Halloween Police

About an hour ago, I am sitting at a red light near my home, just about 2 minutes away normal driving time, after getting bags full of candy for trick or treating tonight in my neighborhood. As I am sitting at the red light, I see about 10 cops drive by me and head straight into my neighborhood.

I follow them into my neighborhood and as I am turning on my own street, about 10 more police cars pull up behind me and sandwich me in. I park the car in the street about a half mile from my home and proceed to get out of the car and walk down the street. As I get closer, the cops are running all in around in a bit of chaos, and I just keep walking through until I get outside the restricted zone, which is about 2 houses down from my own. I then see a few of my neighbors in the street. As I begin talking to them, we see a handful of police come back and grab the rifles out of their car. Running back to the house and then getting on the mega-phone screaming "come out with your hands up, and weapons down, etc., etc., etc.". This aggressively plays out for a good 30 minutes with even more cops arriving to the scene, grabbing rifles out of the trunk each time. At the peak, there must have been 25+ plus police vehicles, roughly the same number of cops with weapons drawn, for one individual inside. This seemed it was escalating quickly...

Then all of a sudden, an older woman pulls up and tells us (the neighbors), that the individual inside called her and he is "scared" and does not know what to do. It seemed possible, whoever was inside, may have some type of mental illness. At this point in time, we did not know who called the police, or what could have initiated this type of police response. This looked like a mass murder scene with the amount of police activity. The woman who pulled up insinuated the individual inside told her he was having a problem with the neighbors...but nothing confirmed even as of now. Point being, this woman then proceeds to tell the police that the person inside called her and told her he was scared, etc. and gave a bit more background on the situation. This seemed to completely deescalate the situation. The police started coming back and putting the rifles in the trunks of their cars...there were no more aggressive threats from the megaphones. More ambulances and emergency response vehicles pulled up. The police now seemed to be handling the situation in a completely different tone and manner.

A few minutes later, the individual inside was taken away in the ambulance and the police walked over and told us that everything was safe and the guy inside was ok. From a situation that looked as if it was going to end in the worst possible outcome...turned out to end in the best possible outcome. Now we still don't know why the police were called, and what could possible draw that type of police response - but what we do know is that due to the police not immediately reacting - having a community response with a neighbor giving more information that ultimately diffused the situation - we ended with the guy leaving in the ambulance alive, rather than in a body bag.

This was incredible to go through the roller coaster of witnessing this progress and then diffuse. What I can say is, this makes me realize each one of these situations is different and requires a unique response, but with always staying within certain ethical guidelines. It also shows what containing a scene, and no overreaction by the police can look like, while a community effort to present more facts - can lead to the best possible outcomes. I hope we can start to see more of this happen and be presented as what is actually going on in reality - vs. the perception that may be out there...

Happy Halloween.

Forked

It seems we may be at a fork in the road, but this is certainly not the first time we've found ourselves here...

In today’s political climate, the divide between the left and right feels wider than ever. Finger-pointing and blame-shifting have replaced meaningful conversation and solutions-based dialogue about the critical issues we face as a nation. This is a call to action: to embrace unity and collaboration as we confront our challenges together.

Our political environment often amplifies the tendency to blame the opposing side for the issues at hand. In the current climate, American leadership frequently criticizes far-left Democrats, framing national problems in a way that emphasizes division rather than working together. While concerns about the issues are valid and the identification of threats to our nation is crucial, this approach can create the perception of a lack of leadership needed for genuine progress.

Yes, there is a radical left, and there is a radical right. It may surprise some, but there are also Democrats who are not part of the far-left fringe. Let’s work with them, rather than continue to fuel the fire. One point of agreement between the center-left and center-right is that the far left has embraced ideologies that are too extreme. But fueling political violence is certainly not the solution. Regardless of which side you're on, we are all on the American side. We need to change the narrative to reflect our core values of freedom and respect for each other. Debating ideas with freedom of speech and the right to do so in a public forum is one of the bedrocks of American democracy. Yes, we must protect it, but we must do so the right way—the American way.

We must all admit that both "sides" have been victims and promoters of political violence. There is no single event, nor one political party, that has led us to this point. It is a culmination of many incidents on both sides that has brought us to this fork in the road.

Minnesota	Charlie Kirk
Shapiro	Trump
Pelosi	Kavanaugh
CDC	GOP Baseball
Whitmer	Pro-Life
Jan. 6	Minnesota

The question is, where do we go next?

