August 30-31, 2017
Aug 30 06:14 Crony capitalism at its worst Aug 30 08:45 Chappelle-Nadal gets booted Aug 30 15:19 DFL regulatory corruption Aug 30 16:41 Houston, TX vs. Washington, DC Aug 31 05:23 Pelosi deserves a parade? Aug 31 06:12 Evergreen & the Mizzou Effect Aug 31 07:50 Nothing ordinary about them Aug 31 12:54 Is Antifa a terrorist organization?
Prior Months: Jan Feb ~ May Jun Jul
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Crony capitalism at its worst
When I read this story , I was stunned. According to the story, the "Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) awarded Minnesota Halal Meat & Grocery, 205 East St. Germain Street, $15,308.72 through the Good Food Access Program (GFAP). The store's owner, Badal Aden Ali, says the store plans to install a dairy cooler, walk-in freezer, produce display case, and shelving. Ali says the grant funds will help address the needs of many of St. Cloud's refugees and immigrants."
Later in the article, we're told that a "total of $150,000 in grant funds has been awarded to projects to purchase equipment and make physical improvements, increasing access to affordable, nutritious, and culturally appropriate foods in underserved and low- and moderate-income communities."
What I'd like to know is how many similar programs exist within the Human Services and Minnesota Department of Agriculture budgets? How much taxpayer money gets spent each biennium to buy votes? This "store" is less than a mile away from my house. It's a little hell-hole. It's been that way since I was in grade school. (I started high school in 1970.)
Before anyone accuses me of being biased against refugees, my position is that I'm opposed to each of these grants .
I'm told that the theory behind these grants exist because the businesses can't afford the loan to buy the equipment they'll purchase with this grant money. If these businesses are on that shaky of ground, they should be allowed to fail.
Posted Wednesday, August 30, 2017 6:14 AM
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Chappelle-Nadal gets booted
According to this article , the Missouri state senator who advocated for President Trump's assassination "has been stripped of her committee assignments" even after apologizing .
Sen. Chappelle-Nadal's apology said "President Trump, I apologize to you and your family. I also apologize to all the people in Missouri. And I also apologize to my colleagues in the Missouri legislature for the mistake that I made." Sen. Chappelle-Nadal made her apology while in "at the Wellspring Church in Ferguson, Missouri."
Democrats have insisted since President Trump was inaugurated that he's a racist. Democrats have also insisted that they're the protectors of the First Amendment. Neither statement is true. Further, Sen. Chappelle-Nadal has shown herself to represent the worst in politics.
For years, Democrats have portrayed Republicans as racists. The more we highlight Democrats like Sen. Chappelle-Nadal, the more it's painfully obvious that there's lots of racists in the Democratic Party.
The tide might be turning, albeit grudgingly . After last weekend's Antifa's Berkeley riot, Nancy Pelosi criticized Antifa last night, saying "Our democracy has no room for inciting violence or endangering the public, no matter the ideology of those who commit such acts. The violent actions of people calling themselves antifa [sic] in Berkeley this weekend deserve unequivocal condemnation, and the perpetrators should be arrested and prosecuted."
After the Charlottesville riot two weeks ago, Democrats, not to mention the MSM, were apoplectic because President Trump didn't respond forcefully and quickly enough for their liking. It was a 5-day story. Ms. Pelosi sat silent on the Berkeley riots for several days. We didn't see articles from pundits like Charles Blow or Eugene Robinson criticizing Ms. Pelosi's silence.
Pelosi's words ring hollow when viewed historically:
The House's top Democrat had repeatedly slammed the National Park Service as "misguided" for allowing the rally, saying she had "grave concerns" about the "public safety hazard" NPS would create by "permitting a white supremacist rally" in the middle of Crissy Field in San Francisco.
Simply put, Ms. Pelosi criticized Antifa after the political pressure got high. I'd argue that her 'apology' is as phony as a $3 bill.
The evidence is mounting that the Democratic Party is returning to its racist roots. It's important to remind people that the Democratic Party was the party that wrote the Jim Crow laws and filibustered the Civil Rights Act.
Posted Wednesday, August 30, 2017 8:45 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 30-Aug-17 07:24 PM
Pelosi needs a Justice Democrat in a primary. Then her ossification might show. She is as yesterday as Michele Bachmann, or as yesterday as all the quaint "Never Trump" trumpeting you - everybody - knew would change.
Any bet on how State Supremes will decide the pissing match between the other two branches. To me it seems a political question where the judiciary should defer.
Twenty seven page opinion, with concurrences and dissents, saying: You guys work it out.
