This may or may not surprise you; but I always enjoyed history. History was one of my favorite subject in high school. But what can you do with a degree in history? My grades in history was exceptional.

What we learn in history can help us from repeating things and making the same mistakes over and over again. But first, we must study our history to prevent repeating it.

Even though there was some things I was never taught in history class. There are some things the teachers will leave out. Sometimes, teachers may be a little bias too.

For one thing I wasn’t taught about the Vietnam War in History. I was taught about what was going on in this country during the Vietnam War. It could had been that it was still fresh on the people’s minds. I don’t know the reasons. We could had ran out of time during the school years.

What you are not taught in history class; you can look it up on-line. Thank God for the internet.

Few years ago, I read in the paper, that today’s high school students are not taught about the Holocaust. Some don’t even know what the Holocaust was. Ilhan Omar is one prime example; especially at what she says about Israel.

Teachers are more Liberal than they were when I was in school. They will slant history like the fake mainstream news media just to suit their own agendas. Some may even try to rewrite history if they could. If they don’t agree what was in the history book, they may either overlook it or change it a little.

Luckily for the internet, we have the opportunity to really know what happens in our history.

There is this person I know who just recently became a teacher. I heard her say, “if any of her students did a history report and it wasn’t in the history book or she doesn’t agree with the truth about the history information; she will fail them.”

Believe me, if I was a parent of that child that she failed because she doesn’t agree with the historic information; I would take it to the schoolboard and have her fired.

So many of these Liberals, teachers, news media, and the Leftist Democrats are trying to rewrite history. The reason, they don’t agree or like what they see.

Let’s get straight the point!

As you know the Democrats under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi and these Leftist are trying to impeach President Trump. They have nothing on him. They couldn’t get him for the Russian collusion involving 2016 election. So they are now trying with this Ukraine incident; which is just big theater, just a joke; and a bad one at that.

They dislike and disrespect him so much that they can’t see straight. They know deep down that they can’t beat him in the 2020 election. They just wants to stop him so bad that they will stop at nothing to bring him down.

They should learn from history.

I mean back when Bill Clinton was President, the Republicans went and impeach him. Believe me, he was guilty; whereas Trump did nothing wrong.

President Clinton was guilty of the Whitewater scandal; yet it couldn’t be proven. All the Republicans were able to get Pres. Clinton on was the fact that he had an affair in the White House with an intern(Monica Lewinski); and then he lied about it.

That impeachment just blew up in the Republicans’ faces. They were the laughing stock in Washington. Just like the Democrats are today. It cost them the House and the Senate, the following election. It took them a few years for them to get back control of the House and the Senate too.

If the Democrats continue with this foolishness, they too will lose the House once again. The Presidential candidates will not get elected in the 2020 election.

Even though, the Republicans went all out to impeach Clinton, Newt Gingrich and Pres. Clinton was able to work together to balance the budget.

Just like Tip O’Neill and Pres. Reagan was also able to work together in end. They had respect for each and were friends when all said and done.

You can’t say the same thing with Nancy Pelosi and Pres. Trump. It’s pure hatred on the Democrats sides. Nancy Pelosi is only trying to appease her own Leftist party.

Like I said earlier, if they would just learn from their history; they wouldn’t be doom to repeat it and make the same mistakes. Instead of rewriting history, we must learn from it.

What they are trying to impeach Trump on not only will it hurt them; it will also hurt Joe Biden.

What they are accusing Trump on, President Obama had done the same thing when he was President, and no one bat an eye.

To me, it’s like they are saying, “an employer doesn’t have the right to do a background check on possible employees.” That’s all Trump may or may not have done involving the Ukraine and Joe Biden; and even Hillary Clinton.

The Democrats will never ever get my votes again because of what they are doing.

Next week, I will discuss more about why I like President Trump even more today, in part 2: “We got who we got because who we had.”

• 

What does the world thinks of the church today?

The church today is struggling. They are having a difficult time in reaching the young people. Church’s attendance is lower than it was years ago.

It’s not because people are working on Sunday; even though that is part of it.

The fact is people are choosing to have fun instead. They want to party and live it up. They want to drink and have sexual intercourse with whoever they want. Their motto is, “You only live once.”

I’m not criticizing that. Believe me, when I was in my late teens and early 20’s, I too loves to party. I was a party animal.

I believe what is keeping our young people out of the church is how they perceived the Christians inside of the church.

