April 27-30, 2014
Apr 27 02:59 The DFL's history of pedophilia Apr 28 00:54 Fisking the SC Times 'news article' Apr 30 03:55 Sivarajah, Krinkie, the sore loser edition
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
The DFL's history of pedophilia
This morning, I wrote this article about Rep. Rick Nolan's cancelled fundraiser with convicted pedophile Peter Yarrow. Yarrow was convicted in 1970 of "making 'immoral and improper' actions with an underage girl."
That's a little too politically correct for me. The unabridged, politically incorrect version of the story is that Yarrow is a convicted pedophile who did unspeakable things to a 14-year-old girl and her 17-year-old sister. While Nolan insists that Yarrow has "done a lot of good for a lot of people," the truth is that those children are scarred for life. They'll never be whole again.
Unfortunately, this is just the most recent incident involving the DFL and a pedophile. In 2012, State Rep. Kelly Gauthier was caught in an almost equally disgusting act of pedophilia :
State Patrol will confirm that one witness approached a trooper around 11 at night on July 22nd to report an incident.
The State Patrol turned the investigation over to the Duluth Police Department. Well placed sources today told the Northland's NewsCenter, the incident involved a 17 year old boy with whom Gauthier was reportedly engaged in a sexual act.
Because the age of consent in Minnesota is 16, it is not illegal to have sex with someone who is 17. However it can be a misdemeanor to engage in sex acts in a public place.
Our sources say Representative Gauthier met the young man on Craig's List and that police are investigating the potential that money changed hands which could make it a criminal matter.
I suspect that most Minnesotans wouldn't be satisfied with 16 being able to consent. I suspect that most Minnesotans would be disgusted with a forty-something-year-old having sex with a 17-year-old. I'm betting most Minnesotans would define that as pedophilia even if the courts wouldn't.
What's worse is that DFL Chairman Ken Martin and DFL House Speaker Paul Thissen knew about Rep. Gauthier's actions in July, 2012, which is more than a month before this news broke. Martin and Thissen protected that disgusting person for more than a month before word got out.
The sad truth is that, whether we're talking about Peter Yarrow hosting a fundraiser for Rick Nolan or Paul Thissen hiding Rep. Gauthier's public sexual conduct with a 17-year-old, the DFL isn't outraged by the actions of creeps like Peter Yarrow and Kelly Gauthier.
That's a history I'd want suppressed if I were a Democrat. That's a history I'd be disgusted with if I was just an average citizen.
It's time that the DFL stopped making excuses for disgusting excuses of a human being. It's time they actually stood against pedophiles.
Posted Sunday, April 27, 2014 2:59 AM
Comment 1 by Gretchen Leisen at 28-Apr-14 02:58 PM
Your concept that the Democrat party is an "immoral party" is actually backed up by facts. The liberalism/leftism that has taken over total control of the Democrat Party allows for rapid changes in long-held values which have built up the western world and the USA in particular.
So, we have seen the shift in values of the Democrats from pro-life to anti-life [pro-abortion}; from traditional marriage to same sex marriage to whatever is the next fad in 'marriage definition' according to leftists; from having a balance budget to totally ignoring a need for any budget process at all [witness Harry Reid's US Senate]; to embracing every anti-God, anti-Christian notion that raises it's head - trying to take 'under God out of the Pledge of Allegiance; Trying to eliminate "in God We Trust" from US coins; Eliminating the word "God" from the 2012 Nat'l Democrat platform-and when the party leaders recognized this as a dangerous political move, they tried to add back "under God" to the platform through a voice vote. It took three tries to decipher which group yelled "Aye" the loudest - the pro-God vs the anti-God group. Finally, the "chair of the convention" ruled that the aye forces had prevailed whereupon the anti-God voices emitted an unusually loud voice of disapproval.
The national Democrats have forced all "blue-dog" Democrats out of the party leaderships in DC; they have consistently voted against national defense; they challenge the constitution and the Bill of Right all the time, railing against freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom the bear arms. They use speech police to shut up political foes; they disregard federal laws on fund-raising; they use every trick to shut down private enterprises; they have defined racism as a sin that only whites are guilty of; they have failed to give equal protection under the law to all citizens regardless of race, creed, or political inclination; they have insisted that religious institutions engaged in charity work, be forced to pay taxes for purposes that the said religious groups oppose on moral grounds; likewise private citizens whose consciences are assaulted by such demands of the government.
I could go on and on. I rest my case.
Fisking the SC Times 'news article'
First, I'll stipulate that the St. Cloud Times is improving their reporting. Before anyone gets worried that I'm going soft on them, I'll stipulate that the Times' reporting couldn't get lower than before because their reporting on St. Cloud issues didn't exist.
