August 29-31, 2020
Aug 29 07:38 Biden's too little, too late condemnation of city violence Aug 29 08:39 DFL mayors endorse Trump-Pence Aug 29 22:52 Thank God for citizen journalists Aug 29 23:56 Battleground states tighten further Aug 30 22:15 Rioting in President Trump's America Aug 31 01:09 Joe Biden's anti-violence statement Aug 31 06:38 Recapping last Friday's Pence Rally Aug 31 13:48 Joe Biden's portrait in evasiveness
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Biden's too little, too late condemnation of city violence
Joe Biden's condemnation of the violence happening across the nation isn't a sincere condemnation. People are rightfully questioning Biden's motivation for condemning the violence. He went 93 days without condemning the street violence in Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland and Seattle. He didn't comment until his polling started to tank.
Further, Biden's condemnation was half-hearted at best. In his condemnation, Biden said "Once again, a Black man, Jacob Blake, was shot by the police. In front of his children. It makes me sick. Is this the country we want to be? Needless violence won't heal us. We need to end the violence, and peacefully come together to demand justice."
Once again, a Black man - Jacob Blake - was shot by the police. In front of his children. It makes me sick.
Is this the country we want to be?
Needless violence won't heal us. We need to end the violence - and peacefully come together to demand justice. pic.twitter.com/WdNqrxA3PK
- Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 26, 2020
This isn't "needless violence. It's criminal activity. Further, Biden still hasn't shown that he's got a solution for these criminal activities. He's proof that anyone can complain about a situation. Vice President Biden's campaign staff didn't help him by contributing to the Minnesota Freedom Fund :
At least 13 Biden campaign staff members posted on Twitter on Friday and Saturday that they made donations to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, which opposes the practice of cash bail, or making people pay to avoid pre-trial imprisonment. The group uses donations to pay bail fees in Minneapolis. Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement to Reuters that the former vice president opposes the institution of cash bail as a "modern day debtors prison."
You can't be pro-police while helping rioters get out of jail so they can riot again.
Posted Saturday, August 29, 2020 7:38 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 29-Aug-20 08:23 AM
The cops need restraint. Harris never prosecuted one of them. Like Klobuchar. Free rein is not good with some sadistic people. Some sadists gravitate to policing. If Trump had not been born wealthy he'd have been a cop. Bob Kroll is a major part of the problem in Mpls.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 31-Aug-20 01:33 AM
Police reform needs to happen at the local & state level. There are multiple facets to the problem, including grandstanding DFL politicians who throw officers under the bus & police unions who fight to keep bad officers like Chauvin on the job.
Comment 2 by Chad Q at 30-Aug-20 05:39 PM
Yeah, don't ever blame the thug for his actions, just the cop.
DFL mayors endorse Trump-Pence
If you haven't noticed, the Iron Range is changing. When Vice President Pence visited Duluth Friday, he took the stage with 6 Iron Range mayors. That would've been unthinkable in 2008.
It's taken time to transition from DFL domination to where we're at today but it's worth it. It's just a matter of time before the Iron Range delegation to the state legislature changes. When that happens, Republicans will cement their majorities in the Minnesota legislature.
"There's many people in northern Minnesota who truly are Republicans," Two Harbors Mayor Chris Swanson said, describing a blurring of what had once been solid Democrat country. "They truly understand what's going on." Swanson joined five other Range mayors in timing their Trump endorsement with Pence's arrival at the Clure Public Marine Terminal.
This is telling:
Former Duluth Mayor Gary Doty was also pointed out of the crowd by Pence, for being another Democrat who has swung in favor of Trump. Afterward, Doty explained he was a Democratic-Farmer-Labor office-holder in the state Legislature in the 1970s, but held a series of nonpartisan offices after that. He's always prided himself on being independent, he said.
"I come from a DFL family and many of them still are," Doty said. "My dad was the head of the Teamsters and the things he fought for, jobs, benefits and working men and women, the Democratic party has lost that. They've gone so far left I can't support the Democratic ticket this year."
Environmental activists run the Metro DFL. The Metro DFL runs the DFL -- for the time being. When Susan Kent defeated Tom Bakk to become the Senate Minority Leader, it signalled that the Metro DFL was asserting control. When Jen McEwen humiliated Erik Simonson in the SD-7 primary, the DFL sent the unmistakable message that support for mining in the DFL had finally evaporated.
