July 1-5, 2016
Jul 01 01:45 Diseased DFL disqualified to lead Jul 01 02:23 Is the indoctrination complete? Jul 03 19:06 Dayton's constitutional stupidity Jul 05 04:13 DFL Culture of Corruption Jul 05 12:09 The day America died?
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Diseased DFL disqualified to lead
Back in late May, 6 GOP legislators sent a letter to Paul Thissen , criticizing him for his temper tantrums that he directed at GOP staffers. That's what elitists do when they don't get their way. In Rep. Thissen's instance, he's spent 2 years in political Siberia. While Thissen mistreated GOP staffers, DFL legislators sat silent.
Lest anyone think that the DFL's corruption is tied only to the House while they're the minority party, the truth is that the DFL's corruption is much deeper than that. The DFL is the majority party in the Senate. Still, DFL Senate Deputy Majority Leader Jeffrey Hayden has admitted to accepting money from Community Action of Minneapolis for " plane tickets, hotel stays and spa services for he and his wife. " That's metro DFL-speak for saying he got caught red-handed doing something he shouldn't have done.
They caught Hayden after the Minnesota Department of Human Services investigated Bill Davis, then the CEO of now-defunct Community Action of Minneapolis, aka CAM. When they investigated CAM, the investigation found that Davis had "spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money on trips, golf and other perks. The Minnesota Department of Human Services and the Minnesota Department of Commerce pulled their contracts with the group after a DHS audit found Community Action overcharged state and federal grant programs for more than $600,000 of administrative costs."
Now, Sen. Sandy Pappas is stonewalling an Ethics Subcommittee hearing in her attempt to protect Sen. Hayden. Alpha News's Julia Erynn has done an outstanding job covering this scandal. Make sure to check out her latest article , which focuses on Sen. Hayden's ethics difficulties.
Electing DFL majorities, then expecting ethical behavior, is foolish. They're experts at sitting silent while they watch other DFL legislators mistreat staffers or rip off public programs for thousands of dollars. At the 1996 Republican National Convention, J.C. Watts gave a memorable keynote speech, saying that the definition of character is "doing the right thing even when no one was watching." Rep. Thissen and Sen. Hayden don't fit that definition.
Posted Friday, July 1, 2016 1:46 AM
No comments.
Is the indoctrination complete?
After reading this LTE , I'm left wondering whether everyone in the DFL is utterly gullible or if it's just a majority of them that are gullible.
I started questioning the premise when I read "Even though I haven't been politically involved, I have done a fair amount of reading. The Minnesota Republican Party seems to be stuck in the thinking that what we need is more tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans." How can you do "a fair amount of reading" and still think that the Republican Party of Minnesota thinks "that what we need is more tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans"?
Anyone with a reading comprehension level above eighth grade knows that the GOP passed a tax bill that would've benefitted veterans, students with student loan debt, farmers, small businesses and parents trying to save for their children's college education. What part of that sounds like Republicans think "tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans" is the path to prosperity?
Either the man who wrote this LTE is illiterate or he's exceptionally dishonest. It's possible he's both.
Posted Friday, July 1, 2016 2:23 AM
Comment 1 by Bob J. at 01-Jul-16 11:31 AM
'Even though I haven't been politically involved, I have done a fair amount of reading what the local party office told me to in preparing this talking-point statement."
I hate it when media leaves out important elements of a sentence.
Comment 2 by eric z at 02-Jul-16 08:31 AM
"After noticing that Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have been the only presidential candidates focusing on the issue of income inequality, a few months ago I started meeting with leaders in the local DFL Party, and I started going to some party meetings. I have found a lot of 'like-minded' people."
Any problems with that part of the LTE? If so, what?
My problem, Clinton, "me tooism" is being downplayed.
Only Bernie, really, has been pushing the issue. Surely not Marco, nor Donald. Ted and Carly? Ted with the Goldman Sachs spouse doing wealth management consulting in Houston?
What's Daudt been saying about income inequality, the incredible rise of the 1%?
Comment 3 by Chad Q at 02-Jul-16 08:39 AM
Here's the deal, there will always be income inequality and government trying to fix the so called problem only makes it worse. How much have we spent on the war on poverty yet there are more people on welfare and food stamps? I'm sure the $35 mil the legislature is dumping on the "income inequality" problem will make things go away. If you are a low or no educated person, you can't expect to make a living wage flipping burgers or at the checkout counter. Get an education in something where there are actual jobs.
Dayton's constitutional stupidity
With tomorrow being Independence Day, it's worthwhile to see which people care about our founding documents. The comments in this editorial indicate that the DFL either don't understand the Constitution or they're dismissive of it.
About 2 weeks ago, a district court ruled that the Next Generation Energy Act, aka the NGEA, violated the Interstate Commerce Clause of the US Constitution. Despite the unanimous ruling, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is appealing the ruling. In his statement, Gov. Dayton said "I will continue to do everything in my power to defend the State of Minnesota's right to protect the quality of the air our citizens breathe."
