July 8-12, 2017
Jul 08 09:56 Bill de Blasio, dog excrement Jul 08 22:57 Rebecca Otto's phony award Jul 10 01:12 Mark Penn: voice of sanity? Jul 10 05:30 Gov. Dayton's wrong perspective Jul 10 07:03 Paul Marquart's spinelessness Jul 12 19:29 Sanders & Warren's rigged economy
Prior Months: Jan Feb ~ May Jun
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Bill de Blasio, dog excrement
I won't mince words in this post. I haven't respected NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio since he was elected. I didn't think it possible but my respect for him shrunk this week. Via HotAir's Allahpundit , I learned that Mayor de Blasio flew to Germany to protest President Trump while his city grieved after "Officer Miosotis Familia, a mother of three who was gunned down in her command unit as she wrapped up her shift.
Nothing says 'I'm ignoring police officers' like a mayor who flies off to Germany to protest the American president of the other party. Republican Nicole Malliotakis summed things up perfectly, saying "A member of the NYPD was murdered, a homeless crisis continues to worsen and our subway system seems to be on the verge of collapse and Mayor de Blasio has been criss-crossing the country pushing his national agenda, and now this."
Mayor de Blasio just killed his national ambitions. Pictures of him protesting while his city's crises go unresolved will leave a lasting impression. If there's one thing the American people won't tolerate, it's a politician who is indifferent to cold-hearted towards law enforcement and the military. Mayor de Blasio is definitely cold-hearted towards law enforcement.
People know that I don't agree with Eric Bolling often. His monologue in this video and the segment that follows is spot on:
Mayor de Blasio is a hard left progressive who doesn't care about governing. He's a despicable human being, too. Bolling is right. He shouldn't return to NYC. NYC needs a real mayor, not this disgusting excuse for a human being.
Posted Saturday, July 8, 2017 9:56 AM
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Rebecca Otto's phony award
Remember when President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize less than a month into his presidency? It's over 8 years ago but it shows how some awards are totally phony. This article tells a similar story except on a statewide scale. According to the article, "Minnesota State Auditor Rebecca Otto has been warded the 2017 William R. Snodgrass Leadership Award by the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers (NSAA). Otto was presented the award by current NSAA President Steven Eells, State Auditor of New Jersey. The award is given annually by the organization to '...recognize individuals who have demonstrated sustained outstanding leadership and notable contributions to state government auditing."
The article continues, saying "Award winners must have exhibited long-term leadership in a state auditing environment; distinctive leadership and notable accomplishment in state government auditing; innovative thinking and/or creative development of improvements in state government audit programs or techniques; and, recognized leadership and professionalism at the state level."
If that's the criteria for winning this award, Otto should've told the NSAA that she didn't deserve it. That's because the counties that were audited by her office finished too late and cost taxpayers far more than the counties that were audited by private firms. That isn't my idea of exhibiting "long-term leadership" or "notable accomplishment." In fact, that's my definition of failure.
Otto was named by The Institute of Internal Auditors as one of the "15 Most Influential Professionals in Government Auditing" in 2014. She received the NASACT President's Award in 2014 for her work on the national alliance to transform state government. Under her leadership, the Minnesota Office of the State Auditor received an NSAA Excellence in Accountability Award in 2009 for the special project "Best Practices Review: Reducing Energy Costs in Local Government."
Instead of wasting time on that "special project", is it possible that Otto could've spent more time making sure audits got finished on time?
Posted Saturday, July 8, 2017 10:57 PM
Comment 1 by Rex Newman at 11-Jul-17 12:19 AM
There being no evidence of superior performance of her duties, quite the opposite in fact, I feel safe suggesting the award was for her heroic acts of preserving this anachronism. The time has come to amend the State Constitution to eliminate this office, like we did for Treasurer. If this job is worth doing by elected amateurs, surely it's better put the hands of accounting professionals at the State Revenue dept.
Mark Penn: voice of sanity?