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Support for the Democrats is shrinking in Minneapolis, thanks to the Minneapolis City Council, which is 100% DFL, voting to eliminate the Minneapolis Police Department. Republicans already dominate rural/exurban Minnesota. With President Trump emphasizing school choice, the Trump-Pence ticket has a legitimate shot at flipping Minnesota into the red column.
Posted Saturday, August 29, 2020 8:39 AM
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Thank God for citizen journalists
Think of where we'd be right now if citizen journalists like Andy Ngo , Richie McGinniss , Kyle Hooten and Julio Rosas weren't reporting from Portland, Kenosha, Minneapolis and everywhere, respectively. These young men have provided important information into the riots in those cities. They've broken news that CNN and MSDNC have ignored.
Conservatives have criticized the MSM. The MSM deserves the criticism but criticism alone isn't a solution. Financially supporting these citizen journalists is a solution. This afternoon, I've decided that I'll be supporting at least one of these gentlemen, though I haven't decided which one. When they're all good, it's up to a coin flip. This is a little of Richie McGinnis' work:
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Since the MSM isn't accurately reporting on these events because they're corrupted by their unflinching devotion to Democrats, there's a vacuum for this type of reporting. Nature isn't the only thing that abhors a vacuum. Free markets also hate them. In this instance, citizen journalists are filling the vacuum. Thank God for that. If these heroes didn't exist, we wouldn't have this important information.
Posted Saturday, August 29, 2020 10:52 PM
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Battleground states tighten further
We're already seeing the Trump bounce. The battleground states have tightened further. President Trump's approval rating improved during the DNC. The RNC put on one of the best conventions in history. That's because they featured real people telling their stories of how President Trump's legislative and executive actions improved their lives.
As is always the case, Salena Zito has paid the price in tires, interviews and penmanship in this article . This time, Salena interviews Trump campaign workers in Ohio's Mahoning Valley. What's in the article should be taught for decades to come. For instance, she wrote "Outside the Trump headquarters, the door here opens and closes repeatedly as supporters old and new make their way into their office to pick up a sign, or three for their yards, a Trump face mask, and, more often than not, offer to help the effort." Then she wrote this:
'I've been at this since 1992 in some capacity or the other, and I've never seen anything like this,' explained Tom McCabe, the county party chairman, emphasizing the last two words as he points to the busy office and packed parking lot.
Show up to watch, and you cannot miss the brisk activity. Show up and listen, and you cannot miss the enthusiasm. McCabe is also blown away by the efficiency, investment, and bodies the Trump campaign has placed here in Mahoning for person-to-person voter contact.
'We've always told our candidates over the years, if you're going to do one thing, it's your shoe effort, and you knock on doors," he said. "It's that personal contact, because that retail poll ticks with door-to-door. And what we saw this time is different than in '16." He added that at times "'16 was a little chaotic because the Trump team didn't have that organization."
The enthusiasm gap is visible. So is the tightening of this race . That tells you the what. This speech tells you the why:
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President Trump hasn't changed the GOP. He's transformed it. He's constantly fighting for the forgotten men and women that past admininstrations from both parties ignored. That's why this will happen:
Trump did not win 'the valley,' but he came shockingly close. Clinton won the county with 49% of the vote; Trump had 46.9%. In contrast, four years earlier, President Barack Obama crushed Mitt Romney by 28 percentage points, earning more than 63% of Mahoning County's vote. This time, Republicans plan on making the shift whole. If Trump flips the county, it will become the poster child for the slow drift of the working class into the Republican Party.
If President Trump completes the shift, Mahoning won't be the only county doing that. If other like-minded counties find President Trump appealing, he'll win by a bigger EV margin than he won with in 2016.
Sracic explains Biden's inconsistency on trade is a big part of the problem, "He is running 'Buy America' ads now but voted for Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China and NAFTA." That kind of flippant pandering does not earn voters back.
"One of the mistakes people make when talking about places like the Mahoning Valley is that we think of Trump's supporters as down-and-out white voters with no college degree who the globalized economy has passed by. Well, that's a bit of a distorted image," said Sracic. "While many of Trump's voters may lack a college degree, that doesn't mean they don't work for or maybe even own a small business, for example, a landscaping business or HVAC repair company. They appreciate the Trump administration's pushback on costly regulations," he said.
The Democrats' disdain for blue collar voters is evidenced in this infamous video:
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I've said this since the start of the faux impeachment investigation but I'll repeat it again. Whether you call it Flyover Country, the Rust Belt or America's Heartland, that part of the nation is lost to the Democrats at the presidential level for the forseeable future. The Democrats' elitist attitudes sink them like Bloomberg's elitist attitude sinks him.
