April 1-4, 2018
Apr 01 07:46 The Garden Tomb is empty Apr 01 14:52 The DFL's condescension Apr 02 02:14 Jacobs' bias is showing Apr 02 15:56 Listening to uninformed juveniles Apr 03 00:41 Applying David Hogg's principles Apr 03 02:51 Introducing Mary Ann Mendoza Apr 03 11:19 Building President Trump's Wall Apr 04 00:57 Introducing Angel Mom Agnes Gibboney
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
The Garden Tomb is empty
Happy Easter. The tomb where Christ was buried couldn't contain Him. The Almighty, who created Heaven and Earth, sent His Son to redeem us. Jesus is the perfect sacrifice, the only person who never sinned. When He rose from the dead, he appeared to His followers :
22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;
23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, Luke 24:22-33
The Scriptures say that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." If you haven't asked God for His forgiveness, there's no better time than right now to choose forgiveness and eternal life.
Christ's followers admitted to each other that their hearts burned with excitement when Christ opened up the Scriptures to them. If you want that joy and peace, now is the time to ask God for forgiveness. Isn't this morning the perfect time for your Emmaus experience?
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Posted Sunday, April 1, 2018 7:46 AM
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The DFL's condescension
The DFL's condescension for people came gushing through this week thanks to Vice President Pence's visit to Minnesota. In advance of Vice President Pence's visit, DFL State Party Chair Ken Martin issue this statement . In part, it said "While corporations will see their taxes cut by 40 percent, the plan increases taxes on hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans. And thanks to the bill, more than 700,000 Minnesotans are now limited in their ability to use the state and local tax deductions. Minnesotans know a scam when they see one, and the Republican tax bill is a bad deal for our state."
First, saying that the Trump/GOP tax cuts raises taxes "on hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans" is an extreme exaggeration. Everyone's marginal tax rates dropped. The standard deduction increased dramatically. The per-child tax credit increased significantly.
It's impossible for those things to be verifiably true at the same time Chairman Martin's statement is true. Martin isn't the only 'extreme exaggerator' in the DFL. This morning, Ember Reichgott-Junge said that Republicans were caught flat=footed with their messaging and that they're now playing catch-up. Reichgott-Junge then said that all the chaos in the administration is getting in the way of people knowing that they got a tax cut.
This is typical DFL thinking. The DFL insists that people can't recognize their bigger paychecks if the government doesn't tell them that their checks are bigger. This is typical DFL condescension. What's also typical of the DFL is voting against middle class tax cuts. DFL state legislators voted against state tax cuts before Tim Walz, Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison, Collin Peterson, Rick Nolan, Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken voted against the Trump/GOP tax cuts.
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Chairman Martin said that "Mike Pence should return to Washington and join Democrats in fighting for a tax plan that puts everyday families first." I've got a better idea. Chairman Martin should tell DFL legislators in DC and St. Paul to start voting for tax cuts rather than hoarding it for questionable DFL spending priorities and a multi-billion dollar rainy day fund. Chairman Martin should be honest for once and admit that the Trump/GOP tax cuts have triggered billions of dollars in bonuses, higher wages and better benefits for literally millions of people across the nation.
In this post , I asked this question:
How long will this list get?
Since I asked that question, the list has gotten significantly longer.
While DFL activists think they've got the upper hand in the tax fight, the truth is that they're playing catch-up and don't know it. That's because they're willing to believe their press clippings.
Posted Sunday, April 1, 2018 2:52 PM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 01-Apr-18 06:57 PM
Maybe I don't pay attention but when was the last time the DFL passed a tax cut for anyone let alone "working families"? Why should the feds be paying for liberal tax and spend states like MN, NY, CA, etc. by allowing huge deductions for state and local taxes? The states should be embarrassed they tax the crap out of people and start figuring out ways to lower the state and lower taxes instead of bitching about the feds.
Comment 2 by Rex Newman at 01-Apr-18 07:58 PM
I honestly cannot remember the last time the DFL proposed a tax cut on their own. Even when they acquiesce to a modest cut or refund demanded by a Gov. Ventura or the MnGOP, it's always a street fight, and always with the attendant lying.
Jacobs' bias is showing
After watching the interview (see video below) and reading this article , it's obvious that Prof. Larry Jacobs isn't an objective observer in the Minnesota governor's race in 2018.
