January 24-25, 2018
Jan 24 01:29 Two Democratic Parties? Jan 24 04:03 Crying Chuck Schumer Jan 24 11:01 California's economic stupidity Jan 24 11:37 Trump tide lifting more ships Jan 24 21:06 Sen. Schumer's diminishing clout Jan 25 01:19 Another welcoming community? Jan 25 11:16 Trump's improving approval Jan 25 16:35 St. Cloud stupidity on display
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Two Democratic Parties?
One thing that shines through in this article is there's really 2 Democratic Parties. There's the bi-coastal Democratic party that's filled with elitists and the Rust Belt/Great Lakes Democratic Party that actually knows how to talk to blue collar workers and people of faith. What they have in common is anyone's guess. (I suspect very little.)
The first paragraph of the article says "Steering his white Dodge Ram while wearing a tan knit cap, a drab green Carhartt coat and a smear of brown livestock feed on his cheek, Terry Goodin jounced over frozen-hard mud toward his 100 head of beef cattle. 'Make sure they're all four legs down and not four legs up, in this kind of weather,' he told me in his southern Indiana drawl. The temperature overnight had dipped toward zero. Now, midmorning, it stood at 16 degrees. On the rear of his old pickup truck was a 'Farmers For Goodin' bumper sticker, and rattling around his head were thoughts of what he was going to say the following week in a starkly different setting - up in Indianapolis, at the regal limestone capitol building, in his introductory speech as the leader of his caucus in the state legislature."
It continues, saying "I am a Democrat. I am a Democrat from rural Indiana."
That Goodin, 51, who has held political office for more than 17 years, felt the need to say this out loud speaks to the divisions bedeviling the Democratic Party. A father of three and the superintendent of a 500-student school district, Goodin is the last Democrat in Indiana who represents an entirely rural area. A member of the Indiana Farm Bureau, the National Rifle Association and the Austin Church of God, he's an anti-abortion, pro-gun, self-described "Bible-poundin', aisle-runnin'" Pentecostal. This unusual profile for a Democrat makes him a species nearing extinction within the national party, but it's also the very reason he keeps getting reelected here. This paradox is why he is prominently featured in a report set to be made public Thursday by the leadership PAC of third-term congresswoman Cheri Bustos.
In the old days before I could vote, Goodin would've been considered a conservative Democrat. These days, conservative Democrats are almost extinct. Most of them migrated during the 1980s to the Republican Party.
There's little question that Nancy Pelosi wouldn't welcome heartland Democrats to DC. She'd definitely welcome them. Likewise, there's no doubt that she'd ignore them once they got there. Ms. Pelosi wants Democrats of all stripes in DC because that'd increase the odds of her becoming Speaker again. There's little question, though, whether their agenda items would see the light of day. I'm betting they wouldn't.
This is harsh reality:
The facts are harsh. "The number of Democrats holding office across the nation is at its lowest point since the 1920s and the decline has been especially severe in rural America," Bustos writes in the report. In 2009, the report notes, Democrats held 57 percent of the heartland's seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Now: 39 percent. In 2008, Barack Obama won seven of the eight heartland states. In 2012, he won six. In 2016? Trump won six. There are 737 counties in the Midwest - Trump won all but 63 of them .
What's needed for the Democratic Party is for them to dump the elitists/socialists/environmentalists in their party. The elitists are hated because they're snobby. The socialists aren't trusted on the economy. Environmentalists are viewed as hating blue collar workers.
A political party that's populated with snobbish people, that isn't trusted on the economy and that hates blue collar workers has limited appeal. That's where the Democratic Party is at in 2018.
Posted Wednesday, January 24, 2018 1:29 AM
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Crying Chuck Schumer
Make no mistake about this: President Trump is establishing the parameters for a DACA deal . In fact, he's drawing a bright line in the sand on this, saying "Cryin' Chuck Schumer fully understands, especially after his humiliating defeat, that if there is no Wall, there is no DACA. We must have safety and security, together with a strong Military, for our great people!"