Posted Saturday, August 29, 2020 11:56 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 30-Aug-20 09:33 AM
What is the status of debates? Is there a schedule yet? If things are tight approaching election day without debates, anything could happen.
With over 180,000 covid deaths on Trump's watch, he and GOP writers seem to act as if that's not an issue. Is that wise? Also, the declining dollar purchasing power, with wages and salaries not keeping up - sure the stock market is what it is, but paycheck to paycheck matters more. Trump cannot credibly shout, "Great economy," when people are dying, out of work, and facing loss of employer paid healthcare coverage. It's fantasy.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 31-Aug-20 01:29 AM
Trump cannot credibly shout, 'Great economy,' when people are dying, out of work, and facing loss of employer paid healthcare coverage.Expect another big jobs report this Friday. After that, expect to see a record GDP number just before the election. The unemployment rate in October will likely be 7-8%, down from a high of 14.7% just 4 months ago.
Further, law & order has easily eclipsed COVID as the top issue with voters. Right now, COVID ranks 4th.
Debates are scheduled for September 29, 2020 at Case Western Reserve University, Oct. 15, 2020 in Miami, Florida & October 22, 2020 at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Comment 2 by Chad Q at 30-Aug-20 05:38 PM
180k deaths from covid is a farce. Even if it were true, 40 - 50k of those are from democrat governors putting infected people into long term care facilities where they killed off the vulnerable. Hong Kong Flu killed a lot more people in 1968 and no one cared and the world kept turning.
Paycheck to paycheck? People seem to be getting along just fine. Golf course are full, boat launches are full, can't find a bike or set of golf clubs in a store. And those that do seem to be struggling are using the riots to get what they need to feed themselves. As for people losing their employer health care, Obama screwed that up 8 years ago and still han't apologized for it.
About 5500 people died every day before covid and no one blinked an eye. But it's all Trumps fault now when someone catches a cold. People would be a lot better off taking responsibility for their own lives and stopped looking to the government for answers.
Rioting in President Trump's America
Last week, Joe Biden started a new Democrat talking point when he said that the violence happening in Portland, Seattle, Chicago and Kenosha was happening in Donald Trump's America. It's an absurd statement on multiple levels but let's look at it starting with the most obvious part.
For months, literally, President Trump has offered to help end the rioting and bloodshed in Portland and Chicago. In both instances, the mayors rejected President Trump's offers of help. Here's how Lightfoot reacted to President Trump's offer of help:
"This morning the Tribune editorial board urged me to be more collaborative with President Trump. And surely those well meaning people cannot be that naive. President Trump's attention to Chicago is transparently political," Lightfoot said Monday afternoon during a press conference announcing investment in Auburn Gresham and North Lawndale.
It's absurd to blame President Trump for Chicago's violence, partly because Lightfoot emphatically turned him down repeatedly. Democrats now insist that President Trump wants violence to increase:
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Joe Biden isn't trustworthy. It isn't just that he isn't honest. It's that he's ignoring facts:
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President Trump isn't playing politics. He's trying to fix a mess. For Biden to say that Trump is acting like career politicians (like himself) is insulting. Over the past 4 years, people have seen President Trump put the people first rather than putting Washington, DC first. I don't expect the Swamp Media to trust him but I expect real people living out in America's heartland to trust him.
President Trump's America is chaotic because he's getting important things done. Life in Lori Lightfoot's Chicago or Ted Wheeler's Portland is hell on earth because neither has shown a bit of leadership.
Finally, it's rich for Biden to say that President Trump is cheering for increased violence when Democrat mayors in Washington, DC and NYC took time to paint Black Lives Matter murals on the streets of their cities. Who's the people cheering for increased violence now? The evidence is clear:
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Demorats sided with BLM, the people that rioted in Minneapolis and Atlanta. They can't now say that they've opposed violence from the start. President Trump has opposed violence since the first day of the George Floyd Riots. It doesn't get more consistent than that.
Posted Sunday, August 30, 2020 10:15 PM
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Joe Biden's anti-violence statement
One of Biden's staffers must've written this statement that condemns violence. I'm betting that Joe didn't write it. I'm betting that because he isn't awake that often.
The staffer's statement starts by saying "The deadly violence we saw overnight in Portland is unacceptable. Shooting in the streets of a great American city is unacceptable. I condemn this violence unequivocally. I condemn violence of every kind by any one, whether on the left or the right. And I challenge Donald Trump to do the same. It does not matter if you find the political views of your opponents abhorrent, any loss of life is a tragedy. Today there is another family grieving in America, and Jill and I offer our deepest condolences."