First of all, there are those who believed that you can be a believer and still live it up. There are some that say that they believed in God. They just wants to have their fun while they are young.

Then there are those who perceived those in the church to be hypocrite. They sees them as being self-righteous. They sees them as being very judgmental over their lifestyles and choices that they make. They feel that if they are Christians, they should love everyone like Jesus does; and not judge them.

For example: some believed that those in the church are being judgmental over those who are homosexual. I’m not going too far into that because that is a whole different blog.

The point I’m getting at is that those in the church are perceived as being Self-righteous.

I have to admit, even though I’m a Christian and have been since 1990, I have struggled with the ideas of self-righteous people in the church.

I’m going to start at the beginning, I was baptized Catholic as a baby and confirmed Lutheran. Yet, I didn’t really knew the Lord until later on in life. I came to accept the Lord in 1990 after the Lord spoke to me. But first, I saw a movie called, “I Know my first name is Steven.” It was about a boy who was kidnapped and molested. I related to him; to reason I may tell you later in another blog. I then had the TV on to Dwight Thompson, a televangelist. At that time, I didn’t much care for televangelist. Somehow, I couldn’t turned the channel because of some forms of spirit. Then one evening he preached on Luke 15, the Prodigal Son. That night, the Lord spoke to me saying that he loved me and was always there for me. I cried as I accepted the Lord. I was soon re-baptized, by being submerge in water. I’m now a member of a Nazarene Church in Moorhead, MN. The church is Bridgepointe Community.

As I said earlier, I too had struggled with self-righteous people in the church. I almost left the church because of it. I still believed in God and Jesus. I just didn’t believed in the church.

I think that this may be one of the reason that keeps the young people out of the church. They may believed in God and Jesus; but they see some of the people and/or the pastor as being self-righteous.

I believed that young people are searching for something and not finding it in the church. They are finding it elsewhere; like a cult for example.

There are churches that are trying to reach the young people. They are going to where they needs to go. I give credit to Prairieheights Community Nazarene Church for doing just that. At the same time they are not becoming lost to the world.

As Jesus said, “even though we lived in the world, we are not a part of the world.” it doesn’t mean that we are to become self-righteous though. Remembered, Jesus accused the Pharisees of being self-righteous and look where that got him. They crucified Him!!

I have been teaching Sunday School the Sermon on the Mount series. It’s a very good lesson on how we are to live for Jesus. It’s also show us how we can reach the lost without being judgmental.

In the end times, there will be even less people in church than it is now. Christians are being persecuted because of their faith and will be before Jesus returns again.

It’s not just the world’s fault though. Some people in the church are just too blame. Some of them bring it on themselves. The Pharisees did in Jesus’ days as well.

Teddy Roosevelt was the youngest President. He became President after the assassination of William McKinley.

He was a rough rider from New York.

He was a distant relative of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Even though FDR was a Democrat, Teddy was a Republican. He was a Nationalist.

Even though he was from New York, he loved North Dakota. To him, North Dakota was God’s country. He had a vacation home in North Dakota. It was a place he came to, to go hunting. He loved hunting.

He was in the top ten of the best President. It depends on what polls where he ranks.

You can find his likeness on Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota.

One of the things that you probably didn’t know about him. He was an Environmentalist. Now that is an oxymoron for being a Republican; since those on the Left thinks that Republicans cannot be an environmentalist.

He was also known as a Progressive. Back then Progressive means something totally different than what it does now.

His most famous quote was “Walk softly and carry a big stick.”

With what we know about Teddy Roosevelt, I was wondering what he would think about the oil boom in North Dakota?

What would he thinks about the Keystone pipeline?

I will tell you what I think he would think. First of all he would like the idea of harvesting our resources.

Yet at the same time, he would not approve of the pipeline. He wouldn’t approve of the pipeline going through the badlands of North Dakota.

When the Native Americans were protesting the pipeline being built across their burial ground. I was on their side. It went too far when those on the far left got involved. They took it to the point of being violent.

I also thinks that Teddy would approve of Pres. Trump. He would sees him as a man after his own heart.

• 

North Dakota wasn’t always one of the riches state due to the oil industry.

Under Gov. Art Link, in the late 70’s and early 80’s, he closed the oil fields in the Western part of the state. For reason, I don’t fully understand. All I can say, “he was a Democrat.”

