June 23-24, 2019
Jun 23 10:46 Buttigieg's #BlackLivesMatter crisis Jun 23 13:14 Northstar puff piece Jun 23 16:05 Pelosi's do-nothing Democrats Jun 23 23:54 Kim Foxx's Chicago Way Jun 24 01:57 The #WalkawayCampaign Jun 24 05:35 Sanders' insanity? Jun 24 06:21 What Trump's allies get wrong Jun 24 21:30 We aren't a nation of laws, Mr. Biden Jun 24 23:56 #TheHeartlessBastardsClub
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Buttigieg's #BlackLivesMatter crisis
After reading this article , I'm wondering if Mayor Pete's presidential campaign is finished.
After an officer-involved-shooting, Buttigieg returned to South Bend, IN to deal with the crisis. Saying that he didn't handle it well is understatement. According to the article, "2020 Democratic hopeful Pete Buttigieg is facing a crisis at home. The South Bend, Indiana, mayor cancelled several campaign events this week following a police-involved shooting that left a black man dead, and on Friday he returned to the city to address emotional protesters, with video of the confrontation going viral. The visibly angry crowd shouted at Buttigieg and questioned whether he believed 'black lives matter.' One protester asked if Buttigieg was 'a racist.'"
Thus far, Buttigieg has had difficulty attracting African-American support. This crisis won't make that job easier. During this protest, though, Buttigieg 'acquired' a new headache:
When Buttigieg told the crowd he did "not have evidence that there has been discipline for racist behavior" a protestor responded "You running for president and you expect black people to vote for you?" Buttigieg told her, "I'm not asking for your vote," to which she replied, "you ain't gonna get it either."
If Buttigieg does poorly with African-Americans, he can kiss his chances at a future in the Democratic Party good-bye. He's definitely in hot water with #BlackLivesMatter. If he doesn't fix that, his future in politics will be limited at best. Notice the passion displayed in this videotape:
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Posted Sunday, June 23, 2019 10:46 AM
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Northstar puff piece
It's shameful to read an article like this one , then think that it's called a news article. It reads more like a press release from the Central Minnesota Transportation Authority, the St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce or from Dave Kleis's office.
The article started by saying "The first Northstar commuter train left Big Lake 10 minutes before dawn on Tuesday. St. Cloud commuters who started downtown on the Link bus left at 3:50 a.m. to catch that train. They arrived in Minneapolis before 6 a.m. I took the last Link and the last train on Tuesday morning, and it still felt early. My trip from bus, to train, to light rail, to the Minnesota Capitol in downtown St. Paul took nearly three hours, but it was easy, prompt and clean.
"For a few moments I felt like a traveler in Europe, looking over farm fields and forests from the top deck of a train. I've driven between St. Cloud and the Cities along Minnesota Highway 10 hundreds of times. This was more relaxing. After I arrived at the Capitol - I am the government reporter, after all - I wound up walking a few miles for coffee and a meeting off site. My feet got sore."
It's good that Ms. Hertel mentioned that she's the SC Times' government reporter. If not for that mention, I might've thought that she was the PR director for the Chamber of Commerce.
Later in the article, Ms. Hertel wrote this:
Wolgamott commuted to the Capitol on Northstar a couple times this year as he was pushing his colleagues to fund research into a route expansion. He preferred the train to "sitting in traffic, inching down the interstate," Wolgamott said Tuesday. He brought his daughter Lily on one trip and they met conductor Vincent Roberts, he said. "She thought it was pretty cool to meet the conductor."
That's nice. That doesn't tell the Times' readers why this is a vital project. It's just a cute story. On the other hand, this is important information that's buried deep in the article:
Relph wants to get a sense of who would benefit from the extended route, so participating communities know how much to pitch in to the cost, which won't be covered solely by ticket sales, he said. "This will be subsidized."
The article doesn't say how big the subsidy will be. It just says that there will be a subsidy. Then there's this:
The cost of a route extension is not clear. A 2017 Legislative fiscal note estimated capital costs around $37 million. As lawmakers consider expansion of Northstar, $4 million is already allocated for facility improvements in Big Lake to maintain the existing fleet for 20 more years.
The more I learn about this project, the more it sounds like a total boondoggle.
There's an old saying about boats. It says "A boat is a hole in the water surrounded by wood into which one pours money." Sounds familiar, doesn't it? There's another saying that dovetails with the first saying. It says "the 2 best days of owning a boat are the day you buy it and the day you sell it."
With Northstar, unfortunately, there won't be a day we sell it. The subsidies will never end. They'll only get more expensive. The replacement costs for the train will be forever. Like the subsidies, those costs will only go up.