Moving Beyond Left vs. Right

The left-right narrative does more harm than good. We must reframe our approach and view issues as challenges that affect all Americans. When we frame problems as “American issues,” we can unify our efforts and work toward a common national goal. As the saying goes, "The day we understand that the right wing and the left wing are part of the same bird, only then can the eagle fly and America be great."

Defeating the Social Media "Information" Feed

To bridge the political divide, Americans can ask themselves key questions about the information they consume:

• Does this make sense?

• Is it based on facts?

• How can I form an educated opinion?

By honing critical thinking skills, we can reduce the intensity of political polarization and foster productive conversations. This commitment should extend not only to elected officials but to every American.

The majority of Americans do, in fact, get along and respect each other’s opinions—even when they disagree. A clear sign of this is the growing number of independent and unaffiliated voters. Despite the current political environment, and with recent events, most Americans find themselves somewhere in the middle. Together, we can gradually weed out the extremes, just as we’ve done throughout our history.

We have faced political turmoil before...

Abraham Lincoln - 1865 (assassinated while sitting President)

James Garfield - 1881 (assassinated while sitting President)

William Mckinley - 1901 (assassinated while sitting President)

Theodore Roosevelt - 1912 (assassination attempt while campaigning)

John F. Kennedy - 1963 (assassinated while sitting President)

Ronald Reagan - 1981 (assassination attempt while sitting president)

Donald Trump - 2024 (assassination attempt while campaigning)

Yet, we’ve always made it to the other side. We must keep pushing forward, rooted in the core American values that have brought us this far and will continue to lead us into the future.

"Let's focus on the 99% we agree on, rather than fixating on the 1% that we don't."

Tick - Tock

Can the youth of America read a clock that is not a digital one on their i-Phone? I honestly am not sure of the answer to this question. However, I certainly have an opinion.

I understand and can grasp that the world is constantly evolving every day. Humanity itself has rapidly progressed over recent centuries, which to all of our benefits, has resulted in the highest standard of living and quality of life ever experienced.

There are many benefits to this progression but let's break down where this has led us in simple terms. Many of you reading this blog can remember when you were growing up as a child, you were constantly outdoors, exploring, being creative, getting dirty, and engaging in any type of activity you could think of with the all the other kids on the block. You would always make sure to work your way home towards sunset so you could hear the whistle to get inside for the night. Today, social media and electronic devices consume the youth of America.

The Boy Scouts of America recently re-branded to Scouting America. There are many angles to take from this one, please have at it, but the one specific to this, is that the number of enrollments continue to decline year over year. Their thought: let's promote to a broader audience to increase enrollment and engagement in our programs. Programs that are mainly outdoor, interactive group settings. Additionally, sporting enrollments in our nation have decreased in recent years at all age levels. To pile on, I recently read a survey that 72% of Americans, between the ages of 21 and 30, stated TikTok was their primary news source. Really? Is the decline of these mainstream American outdoor interactive activities a direct correlation of the youth of America being stuck inside behind a screen on social media?

There are even articles being written that show porn users have increased in recent years, and the mainstream population is having less sex, due to less personal social interactions, because they are constantly stuck behind the screen, which is resulting in increased numbers of depression in society. Listen, I am well aware that you can't believe all the stats you read, but they certainly make you think. Generations from now does this lead to a declining population, and a shrinking economy? An issue we are already facing with a shift in the baby boomer generation's life cycle. And on go the dominos...

I have a few thoughts I will leave you with. Where is the biggest opportunity to attack and look for practical solutions to the societal issues we are facing above? Is it in the education system? How can we do better educating our youth? What is wrong with the system?

Let's throw this out there. Is there an age limit that needs to be set for social media accounts? A driver's license scan to verify age? This is certainly possible with today's technology. This might create an equal playing field. Rather than certain children getting more flexibility to be on social media than others due to their parents making different rules; it can be that no child is singled out, and they all get the privilege of being on social media at a certain age, forcing their hand to interact with fellow children in settings other than behind a screen. This might be an outlandish thought, but it is a thought. It would be great to hear more of them. This is a problem we are all facing. We need solutions-based dialogue to bring ideas to the table. We have to start somewhere. The children are "our" future.

It is only a matter of time.

-VC