Gary, admitting not keeping up, did you write about Bannon?
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 30-Aug-17 10:46 PM
Eric, I didn't write about Bannon because he's an a$$hole. I met him at the 2011 RightOnline Conference in Minneapolis. He isn't a racist that I could tell but he wasn't a man of integrity that I could tell. As for the Supremes, I think they'll rule in Dayton's favor because he stuffed the Supreme Court with people who are Democrats first, judges last. I think it's a constitutional question with political ramifications. If they don't rule in the legislature's favor, I'll be pi$$ed because a governor could negotiate a deal with the legislature, then line-item veto the legislature's operating budget & hold the legislature hostage to get the rest of the things he wants. The legislature will be powerless because they will have given up things that have become law. Their negotiating power would be nonexistent at that point. Where would the checks and balances be if the Dayton Court ruled in his favor?
That's 10X as despicable a thing as anything Democrats have accused Trump of doing.
DFL regulatory corruption
This op-ed is a fantastic illustration of what DFL regulatory corruption looks like. Every voter in Minnesota should understand what's happening by DFL special interest groups in the hope of killing mining.
In the op-ed, Steve Giorgi, the executive director of the Range Association of Municipalities & Schools, aka RAMS, wrote "Commissioner John Linc Stine and his staff at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) announced this week that they will commence with rulemaking hearings across the state on the new proposed rules for limits on Sulfate standards to protect wild rice." Later in the op-ed, Giorgi wrote "During the last legislative session, Rep. Rob Ecklund was successful in passing legislation that delayed the implementation of any new wild rice/sulfate standards until January of 2019, allowing the MPCA and all Minnesotans to get the results of a study being conducted on the cost implications of a new standard and enforcement of that standard."
This is what a corrupt regulatory system looks like. The business getting regulated has no assurance that they'll get the required permits if they follow the stated procedures. (Whatever happened to Bill Clinton's saying that " if you work hard and play by the rules, you'll be rewarded with a good life for yourself and a better chance for your children "?) Based on the Dayton administration's actions, the hard-working people of the Iron Range will get shafted even if they work hard and play by the rules. Then there's this:
Finding funding for $5 to $10 million dollar treatment plant expansions, along with increased annual operating costs, and then the nightmare of trying to dispose of the brine that is produced by the reverse osmosis treatment, will put most small communities into bankruptcy .
At what point will this DFL administration admit that the regulations they're thinking about will bankrupt the state? The law was passed and signed into law. PolyMet will be forced by law into playing by the rules. Unless the metro DFL wants to just admit that they want to stop mining altogether, which they'll deny in public but admit to in private, this regulatory system needs to be scrapped.
I'm not talking about abolishing all regulations. I'm advocating for regulations that protect the water without buying the special interests' BS. This video is intended to present the MPCA, the regulators on the wild rice standards, as reasonable and business-friendly: That's intentional. The key difference between the Grede project and the wild rice standards is that the special interests don't care about Grede. They're focused on shutting down mining.
It's indisputable that the metro DFL, especially politicians like John Marty and Al Franken, want to prevent new mining projects from getting permitted. It's time to throw out the current regulatory system and replace it with a system that's both business-friendly and that protects the environment. There's no disputing the fact that the current system is hostile to both businesses and rural Minnesota.
Posted Wednesday, August 30, 2017 3:20 PM
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Houston, TX vs. Washington, DC
An amazing thing has been happening since Hurricane Harvey made landfall last Friday. To be certain, there's been tons of tragedy. Lots of people have lost everything. Some people lost their life. I don't want to diminish those things whatsoever. That being said, I don't want to ignore the things that 'ordinary' private citizens have been doing since the flooding started. It would be wrong to not talk about what corporations, churches and charitable organizations are doing, too.
When I wrote this post , I spoke about Bass Pro Shops' contribution to the search and rescue operations, 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." At the time, I thought that this was an incredible gesture on Bass Pro Shop's part.
Three days later, I'm even more impressed with BPS. It turns out that they aren't just donating 20 boats to the search and rescue efforts. They're contributing 80 fully outfitted jon boats (boat, motor and trailer combos). They're contributing approximately $40,000 worth of nonperishable snack foods, too, to sustain victims and search crews, life vests and other supplies:
Yesterday, I published this post . Featured in that post was a family getting rescued by Pastor Carlos. A family was in need and Pastor Carlos made sure they got rescued.
Compare this with the DC media's attention to total BS stories. When crises like Harvey happen, DC's BS gets stripped away. Regulations get pitched overboard. (Pardon the pun.) Private citizens band together and do incredible things when they're permitted to do heroic things. That's what's amazing.