This is also a sharp rebuke to Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham. They've both advocated for a clean DACA bill for all intents and purposes. Technically, their bill isn't clean but it's a far cry from ending chain migration or building the wall.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders also rebuked Flake and Graham, saying "In a bipartisan meeting here at the White House two weeks ago we outlined a path forward on four issues: serious border security, an end to chain migration, the cancellation of the outdated and unsafe visa lottery and a permanent solution to DACA. Unfortunately, the Flake-Graham-Durbin agreement does not meet these bench marks."
By saying this, Sanders has essentially told Democrats that they won't take legislation negotiated by Flake and Graham seriously so they shouldn't waste time with that legislation. That isn't to say Republicans would be totally opposed to Graham-negotiated immigration reform. There are other squishes in the Senate. What I'm saying is that President Trump has made it perfectly clear that he won't accept anything that Bob Goodlatte, Tom Cotton and Martha McSally haven't approved.
Cryin' Chuck Schumer fully understands, especially after his humiliating defeat, that if there is no Wall, there is no DACA. We must have safety and security, together with a strong Military, for our great people!
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 24, 2018
Sen. Schumer has opened with a hardball position :
"There is no deal that Sen. Cotton or Rep. [Bob] Goodlatte could forge that could earn the majority of either the House or the Senate," Schumer said, adding, "If Sen. Cotton and Rep. Goodlatte have veto power over an agreement, everyone knows there won't be an agreement." He said the same thing directly to the president, Politico reported.
The Goodlatte bill would pass the House because President Trump has endorsed it and because it's what the American people want. These negotiations aren't dividing Republicans. They're uniting them:
So far the attacks appear to be stiffening the White House's resolve. Sanders defended Miller from what she characterized as a "sad and desperate attempt by a few people trying to tarnish a staffer." One of her deputies, Hogan Gidley, shot back that Graham was the outlier on immigration, not Miller, and said the South Carolina Republican had been in "lockstep" with Democrats for "decades" on "amnesty" and "open borders."
Democrats argue that this kind of GOP infighting demonstrates precisely why immigration hawks are disruptive of any attempt to arrive at a deal. If one is not reached by Feb. 8, they believe they are owed a vote on a clean DACA bill as a condition of ending the first shutdown fight, a strategic decision that did not wow liberal activists but may have been necessitated by the position of the ten Democratic senators up for re-election this year in states that Trump won as well as polling unfavorable to an immigration-driven shutdown.
If this reporting is accurate, then Democrats have an uphill fight on DACA. It isn't that DACA isn't popular. It's that large majorities of people also want family-based, aka chain, migration and the diversity visa lottery ended and the wall built. If Democrats dig in their heels on that, they'll lose this fight.
Posted Wednesday, January 24, 2018 4:03 AM
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California's economic stupidity
I'd be surprised if California businesses aren't making plans to leave the Golden State. That's because Assemblymen Kevin McCarty and Phil Ting are proposing "Assembly Constitutional Amendment 22, which calls for a 10 percent surcharge on companies with net earnings over $1 million." McCarty and Ting think that "the Trump administration's tax reform plan" to be a "middle-class tax increase." (How these idiots graduated from junior high is still a mystery. They certainly aren't math majors. Perhaps they opted for 'Save the Dolphins' classes instead of math classes?)
In a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle, Ting said "It is unconscionable to force working families to pay the price for tax breaks and loopholes benefiting corporations and wealthy individuals. This bill will help blunt the impact of the federal tax plan on everyday Californians by protecting funding for education, affordable health care and other core priorities." After introducing the constitutional amendment, Ting took to Twitter to brag on his constitutional amendment.
In contrast to the tumultuous governance model championed by Washington these days, I am grateful to hail from a state that has prioritized fiscal responsibility and progressive investments. #CABudget https://t.co/vK8Is24E3g
- Phil Ting (@PhilTing) January 10, 2018
It's stunning that the budget committee chairman thinks that imposing a 10% surcharge on businesses is an illustration of fiscal responsibility. Not even Gov. Moonbeam is that stupid. Here's the good news:
The paper reported that the two lawmakers face an uphill battle because Democrats in the state have lost their supermajority in the Legislature.