Speaking about the GOP race, Jacobs said "It's quite possible that Jeff Johnson, who has been in the race and winning a lot of these delegates, could win that endorsement headed into the primary as the party's endorsed candidate against Tim Pawlenty. Everything is up in the air."
First, I don't have a dog in this fight beyond wanting the strongest candidate possible. I'm tired of candidates that can't raise money and don't excite the base. At this point, I'll support the strongest candidate but only if they can raise money and get elected. Right now, I don't see Jeff Johnson being able to raise the money it'll take to be competitive. We've seen this episode before. (See 2014 vs. Gov. Dayton.)
Let's admit something else right now. Both candidates are establishment candidates. They aren't Trumpists, which is fine. They're both excellent on policy. They've both proven that they aren't inept like Gov. Dayton. When it comes to major projects like MNLARS, MNsure and the elder care crisis, Gov. Dayton has been terrible.
What's telling from Prof. Jacobs' interview with WCCO's Esme Murphy is that Prof. Jacobs' statement that "Tim Pawlenty has got all sorts of great things going for him -- name recognition and a gold-plated Rolodex to raise money from and he's a fabulous communicator to the point that both Republican and DFL leaders say that he's probably the best candidate but he's also the guy that came out against Donald Trump."
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Let's be clear about this. When your potential opponents from across the aisle say that you're likely the best candidate, that's going to open fundraising doors, both in Minnesota and with the RGA. If Pawlenty's the GOP candidate, the RGA will dump lots of money into the race. If Jeff Johnson is the GOP candidate, that isn't likely.
Those are definite starting structural advantages in Gov. Pawlenty's favor. They aren't impossible to overcome but it's daunting nonetheless. Things might be "up in the air" but I'd rather start in Pawlenty's position.
Posted Monday, April 2, 2018 2:14 AM
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Listening to uninformed juveniles
For the past 6 weeks, I've been inundated with moral-sounding drivel from high school students. While the left-leaning media swooned over these ill-informed activists' activism, I kept wondering when a true journalist would ask them pertinent questions. After awhile, I stopped expecting the MSM to do something they clearly didn't want to do. After awhile, I stopped expecting these children to stop acting like ill-informed spoiled brats.
While the MSM praises their activism, people in America's heartland have moved on. Voters in America's heartland have tuned these children out, knowing that they're mostly a creation of the MSM and that the emotions are real. If the MSM won't ask these children some tough questions, I will.
- Are you committed to making schools safer? If you are, why are you pushing the thing that doesn't work?
- Why is your focus solely on the NRA? Sheriff Israel, Deputy Peterson, the Broward Cowards and the FBI were more to blame than the NRA.
- To David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez: did you know that an 'assault weapon' (as you define it) is nothing more than a scary-looking semi-automatic rifle?
- Why haven't you advocated for banning handguns? They kill far more people than so-called assault weapons?
- Why haven't you advocated for banning all semi-automatic rifles? They're just as lethal as assault weapons as defined by you.
- Isn't it time for you to admit that you're just tools of the gun control lobby?
- Isn't it time to admit that your 'solutions' haven't worked and can't work?
- Finally, isn't it time you apologized for your ill-informed activism? Yes, you have the right to protest. It's just that you'd have a better chance of being effective if you knew what you were talking about, which you clearly don't, and if you were truly interested in solving problems rather than just checking another item off the gun grabbers' ideological checklist?
Let's see if anyone responds before the next march :
Student leaders who have organized, marched and pressed for government action to halt gun violence sound as if they're just getting warmed up. Plans are taking shape for April 20 school walkouts tied to the anniversary of the Columbine High shootings, along with a rally that afternoon at the State Capitol. Next weekend, students in the south metro have called for a town hall meeting, with invites sent to elected officials, hitting again on themes that propelled them to rally and protest: the senselessness of gun violence and the hesitance of some lawmakers to take corrective action. "I think legislators who do nothing on this subject do so at their own peril," said Joe Campbell, a communications consultant whose GoFundMe campaign sent dozens of Henry Sibley High School students to Washington, D.C., for last weekend's March for Our Lives. He attended the event, too, and came away thinking, "If I were a politician, and I saw this, I'd be shaking in my boots."
First, if I was the media director for gun rights advocates, I'd talk about how government failed to protect those students and teachers. I'd highlight that this wasn't the first time that government failed in protecting its citizens. This article would be highlighted:
A federal database with the names of mentally ill people barred from buying guns still lacks millions of records it needs to be effective. A new report from Mayors Against Illegal Guns points to gaps in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The problem is that 14 years after NICS was put in place, states still aren't submitting all the required mental health records .
