenhower had a problem. D-day, June 6, 1944, had been a costly but genuine success.   The German Army had been misguided by the Allies, misled by absent and arrogant leadership and interfered with by the drugged, paranoid and increasingly desperate Adolf Hitler.   The invasion of the Continent had begun, but had then bogged down.   It was not until Eisenhower brought a chastened and grateful George Patton back from London, put him in charge of the Third Army and told him to “punch” through the enemy that the promise of D-Day became a certain victory for the Allies.   Patton marched eastward toward the Seine.   Montgomery broke out of Caen in the north.   Bradley was moving out of the Cotentin Peninsula.   The oft forgotten landing and successful assault on the Riviera had resulted in all of France now being one long Allied offensive line.   On September 14 th (D+100) the Allied armies were occupying t...

St. Louis, Baltimore, and Detroit had the highest homicide rates of all major American cities last year. Six months into 2017, it looks likely that they will maintain the dubious distinction.   They are joined on this list by Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, Los Angeles and New York who lead in sheer numbers if not percentages. What happens in these cities does not reflect the country as a whole.   Since 1990 the murder rate in the country has steadily dropped, but in certain cities and certain neighborhoods within those cities, the number of people murdering other people is rising exponentially.   According to the Brennan Center, a left-leaning think tank, the murder rate rose 14% in our 30 largest cities in 2015.   This trend continues.             Ninety percent of all Blacks in this country are killed by other Blacks.   On the other side of the coin, about 85% of all Whites (which includes Hispan...

Since the year 2000, Asians have seen their median incomes increase by $3693 per year.   That is almost twice what Whites and Hispanics have seen as income increases of $1431 per year.   In that same time, Blacks have seen their median incomes drop by -$1,873 per year.   During that time, all median incomes have increased, reaching a high of $59,039 in 2016, but even with that increase, Black households trail the pack with an income of $39,490.               Insufficient income does not exist in a vacuum.   There are reasons. Asians showed the biggest increase in income and they have the highest percentage of adults with a college degree (53%, up from 39% a generation ago).   While all groups have shown an increase in college degrees in that same amount of time (36% for Whites, 23% for Blacks and 15% for Hispanics) only Blacks show a decrease in median income.   It is striking, for example...