There are still some sane people left in California. The Sacramento Bee called the McCarty-Ting proposal "dumb", adding that "California's tax system should be updated to match a 21st century economy. The high sales tax rate, which hits low-income people hardest, ought to be lowered, and certain services usAXed by wealthier people and corporations ought to be subject to taxes. Proposition 13, the property tax cutting measure approved by voters 40 years ago, could be revisited. Bills that blindly seek to soak big business and the rich at a time of budget surplus solve nothing."
This interview makes a couple important points:
Businesses certainly are mobile. Jerry Brown, aka Gov. Moonbeam, can't change that.
Posted Wednesday, January 24, 2018 11:01 AM
Comment 1 by Lisa at 24-Jan-18 06:37 PM
I live in California and I feel like I'm under attack on a daily basis.
Democrats attack us spiritually, financially, morally, and more.
There is no end to their greed & depravity.
THAT'S why we are selling out properties and moving to a more friendly state.
And we're taking our Bibles & guns with us!
Trump tide lifting more ships
Yesterday, Democrats started hinting that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory as a result of the budget agreement that ended the shutdown. After the Democrats' whisper campaign started, Sen. McConnell took to the Senate floor to talk about the booming Trump economy , saying "The rising tide of economic optimism I have been highlighting on the floor is not showing any signs of subsiding. Yesterday alone, three of the nation's largest companies announced major new investments in the U.S. economy and workforce. Each said their decisions were made possible by the improved business climate created by the landmark tax code overhaul that Congress passed last year."
Sen. McConnell continued, saying "First, Verizon announced plans to invest a chunk of its tax reform savings right back in its employees. Next month, about 155,000 Verizon workers - excluding senior management - will receive stock bonuses valued around $2,500." Then Sen. McConnell said "the Walt Disney Company announced a new investment of at least $175 million in its U.S. workforce. Over 125,000 employees will receive cash bonuses, and Disney will invest $50 million in an employee education program designed to help hourly employees access higher education and vocational training." Next, Sen. McConnell said "JP Morgan Chase announced a $20 billion-dollar, five-year comprehensive investment plan to support economic growth and American workers. That plan includes permanent raises for 22,000 employees, hundreds of new bank branches across the country, thousands of new jobs, expanded philanthropy, and an increase in loans for affordable housing and small business development." Finally, Sen. McConnell said "Starbucks has announced that it is permanently raising pay and conferring new benefits like one-time stock bonuses and expanded paid leave. This major investment in its U.S. workforce will affect more than 150,000 employees."
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Though President Obama's spinmeisters will attempt to claim this is the result of President Obama's policies, the truth is that the economy is booming because President Trump got rid of President Obama's policies. These companies have made it clear that these bonuses and higher wages are the result of the Trump/GOP tax cuts.
During the Obama administration, economic growth was mediocre to pathetic. Since the Trump administration started eliminating Obama administration regulations and Congress passed the Trump/GOP tax cuts, the economy roared to life. That's because businesses had an incentive to invest their money in their workers, R & D, and building plants.
As this continues, Democrats will have a difficult time convincing voters that life with Republicans in control is miserable. By the time Election Day 2018 arrives, people might be positively impressed.
Posted Wednesday, January 24, 2018 11:37 AM
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Sen. Schumer's diminishing clout
According to CNN's article , Sen. Schumer is looking for a reset in negotiations with the Trump administration on immigration, saying "We're starting over. I took our thing off -- they took their thing off the table, I took our thing, we're starting over." That's the Democrats' official statement but it's meaningless.
In an interview with FNC's Harris Faulkner, Sen. Mike Rounds was asked about negotiations. Ms. Faulkner said "I'm hearing that some of the talks are frosty, chilly. How would you describe them?" Sen. Rounds' replied, saying "Well, I think once you get down to where the talks are actually going on, I think they're going pretty well. Our discussions with rank-and-file -- I think we're making progress. I know that Sen. Schumer has to take a hardline -- his far-left base is gonna demand that of him but I think the President responded to him very well, making it very clear that border security is part of any arrangement concerning a DACA agreement. And he's absolutely correct and that's the direction we're going in and we're really not hearing any disagreement among Democrats who are actually trying to find a solution."