Just for comparison, there are more cars that use I-94 in a single day than there are riders on Northstar in a year. What's more, I-94 pays for itself. Plus, it's capable of transporting goods to markets. Northstar can't do that if its life depended on it. At best, Northstar is a niche produce. At worst, which I suspect is likely, it's a boondoggle.
Posted Sunday, June 23, 2019 1:14 PM
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Pelosi's do-nothing Democrats
I won't pretend that I like President Trump's decision to postpone ICE's deportation of illegal aliens who have already been evicted through the courts. However, I like the fact that President Trump has highlighted the Do-Nothing Democrats' intention to do nothing in terms of illegal immigration.
According to the Democrats' own words, "Trump is 'trying to create leverage in a situation where he has none,' adding that 'it won't work. Democrats aren't going to compromise their values,' the aide said. 'He's walked away from several deals on immigration. We have no illusions here.'" Those deals were political CYA. They weren't solutions. They didn't fix the broken asylum laws. They didn't secure the border. The Democrats' legislation fixed nothing while providing minimal political cover to Democrats.
Most importantly, when people start focusing their attention on this issue, they'll notice that the Do-Nothing Democrats have stood in the way of fixing the problem. In my opinion, this will bite these Do-Nothing Democrats, aka Problem Solvers Caucus Democrats, in the arse.
The Democrats' core principles are gaining political power, adding to that power, then maintaining that power for as long as possible. Thinking that Pelosi's Democrats care about civil rights, public safety or law enforcement is beyond silly. There's no proof that those things matter even slightly to Pelosi's Democrats. If those things mattered, they'd address California's homeless crisis, fix the borders and do everything possible to prevent another parent from becoming an Angel Parent.
Pelosi's Do-Nothing Democrats haven't tackled any of those problems. That's what drove Candace Owens from the Democratic Party:
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President Trump has tried getting Pelosi's Do-Nothing Democrats to fix problems but they've been worthless. That's their options but that decision will be costly. In my opinion, not fixing the crisis will cost Pelosi her Speaker's Gavel in November, 2020. It'll end lots of House Democrats' political careers, too. That's fine. If you aren't part of the solution, then you're part of the problem. We need problem solvers.
Posted Sunday, June 23, 2019 4:05 PM
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Kim Foxx's Chicago Way
Last week, Judge Michael Toomin ruled that Kim Foxx's 'recusal' in the Jussie Smollett case was "sophistry." Then he ruled in favor of appointing a special prosecutor to examine Foxx's office's work in dismissing Smollett's charges.
Judge Toomin then compared Foxx's investigation to a ship at sea without a captain, saying that "Here the ship of State ventured from its protected harbor without the guiding hand of its captain. There was no master on the bridge to guide the ship as it floundered through uncharted waters. And it ultimately lost its bearings."
It isn't surprising that this investigation failed to produce justice. Consider the fact that Tina Tchen, who was once chief of staff for former first lady Michelle Obama, spoke to Foxx after Foxx's faux recusal.
In his ruling, Judge Toomin said this:
"Curiously, public announcements that flowed from the State's Attorney's Office offered the rather novel view that the recusal was not actually a recusal," Toomin wrote. "Rather, in an exercise of creative lawyering, staff opined that Foxx did not formally recuse herself in a legal sense, that the recusal was only in a colloquial sense : However, discerning members of the public have come to realize that the 'recusal that really wasn't' was purely an exercise in sophistry."
Then Judge Toomin lowered the boom:
A true recusal would have put the case under the control of a prosecutor from another county. But Foxx kept the case in the hands of her deputy the Chicago Way. That, Toomin wrote, created a "fictitious office having no legal existence."
Since the faux recusal really just created a void in the State's Attorney's office, the decision to drop the charges against Smollett didn't really happen. Double jeopardy didn't attach because the person making the decision didn't have the authority to make decisions.
Judge Toomin is one of the heroes in this fiasco. The other hero is retired appellate Judge Sheila O'Brien. Judge O'Brien "figured...that Foxx's handling of the Smollett case and her office's decision to drop the charges against him smelled like the gutters in an alley off the Chicago Way." In an interview with John Kass of the Chicago Tribune, Judge O'Brien told him:
Thanks to Judge Toomin's ruling, we'll get the truth," O'Brien told me over the phone Friday. "We'll get the whole truth, all of it, everything and it will be under oath." Are you happy? "Yes," O'Brien said. "Because now we'll have testimony under oath."
It's apparent that under oath is what Judge O'Brien wanted most. That eliminates political wiggle room. A Chicago lawyer can turn political wiggle room into Swiss cheese in a New York minute.
