December 6, 2017
Dec 06 00:57 Mueller's credibility crisis Dec 06 07:34 Schumer, Pelosi accept Trump invitation Dec 06 08:31 The DFL's budget spin Dec 06 09:06 Chris Cillizza's 2018 spin Dec 06 15:26 Trump: Jerusalem is Israel's capitol Dec 06 18:01 When will Sen. Franken resign?
Prior Months: Jan Feb ~ May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Mueller's credibility crisis
Robert Mueller's investigation into possible Trump-Russia collusion faces credibility difficulties thanks to Andrew Weissman and Peter Strzok .
First, Mueller's investigation is getting criticized for Peter Strzok's texting. According to this article , "The messages from Strzok to another FBI expert assigned to the Mueller team were discovered in the course of that internal review. The wording of the messages sent during the 2016 campaign appeared to be making fun of then-candidate Trump, and raised concerns that they could be seen as being pro-Clinton, the sources said." Further, the article explained that "Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer who was assigned to the Mueller investigation, received the messages."
Next, it's important to know that Strzok "oversaw the bureau's interviews with ousted National Security Advisor Michael Flynn" and that he "led the investigation of the Hillary Clinton email server as the No. 2 official in the FBI's counterintelligence division", too. It's noteworthy, too, that Strzok "changed former FBI Director James Comey's early draft language about Hillary Clinton's actions regarding her private email server from 'grossly negligent' to 'extremely careless.'"
It's one thing to have opinions about political candidates. It's quite another to change politically sensitive documents about a presidential candidate to help her avoid being indicted.
Then there's the story about Andrew Weissman. Weissman sent an email to "outgoing acting Attorney General Sally Yates after she was fired in January by President Trump for refusing to defend his controversial travel ban." Weissman wrote "I am so proud" in the email's subject line before adding "And in awe. Thank you so much. All my deepest respects" in the email's text.
This doesn't excuse Gen. Flynn's lying to the FBI. It does question whether Mueller's investigation is capable of treating both parties fairly, though.
Posted Wednesday, December 6, 2017 12:57 AM
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Schumer, Pelosi accept Trump invitation
This time, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi accepted Donald Trump's invitation . Let the negotiating begin. This time, Schumer and Pelosi are sounding a more conciliatory tone. This time, they issued a joint statement that said "We need to reach a budget agreement that equally boosts funds for our military and key priorities here at home. There is a bipartisan path forward on all of these items."
One thing that's virtually certain is that a DACA fix won't be part of the final agreement. That's because President Trump is threatening his first veto if it's included in the spending bill. The Washington Examiner is reporting that the "White House came out firmly against a plan earlier this month to fold a legislative fix for undocumented youth into Congress' year-end appropriations bill, arguing that there is plenty time left for lawmakers to devise a solution before the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program expires in March."
President Trump is a shrewd negotiator. He's trying to pressure Democrats into agreeing to fund the building of Kate's Wall. After last week's verdict in San Francisco in the Kate Steinle murder, Democrats are playing defense on building the wall. If Democrats say no to funding the wall, the ads will write themselves. 'Democrats are weak on the border' or 'Democrats care more about illegal aliens than they care about U.S. citizens.' That would be just part of their problem. After that, Democrats would lose on DACA, too.
Republicans have a majority in both the House and Senate. But they will need some Democratic support to get the spending bill past Senate procedural hurdles that require 60 votes, since there are only 52 Republicans in the 100-member chamber.
Democrats have to attend this meeting. If they don't, this picture will be worth half a dozen lost Senate seats:
"The President has made clear any legislative action on DACA must be paired with border security including the wall, interior enforcement, and ending chain migration,' Gidley said.
Posted Wednesday, December 6, 2017 7:34 AM
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The DFL's budget spin
My jaw dropped when I read this article , especially when I read "State economic officials are blaming slowing economic growth nationwide, impacts of the 2017 Minnesota Legislature's actions and unknown impacts of federal tax reform for the projected deficit." GDP was just revised upward . Wall Street economists are predicting 4% growth for the 4th quarter. They're also predicting a continuation of strong economic performance for 2018.
Let's state this clearly. Gov. Dayton's policy priorities aren't pro-growth policies. They didn't look that bad compared with President Obama's policies but they're looking terrible compared with the economic performance thus far under Trump. Under Trump, the economy is growing. Consumer confidence is sky-high. Unemployment is dropping fast. Jobs are getting created at a faster rate than during the Obama administration.
Commissioner Frans' spin that the nationwide economy is slowing is utter nonsense. It doesn't have anything to do with reality. Then there's this:
"Considerable uncertainty remains about what U.S. policy changes will be enacted and their impact on the economy," state officials wrote in their forecast. "At this time, it is unclear what tax law changes will emerge from the U.S. Congress and how those changes will affect the federal deficit and economic activity. Congress faces imminent deadlines for funding the government and for raising the debt ceiling, and possible changes to trade and immigration policy also bring uncertainty."
What a bunch of BS. First, the tax cuts are coming and they'll have a positive impact on the economy. They won't have a negative impact on the deficit. In fact, revenues will increase significantly when money is repatriated. Check out what Newt Gingrich had to say about the economy in this interview:
Economic growth is essential to fixing the deficits. Raising taxes doesn't create jobs or increase revenues. Based on these basic economic principles, it isn't difficult to see that Commissioner Frans is in a difficult position. If he admits that economic growth in Minnesota is lagging behind nationwide economic growth, DFL gubernatorial candidates will have to campaign against that comparison. That's political suicide. It wasn't difficult for the DFL to look good compared against the Obama administration's economic growth. It's virtually impossible for the DFL to look good compared with the robust economic growth of the Trump administration.