The lesson I'd like the United States to learn is to strip away the distractions, then focus on what's essential. Texas is giving us a blueprint that helps people prioritize and get the important things done before taking care of nonessential things.
Nothing focuses the mind like a crisis. There's little margin for error. Efficiency is essential to saving lives. Every minute counts. We have to be at our best. That's whether we're talking about the local, state or federal governments, or whether we're talking about corporations or individuals.
This crisis has shown Americans that we're still essentially a nation of problem-solvers. It's part of our national DNA.
Finally, it isn't wrong to say that few other nations in the world could do what we're seeing done in Houston, Corpus Christi and other parts of southeast Texas.
Posted Wednesday, August 30, 2017 4:41 PM
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Pelosi deserves a parade?
Philip Wegmann's article and tweet suggest that conservatives should throw a parade for Nancy Pelosi for her condemnation of Antifa.
With all due respect to Mr. Wegmann, I won't entertain the thought of throwing Ms. Pelosi anything, much less a parade.
The Antifa riot happened on Sunday. Ms. Pelosi didn't issue her statement until Tuesday afternoon. Clear-thinking, principled people with integrity didn't need 48 hours to know Antifa were a bunch of thugs who'd committed felonies. They knew it the minute the saw the footage of Antifa rioters hitting protesters with sticks and dumping urine on peaceful protesters.
Wegmann insists that "anyone with even an eighth grade understanding of American Civics must be welcomed as an ally." Again, I disagree. Ms. Pelosi didn't issue that statement because she was upset with Antifa. She spoke out because the political pressure built to an unacceptable level.
If there's anything I've learned, it's that Democrats will always do the right thing ... when it's their only option left.
Let's put this into perspective. According to this article , Ms. Pelosi supported the Occupy Wall Street 'movement', starting in October, 2011. OWS, as they were nicknamed then, were dirtbags, although, to be fair, they weren't the violent monsters that Antifa is. They were disgusting people who committed rapes, etc., but they weren't an organized terrorist organization committed to inflicting violence.
Why shouldn't we tell Ms. Pelosi that she needs to show more integrity before we accept her statement of condemnation as sincere? The fact that it took her 2+ days indicates to me that this was a political statement. It wasn't a statement of principle. Here's what she said about OWS at the time:
Those aren't the words of a person who thinks of Antifa as domestic terrorists.
Posted Thursday, August 31, 2017 5:23 AM
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Evergreen & the Mizzou Effect
This article from the College Fix announces something that was inevitable: deficits and layoffs. CF's Jennifer Kabbany reports that "Administrators at The Evergreen State College have announced that the embattled school faces a massive $2.1 million budget shortfall due in part to a drop in enrollment, and the institution has already handed out some temporary layoff notices as officials grapple with balancing the books." Later in the article, Ms. Kabbany wrote "fall 2017-18 registration is down about 5 percent, from 3,922 students to 3,713. But the problem is nearly all of the students they lost are nonresidents , who traditionally pay a much higher tuition to attend, officials explained in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by The College Fix."
With enrollment taking that big of a hit, it isn't surprising that layoffs would be right around the corner.
Apparently, Evergreen's communications team isn't top shelf. In the memo announcing the layoffs, they wrote "In a college where 89 percent of the operating budget is in salaries and benefits, it is impossible to reduce the budget by substantial amounts without giving up positions. In anticipation of this, we will soon be announcing a hiring freeze ." I'm pretty certain that's what they just did.
I can't fault the communications team for not wanting to talk about the elephant in the room:
Although the memo does not reference it, the drop in student enrollment can likely be traced back to the national uproar caused after a rowdy group of progressive students took over the school in May and June.
That incident triggered this:
Emails obtained by The College Fix show that some parents pledged to keep their kids away from Evergreen in a development that's known as the "Mizzou Effect." The term references the situation at the University of Missouri, which faced severe financial struggles after a student Black Lives Matter protest in 2014 took over the campus and ruined the school's reputation, prompting a huge decline in enrollment.
I can't blame these parents. To apply an old cliche, Evergreen's administration let the prisoners run the asylum:
Next, students accused the university's administration of racism during a contentious meeting, during which they yelled at and belittled President George Bridges. At this meeting, some white students were told to stand in the back of the room because of the color of their skin. The progressive student protesters also issued a string of demands to combat the alleged racism on campus, most of which the university agreed to implement at an unknown fiscal cost.
