August 28-29, 2017
Aug 28 04:48 SCTimes' white privilege editorial Aug 28 06:03 Gov. Dayton vs. the Legislature Aug 28 14:23 Gov. Dayton's political appointees Aug 29 03:20 Antifa rioters, not protesters Aug 29 05:42 Kleis "stands against hate" Aug 29 06:41 Heartbreaking and inspirational Aug 29 12:09 Restoring free speech in Berkeley Aug 29 17:45 Houston drama intensifies
Prior Months: Jan Feb ~ May Jun Jul
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SCTimes' white privilege editorial
Ben Ament's monthly column is one of the worst monthly columns they've ever published. Some of the assumptions made are ridiculous or far-fetched.
For instance, Ament wrote that "The erectors of the Confederate monuments were white-controlled governments in mostly southern cities. These men knew full well that the monuments would intimidate the people of color who walked by them every day." I'd challenge that, if for no other reason than the fact that minorities would've been too busy worrying about racists like the KKK and the bigots, mostly Democrats, who wrote the Jim Crow laws to worry about statues of dead people. It's also quite likely that they were worried about raising their families or grateful for being able to attend inspirational churches to worry about dead generals.
Later, Ament wrote "White privilege is also the privilege of being blind to the existence of white privilege. It gives whites the right to claim they earned every cent in their 401k and they fully deserve to be paid more than others for performing the same tasks. This is not do deny that whites as a whole work hard. But so do minorities - often twice as hard."
Talk about the mother of all assumptions. When's the last time your co-worker told you that whites "deserve to be paid more than others for performing the same tasks"? As bad as that assumption is, this assumption is worse:
But some of these acquaintances want me to remove my blinders and see the response from the left of the political spectrum as somehow the same as or worse than that from the right. They ignore the swastikas and Confederate flags, torches and clubs carried by the so-called alt-right meant to provoke anger.
Mr. Ament's paranoia notwithstanding, what is he talking about? Then there's this:
Standing behind the cross of Christianity while doing so is doubly troubling. It seems, for some, the only reason for being kind and loving to another human is to get into heaven. If this is so, then the point of Christianity has been lost. I guess it is white privilege to define your beliefs as you see fit.
Mr. Ament is a totally ill-informed. Christians know that they can't earn their way into heaven. Being nice to people is the right thing to do but that won't get them into Heaven.
Those who led a rebellion against the United States for the express purpose of continuing to enslave human beings for monetary gain should not be honored. None of the statues in question were erected before or during the Civil War.
These statues are inanimate objects. Why can't we use these inanimate objects to teach about that part of our history the treachery that these men visited on minorities? We don't need to accept scenes like this:
Posted Monday, August 28, 2017 4:48 AM
Comment 1 by M at 28-Aug-17 08:40 AM
The "opinion" page of the St Cloud Times are always good for a chuckle. They do help inform us of the idiocy of resident Marxists, though.
Comment 2 by Rex Newmsn at 28-Aug-17 07:07 PM
Pet Andrew Klavan, white privilege is what you complain about when you have nothing else to complain about.
Gov. Dayton vs. the Legislature
Rachel Stassen-Berger's article highlights what's at stake when the Minnesota Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the case officially titled "the Ninetieth Minnesota State Senate and the Ninetieth 'Minnesota State House of Representatives vs. Mark B. Dayton." This epic lawsuit was required because Gov. Dayton vetoed funding for the legislature, thereby violating the latest constitutional amendment, not to mention the Separation of Powers Clause of the Constitution.
Ruling that the governor's line-item veto is constitutional would essentially end the basis of government being made up of 3 "co-equal branches of government" because it would give the governor the ability to renegotiate bills he'd already agreed to signing.
It isn't that far-fetched to think that a governor could reach a budget agreement with legislative leaders that included things that the legislature didn't want and things that the governor didn't want. Once the legislature passed the bills that the governor wanted, he'd be in position to sign those bills, then veto the bills that he didn't want.
Actually, that's what happened. After Gov. Dayton signed the bills he liked, he vetoed the bill funding legislative operations in an admitted attempt to renegotiate a tax relief package he didn't like. Siding with Gov. Dayton on this lawsuit would end the principle of co-equal branches of government, not to mention the fact that it would prevent the legislature from doing its job.