Anyway, when the oil fields were closed, cities like Dickenson and Williston became almost like a ghost town. They were drying up and loosing people right and left.

Since the oil boom, both Dickerson and Williston had grown quite a bit.

Not only did the oil boom help those 2 cities grow; it puts North Dakota on the map and be noticed. It’s still a fly over state; but at least it’s finally being recognize for something.

People would link North Dakota to South Dakota; and there was talk of merging the 2 states and making it into 1.

Another State that North Dakota was link to was Minnesota. For example: I had an Aunt who thought that North Dakota and Minnesota was the same state; and she was from Casselton before moving out West to Seattle.

It was hard to keep the young people in the state after they graduated from either high school or college. There was really no jobs in their fields.

Ever since Ed Shaffer was governor of North Dakota, the state’s economy was booming. He opened the oil fields again. He worked to bring jobs into this state to keep the young people in. Of course, he was Republican also. Since Shaffer, the state of North Dakota had a Republican governor. Before Shaffer, the Republicans couldn’t get elected governor of the state.

This blog isn’t about Shaffer or the Republicans controlling the Governor. It’s about the oil boom in the state.

As good and important the oil boom was to the state of North Dakota’s economy, for putting the state on the map, for job prospects, and for bringing new businesses in to fight to keep our young people in the state. It wasn’t all perfect.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for that.

Some of the downfall of reopening the oil fields are as followed.

I actually believe that the oil company had taken advantage of North Dakota’s naïve. I mean, as the title said, “Black Gold-Texas Tease,” who haven’t seen the original Beverly Hillbillies? The oil company took advantage of the characters, because they saw them as bunch of hillbillies and hicks. I actually thinks, the oil company saw the people in North Dakota as being a bunch of rednecks; that they could take advantage of. Because of that we weren’t prepared for what came out the oil boom.

First of all, I’m glad that we are harvesting our own resources. It keeps us from being dependent on Foreign oils. It keeps us from dealing with terrorists. It keeps us from dealing with the enemies of Israel. It’s boost the economy of North Dakota and made the state competitive with other states, such as Texas.

There are things that came out of this oil boom that cause me to be alarmed.

One of the things it did, it brought in a bunch of riff raffs and crimes. Not everybody is qualified to work the oil fields. It’s a hard and dirty job. The crime rates had risen since the oil boom. It’s getting to the point I don’t feel safe being out after dark in Fargo anymore.

The cost of living in the Western part of the state is much higher now. People on fixed incomes cannot afford to live there anymore. There was poll that showed that to rent an apartment in Williston cost as much if not more than New York City.

I remembered hearing because of the oil boom out west, the Bismarck Kmart store had a hard time in hiring help. They would just put the box of product out on the floor, because they had no help to stock the shelves. The reason was because of the pay didn’t match the cost of living.

I remembered when I took the train heading out West for a vacation. The train would go by Williston and the oil fields work camps. I mean, you could see those camps from the train as it went by. It looks like a slum area. It was worse than the old west. It was even worse than the inner city of Indianapolis; when I went there for a work & witness trip.

I think this is one of the reason the homeless population is as high in the state of North Dakota. The people are coming up to the state for jobs because they hear that the state is busting with jobs, due to the oil boom.

Like I said earlier, not everyone is able to work the oil fields. Not everyone can work these jobs that is being created by new businesses coming into the state. Some may have to do blue-collar work to make a living.

Even with the surplus, those in our state government don’t want to raise wages. Then they wondered why people have to work 2-3 jobs to make a living. They wondered why alcoholism is a big problem in the state. Some are even working past retirement age and/or until they die.

I won’t go into that because that is a whole different blog.

I didn’t mention the Keystone Pipeline because I’m saving it for next week blog; which will be part 2. Here is a clue to part 2: Who it may be about may surprise you.

There is so much talk about censorship as of lately. Even more now than ever before.

In the 70’s there was a movie/Broadway play called, “Jesus Christ, Superstar.” When that movie first came out, some in the Christian community protested it and tried to get it censored. They felt that it didn’t represented the Christian community and Jesus Christ.

Also in the late 70’s and early 80’s Tipper Gore and some of the Christian leaders took it to the House of Representative to censor what we listen to. They were responsible in putting warning labels on records; especially songs that they felt were offensive. One of the song was, Rocky Mountain High by John Denver. They felt that it was about getting high on drugs. As John Denver states, “It was about getting high on nature through the Rocky Mountain.