"I think that those states are doing a disservice to their citizens," says Lori Haas, whose daughter Emily was injured in the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting. "They're not doing what they can to protect public safety and to keep firearms out of the hands of potentially dangerous people."
That article was published in August, 2012 . Democrats had a significant majority in the Senate and a Democrat was president. Shouldn't Democrats take the blame for not fixing NICS?
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Since the shooting, Virginia has become a model, submitting more than 170,000 records of people with mental illnesses. But the Mayors Against Illegal Guns report shows 21 other states have reported fewer than 100 records. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined why states aren't submitting records in a July report. Some cited bureaucratic barriers, others technical ones, like switching from paper-based to computer systems. And some states contend it violates their laws to forward mental health records to the federal database. A few states are changing their laws.
"Texas enacted a law in 2009 and was then able to increase the number of records by about 190,000," says Carol R. Cha, acting director in GAO's Homeland Security and Justice division. But recent shootings, like the ones in Colorado and Texas, demonstrate that people with mental illnesses are still able to buy guns.
The last I checked, the NRA wasn't responsible for submitting those records. Government was. Government failed to protect people.
Thank God for people like Ben Shapiro. In this video, Shapiro levels a devastating critique of David Hogg:
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To David Hogg, Emma Gonzalez and Cameron Kasky: if you're truly interested in protecting people from gun violence, which I question at this point, it's time to get government to do its job. That includes insisting that deputies actually run towards danger instead of hiding behind their vehicles. That includes requiring states to update the NICS system in a timely fashion. That includes pointing the finger of blame at the people who are actually at fault.
Right now, that isn't happening.
Posted Monday, April 2, 2018 3:56 PM
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Applying David Hogg's principles
In the gospel according to David Hogg, politicians who accept money from 'special interests' (like the NRA) have "blood on their hands when an innocent dies. If that's the battlefield that Mr. Hogg wants to fight and die on, let's have at it. Hogg insists repeatedly daily that politicians (like Marco Rubio) have blood on their hands if they've accepted campaign contributions from the NRA.
Let's apply those principles to illegal immigration. Instead of the NRA, let's plug in La Raza and Eric Holder or Luis Gutierrez. Let's swap out the NRA and Marco Rubio. Mary Ann Mendoza lost her son in May, 2014 when her son "was killed in a head-on collision with a wrong-way driver ." The driver, Raul Silva-Corona, wasn't "deported two decades ago after he was convicted for crimes in Colorado."
In July, 2014, Ms. Mendoza wrote to then-President Obama, saying "The prosecutors were 'lenient' on him and several charges were dismissed. When he was convicted of these crimes (in) 1994 and the government knew he was in the country illegally, why wasn't he deported? Why are any of these illegal criminals in this country? I am furious that the Federal Government allowed this criminal to stay in this country and KILL my son!" Tonight, Ms. Mendoza was interviewed by Martha McCallum. Here's that interview:
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Democrats insist that people who accept campaign contributions from the NRA have "blood on their hands." By their definition, politicians who accept campaign contributions from La Raza or other open borders organizations have blood on their hands. By Hogg's definition, politicians like President Obama, Eric Holder, Jerry Brown and Xavier Becerra have blood on their hands because they've let criminal aliens out of jail, only to see them be commit more crimes, including murder, rape and other violent crimes.
BTW, yes, that means that liberals like Jeff Flake, Lindsey Graham and John McCain have blood on their hands, too. But I digress.
Let's get serious about this. Democrats won't vote for funding the border wall. Ever. They'll play gimmicks and say that they'll vote for funding the wall but they won't actually vote for funding Trump's wall. It's a simple matter of admitting that Democrats are beholden to their open borders special interest allies.
Building the wall is imperative. If you think that walls don't work, ask Prime Minister Netanyahu and the IDF if they work. Finally, here's Ms. Mendoza's letter to President Obama in 2014:
It's 4 years later and Democrats still haven't built the wall or secured the border. It's time we stopped believing that Democrats give a damn about protecting US citizens. The facade is crumbling. It's a myth to think that they give a damn about anything other than acquiring, then maintaining political power.
Posted Tuesday, April 3, 2018 11:33 PM
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Introducing Mary Ann Mendoza
I just finished writing this post , which I titled Applying David Hogg's principles. (I'm pinning that post to the top of the page for the rest of today.) It's a fair title because I'm using Hogg's principles and definitions against him. However, it didn't do the hero of the story, Mary Ann Mendoza, justice. With that, I'd like to tell LFR readers about Mary Ann Mendoza and her painful ordeal.