The thing is that telling other states what they can't do is something that's beyond Gov. Dayton's authority. That principle escaped one commenter who said "Of course, these same people oppose any clean energy preferring the spewing of pollution into our environment...even to the point of ignoring how some of our waters are polluted. I don't want lead in my water. I don't want my health endangered by pollution."
First, the statement is BS. Conservatives love nuclear power, which is exceptionally clean :
The low-carbon electricity produced by such reactors provides 20 percent of the nation's power and, by the estimates of climate scientist James Hansen of Columbia University, avoided 64 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution. They also avoided spewing soot and other air pollution like coal-fired power plants do and thus have saved some 1.8 million lives.
And that's why Hansen, among others, such as former Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, thinks that nuclear power is a key energy technology to fend off catastrophic climate change. "We can't burn all these fossil fuels," Hansen told a group of reporters on December 3, noting that as long as fossil fuels are the cheapest energy source they will continue to be burned. "Coal is almost half the [global] emissions. If you replace these power plants with modern, safe nuclear reactors you could do a lot of [pollution reduction] quickly."
Indeed, he has evidence: the speediest drop in greenhouse gas pollution on record occurred in France in the 1970s and '80s, when that country transitioned from burning fossil fuels to nuclear fission for electricity, lowering its greenhouse emissions by roughly 2 percent per year.
Another commenter who is an attorney said "Congress has no authority to determine whether any state attorney general abused their discretion." In most cases, that's true. When a state AG is dealing with an issue of state law that affects only their state, the federal government should keep its nose out of that state's business. The minute that AG's decision affects multiple states or the AG potentially violates part of the US Constitution, Congress certainly has oversight authority.
Posted Sunday, July 3, 2016 7:06 PM
Comment 1 by JerryE9 at 04-Jul-16 07:35 AM
We need to stop worrying about CO2. Even Obama's EPA says it doesn't matter, but if you have an energy source that is cheaper, easily distributed and reliable, we'll all use it, and if it happens to produce less CO2 or other truly harmful emissions, that's a bonus. And nuclear power not only does that, it produces less RADIATION than a coal-fired plant!
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 04-Jul-16 12:21 PM
The ruling isn't as much about pollution as it is political grandstanding for campaign contributions from environmental activist lunatics. That and the constitutional principles Gov. Dayton is attempting to violate.
Comment 2 by Chad Q at 04-Jul-16 01:44 PM
The constitution is just something that gets in a liberals way while they are forcing their agenda down out throats.
Comment 3 by Karen M at 04-Jul-16 05:22 PM
Happy birthday! :)
Response 3.1 by Gary Gross at 05-Jul-16 04:06 AM
Thanks Karen.
Comment 4 by eric z at 06-Jul-16 09:30 AM
Born on the Fourth of July? Interesting.
Help me. First, "district court ruling," and then "unanimous ruling," suggesting either there was an appellate ruling, or the district court judge and his tapeworm were in agreement. Was it appellate decision making, or only the start of things?
Response 4.1 by Gary Gross at 06-Jul-16 10:18 AM
My mistake, Eric. Good catch. This should help clarify things:
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the federal district court's decision to overrule parts of Minnesota's Next Generation Energy Act (NGEA) on June 15.
The state of Minnesota had previously appealed Judge Susan Richard Nelson's April 18, 2014, decision to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to shut down restrictions imposed by the NGEA, which she said violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
DFL Culture of Corruption
It's impossible to go a day without finding another example of the DFL's culture of corruption. This time, the Minnesota Board of Teaching got cited for contempt of court after Ramsey County Judge Shawn Bartsh "blasted the state's Board of Teaching for suddenly stopping a program that allowed experienced teachers, often from out of state, to get teaching licenses through an alternate method called 'licensure via portfolio.' The judge ordered the agency to resume the program, as required by law." Judge Bartsh ordered the program to resume on Dec. 31, 2015.
In his contempt order, Judge Bartsh said that "the board 'had no excuse for not contacting' one of the teachers attempting to get a license" adding that "the Court does not take the granting of sanctions lightly and would far have preferred [the board] to simply follow the law."
After reading this article, it's pretty clear that the Board isn't interested in following the law:
Kirstin Rogers taught history and English in Utah for 12 years. She has a master's degree and a handful of other certificates. Still, when she moved to Minnesota the state gave her only a temporary teacher's license. She learned she'd have to do a lot of work to get a permanent one.
State law is supposed to allow experienced teachers like Rogers to submit a portfolio demonstrating their competence instead of doing coursework. But the Board of Teaching stopped accepting portfolios three years ago. The board reopened the process under a court order last month but has appealed the ruling.
Rogers contacted the University of Minnesota to see what she'd have to do to gain a permanent teacher's license. The answer was daunting. " I would be required to student teach again ," Rogers said. "And then all these additional courses."