Dave Unze's article contains some legitimate facts. Unfortunately, it contains lots of old-fashioned BS, too:
The leadership at St. Cloud State has cited, among other things, challenging economic times, fewer Minnesota high school graduates and competition from North Dakota and Minnesota State University, Mankato as some of the reasons for the enrollment declines.
For the most part, these excuses aren't legitimate. The only thing that's true is that there are "fewer Minnesota high school graduates." It's true that SCSU is losing its competition with Mankato and North Dakota universities. That's because students are rejecting SCSU. There was a time when central Minnesota principles had a positive opinion of SCSU. That helped direct lots of students to SCSU. An 'enrollment pipeline' developed as a result of that relationship.
That relationship has deteriorated under President Potter's failed leadership. President Potter has spent tons of time travelling the world to get students to come to SCSU. Unfortunately, he hasn't paid attention to exotic places like Annandale, Alexandria and Brainerd.
This information is BS, too:
The university runs forecasting models to predict the number of new entering first-year students based on a number of factors, including high school class rankings of applicants, the distance from St. Cloud State that those applicants live, the time of year they apply and whether they attend student advising days, among other things.
Students are assigned an enrollment probability number that is influenced by factors such as when they applied, whether they were admitted to the ACE program, whether they filled out a housing application, whether they attended a student advising session and whether they listed St. Cloud State first as their preferred school on any financial aid forms they fill out.
That information is matched with probability tables and the university gets a weekly prediction of what the size of the incoming class will be.
Potter said that the modeling can predict an incoming class to within a few dozen students.
First, it's true that SCSU uses data analytics. What isn't true is that they've predicted incoming classes "within a few dozen students." The first enrollment projection for FY2014 forecast a drop of 2.4%. The next forecast projected a drop of 2.8%-3.2%.
Let's stop and examine that for a moment before moving on. President Potter or one of his spinmeisters might tell us that that's less than a 1% difference. They'd be right technically but they'd be exceptionally misleading. It's exceptionally misleading from the standpoint of actual math. A jump from 2.4% to 3.2% is actually a 33.3% jump. (3.2%- 2.4% = .8; .8 divided by 2.4 = 33.3%)
Unfortunately for President Potter's supposedly super-accurate forecasting system, enrollment is down almost 5% this FY. That means their initial forecast was off by over 100%. President Potter's forecast wasn't even in the park. That's true even if that park was Yellowstone.
To summarize, this is what happens when the 'reporter' doesn't ask tough questions. It's what happens when the 'reporter' is more interested in gathering information than he's interested in getting the whole truth. At the start of the new year, John Bodette promised more investigative reporting. We're still waiting for that first investigative report.
Posted Monday, April 28, 2014 12:54 AM
No comments.
Sivarajah, Krinkie, the sore loser edition
Based on Mark Sommerhauser's article, it sounds like Rhonda Sivarajah and Phil Krinkie are moving into the 'sore loser' category, with Sivarajah sounding particularly bitter:
And Sivarajah didn't pull punches last week in her campaign's response to the Emmer poll.Talk about a sore loser. Wow. First, the Sixth District loved Tom Emmer for governor. Second, the "GOP party faithful" picked Jeff Johnson over Tom Emmer. That's hardly a stinging rejection. Third, saying that voters will reject him as they get to know him more is purely projection. Actually, I think it's more wishful thinking than anything.
"The state of Minnesota did not want Tom Emmer as their Governor, the GOP party faithful did not want Tom Emmer to represent them at the Republican National Committee, and as voters in the 6th District become more intimate with Emmer's extremely questionable positions on important issues they will not want him as their congressman either," the Sivarajah campaign said.
I've met Ms. Sivarajah several times. She comes across as a bitter person. Perhaps that's why contributors haven't contributed to her campaign. Perhaps they haven't contributed to her because they've picked Tom Emmer over her. If Sivarajah continues this type of bitter campaigning, she'll burn her bridges for a future run in the Sixth.
Phil Krinkie, meanwhile, sounds delusional and ill-informed:
Krinkie said this week he likely won't decide what route to take until after the Republican state convention on May 29-31. At that point, he said it will be clearer which Republican statewide candidates will take their campaigns to a primary - which could influence how many GOP voters show up for an August primary.First, Krinkie is grasping at straws when he says there might be a general election backlash against Emmer because Michele Bachmann endorsed him at the CD-6 convention. I don't think even Phil thinks that. Apparently, Phil hasn't figured it out that the turnout model in 2014 will be dramatically different than the one in 2012.
Krinkie suggested Bachmann's endorsement of Emmer could carry a backlash in a 6th District general election. Bachmann barely won re-election in the 6th District in 2012.
"If you ran a campaign as a third-party candidate connecting Mr. Emmer to the incumbent congresswoman," Krinkie said, "that might have a very interesting outcome."