Is it possible that Mark Penn is a voice for Democratic sanity? In this article , it certainly sounds that way.
Penn is right in saying "I am for the Democratic Party to move back to the center. The center is where America is." The far left isn't appealing to many Americans. That being said, the far left, where Bill de Blasio, Bernie Sanders and Tom Steyer live, is where the energy is.
Still, the Democratic Party is a long ways away from recapturing the majority in the House or Senate. This past week, the DCCC sent out an email blast asking people to vote on potential bumper sticker slogans. One slogan option that the DCCC asked people to vote on was "Resist & Persist." Another option was "She persisted, we resisted." Then there was the slogan "Democrats 2018 -- I mean, have you seen the other guys?"
These are actual slogans that the DCCC is considering. Frankly, they sound like a bunch of slogans that grade school students wrote. Last night, Greg Gutfeld had a little fun at the DCCC's expense:
Democrats deserve to get mocked. At this point, they're a joke totally reliant on identity politics. Why shouldn't Democrats be mocked mercilessly? Their leadership is virtually nonexistent. Whatever the Republicans' faults are, and they definitely exist, Democrats don't have ideas to rally around . Until that changes, Democrats should expect their losing streak to continue.
Posted Monday, July 10, 2017 1:12 AM
Comment 1 by JerryE9 at 10-Jul-17 09:26 AM
Let's face it, the only argument Democrats have had for some time is that "at least we're not Republicans." And they get away with it because the media picks up every anti-conservative/Republican meme around, half-true or patently ridiculous, and hammers it until people believe it. As has been said, "keep it up, snowflakes, you are guaranteeing Trump's re-election." People are catching on.
Gov. Dayton's wrong perspective
Last week, Gov. Dayton recommended that a fund be started to instruct police officers. At Gov. Dayton's announcement, unfortunately, the most well-received speaker was Valerie Castile , Philando Castile's mother.
That's mostly because Gov. Dayton proposed that the training fund be named after Philando Castile. That didn't sit well with the police. Their response was that "Still, the topic of naming the fund came up. Dennis Flaherty, a former executive director of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association who was at the meeting, said it was 'fair to say there was disagreement' in the law enforcement community over naming the fund."
Castile's mother was well-received because she said "At the end of the day, everyone wants to go home. The police wants to go home and the civilian wants to go home. And if we can combine and work together as human beings that will happen. We got to learn how to communicate better with each other. We're supposed to be the most intelligent species on the planet, but look (at) what we do to one another. We're worse off than some animals, that just go around and prey on people."
A loyal reader of LFR told me that Philando Castile's uncle has participated in some meetings designed to work on police training issues. I was told that Castile's uncle, for whatever it's worth, is fairly level-headed. That's believable in light of this paragraph:
Of police, she said, 'We need them because the world would be chaotic if we didn't have the police. Don't get me wrong: I love having the police to protect and serve us. But when it comes to the point where there's miscommunication and it turns out the way it turned out for my son, it's unacceptable.'
This is a tragedy. This is the dashcam video of the shooting:
Gov. Dayton, unfortunately, spoke before he had the facts in the shooting. When he spoke, Gov. Dayton said that Castile probably wouldn't have gotten shot if he was white. Gov. Dayton said that not knowing that Officer Yanez is Hispanic. Gov. Dayton said that without seeing the video of the shooting.
Posted Monday, July 10, 2017 5:30 AM
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Paul Marquart's spinelessness
My first reaction after reading this article is that Rebecca Otto is a spoiled brat who can't take no for an answer. Despite the fact that there's nothing in Minnesota's constitution that assigns responsibilities to the auditor's office, Otto insists that the auditor's office was totally gutted by legislation.
The other reaction I had came after I read DFL Rep. Paul Marquart say "It is basically these three counties defending a state law ... for all 87 counties. It is fair to spread [the expense] statewide." What spinelessness. Why can't Rep. Marquart criticize Otto? Saying that Otto's lawsuit is frivolous is understatement. What's worse is that it's taxpayer-funded. Despite these things, Rep. Marquart didn't hesitate in spending taxpayers' money on the lawsuit.