Brandon, Ms. Mendoza's son, tragically was killed by a drunk driver whose blood-alcohol content was .24% . That's tragic enough but it gets worse. The drunk driver was identified as Raul Silva-Corona, an illegal alien who was a "42-year-old Mexican native" who "remained in the U.S. despite being charged with burglary, assault and leaving the scene of an accident in 1994. He remained here still after pleading guilty to a charge of criminal conspiracy in 2002."
Naturally, the articles didn't mention that he was an illegal alien or that he'd been convicted of the crimes listed above. BTW, if letting criminals stay in St. Cloud makes it a welcoming city, then I'd rather be a hostile city. I'm not interested in being a welcoming city if we have to treat illegal aliens kindly. But I digress.
People would've understood if Mary Ann Mendoza had passed on the opportunity to become an advocate against lawlessness. Fortunately for us, she didn't choose that path:
The pointlessness of it all made Mendoza's path clear. She says she must fight against what she sees as an epidemic that's largely ignored by the mainstream media, many politicians and most of the American public. "I never got one call, ever, from any politician in Arizona. My son was a police officer. Not one of them gave a crap about it," she says.
Instead of feeling sorry for herself, she opted to become an advocate fighting career politicians who haven't lifted a finger to fix the problem. They aren't trustworthy. Meanwhile, Mary Ann Mendoza is tireless in her pursuit of justice:
To be sure, Mendoza is ideally engineered to be a mouthpiece for the pro-enforcement cause: a grieving, articulate mother whose police officer son was half-Hispanic, in a state on the front lines of the immigration war. She's aware of the optics, but rejects the notion that she's being used as a pawn. Mendoza says she's learned to leverage her story to achieve results she sees as positive, such as creating a new advocacy group for people affected by illegal crime. "There are people who say I've politicized my son's death. I haven't," she says. "I've aligned myself in a situation where I want to see certain things done so another American family isn't affected like I was."
This video tells quite the story:
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If politicians (overwhelmingly Democrats) don't give a damn about protecting us, then it's time to fire them this November. This is a case of if-you-aren't-part-of-the-solution-you're-part-of-the-problem. As Rep. McSally noted in the video, this isn't just about booting criminals out of the U.S. Border security means much more than that. It's about stopping human trafficking, preventing MS-13 from setting up shop and interdicting drug shipments from international cartels.
Any Democrat that won't commit to building the wall immediately should be defeated this November. If they aren't up for re-election this November, then these Democrats must be defeated the next time they're up for re-election. This must happen because these Democrats aren't serious about protecting citizens. They aren't serious about public safety. This is the litmus test of this election.
Posted Tuesday, April 3, 2018 2:51 AM
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Building President Trump's Wall
Eugene Robinson's latest column is titled "Trump Hopes You're Too Stupid to Notice There's No Wall." It starts by saying "You can tell what President Trump is afraid of by what he chooses to lie about. That means he must be petrified of losing support over his failure to build a single mile of the "big, beautiful" border wall he promised. Trump is scared of a lot of things -- Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, honest reporting by the news media, adult-film actress Stormy Daniels and, reportedly, sharks. But nothing seems to make him quake and tremble more than the fear that his core base will realize all his tough-guy huffing and puffing about Latino immigration was a bunch of hot air."
Keep in mind that it's likely that Robinson hasn't met President Trump or any of his supporters. That means his article is mostly speculation and projection. First, let's stipulate that conservatives aren't happy that the Wall hasn't gotten built. Next, let's further stipulate that conservatives are perpetually upset with Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham about capitulating to the Democrats on the Wall. Finally, let's stipulate that conservatives are most upset with obstructionist Democrats who'd rather let criminal aliens run free than build an inch of the Wall.
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The only way to get the wall built is for Republicans to build a bigger majority in the Senate and to maintain their majority in the House. This is definitely possible, especially considering the fact that Republicans will likely gain 4-6 Senate seats. Further, maintaining the Republicans' House majority is totally possible if they run lots of ads highlighting the deaths of people like Officer Brandon Mendoza and Kate Steinle. Finish those ads by saying Democrats have established sanctuary cities and states that protect criminal aliens but that don't protect U.S. citizens and legal immigrants.