Constitutional lawsuits often come down to identifying limiting principles. In other words, they're often decided because ruling otherwise would tip the balance of power too far in one direction or another. That's why it's appalling to see Gov. Dayton's team insist that his line-item veto authority is absolute. In gray areas like this, absolutism doesn't exist.
That's why I expect the Supreme Court to rule in the people's and the legislature's favor. To do otherwise would end our system of government as it exists.
Posted Monday, August 28, 2017 6:03 AM
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Gov. Dayton's political appointees
It isn't a stretch to think that Gov. Dayton's appointees to the Minnesota Supreme Court ran interference for him today. Though MPR's article on this morning's oral arguments doesn't highlight it, Justices Lillehaug and Hudson asked some questions of Doug Kelley. Kelley represented the legislature in this matter.
Justice Lillehaug and Justice Hudson "pressed Doug Kelley, the attorney for the Legislature, on why legislative leaders adjourned their special session without waiting for Dayton to act on the bills they passed." That isn't a constitutional question. That's a political question.
When Kelley tried talking about Dayton's reason for line-item vetoing the legislature's biennial budget, Lillehaug insisted that going into a person's motives were off-limits. In this situation, though, Lillehaug didn't think asking about the legislature's adjournment was off-limits. If the legislature's motives for adjourning were fair game, Gov. Dayton's motives for his line-item veto should be fair game, too.
Gov. Dayton's reason for vetoing the legislature's budget is relevant because Gov. Dayton wanted to tip negotiations into his favor. Complicating matters is the fact that the legislature and Gov. Dayton had signed a contract specifying that there wouldn't be any amendments to any of the bills, that the dollar figures and policy provisions were fixed and the legislative language was read before the contract was signed.
In many ways, then, the agreement is a legally binding contract. Gov. Dayton vetoing the legislature's funding with a line-item veto is breaking that contract. The legislature had agreed to compromise on some of their priorities if Gov. Dayton compromised on some of his priorities.
Once the caucus leaders and Gov. Dayton signed that contract, the implication is that signing bills that lived up to the contract was expected as part of that agreement.
The biggest worry that the legislature has is that Gov. Dayton's appointees will side with him out of political loyalty, not because that's what the Constitution demands. Simply put, the worry is that they're Democrat operatives first and that ruling on the side of the Constitution is a distant priority.
From an historical and biographical perspective, Lillehaug is a hardline progressive:
Posted Monday, August 28, 2017 2:23 PM
Comment 1 by Rex Newmsn at 28-Aug-17 07:12 PM
Impeachment should be considered for any justice that gets this easy one wrong.
Antifa rioters, not protesters
Anyone that describes Antifa thugs as protesters will get a smackdown in a heartbeat from me after this riot broke out on UC-Berkeley's campus. It isn't a stretch to say that Antifa is comprised mostly of rioters and thugs. They aren't peaceful protesters.
According to the article, "Their faces hidden behind black bandannas and hoodies, about 100 anarchists and antifa, 'anti-fascist', members barreled into a protest Sunday afternoon in Berkeley's Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park. Jumping over plastic and concrete barriers, the group melted into a larger crowd of around 2,000 that had marched peacefully throughout the sunny afternoon for a 'Rally Against Hate' gathering. Shortly after, violence began to flare. A pepper-spray-wielding Trump supporter was smacked to the ground with homemade shields. Another was attacked by five black-clad antifa members, each windmilling kicks and punches into a man desperately trying to protect himself. A conservative group leader retreated for safety behind a line of riot police as marchers chucked water bottles, shot off pepper spray and screamed, 'Fascist go home!'"
What's worst is that the police were totally ineffective stopping the rioters. Whether that's because they just stood down or whether it's because they were bad at their jobs, they didn't get the job done. When standing up to rioters, police have to be smart, tough and disciplined. That didn't happen this weekend:
It's time conservatives stopped using the Democrats' euphemisms. These aren't protesters. They're rioters. Here's the definition of riot :
1. a noisy, violent public disorder caused by a group or crowd of persons, as by a crowd protesting against another group, a government policy, etc., in the streets.