When the book, DaVinci Code came out, the Catholic church wanted to censor that book and later on the movie. All it did was boost the sales for the book.

When Harry Potter first came out, once again the Christian community protested and tried to get the movie censored. They feared the theme of witchcraft was damaging.

Yet, when the Lord of the Rings movies came out about month later; there was no protest by them. Why is that?

I will tell you why: the author of the Lord of the Rings series was a Christian; whereas the author of Harry Potter wasn’t. They were being judgmental.

Every time a certain group would protest and try to censor something, no matter what it is. It gets people’s attention. They go fast to check it out just to see what’s all the buzz. So why try to censor and boycott; when all it will do is boost the sales?

Look back in history, during the Roaring 20’s. It was the Christian movements that tried to banned alcohol. All it did was led to bootlegging; and eventually overturn.

How about when Elvis started out? The Christians back then didn’t much care how he would shake his hips. So they censored his appearance on television, that they would not show him shaking his hips, by only showing his top half. That didn’t last long.

I know that I probably mentioned these before in previous blogs. I only mentioned them again as I hope to get to the point of this blog.

There is movie that may or may not get shown called, “The Hunt.” The basis of that movie about hunting the deplorable. Now the deplorable is what Hillary Clinton and the fake mainstream news media called all those who voted and supported Trump.

There are people who felt that it was an inappropriate time for that movie to comes out because of the hate and violence out there right now.

Let me ask you this one question. Would Hollywood thinks twice about making a movie about those who voted for Obama and hunt them down?

My answer to that question is “Hell No!!”

That is off the subject.

I’m not in favor of censorship; even though that movie gets me upset. I stand by the Constitution. In the Constitution, there is such a thing as Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Expression. We have the right speak our mind.

As I said in my blog about 1984, “The lead character, a reporter was being censored by Big Brother.” It seems that book is becoming more and more true.

Before it was some Christians protesting and wanting censorship. Now, it seems, that it is those on the Far Left that is wanting censorship. They want to censor anyone who doesn’t agree with them. Just like Big Brother in the book, “1984.”

They wants to censor Pres. Donald Trump, when he tweets. Yet, when those on the Left; especially the Squad; it’s alright. Where’s the justice?

As I said in my past blog, Roseanne was fired from her own show because of her comment that she made. Yet, Whoopi Goldberg was still able to say hateful things about Trump. Shouldn’t Whoopi been fired? I say that she should have.

There is a big stink involving censorship and Facebook. Those who are Conservative are being censored and some even shut down on Facebook because of their views.

The group Dixie Chicks was also censored because of their comments about Pres. George W. Bush. It cost them a great penny. I have to tell you, they didn’t deserve the treatment they gotten. I have to admit, I took their side.

It goes to show, if you don’t agree with those on the Left, the fake mainstream news media will try to censor you, to silence you. Believe me, when my blog was shut down in June for just over a month; I thought for sure that I was being censored. I felt that that I had offended someone.

I’m here to tell you, I will not be silenced. I will speak my mind until the day I die. This is still a free country. We have right to the Freedom of Expression and the Freedom of Speech. I will be like the lead character in the book, “1984.” I will continue despite anyone who wants to take away my freedom. I will die for my rights of the freedom that I have.

It says in the Bible that those who proclaimed to be a Christian will be persecuted for their faith. It seems like it is happening more and more too. You got to watch what you say or else. You are not allowed to say things about certain groups or you will be sued or charge with a hate crime. Yet, those on the Left can continue saying whatever they want to anyone who disagree with them.

As you have already probably heard, the oldest and first Kmart in North Dakota is closing it’s doors in mid-December. Believe me, it’s a crying shame to see the store go under and close their doors.

Kmart had been around for a long time. Not as long as Sears though. The Fargo Kmart store had been around for over 50 some years.

At one time, Kmart was one of the top retailers. I remembered when they opened the Kmart in Moorhead. The reason for opening that store was to be able to be open on Sunday. When they was about to open that Kmart, Tempo; which was in the old Holiday Mall became scared. They felt that they couldn’t compete with Kmart. So they closed their doors!

I remembered as kid, the Fargo Kmart store had a cafeteria that was in the back of the store. They also sold flavored icy drinks. It was a family friendly store.

They would have the blue light special that would flash and the manager would announced, “blue light special!” , and they will tell you where you can find it.