This staffer should save the challenge to President Trump. He's opposed the rioting since the week of the George Floyd riots. To offer historical perspective, those riots started in late May, 2020. Biden's staffer's statement was published on August 30, 2020. The next paragraph is pure BS:
We must not become a country at war with ourselves. A country that accepts the killing of fellow Americans who do not agree with you. A country that vows vengeance toward one another. But that is the America that President Trump wants us to be, the America he believes we are.
Whoever this snot-nosed punk is, he/she should be fired immediately for this malicious slander. It isn't tethered to the truth. It's BS from start-to-finish. Elected Democrats and BLM/Antifa mobsters are at war with America, not Republicans. Victor Davis Hanson nailed it with this outstanding analysis:
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As a country, we must condemn the incitement of hate and resentment that led to this deadly clash. It is not a peaceful protest when you go out spoiling for a fight. What does President Trump think will happen when he continues to insist on fanning the flames of hate and division in our society and using the politics of fear to whip up his supporters? He is recklessly encouraging violence. He may believe tweeting about law and order makes him strong - but his failure to call on his supporters to stop seeking conflict shows just how weak he is. He may think that war in our streets is good for his reelection chances, but that is not presidential leadership-or even basic human compassion.
Joe Biden was silent as a mouse on street violence until he started sinking in the polls. The people in the streets aren't Republican entrepreneurs. They're Bernie Sanders/AOC-approved Antifa/BLM activists. These organizations are well-funded by anarchist leftists like George Soros. This doesn't have anything to do with Republicans.
Donald Trump has been president for almost four years. The temperature in the country is higher, tensions run stronger, divisions run deeper. And all of us are less safe because Donald Trump can't do the job of the American president.
That's selective amnesia and then some. The people marching in the streets in 2020 marched in the streets 4 years ago:
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After the police chased BLM protesters off the highway, BLM protesters threw concrete blocks from a walking bridge above the highway. Rashad Turner can't credibly say that BLM's words were misinterpreted.
Posted Monday, August 31, 2020 1:14 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 01-Sep-20 08:47 AM
Scrolling down the posts, the LFR theme is to sling it at Biden.
Trump is not teflon-coated, and much will stick, both ways.
It will be a dreary thing for the nation. Trump will have locked the Kenosha shooter types, and they likely will give him a high percentage turnout, but how big, really, is that pool?
Last, is Rand Paul relevant to either side this cycle? It is as if he's trying but coming out looking bad. Cruz seems surprisingly quiet, so the GOP bet seems entirely on Trump and saying he's been great. Some folks will buy anything. It was noticeable that McConnell was not a convention figure. Have you, Gary, any idea why? He seems to be the real face of the real GOP. Trump a figurehead, but given power. McConnell the actual real deal. Yes/no?
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 01-Sep-20 03:16 PM
Eric, Joe Biden is a disgusting swamp creature. If he weren't so flawed, I wouldn't have material to write about. As for President Trump, he's been crucified for things he's said but he hasn't been appreciated for the great things he's done. I'm just asking for simple fairness from the bought-and-paid-for corporate media. They've been on the Democrats' side since 2003.
Rand Paul & Tim Scott should both be heroes this cycle. Rand Paul is chief author of the Breona Taylor Act, which would end no-knock warrants. Tim Scott wrote a police reform bill that DC Democrats were frightened of. Every Democrat voted against opening debate on the bill. They voted against it because they didn't want President Trump to sign a bill.
McConnell spoke the last night of the RNC so I don't know what you're talking about with that.
Recapping last Friday's Pence Rally
Vice President Mike Pence's rally in Duluth was really about consolidating Republican gains on the Iron Range . When Chip Cravaack defeated Jim Oberstar in 2010, a light started shining in Minnesota's Eighth District. After Rick Nolan retook the seat, questions were raised about whether the Cravaack victory was a fluke. (I knew it wasn't.)
Fast forward to 2020. Republican Pete Stauber represents the district. Additionally, he looks poised to win re-election. That's just the tip of the iceberg, though. Minnesota looks like it might give its 10 electoral votes to a Republican for the first time since 1972, when Richard Nixon obliterated George McGovern.