2. Law. a disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons acting together in a disrupting and tumultuous manner in carrying out their private purposes.
3. violent or wild disorder or confusion.
Here's the definition of protest :
an expression or declaration of objection, disapproval, or dissent, often in opposition to something a person is powerless to prevent or avoid.
There's a pretty dramatic difference between protesting and rioting. Rioting, by definition, involves violence. Protesting doesn't. This paragraph is infuriating:
And although the anti-hate and left-wing protesters largely drowned out the smaller clutch of far-right marchers attending a planned 'No to Marxism in America' rally, Sunday's confrontation marked another street brawl between opposing ends of the political spectrum, violence that has become a regular feature of the Trump years and gives signs of spiraling upward, particularly in the wake of the violence in Charlottesville.
The Trump years aren't what's causing the violence. It isn't President Trump's fault that Democrats can't handle defeat. That's solely on the Democrats. For generations, people have protested in America.
This is different because these Alinskyites aren't interested in making America better. They're interested in this:
President Obama, not President Trump, gave legitimacy to these Alinskyite tactics.
Posted Tuesday, August 29, 2017 3:20 AM
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Kleis "stands against hate"
For whatever it's worth, St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis said that St. Cloud would have a zero tolerance policy against hate. Nobody seems to know what Mayor Kleis means by that but Eunice Adjei of the St. Cloud Area Regional Human Rights Commission is applauding him for that , saying "We stand with our mayor in his zero tolerance policy against hate groups."
I did a little digging into the SCARHRC. What I found in their minutes is rather interesting. What I found in their minutes is essentially the DFL social issues agenda. I wish I could say that I'm surprised but I'm not.
For instance, one thing I found in the SCARHRC's minutes is where it identifies "Students for Social Justice" and the DFL as "multicultural organizations," with the implication being that the DFL is a tolerant organization. That implication is BS, as I highlighted in this post . There's a significant portion of the DFL and DNC that are fascists who claim that they're fighting fascism with fascist tactics.
What I'd like to know is whether the SCARHRC uses the Southern Poverty Law Center's hate map:
If the SCARHRC is the DFL front organization that I think it is, then it's virtually certain that they take their 'hate guidance' from the SPLC. This paragraph especially caught my attention:
White nationalist/supremacist, anti-Semitic and other hate groups exist throughout the country, including Minnesota. Additionally, some hate groups have posted flyers at colleges and universities in our state and region.
It isn't surprising that leftists haven't included Antifa and BLM in their list of hate groups.
Posted Tuesday, August 29, 2017 5:42 AM
Comment 1 by Patrick at 29-Aug-17 12:37 PM
Would love ask Mayor Kleis to read the definition of bigotry and then ask him "isn't that what you are doing?".
Heartbreaking and inspirational
While watching what's happening in Houston with Hurricane Harvey, I've found it's quite possible to be both heartbroken and inspired. First and foremost, it's heartbreaking to see reports of literally tens of thousands of people who've lost everything or virtually everything. That being said, it's equally possible to be inspired. Apart from that, though, it's worth noticing that President Trump and Gov. Abbott have been working together in making sure their administrations are fulfilling their responsibilities.
Check out this drone video showing the utter devastation in Aransas County. While it's heartbreaking to see that footage, it's inspirational to read articles like this .
The article starts by saying "Bass Pro Shops is pitching in with Hurricane Harvey relief efforts in Texas, providing dozens of boats to rescue and relief efforts. Bass Pro Shops is pitching in with Hurricane Harvey relief efforts in Texas, providing dozens of boats to rescue and relief efforts." It continues, saying "The company remains in close contact with the governor's office, first responders and associates on the ground to monitor response efforts and assess ongoing needs. Bass Pro Shops encourages all customers and community members who want to support relief efforts to donate directly to the American Red Cross."
This video is inspirational because it shows the American character in times of crisis:
Here's hoping that LFR readers are volunteering to help support the first responders and Search and Rescue efforts. Here's hoping that LFR readers are keeping that entire region in their prayers. Pray, too, that our leaders work together in getting supplies to people in need. Pray for safety for all, too.
