A "Common" Disgrace; Newt? No!; National Police Week; Obama Not Convincing Latinos; Over 1000 Raped A Day; Arab Spring? Oh, Really?

In Detroit, a plane had to be diverted due to a threatening note. The note said, "Welcome to Detroit." {Conan}

• With regard to this disgrace of  "rapper/poet," Common, he's entitled to write and sing any kind of lyrics he chooses, but not in The White House. There is absolutely no excuse for inviting a thug who idolizes cop killers anywhere near The White House, not even near the toilets. I ask this question: What would have happened if Bush or Reagan invited a singer or poet into The White House who sang praises of the Ku Klux Klan? The media would be having a field day with that story for weeks and righly so. It would be the main course on MSNBC.
• To add insult to injury, this week is "National Police Week." Tomorrow will be the 23 Annual Candlelight Vigil at the Law Enforcement Memorial. Nice timing Pres. Obama.
• There is no doubt Newt Gingrich is a smart guy. But his entering the race reminds me of that over-the-hill athlete who wants to come back into the game after being retired for 5 years. It usually ends in failure. John Podhoretz, I believe, said it best, "...what he does not understand is how he, Newt Gingrich, comes across to people. The answer: not well." He added later in is column, "The only positive way to frame his foolish bid is to quote the rueful lyric from 'Thanks for the Memories,' Bob Hope's signature song.
• It appears the president's pandering to Latinos is not working too well.  According to ImpreMedia and Latino Decisions, the president's approval rating among Latinos is 70%, but only 43% of those voters say they will vote for him next year.
• In the "If I didn't see it; I would never believe it file," Ruben Navarrette of the Washington Post and a CNN contributor wrote a piece in USA Today {he's the one who wrote about this Latino problem the president has}. He wrote, "Bush deserves a lot of credit for pushing for a smarter and more human system {referring to immigration} and not just settling for increased enforcement." Navarrette added, "The GOP antagonizes us, while the Democrats make and break promises to this critical voting bloc. It's time for a wake-up call."
• Have you noticed the media is no longer covering Trump?
• According to Gallup, although the president got a nice bounce in their poll, they also pointed out that against an "unnamed" Republican candidate, the president only leads by 3 percentage points or within the margin of error (43% to 40%). This remained unchanged from April 22.
• Another humanitarian tragedy is taking place in the Congo. It's bad enough that over 6 million have died in Congo's war since 2000. The Boston Globe reported over 1000 women in the Congo are raped every day.
• CNN keeps reporting on this great alleged "Arab Spring" taking place. Interesting considering Christians in Egypt are being murdered every day. Syrians loyal to the Assad keep murdering protesters. Ditto in Libya. If that's what Spring is like, I wonder what Summer will be like.
• Home prices have fallen 57 straight months now {Zillow, real estate research firm}.
• Why are small businesses still hurting? One of the reasons is that banks are making billions due to near zero-percent interest rates by trading in bonds instead of making loans to small businesses.
• Census Trivia: I was wondering why I've seen so many Indians in N.J. Asians (Indians are a sub-group according to the Census Bureau) grewsby 43% from 2000. In this area, the cable company offers over 15 Indian channels. It's huge local population.
• In The Onion, a woman was asked about Newt running for president: "Oh, that probably means he's in the market for a new wife. It'd be great if you could put in a good word for me. I'm disease free."--Lacy Hicks, Bell Captain.