Did I mention that immigration will be a huge issue this election? If I haven't, I should have because people will blame Democrats for not working with Republicans in getting the Wall built. It isn't surprising that Democrats won't work with Republicans on the Wall. Democrats are a fully-owned subsidiary of La Raza.
Further, it'll be a big issue because, while a handful of Republicans (Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, Jeff Flake) voted against fully funding the Wall, every Democrat, even the so-called moderates, voted against building the Wall. While people are upset with Sens. Collins, Flake and Graham, people are pi$$ed as he!! with Democrats. Good luck to those Democrats who have to defend their votes against building the Wall in battleground districts.
Instead of those Democrats buying ads, I'd recommend that they buy flack jackets first. They'll need them.
Posted Tuesday, April 3, 2018 11:19 AM
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Introducing Angel Mom Agnes Gibboney
This afternoon, I had the good fortune of meeting a woman named Agnes Gibboney. According to her Twitter profile, she's an "Angel Mom standing up for Americans and the USA." Agnes is a legal immigrant who was born in Budapest, Hungary and who lived in South America with her parents waiting to become American citizens. How ironic (and painful) that her son was killed by a stray bullet fired by an illegal alien, who immediately fled to Mexico.
The semi-good news is that the illegal alien that killed Agnes' son returned to the United States. He's currently serving a 20 year sentence. This article from Sept. 2016 explains part of what she's gone through. Be sure to keep the tissues handy when reading it.
The article starts by saying "Agnes Gibboney knows Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is the only one who is going to help secure the border. It's an issue that is very personal for the Rancho Cucamonga resident whose son, Ronald da Silva, was killed 2007 in El Monte by a gang member who was in the United States without legal permission , and had been previously deported."
Unfortunately, this isn't an isolated incident. While Democrats try painting the picture that DACA recipients are either valedictorians or military heroes or aspiring entrepreneurs, that isn't the truth for the majority of them. Too often, DACA recipients are criminals who've gotten their charges reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor so they can stay in the US.
When I wrote this post with the intent of introducing Mary Ann Mendoza to LFR readers, I noted that her son Brandon was killed by an illegal alien drunk driver whose blood-alcohol content at the time of the fatal accident was .24%.
While the MSM won't cover the backstories of the victims whose lives are forever changed, LFR will. America needs to know that illegal immigration isn't just about migrant workers who come to the US for a better life. Far too often, they're criminals who are part of a drug cartel or into human trafficking or a member of MS-13.
Agnes "is known as one of the 'Angel Moms,' 'a term used by the Texas-based nonprofit organization The Remembrance Project , which supports families of victims of crimes committed by people in the United States illegally. On Wednesday, she was in Phoenix standing behind Trump as he delivered a speech on immigration policy. At one point during his speech, Trump asked Gibboney to step up to microphone and share her story. Afterward, he put his arms around her and kissed her on the forehead. 'I live every day with the fear that another one of my children is going to get killed,' recounted Gibboney."
The next time that Democrats refuse to build the wall, Republicans should criticize them and highlight the public safety hazards that illegal aliens present. The left is playing hardball with immigration. The next time a Democrat incumbent tries painting illegal aliens as valedictorians or military heroes or future entrepreneurs, the Republican candidate should have a set of pictures of families who've lost loved ones to illegal aliens. At the right time during the debate, I'd coach them to show the pictures while challenging the Democrat to explain why Democrats rationalize these deaths but raise holy hell when a loved one is killed with a firearm.
Here's the video of Agnes testifying to the House Subcommittee on National Security:
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Moms like Agnes Gibboney and Mary Ann Mendoza deserve answers, too. Dads like Jim Steinle and Steve Ronnebeck and uncles like Mike Ronnebeck deserve answers, too. Check out Al Franken's facial expression while Jim Steinle testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee:
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It's pretty disgusting. Then again, the Democrats' indifference to people suffering at the hands of illegal alien felons is disgusting, too.
Posted Wednesday, April 4, 2018 12:57 AM
Comment 1 by Dan Summers at 22-Oct-18 06:32 PM
Hi Agnes, I am the Chairman of the American Liberty Forum of Ramona. We have monthly town hall meetings and invite speakers on many topics. We are booked through February of next year, but would love to have you as our guest speaker some time after February. You can reach me at my email address or my phone at 858-735-9670. Thank you for your consideration, Dan
Comment 2 by Hal Thurow at 24-Feb-20 11:22 AM
Push for the prosecution of the elected officials who made sanctuary for illegals. They are accomplices in all their crimes.