Another thing that's changing the dynamic of this debate is that the Trump administration will be releasing a framework for what it'll take to find a DACA fix. According to the article, Ms. Sanders "declined to provide details about what would be included in the framework, including whether it would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children, known as Dreamers, signaling only that it will represent 'a compromise that members of both parties can support.'"
There's no question that Sen. Schumer is facing a ton of pressure from the special interests not to cave. That's virtually a mission impossible. Red state Democrats will almost certainly have to vote for the things that President Trump wants. If they don't, they'll sign their political death certificate this November.
There's no hiding on this high profile issue. With people this engaged, it's pretty much impossible to hide. It's decision time.
Posted Wednesday, January 24, 2018 9:06 PM
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Another welcoming community?
Last November, the St. Cloud City Council debated a resolution that said St. Cloud is a welcoming community. It was a waste of time though the St. Cloud Times and liberal activists hailed the resolution as being significant. The Hutchinson City Council apparently disagrees with the St. Cloud Times and the city's liberal activists. Back in December, Council Member John Lofdahl brought the resolution forward, explaining that "(The 14th Amendment) is equal protection for all people, including noncitizens. This is in our constitution. The First Amendment is the free exercise of religion. So that doesn't mean Christian religion, or Islam, or Buddhism, or Native American. It means you have the right to practice any religion. And again, it's the 14th Amendment that defines your rights as a citizen or as a visitor to our country. And I think that's all this resolution does. It affirms those constitutional priorities."
Council Members Mary Christensen and Chad Czmowski, and Mayor Gary Forcier said the resolution wasn't needed. Christensen "said that she had never heard anybody say Hutchinson was not a good place to live, and felt the city was already welcoming to new residents. She also said most of the people she spoke with felt the same way," adding that "I will tell you that I've met a lot of people who have talked to me about this, a lot of people have called and talked to me personally, and everybody is saying, 'Why do you need a resolution in the first place? Hutchinson is a welcoming city. Have we ever turned anybody away?"
I'm taking a different perspective on this. The core functions of city government are to plow streets, fix potholes, protect citizens, put out fires and arrest criminals. Passing resolutions stating that you're a welcoming community doesn't fit into any of those categories. That's why it's a waste of the council's time. It's a distraction. This says everything that needs to be said:
"I've probably spent more time talking about this resolution than selling bicycles," said Czmowski, who owns Outdoor Motion on Main Street. "That being said, I've had a lot of experiences like Mary did where people either completely disagreed with what was said in the resolution, or found it to be a waste of time."
This is telling, too:
When Lofdahl said he had heard from people who did not feel welcomed in the community and left town because of it, Christensen said some of the blame may belong to those people. "(Being welcomed) to a community and getting involved is (partly the responsibility) of the person who is coming in to the community. It's a two-way street," she said. "If you don't reach out and join a church, get active in the community, reach out and meet your neighbor, say hello and greet them and get acclimated to this community, it will never happen. You cannot force people to be welcomed."
Passing a resolution that says the city is welcoming doesn't mean a thing. It's a nice bumper sticker or t-shirt but, by itself, it's meaningless. Actions speak louder than words.
This might be the smartest quote in the article:
Carol Johnson said she believed the city was welcoming enough and was concerned that the resolution would bring unwanted changes to the community. "With every change made to this community, there are changes. There are changes to the way our high school, our grade schools, when you have different populations you have different needs. You have community things that have to be paid for , so whenever there is a change in the populace, there are going to be changes in the cost to the community."
St. Cloud is living proof of that. That isn't automatically bad. It's just reality.
Posted Thursday, January 25, 2018 1:19 AM
Comment 1 by Lisa at 25-Jan-18 08:34 AM
The negative reaction from the community to his proposed resolution made John Lofdahl sad. You have all contributed to the melting of another snowflake!
Comment 2 by Bob Enos at 25-Jan-18 09:20 AM
One councilmember equated the resolution to her small retail business, where she posts her hours of business to passersby know they are welcome. Gee, I thought businesses post their hours because they need customers in order to make money?