Posted Tuesday, August 29, 2017 6:41 AM
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Restoring free speech in Berkeley
Berkeley's mayor is getting called out in Allahpundit's post . In his post, AP quotes Mayor Arreguin as saying "I don't want Berkeley being used as a punching bag. I'm very concerned about Milo Yiannopoulos and Ann Coulter and some of these other right-wing speakers coming to the Berkeley campus, because it's just a target for black bloc to come out and commit mayhem on the Berkeley campus and have that potentially spill out on the street. I obviously believe in freedom of speech, but there is a line between freedom of speech and then posing a risk to public safety. That is where we have to really be very careful; that while protecting people's free-speech rights, we are not putting our citizens in a potentially dangerous situation and costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars fixing the windows of businesses."
Actually, it isn't obvious that Mayor Arreguin believes in free speech. I'd argue quite the contrary, in fact. It's obvious that Mayor Arreguin is letting thuggish rioters like Antifa cast a 'rioters veto', thereby chilling the exercise of free speech.
If Mayor Arreguin wants to restore free speech to Berkeley, he should take a page out of President Trump's immigration handbook. Before President Trump took office, Fox News interviewed Sen. Schumer. One of the topics discussed was building the wall. Sen. Schumer insisted that Democrats wouldn't budge on building the wall, that they'd insist on "comprehensive immigration reform" instead. I said at the time that Schumer was blowing smoke because Jeff Sessions could stop Sen. Schumer in his tracks simply by enforcing the law.
The point is that Gen. Sessions' enforcement and President Trump's belligerent tone on immigration, illegal immigration has slowed to a trickle. The point Mayor Arreguin should take from this is simple: If you're willing to enforce the law and dangle the possibility of stiff prison sentences in front of Antifa, the conditions on the ground shift pretty dramatically. BTW, forget about expensive fines. They won't work because Soros is willing to pay the fines.
Enforcement is the only way to restore free speech in Berkeley or any other place where Antifa threatens to cast a rioter's veto. If they know you're serious, they'll stop. If they don't stop, then they'll be thrown in prison for a lengthy stay. According to this TV segment, there was a standoff between law enforcement and Antifa:
The reporter then said that law enforcement "withdrew." If Mayor Arreguin wants to be seen as a wimp who won't defend his citizens' civil rights, then he should be impeached, then immediately thrown out of office without his pension. When rioters threaten citizens' civil rights, it's time to take action.
Posted Tuesday, August 29, 2017 12:09 PM
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Houston drama intensifies
I was fortunate enough to be watching when this series of interviews started:
According to correspondent Jeff Flock, he and FNC anchor Shepard Smith had travelled by vehicle through a neighborhood near one of Houston's reservoirs. 24 hours later, Smith was back in New York City, Flock was conducting interviews from a boat in the same neighborhood and a family was getting rescued from their home when the reservoir was forced to open the dam to prevent the loss of 3,000 homes.
The first interview Flock did was with a young boy who had just been rescued by a boat. Later in the same video, Flock interviewed Carlos, the pastor of The Power of Miracles church. Still later, Flock interviewed a mother who was upset with herself. The correspondent asked her "You did not expect this was going to happen? The young mother replied "No. I didn't." Flock then asked "What's most upsetting to you right now?" She replied "The fact that I waited so long and my kids -- I could have put them in danger." Flock then said "Well, you didn't put them in danger. They would've been ok." The mother then replied "thanks to them that just showed up because I didn't know who to call and -- I didn't know if it would've been too late. It was just an angel, I mean."
Pastor Carlos then jumped into the conversation, saying "everything happens for a reason. That's what the Bible says. So something better came so He heard."
Isn't it fitting that this young family (single mother and her 4 kids) was rescued by a boat owned by the pastor of a church called the Power of Miracles Church?
The reservoirs in Houston are expected to go over the top, meaning that they're expecting the water to go over the top of the dam that creates the reservoirs. Some neighborhoods are getting flooded because officials have decided that it's better to open the dams rather than have pressure build up and the dams disintegrate. The reservoir where the young family was rescued got flooded because they opened the gates. The other option, officials said, was to lose 3,000 homes if the dam burst.
In short, after 50+ inches of rain falling, there aren't any good options left.
Posted Tuesday, August 29, 2017 5:45 PM
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