Second, Krinkie hasn't figured it out that he's yesterday's news. Last week, he was dropped from the Taxpayers League Board of Directors.
It isn't like Sivarajah and Krinkie had lots of support at the precinct caucus Straw Poll:
6th District Congress (97% Reporting):Amazingly, that was the high point of their support in the Sixth District:
Tom Emmer with 67.7%, Rhonda Sivarajah with 17.7%, Phil Krinkie with 10.1%
The poll of 300 likely Republican primary voters shows Emmer getting 73 percent of the vote in a primary, with Sivarajah getting 5 percent and Krinkie getting 4 percent.Sivarajah and Krinkie have questioned the poll's validity. That's their right but it's foolish. As I showed before, they started off poorly. Then they didn't catch fire. That's before talking about Sivarajah's fundraising:
Yet after raising a mere $4,266.77 from donors in the first three months of 2014, Sivarajah's candidacy has its own liabilities, including the question of whether she'll have the resources to get her message out.What's interesting is that Sivarajah raised less than $20,000 in Q4, 2013. A congressional candidate that raises less than $25,000 in 6 months isn't a viable candidate. They're just a sore loser.
I've volunteered for legislative campaigns that've raised more money than that in a single night. I'd say something different if she'd raised $50,000-$60,000 in a quarter. That's quite a bit less than Emmer but it least it would've shown she had some support. The reality is that candidates with terrible fundraising numbers and who can't reach double digits in support don't win party primaries. Instead, the likely outcome is that they'll burn the last of their political bridges in the district.
That's the likely outcome this time with Ms. Sivarajah and Krinkie.
Posted Wednesday, April 30, 2014 3:55 AM
Comment 1 by walter hanson at 30-Apr-14 02:13 PM
Lets see for not a valid poll. Lets assume whoever conducted the poll took 20% of the people that said they will vote for a candidate not named Tom Emmer and gave it to Emmer.
That means Emmer is at 53% still of real support and whoever is running against Emmer is at 30%.
If I was the campaign manager of these two candidates I will tell them point blank you will not be able to win a primary.
And Phill um if you try to run as a third party candidate thinking you can win what you will do is hand the seat to the Democrats like Al Franken was handed his Senate seat and governor Dayton was handed the governor's position. Haven't you learned that lesson yet?
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 2 by J. Ewing at 30-Apr-14 02:42 PM
I think it's a crying shame that these two otherwise good Republicans are wasting their time throwing sand in the gears of victory. For good or ill, Emmer is the endorsed candidate and everybody SHOULD be rallying behind him. He is going to need more than just Republican votes to win, and if he doesn't have all Republicans he might just lose, and that's unacceptable. At least the hard-fought battle in the Second District ended with the challenger graciously stepping back and calling for unity. I commend that approach to these two, and suggest they find other aspirations.
Response 2.1 by Gary Gross at 01-May-14 09:22 AM
First things first: people are rallying to Emmer. That's why he's getting 73% of the vote in the primary. Next, Joe Perske is an exceptionally weak opponent. Even if Phil ran as a third party candidate, which I'm betting he isn't stupid enough to do, that'd reduce Tom's margin of victory. It wouldn't prevent Emmer's victory.
Finally, Phil isn't about winning. At this point, it's easy to think he doesn't like Emmer and is running out of spite, not wisdom.
Comment 3 by Rex Newman at 30-Apr-14 06:58 PM
Lou Nanne once claimed his North Stars had "too much talent" (as in too many egos) to win consistently. Same here, potentially. The DFL has no bench but can get 40% running a can of tuna, so we can't afford this preening. As Dirty Harry might say, candidates need to know their limitations.
Comment 4 by J. Ewing at 01-May-14 09:51 AM
Ego is a terrible reason to campaign for office, but unfortunately it's also a prerequisite. Please, somebody tell Phil he would be a great asset back in the Legislature?
Response 4.1 by Gary Gross at 01-May-14 05:07 PM
Jerry, Phil's time has come & gone. He's had the chance to be the taxpayers' protector as a member of the MnSCU Board of Trustees. He failed in that limited role.
Walter, I don't know what's in Phil's head. I just know that he finished 4th out of 4 candidates at the 2006 CD-6 convention.
Comment 5 by walter hanson at 01-May-14 02:30 PM
Gary:
Can this explain why Phil is angry? If I remember right in 2006 he lost to Michelle B for the previous sixth district endorsement. Michelle has endorsed Emmer. So maybe Phil is angry and should be called out for thinking that this is his Congressional seat and he hates the people who won't let him have his Congressional seat.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 6 by G Jarrett at 02-May-14 04:40 AM
That's not all he(Phil)failed at as a MnSCU Trustee.
Sitting silent while Rosenstone and some of his peers (Potter) continue to act like total boobs with their fiefdoms is clueless and reproachable in its own right.