These administrators should've stood up to these protesters immediately. Agreeing to these students' demands just added fuel to the fire. This is what letting the patients run the asylum looks like:
Talk about getting ugly quickly. Thanks to this University's attitude of appeasement, their enrollment dropped and they're having to lay faculty off. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out that this is a recipe for long-term disaster.
Posted Thursday, August 31, 2017 6:12 AM
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Nothing ordinary about them
One of my pet peeves is watching people use euphemisms that don't fit the situation. It isn't a major thing, especially considering the crisis that's striking southeast Texas. Still, it's a point worth making. Repeatedly, I've heard Sen. Cruz and other public officials use the term ordinary people in describing acts of 'committing' incredible acts of heroism.
I'll first say that this isn't a criticism of Sen. Cruz. In many ways, the people committing acts of heroism have unassuming, low-key personalities. They don't seek the spotlight but they gravitate towards helping people. Some people, though, are part of organizations that do incredible things. One of the organizations fitting that description is Samaritans Purse. This article highlights what they're doing to help the people of southeast Texas.
According to the article, "One of our disaster relief units is already on the scene in Victoria, and volunteer teams have begun work. They are tarping damaged roofs, chainsawing fallen trees, and cleaning up storm debris. Faith Family Church, located at 2002 E. Mockingbird Lane, serves as our host church."
Then there's stories like this:
I've said it before but I'll repeat it right here. There's no other nation on earth that could do what we're seeing happening in southeast Texas. Whether it's Samaritans Purse sending truckloads of supplies or Bass Pro Shops contributing boats, life vests and high protein snacks for flood victims and first responders, people are doing incredible things. Whether it's convention centers taking in literally thousands of people or Houston McDonalds telling first responders that they're welcome to stop past any of their restaurants for a meal on the house, people are doing incredible things.
If I could wave a magic wand and make a wish come true, I'd wish that Washington, DC, would learn from this response from the 'ordinary' heroes working tirelessly side-by-side to provide the basics that families need. I'd love to see Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to tell the leaders of #Resistance to take a hike. I'd love to see the Tuesday Group and the Freedom Caucus to start providing solutions rather than fighting ideological battles, then not finding a solution.
That likely won't happen but it's worth putting pressure on politicians to think in terms of real solutions rather than just fighting 24/7.
Posted Thursday, August 31, 2017 7:50 AM
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Is Antifa a terrorist organization?
After 3 days of waiting, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi condemned the actions of Antifa. IMHO, that isn't nearly enough. Ashton Whitty, a prominent member of the College Republicans at U-Cal Berkeley, described a frightening situation in this post .
She told a reporter for Campus Reform that she'd been "targeted and stalked during an Antifa march that left several people injured this weekend." Campus Reform's reporter reported that "video footage reviewed by Campus Reform appears to show Antifa members stalking Ashton Whitty, a prominent conservative student at the university and Campus Reform Campus Correspondent, as she was being interviewed by the American Freedom Keepers."
In this video , it's clear that Antifa was proud of their stalking activities, saying that they were "hungry for supremacists", adding that they were "real hungry for white supremacists and there's more of us." Additionally, one Antifa rioter said "you guys are all bleeping racist mother bleepers."
Monday night, Whitty told Martha MacCallum that "They came with black masks, they carried weapons, they were pounding people down with their fists and feet. I knew I had to get out of there. Everything was great until Antifa showed up."
This video confirms that Antifa was armed with unconventional weapons and that they didn't hesitate in using those weapons against college students with whom Antifa disagreed. Further, Antifa didn't see the irony of them using fascist tactics to prevent so-called fascists from speaking.
These aren't the actions of a bunch of protesters. They're the actions of a domestic terrorist group. What type of lunatic gets that bent out of shape? Antifa's stated goal is to highlight fascism. I'd say they're doing a pretty good job with that. The indisputable thing is that they're acting like fascists. It's indisputable because video doesn't lie.
On a different topic, Antifa was upset that they're getting negative press. My suggestion is to have them stop acting like vigilantes and/or anarchists. I'm positive this won't happen but it would be refreshing to see Antifa stop acting like terrorists and anarchists.
Posted Thursday, August 31, 2017 12:54 PM
Comment 1 by John Palmer at 31-Aug-17 08:43 PM
Based on this definition:
www.thefreedictionary.com/terrorist+group?
act of terrorism, terrorism, terrorist act - the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear.
Antifa as a group engages in behaviors that fit the definition of terrorism thus they are a terrorist group. The group leaders and individual actors a long with the funders should be held account for violation of laws associated with terrorism.