The next 2 Kmart, one was in North Fargo near NDSU. One of the reason that one was closed was because when the Fargo Dome opened up, customers from the Fargo Dome would used Kmart parking lot to avoid paying high parking fees at the Fargo Dome for events.

The other Kmart opened not far from Target, in the Burington Coat store. They opened that store to gives Target a run for their money. They did ok for a while too. The reason for closing that store was because Wal-Mart opened up nearby.

Where the original Kmart is in South Fargo, there is nothing down there to give them a run for their money. It’s a prime location. This part of town will be lost without Kmart; unless something worthwhile can comes in and take over.

I’m going to give you reason why Kmart had been failing the last few years. Some people would think that Wal-Mart is to blame. They are not at fault. They could had survived Wal-Mart. Some things were cheaper at Kmart than at Wal-Mart and vice versa.

Wal-Mart was the cheapest, then came Kmart, and Target was a little more expensive. Target is considered to be the rich’s Wal-Mart. The poor/working class would shop at Wal-Mart and Kmart; whereas the rich wouldn’t be caught dead at a Wal-Mart and Kmart stores.

Here is what killed Kmart:

Kmart should never merge with Sears. As I said in my blog, “Sears was an albatross around Kmart’s neck.” Also in my most recent blog, the oldest retailers, I mentioned that Sears was the downfall of Kmart.

Another things that killed Kmart and even hurting other retails, like Pres. Trump had said, is on-line orders. People don’t shop in retails anymore. They would rather shop from home in front of the computer in their pajamas and shop on-line through Amazon. It’s convenience. I have to admit that I had shop on-line. The reason for shopping online is because you can get things that you can’t get in the store.

The biggest thing that had killed Kmart is the management. It starts at the top. This is where the head honchos wouldn’t want the public to know. They wouldn’t be too happy with me for sharing this with my readers.

Most Recently, Eddie Lambert was the CEO of Kmart/Sears corporation. Let me tell you, he ran Kmart into the ground and he didn’t care.

They should never merge with Sears. If they didn’t had Sears dragging them down, I actually believe that Kmart could had survived.

The upper managements had made many bad choices in the last few years. They never paid the workers very much either.

The original owner of Kmart took care of the employees. I’ve seen old pictures; where Kmart’s employees actually had fun while work. Maybe that was why some of the Kmart’s employees stuck it out as long as they did.

I feel sorry for them. It’s hard to start over; especially as a person gets older.

I’ve heard recently that there was a no logical reason for closing the Fargo Kmart store. Earlier, they renewed their lease for 4 more years. The sales at the Fargo Kmart was as good as Bismarck. Those 2 Kmart was the top in sales. If any Kmart should close; it should had been the Minot store.

What these upper management were thinking, no one really knows. They are not telling anyone.

The reason they gave was to save money on gas, when they bring a truck up with freight. They could had done the same thing by closing Minot instead of Fargo.

Who knows what they were thinking?

Here is my thought on that: since both the Fargo and Bismarck stores had higher sales, they both got bigger trucks. With Bismarck and Minot stores open yet, they could combine the 2 stores. I still can’t wrap my head over their reasons for choosing to close the Fargo Kmart.

Like I said earlier, there is nothing in South Fargo after Kmart close. What will the people do?

My heart goes out to my former co-workers at Kmart; especially those who had been there a long time and still can’t retire. It’s hard starting over. I was one of the lucky one when I left Kmart over a year ago. I’m glad the opportunity came along when it did. I saw the writings on the walls.

In light of all these school shootings the last few years, I felt that I will mentioned what is missing in our schools.

This may be very controversial and there may people who will disagree with me. I welcomes your comments.

There is now high security system in the schools today. Higher than what it was when I was in school. They have scanner like the ones you finds at the airports and the courts. In hoping to stop guns from entering the schools.

The latest news, some schools are allowing teachers to carry guns to arm themselves in case of would-be shooters to protect themselves and the students.

They are asking for trouble when they do that.

They even have armed security guards inside the schools. Some schools even have lockdown, like a prison.

Back when I was in high school, from the ninth grade and up we were allowed to go up town Hawley during lunch hour instead of walking over to the elementary school for lunch; if we didn’t much care for the lunch being served.

In some schools that is being taken away.

Also back in High School in Hawley, students would crossed the road from the high school to smoke. Some may even had done drugs.