This is proof that DFL legislators not having the spine to stand up to other DFL politicians. The reason behind the DFL's silence is because the DFL isn't for the working people. They're for the special interests. Period.
I've written before that private auditors finish the job faster and cost less than the government auditors from Otto's office. The DFL defends the government auditors by funding Otto's lawsuit. I didn't see Rep. Marquart fighting for taxpayers when this bill was being debated. Now it's worse:
Now the reimbursement funds are caught up in the larger legal battle between the governor's office and the Legislature. In a first-ever move in Minnesota, the DFL governor vetoed funding for the Republican-controlled legislature after what he called 'last-minute legislative treachery'. The Legislature inserted a provision in a budget bill that would withhold funding for the Department of Revenue unless the governor signed its package of tax cuts.
Not only did Rep. Marquart vote for spending money on the lawsuit but he voted against tax relief for middle-class Minnesotans. I know this because all DFL representatives and senators voted against the tax relief package. Further, the DFL legislators voted against that tax relief after voting overwhelmingly for a bigger tax relief package in 2016, an election year.
This is what a picture of spinelessness looks like:
Posted Monday, July 10, 2017 7:03 AM
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Sanders & Warren's rigged economy
Elizabeth Warren's go-to line is that the American economy is rigged against the little guy. She's actually right. Big government, high tax rates and a complicated tax code give the rich too many undeserved advantages. This op-ed , written by Rep. Ron Estes, (R-KS), asks some pointed questions that Sen. Warren and Sen. Sanders probably don't want to answer.
For instance, I'm fairly certain Sen. Warren wouldn't want to reply when Rep. Estes said "Today's code is riddled with special interest giveaways that are essentially tax earmarks or "spending" in the tax code, to quote Martin Feldstein, the chief economic adviser to former President Ronald Reagan. Tax earmarks are tax increases on everyone who doesn't receive the benefit. They keep rates artificially high for everyone to favor the few. Do Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren believe families should be paying higher rates so that officially recognized Eskimo whaling captains - one beneficiary in today's code - can pay less?"
Sen. Warren and Sen. Sanders have advocated for higher tax rates but they've never advocated for cleaning up the tax code. Cleaning up the tax code is important because, the words of "Apple CEO Tim Cook, said on 60 Minutes in 2015, 'This is a tax code : that was made for the industrial age, not the digital age. It's backwards. It's awful for America. It should have been fixed many years ago. It's past time to get it done.'"
Rep. Estes said that there's another important reason for updating the tax code:
In 2016, Americans spent $409 billion simply complying with the IRS code, according to the Tax Foundation.
What a waste of money. That's money that should've been spent on creating jobs. Instead, it was spent on Big Government. Many of these carve-outs were put in place by lobbyists who advocate for the corporations that hired them. Small businesses don't have the advocates that big corporations have.
Sen. Warren and Sen. Sanders love big government. That means their policies lead directly to the policies and conditions that they complain about. Their policies also lead to income inequality. Policymakers should implement tax reform. While that's happening, reporters should report the progress that's getting made. Once the bill is signed, though, the MSM should question Democrats about their tax policies. They should specifically ask Sen. Sanders and Sen. Warren why they favor policies that increase income inequality while slowing economic growth in the middle class. They should ask Sen. Schumer why he hasn't told Democrats to jump on board with tax simplification.
Those are things that might happen in a dream world. Unfortunately, the MSM won't ask those questions because they agree with Sen. Warren and Sen. Sanders. The MSM, aka the Agenda Media, will work tirelessly to protect Democrats. Anyone that thinks the MSM is fair-minded and that they seek the truth isn't thinking straight. The MSM is mostly corrupt and shouldn't be trusted.
Posted Wednesday, July 12, 2017 7:29 PM
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