Clearly, this teacher is qualified. The notion that she'd have to student teach again is silly. She taught for 12 years in Utah. What possible reason could the Board of Teaching have for not giving her a permanent teaching license? Rather than explaining their reason, they simply appealed the judge's ruling. Instead, they stood behind political double-speak:
Board director Erin Doan won't talk specifically about the case, but she said the state needs to be careful about whom it allows in the classroom. "We have one of the largest achievement gaps in the nation," Doan said. "And we want to make sure every child in our state has a teacher in front of them that is able to be highly trained in their ability to look at reading difficulty, highly trained in their ability to diagnose math difficulties."
Ms. Doan's explanation is BS. Rather than accepting a qualified, experienced teacher, the Board cited Minnesota's large achievement gaps, then saying that they "want to make sure every child in our state has a teacher in front of them that is able to be highly trained in their ability to look at reading difficulty, highly trained in their ability to diagnose math difficulties."
Simply put, that's politic-speak for saying that the Board was willing to defy a judge. Check back later today for more on this corruption.
Posted Tuesday, July 5, 2016 4:13 AM
Comment 1 by JerryE9 at 05-Jul-16 07:56 AM
Isn't it sort of laughable to say we want capable teachers in every classroom, and then cite the biggest-in-the-nation achievement gap as proof of how well we are doing that?
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 05-Jul-16 01:28 PM
I'd say laughable except that it's a serious issue. GWB made lots of mistakes but he got it right when he said that education is the civil rights issue of the 21st Century.
The day America died?
James Comey's announcement that the FBI wouldn't recommend criminal prosecution of Hillary Clinton or her top aides isn't just disgusting. It's proof that the fix is in to protect Mrs. Clinton. According to this article , "Comey began his address by explaining what investigators found during their investigation. He said that the investigation showed that 110 emails in 52 email chains were determined to include classified information at the time they were received."
The FBI's statement is typical Clinton-speak. That's particularly apparent when they said "Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case. Prosecutors necessarily weigh a number of factors before bringing charges. There are obvious considerations, like the strength of the evidence, especially regarding intent. Responsible decisions also consider the context of a person's actions, and how similar situations have been handled in the past."
That's BS. The Justice Department brought charges against Gen. Petraeus for much less. He plead guilty "for sharing classified information with his biographer and lover, Paula Broadwell."
Speaker Ryan issued this statement about the FBI's findings.
It's a sad day for the rule of law. It's a great day for elitists like Hillary. She's just been told that she can break the law with impunity. This part of Speaker Ryan's statement says it all:
No one should be above the law. But based upon the director's own statement, it appears damage is being done to the rule of law. Declining to prosecute Secretary Clinton for recklessly mishandling and transmitting national security information will set a terrible precedent. The findings of this investigation also make clear that Secretary Clinton misled the American people when she was confronted with her criminal actions.
I'm not big into conspiracy theories. I'll simply say this: Hillary Clinton was treated differently than David Petraeus. Hugh Hewitt tweeted that "nobody is above the rule of law." That statement should be modified to include "except the Clintons. Apparently, the rule of law doesn't apply to them."
Posted Tuesday, July 5, 2016 12:09 PM
Comment 1 by Patrick-M at 05-Jul-16 01:57 PM
RINO Ryan is full of crap - all talk and no action. His words fall on deaf ears. besides he's one of and supports the New World Order gloabalism.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 05-Jul-16 07:41 PM
We'll agree to disagree on that, Pat. I've interviewed Ryan. He's a man in a tough spot trying to manage an unmanageable bunch.
Comment 2 by eric z at 06-Jul-16 09:25 AM
"The day America died?"
Well, Make it great again, right? Or do I misunderstand the thrust of that headline?
My question, did one of the Clintons talk to Comey about grandchildren and golf? Job security? Whatever?
It is a questionable decision, but on the other hand it is good Patraeus took a fall. Comparing one to the other, is it to boost the General, or to say politics had a hand?
There would have been pluses to derailing the Clinton nomination at the Democrats' convention, but it now will not happen. Onward to Trump v. Clinton? Or will there be a derailing before the Dems convene?
Response 2.1 by Gary Gross at 06-Jul-16 10:22 AM
Comparing Hillary with Petraeus is meant to highlight the fact that the Clintons aren't governed by rules. If Loretta Lynch had integrity & character, she'd indict Hillary in a New York minute, then convict her of violating 18 USC 1924 in that same New York minute.
Comment 3 by Rex Newman at 06-Jul-16 06:34 PM
IMHO, this is a win for the GOP. Nobody, left or right, has changed their mind on Hillary's guilt. But in demolishing her alibis, this scandal will follow her all the way to November. Oh, wait. There I go thinking the GOP has the brains and the courage to keep pounding. "When can we expect your next explanation for your reckless behavior? Even the Associated Press agrees with Comey's refutation of your last explanation."
And we must make sure Hillary is the nominee if Trump or whoever is to win.