Since it was just off the school grounds, nothing could be done.

That was mild compare to what the schools today is facing.

I have gotten in a debate with a person over with what I’m going to share in this blog years ago. So here is what I feels is missing in our schools today.

The moment they took the Bible and prayers out of our schools, violence have gotten worse.

I understand the reason because the ACLU had gotten involved and felt that it was a form of discrimination to non-Christians or other religions.

All religions pray in some form or another. It doesn’t matter if your are a Christian or not. You could be a Muslims or whatever, and you still will pray.

Even if you are not a Christian, you can still meditate. It’s that quiet time to begin the day.

It was during the Columbine school shooting, that the shooter aimed the gun at a Christian student and threatened them deny Christ or die.

Another things that is missing in our schools is morality. Young people today are not taught morality, at home and at school.

Parents are either too busy with work to spend time teaching their kids, or are not in the home anymore because of divorce. So they leave it up to the teachers.

People morality are way different than it was when I was a child. Just look around today and you will see.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m for allowing children to be themselves. That’s how they develop. They still needs some form of morality.

There is a lack of discipline in our schools. When a child misbehave, they send them to the school counselor to help the teachers understand why they are misbehaving.

These school counselors diagnosis the students as having ADD; when they may or may not. Then they highly medicated them. That way they can control the students better.

Kids need to be kids. It’s part of the development process.

Maybe they act up because they are bored. They are not being challenge in our schools.

Now days, kids have their own cell phone. I think when they are in school they shouldn’t be allowed to have them. If parents needs to get a hold of their kids, they can call the school and relay a message to them like the old days.

Back to the discipline part, I’m not saying that teachers should beat a child senseless. I’m against corporal punishment that was in the old Catholic schools. Yet the students needs some form of discipline; so that they can learn morality, learn what’s right and what’s wrong.

Yet today’s children are ruling the schools. If a teacher lays a hand on them to discipline them, they scream child abuse.

If they do a good job to be rewarded, and the teachers gives them a pat on the back. The students may say, “the teachers touch me inappropriately.”

I don’t even know if they say the pledge of allegiance to the flags anymore.

When I was in school, and the first thing we did everyday was say the pledge and salute the the American flag.

I’m not saying that there wasn’t fighting in our schools. I’m just saying, school was safer back then. Students were taught morality. They were discipline if they misbehave. They were allowed to pray. Our founding Fathers would roll over in their graves if they knew what is going on in our schools today.

If you want to stop the school shootings, it is time for this country to get back to God. It is time that our students are taught morality. It is time that they are discipline properly when they misbehave. Not beat them, discipline them!

It is time that they are allowed to pray and bring their Bibles to school if they want.

We don’t need to arms our teachers or have security guards. We must not tie their hands though. That way they can teach and challenge the students to be who they are meant to be.

Not all students needs to be medicated to be kept under control.

I can understand loyalty to something or someone. Continuing routing for the Vikings is way beyond loyalty. It’s almost pure crazy and frustrating.

I know that a team can’t win every game. There have to be a winner and a loser. If a team wins too much, people becomes suspicious. For example: the New England Patriots.

The joke goes, “why can’t the Vikings eat cereal? They choke every time they comes to a bowl.”

The Minnesota Vikings had been to 4 Super Bowl and lost all 4 of them. Don’t get me wrong, they are not the only team to lose all 4 Super Bowl. The Buffalo Bills did it too.

The only difference, the Bills had lost 4 in a row pretty much.

Believe me, I felt living up here in North Dakota and Minnesota, a person should route for their home NFL team, the Vikings. I just get so frustrated with them for constantly losing and choking.

There is one NFL team I dislike more and that is the Detroit Lions. They have not been to a Super Bowl yet.

What gets me, when the Vikings plays against the Lions and loses; I have to asked, “How can they lose to the worse team in the NFL?”

It’s gets frustrating every time to see the Vikings constantly choking. It’s the added stress on a person life. Why do you want that in your life?

It’s like working at a dead-end job or staying in a love-less marriage. Why bother? They are like an emotional vampire. They just drain you emotionally.

In 2018, the Vikings had a chance to make history by being the only NFL team to have a home field advantage at the Super Bowl. They had blown it though. It could had been them against the Patriots; but rather it was the Eagles who beat the Patriots instead. I have to admit part of me was hoping that the Vikings could pull it off and make history. Once again they choke and let a lot of people down.