Gov. Dayton insisted on too much spending. Now he's trying to blame the deficit on the GOP tax relief. Here's a hint to Gov. Dayton: if there's a deficit, dip into the state's oversized Rainy Day Fund, which currently sits at $1.6B. To Republicans: there's no need to renegotiate the tax cuts. If you can't use the Rainy Day Fund for rainy days, then it's worthless. I'd issue a statement saying that this is precisely why a Rainy Day Fund was created.
The GOP legislature should pass a bill funding the legislative branch. The minute Gov. Dayton signs it, I'd adjourn sine die.
Posted Wednesday, December 6, 2017 8:31 AM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 06-Dec-17 07:38 PM
There's going to be a budget deficit because the Dayton DFL dopes spent all the money in previous years on programs that need continual sources of money and raised taxes and smart people like me started putting more of our money into tax free accounts so the greedy DFL couldn't spend it. If I'm smart enough to do that, just think of how much money the rich are not allowing the government to have!
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 07-Dec-17 01:58 AM
Add to that the outmigration of people & you've got a crisis waiting to happen.
Comment 2 by John Palmer at 07-Dec-17 03:04 AM
Remember DFL tax and spend policies have created an economic climate that produces lower GDP growth than the rest of the country. It's the years of bad policy that have left the state at risk of decline.
Chris Cillizza's 2018 spin
This article doesn't have much in the way of credibility. It starts by saying "One of the best ways to gauge the relative health of a political party's brand is to see how willing people are to say they identify with the party. Which is why new Gallup poll numbers on party identification should worry Republicans heading into an election year."
That's national polling, which might be helpful in a presidential election. It's virtually meaningless when there aren't any nationwide races. The Democrats' problem still is that they haven't reconnected with blue collar workers. In fact, they haven't tried reconnecting with them. That means Republicans will dominate the congressional races from the Rust Belt through the Great Lakes states and deep into the South. If Republicans don't get slaughtered in the Northeast, they'll maintain their majority in the House. Period.
With the economy likely to roar next year, Republicans will campaign on a return to prosperity thanks to the tax cuts and a significant reduction in regulations. The economy, not party ID, will determine who wins next November. This paragraph is more than a little over-the-top:
Still, the Republican Party's current status on party ID is yet another data point -- along with Trump's ongoing approval slump and historic trends working against the president's party in midterm elections -- that suggests 2018 could be a disaster for Republicans.
Cillizza is still thinking in pre-Trump thinking. The normal rules simply don't apply to him. There are lots of people who've told pollsters that they don't like Trump who wouldn't think of voting for anyone but Trump.
Finally, I can't trust a person's analysis that questions President Trump's mental competency:
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Posted Wednesday, December 6, 2017 9:06 AM
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Trump: Jerusalem is Israel's capitol
This afternoon, President Trump officially announced "that America formally recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital city." Predictably, opponents raised concerns that this might derail the (mostly imaginary) peace talks.
For more than 20 years, the 'international community', another fictional creation, has insisted that recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capitol would prevent a peace agreement. That's another farce. The Palestinian Authority, aka the public version of Hamas, is the biggest impediment to Middle East peace. They've had the opportunity to establish a Jewish state multiple times. Each time, they've rejected the terms because they wouldn't admit that Israel has a right to exist.
In his speech, President Trump said "I have determined that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. While previous presidents have made this a major campaign promise, they failed to deliver. Today I am delivering. When I came into office I promised to look at the world's challenges with open eyes and very fresh thinking. We have declined to acknowledge any Israeli capital, at all. But today we finally acknowledge the obvious, that Jerusalem is Israel's capital. This is nothing more or less than a recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do. It is something that has to be done."
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This is long overdue. Here's Prime Minister Netanyahu's response to President Trump's speech:
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Posted Wednesday, December 6, 2017 3:26 PM
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When will Sen. Franken resign?
Now that Democrats, including DNC Chair Thomas Perez and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have stopped supporting Al Franken , the next question is when Franken will resign. Initially, MPR reported that he'd resign Thursday . Since that initial reporting, though, the Franken people have disputed that report in a tweet, saying "No final decision has been made and the senator is still talking with his family."
Franken's staff can say whatever they want but the truth is that he's history. At this point, politically speaking, he's a dead man walking. It's just a matter of time until he resigns.
Sen. Schumer issued a statement, saying "Senator Franken should resign. I consider Senator Franken a dear friend and greatly respect his accomplishments, but he has a higher obligation to his constituents and the Senate, and he should step down immediately."
Meanwhile, Amy Klobuchar issued this odd statement via Twitter , saying "Sexual harassment is unacceptable. This morning I spoke with Senator Franken and, as you know, he will be making an announcement about his future tomorrow morning. I am confident he will make the right decision."
This tweet captures the Democrats' sincerity perfectly:
It took SEVEN accusers - SEVEN - for these "champions of women's rights" to demand an apparent serial sexual harasser to step down.
SEVEN.
She followed that up with this tweet :
"Zero Tolerance" apparently means "when you reach a watershed of six people accusing someone of groping them."
Posted Wednesday, December 6, 2017 6:01 PM
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