If President Trump wins Minnesota's electoral votes, he'll have 6 DFL mayors from the Iron Range to thank. They're the ones that wrote this letter endorsing the Trump-Pence ticket . Here's the heart of the letter:
Like many in our region, we have voted for Democrats over many decades. We have watched as our constituents' jobs left not only the Iron Range, but our country. By putting tariffs on our products and supporting bad trade deals, politicians like Joe Biden did nothing to help the working class. We lost thousands of jobs, and generations of young people have left the Iron Range in order to provide for their families with good paying jobs elsewhere. Today, we don't recognize the Democratic Party . It has been moved so far to the left it can no longer claim to be advocates of the working class . The hard-working Minnesotans that built their lives and supported their families here on the Range have been abandoned by radical Democrats. We didn't choose to leave the Democratic Party, the party left us.
I've been writing that for 5 years. The DFL can't pretend to represent miners, especially after defeating pro-mining DFL incumbent Erik Simonson in last month's DFL primary. Democrats are on the defensive because they chose to become the metro party.
DFL Chairman Ken Martin issued a statement before the rally, calling the Trump administration "a complete disaster for Minnesota families - from its attacks on Social Security to trade wars that hurt our farmers to attempted rollbacks of the [Affordable Care Act] that would take away people's health insurance."
Martin hasn't sounded like his old self lately. This statement is another example of this.
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Posted Monday, August 31, 2020 6:38 AM
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Joe Biden's portrait in evasiveness
Joe Biden proved again today that he's just another long-winded politician who doesn't care about people. Today in Pittsburgh, Joe Biden attacked President Trump with lie after lie , then left without taking reporters' questions. What a stand-up politician he isn't.
It's beyond ironic that Biden said "This president long ago forfeited any moral leadership in this country. He can't stop the violence - because for years he has fomented it. He may believe mouthing the words law and order makes him strong, but his failure to call on his own supporters to stop acting as an armed militia in this country shows you how weak he is." President Trump's supporters aren't "acting as an armed militia." They're nowhere to be found. The streets of Portland are filled with Antifa rioters. The streets of Minneapolis were filled with Black Lives Matter rioters.
For 3 months, Joe Biden didn't say a thing about the rioting. Minutes ago, Biden said "I want to make it absolutely clear. I'll be clear about all of this. Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. Setting fires is not protesting. None of this is protesting. It's lawlessness. Plain and simple. And those who do it should be prosecuted." Where were those words during June, July and the first 30 days of August, Mr. Biden?
Democrats didn't mention this violence during the DNC. Now we're supposed to think that they're getting serious about eliminating violence? That's insulting. Mayor Ted Wheeler, another mindless Democrat, isn't interested in stopping the violence in Portland. We know that because the rioting has been happing in Portland for the past 90+ days.
During that time, President Trump has offered help to stop the riots at least weekly. Each time, Wheeler rejected those offers of help. Meanwhile, it's dishonest that Mr. Biden has insisted that President Trump has fomented the rioting. President Trump has tried to stop the violence. Democrats have rejected his offers of help.
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Notice at the end that Biden walks off without taking a single unscripted question. He read from a script during his speech, then left. He has to do this because he isn't capable of speaking without a script. We can't elect someone whose mind is gone. After watching today's speech, it's apparent that today's Joe Biden isn't the Joe Biden of the Obama administration.
Posted Monday, August 31, 2020 1:48 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 31-Aug-20 04:42 PM
Trump cannot change police force culture overnight, Gary, you know that. His only answer is to knock heads and teargas. That's crass and, worse, ineffective unless his forces kill people as back then, Kent State, Jackson State. Absolute brutality does work, but then we become the Saudis. IDF against Palestinians in Palestine. THAT IS NOT AMERICA. NOT NOW. NEVER WAS, ONCE THE BRITISH WERE NEUTRALIZED.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 01-Sep-20 03:30 PM
Eric, I agree that President Trump can't change police culture overnight. Then again, it isn't his responsibility to do that. That's got to come from community leaders. Right now, Democrats have failed that responsibility.
What Trump can do is throw the rioters in jail & give communities time to change that culture. And yes, it needs changing, especially in Minneapolis.
Comment 2 by Chad Q at 01-Sep-20 06:44 PM
50 plus years of democrat rule in the cities that are being destroyed it's Trumps fault? I assume you believed it was Obama's fault for Ferguson, Baltimore, and others that burned during his time too, right? If these were peaceful protests and not riots of angry progressives, there wouldn't be a need to knock heads but the animals can't control themselves so they need to have their heads knocked in. What would you rather them do Eric, just be allowed to light the city on fire from one end to the other and loot stores? Progressives have played nice with these rioters and look what happens. Disbanding the police or forcing them to use more non-lethal tactics, and it will only get worse. Just wait until the 4 cops in MPLS get off. The world will burn then.