When it seems that they choked during the playoffs, they blame other people instead of taking responsibility themselves. They either blames the coach, the manager, the referee, and the list goes on.

When the Eagles beats them, they blamed them and called them outright names.

Some people even goes as far as to say that the Super Bowl is rigged because of the Vince Lombardi trophy; and he played for the Green Bay Packers.

They should stop blaming others and look within to see why they keep choking.

I remembered when I was with a group from the Twin Cities as we were going through Wisconsin on the way to Indianapolis for a Work & witness trip. I mentioned that Wisconsin is such a beautiful state. Believe me, that wasn’t the thing to say to someone who is loyal to the Vikings. Wisconsin is the Green Bay Packers home turf. I don’t care, because Wisconsin is beautiful and it’s God’s country. At least, the Packers had won Super Bowl.

Even the Chicago Bears had won a Super Bowl.

I’ve got some healing for you to help you with your frustration with the Vikings. You don’t have to keep routing for them year after year; unless you enjoyed being stressed out every time. If you enjoys the frustration, so be it. That’s your problem!

North Dakota may not have a NFL team; but they do have a college team to route for. I’m talking about the NDSU Bison. Right now, they are on a winning streak. Even though, people are becoming suspicious.

We have the Green Bay Packers. I know, I’m a fudge packer, as fans of the Packers are sometimes called.

There is now 2 NFL teams that have a quarterback from NDSU that we can route for rather than keeps getting frustrated over the Vikings.

There had been other players from NDSU who went on to play in the NFL though. Phil Hanson played for the Bills, and he came from NDSU. Sure he took them to about 4 Super Bowl and couldn’t get them over the hump.

Not like Carson Wentz, who plays for the Eagles. He brought them to the playoffs in 2018; so that Nick Foley could take them over the top and win the Super Bowl. The Eagles was able to wipe the smug off Tom Brady’s face.

Every time a team can do that, I’m ecstatic.

Now this year, we have another quarterback from NDSU who is playing in the NFL. Easton Stick is playing for the LA Chargers.

The only difference, Wentz is the first string quarterback and Stick isn’t though. I’m not saying that he can’t moved up and help the Chargers make to the Super Bowl.

I don’t think that they can play each other in the Super Bowl; but they can possibly play each other in the playoffs. That will be match up to see. It will be nice to see Wentz and Stick plays up against each other; since they are both from NDSU.

Besides, the Chargers also yet to win a Super Bowl or even plays in a Super Bowl. When they were known as the San Diego Charger, they made it to the Super Bowl but never won as well.

So why keeps routing for the Vikings? Why keep putting yourself in a stressful and frustrating situation? Do you hope that maybe some days they will actually pull off the inevitable? I want to know. Be free to comment at the end of this blog. I welcome it with open arms.

The Minnesota Vikings didn’t deserve a new stadium. They didn’t deserve the taxpayers of Minnesota to pay for it. That was the biggest waste. It’s more of waste than the Wall that we need on our border between US and Mexico.

Before there was Amazon and other on-line orders, there were mail ordered catalogs. You could order about anything through these catalogs; like you can on-line. Guys could ordered a mail order bride if they wanted to.

People would take these catalogs to the outhouse to go to the bathroom.

Spiegel was such a catalog. I don’t know if they had a store or not. They had a catalog that went out around the country.

Montgomery Wards was started in the early 1900’s, give or take. They had catalogs and even had a store that you can browse through to see the products. They sold appliances as well as clothes.

I remembered as a child going in the Montgomery Ward store in Moorhead, MN with my folks. That store was on 8th st and Main ave, just behind the Dairy Queen. After going in the store, we would stop at the Dairy Queen for some ice cream.

The Dairy Queen is still there but not Montgomery Ward. I don’t know if there is any down South though.

There used to be a Woolworths around the country. They had an escalator between the two floors. At lease the one in Fargo, ND did, right on Broadway next to the railroad crossing.

They was also known for fountain; which was to them as a little café that sold ice cream soda, along with hamburgers and fries. They also were big down South. They had their shares of racial trouble though. Such as segregation of the blacks from the whites.

The Woolworths store was known also as a five and dime stores.

Do they still have any down South?

Another retail store similar to the Woolworths was Ben Franklin. Except Ben Franklin didn’t have the fountain(café). They both were the five and dime stores. Ben Franklin was mainly located in small town. They had the small town atmosphere.