Comment 3 by Leo Pusateri at 25-Jan-18 11:01 AM
Heh--One would think, Bob. Another side to that coin is that business posts hours as a condition of welcoming. A business that is open 9-5 doesn't necessarily welcome people at 3 in the morning. In other words, there ARE conditions. You WANT to welcome people who are going to be contributing to the community.
Unfortunately there are a critical mass of those who do nothing but drain resources or demand that the larger community bring itself to conform its lifestyle to their personal beliefs, wants or other demands, and not feel the need nor obligation to reciprocate. Should the community be obligated to 'welcome' those people, as well?
Comment 4 by Crimson Trace at 25-Jan-18 11:38 AM
Ditto to Bob & Leo!
Trump's improving approval
Recently, the Republicans' deficit in the generic ballot polling has seen significant improvement. It still isn't where I'd like it to be but it's trending in the right direction. What's got to worry Democrats, in addition to their losing ground on the generic ballot polling, is the improvement in President Trump's approval rating .
According to the article, a "Fox News Poll conducted at the end of President Trump's first year in the White House finds more voters rate the economy positively today than have in nearly two decades. And they give the White House credit for that: nearly twice as many say the Trump administration has made the economy better than made it worse: 40 percent vs. 22 percent. One-third says the administration has not made a difference (34 percent)."
Democrats will have a difficult time explaining away why the economy has dramatically improved since President Obama left office. They'll have difficulty explaining the question "Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling the following issues? Economy: Approve 51%, Disapprove 41%, Not Sure 8%"
Overall, President Trump's approval rating has improved:
The "condition of the economy" has improved, too:
In fact, it's improved quite dramatically. As I've said before, in the past, recessions have ended without people feeling like it's ended. The Great Recession ended during President Obama's administration but people didn't notice their lives improving. Thanks to the Trump/GOP tax cuts and the Trump/GOP deregulation and mostly because companies are handing out big bonuses and/or pay raises or improving employee benefits.
BTW, those pay raises and bonuses aren't crumbs like this buffoon thinks:
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Finally, Democrats will have a difficult time explaining why they voted unanimously against the Trump/GOP tax cuts. Anyone that thinks there's a big blue wave building that's going to swamp Republicans should take another look at what the polls are saying.
Posted Thursday, January 25, 2018 11:16 AM
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St. Cloud stupidity on display
Prof. Mark Jaede's LTE is intellectually insulting. Speaking of President Trump's recent comments about immigration, Prof. Jaede apparently took President Trump's statements literally. In the LTE, Prof. Jaede wrote "Our president has called black-majority nations 's---holes' and announced his preference for immigrants from Norway. This is a call to return to the race-based immigration policies of 1882-1964, excluding most Asians, favoring Western Europeans, and severely limiting immigration of 'inferior' Southern and Eastern Europeans."
First, the St. Cloud Times should be ashamed of themselves for publishing this content. Several U.S. senators in the room disputed Sen. Durbin's statement. These senators insist that President Trump never used that disgusting word. Prof. Jaede, like other Democrat activists, isn't afraid of using statements that were never spoken to win a political fight. (Think Al Sharpton using Hands Up, Don't Shoot.)
Prof. Jaede essentially is a paid DFL activist. While it's true that he's professor at St. Cloud State, it's also true that most of his time is spent working on union-related issues. That's the euphemism used to describe union activism. Last fall, I wrote this post about some local vandalism visited upon Granite City Baptist Church. Prior to the event, Prof. Jaede used SCSU's listserv to talk about the upcoming event:
This is political activism, something that shouldn't be permitted while using taxpayer-funded resources. If Prof. Jaede wants to promote a political event, he should use his private email address and private email list. Apparently, that thought didn't appeal to Prof. Jaede.
Here's a word of advice to Prof. Jaede: If you're going to accuse people of corrupt acts, it's best not to be corrupt yourself.
Posted Thursday, January 25, 2018 4:35 PM
Comment 1 by Margaret at 25-Jan-18 06:31 PM
Funny, but I was just mentioning this same thing to Mayor Kleis. I knew the Union thugs were behind it but not the Jaede connection. Makes perfect sense, though. We need more people to know how dangerous this is and how our tax money supports this illegal activity. Thanks Gary for exposing it!