The building for Woolworths is still on Broadway in Fargo because it’s a historical landmark.

Ben Franklin is one of the latest stores who is slowly disappearing from our small towns. There is no more in Fargo; and there were a few in Fargo-Moorhead.

The last time I was in a Ben Franklin store was when I was in Park Rapids, MN. It was nice little store for that small town.

There was a grocery store by the name of Piggly-wiggly. There isn’t any of them up north. There is still some down South though. They were a small town grocery store atmosphere. We would grocery shop there along with Red Owl as well. Both are not around in Fargo-Moorhead anymore.

Red Owl was bought out by Super Value; which also owned Hornbacher’s. Now Hornbacher’s is a huge store.

Whereas, Piggly-wiggly merge with Buttry-Oscal, and soon became Sunmart. Now Sunmart is known as Family Fare.

Macy was only around since 1929. They are old but they are not the oldest retail store. Macy is also struggling.

One of the latest casualty of the oldest retailers is Sears. Sears had been around as long as Montgomery Ward. They started out as a catalog. They sold practically everything in the catalog, even a bride.

At one time, they had Sears Tower in Chicago. They sold Craftman tools. They sold appliances as well as tires for automobiles. They sold farm equipment. At one time they sold good American made stuff for Midwest and across the country and world.

When we moved down to the farm, we bought our washer and dryer from Sears. They lasted a long time. That was because things were made to last; not like now. Now days things are made to buy and not last.

Sears started going downhill since the 90’s. What kept them around as they did was that they merge with Kmart. As I said in my blog, Sears is an albatross around Kmart’s neck. Sears was the reason for Kmart struggling like they are today.

There is no more Sears around; except for those that is in the Kmart stores.

Are you ready for it? Drumrolls please!! The winner is for the oldest retailers is…JC Penny.

JC. Penny started the same time as Montgomery Ward and Sears. They also started out as a catalog.

Even though they are struggling as well, they are hanging on; which is good. I like shopping at JC Penny. I always get nice clothes when I shop there. If they close that store, why would I need to go to West Acres? I prefer them over Sears. I prefer them over Macy.

There you have it folks. I named few of the oldest retailers. A lot of those stores are gone now, except for the memories. I even told you the winner, the retailers that is pretty much still around for now.

For those who didn’t already known, he was at the Fargo Dome this past Friday night; which happened to had been my birthday as well.

Marilyn Manson was born Brian Hugh Warner on January 5, 1969 in Canton, Ohio. He took the name Marilyn Manson from Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson.

I can understand stage personality to attract fans. It’s a gimmics. It’s part of entertainment. A lot of singers/performers looks for ways to entertain the audience during a live performance. They don’t just depend on their singing ability.

When he first came out, there were people who thought that he was on Wonder Years as a friend of Kevin Arnold, played by Fred Savage. That was a big rumor back then.

His style is more Gothic. Which makes him very creepy looking. Now as I mentioned in my blog, “Love affair with a vampire,” there are people into gothic.

He painted his face a pale white and wore black lipstick to make himself creepy and gothic looking.

To me, it’s just creeps me out. I’m not into his type of music.

Now I can tolerate Alice Cooper. He was normal compare to Marilyn Manson.

Alice Cooper real name was Vincent Damon Furnier. He was a son of a preacher. Alice Cooper had done some outrageous things while on stage performing. It was nothing like Marilyn Manson though.

I can even tolerate one of the greatest rock group of my time, KISS. They, too had worn makeup as part of their stage persona. They are imitated by another rock group, Hairball.

KISS was known to throw wild party inside of their hotel room and trash the place; while on the road.

That’s nature in the world of rock music. They get crazy with their antics.

I’ve heard stories about when Marilyn Manson was in Fargo the last time. He had to have a babysitter/security guard around to watch over him to make sure that he behave himself. He would get drunk and crazy. I even heard of some of his outrageous stage performances. One of the performances, he grabbed one of the security guy and pushed him down and his head into his crotch, right on stage. How discussing!!

Alice Cooper and KISS never done that.

I couldn’t work load in for his concert because of other commitment. I wouldn’t want to work load out because Marilyn Manson creeps me out. It was my birthday and having him at the Fargo Dome was not a good birthday present for me.

I mean, it would had been nice seeing the set-up for his concert. But that’s as far as I go with seeing him.