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Once this fiasco legitimately makes it into the courts, political influence shrinks quickly. That's what's apparently happening, much to Kim Foxx's displeasure. She's counted on her political connections to keep her out of trouble. The judiciary has tighter controls. Spin doesn't hold up against verifiable proof.
From this point forward, it's clear that Mark Geragos has his work cut out for him. This isn't a political fight anymore. It's a legal fight, something I doubt he thought he was signing on for.
Posted Sunday, June 23, 2019 11:54 PM
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The #WalkawayCampaign
One of the most underreported movements is the #Walkaway Campaign. According to my Google search, there are just 2,620 articles on the subject. The first article listed in the news search was this article from the Daily Caller. The title of the article is "OPINION: A Big Civility Gap Between The Left And Everyone Else, Say WalkAway Democrats."
The opinion piece starts by saying "The 'WalkAway' campaign, started by Brandon Straka, is about exiting the Democratic Party. We studied the videos on the movement's official YouTube channel, including 150 people who walked away. A large majority report a civility gap between the left and the non-left. Fully 70 percent suggested that the left is less civil than Republicans and others."
There are lots of Establishment Republicans who don't deserve our loyalty. Still, it's clear that Democrats won't tolerate people they slightly disagree with. With the hardline progressives, the slightest 'infraction' is enough to reject a person. That isn't what made America exceptional. What's made this nation exceptional is the ability and willingness to make a deal that's a combination of mild disappointment and extreme satisfaction. This video must've struck a nerve:
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The #WalkawayCampaign published this video on Jul 14, 2018. It already has almost 850,000 views. It's attracted over 22,000 comments. It's been approved or liked over 74,000 times while attracting less than 1,000 disapprovals in a year. Any political video that has a 75:1 approve-to-disapprove ratio in the comments section is astonishing.
The point I'm making is that the #WalkawayCampaign isn't attracting much attention from the MSM. It should be. This isn't insignificant. The opening page of the #Walkaway website tells what they're doing:
The #WalkAway Campaign is a true grassroots movement, founded by former liberal, Brandon Straka on May 26th, 2018. The #WalkAway Campaign encourages and supports those on the Left to walk away from the divisive tenets endorsed and mandated by the Democratic Party of today. We are walking away from the lies, the false narratives, the fake news, the race-baiting, the victim narrative, the violence, the vandalism, the vitriol. We are walking away from a party driven by hate. We are walking toward patriotism and a new, unified America! We are the future of this great nation!
Rest assured that these patriots aren't just abandoning the hate-mongering Democrats. They're running towards the new patriotism and a new, unified nation. It's apparent, too, that the #WalkawayCampaign intends on influencing the 2020 election .
It's difficult to measure a freshly minted grassroots' movement's impact prior to the next election. This one, however, seems distinct from past grassroots organizations. This time, it's apparent that Democrats have played the division card thousands of times too many. It's like the Democrats' chief strategy is to divide, divide some more and divide the nation even more.
That isn't the America that the Founding Fathers envisioned. That isn't the "Shining City on a Hill" that President Reagan envisioned, either:
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Today's Democratic Party doesn't seem capable of envisioning President Reagan's Shining City on a Hill. Today's Democratic Party seems only capable of division, propaganda and encouraging illegal immigration.
When Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi or other Democrats talk about America's principles, they're talking trash. Based on what we're seeing in the #WalkawayCampaign and in the Trump movement, Biden and Pelosi couldn't identify America's principles if their lives depended on it.
Posted Monday, June 24, 2019 1:57 AM
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Sanders' insanity?
The first thing I thought when I read this article was that this nutjob must've finally gone insane. Then I realized that he's just a typical socialist and that he's been making proposals this stupid for decades.
Crazy Bernie is the first Democrat to propose wiping out all student loan debt immediately. This morning, Crazy Bernie will introduce legislation "that would eliminate all $1.6 trillion of American student debt." That isn't all. Crazy Bernie will be joined by another crazy socialist in sponsoring the legislation. People shouldn't be surprised that the legislator that's carrying the legislation in the House is Rep. Ilhan Omar, (DFL-MN).
Omar's strong suit isn't math. Rumor has it that Omar's specialty is immigration fraud and appealing for leniency for would-be ISIS terrorists . But I digress.
Crazy Bernie plans on paying for this giveaway "with a tax on Wall Street, which his campaign says will generate more than $2 trillion over 10 years. The tax would focus on financial transactions, the report said, such as a 0.5 percent tax on stock transactions and a 0.1 percent tax on bonds." The only question I have is whether Crazy Bernie plans on using those new taxes on other socialist giveaways, too.
According to the article, "The proposal package also includes making public universities, community colleges and trade schools tuition-free." In other words, Crazy Bernie's initiative wouldn't require universities, community colleges and trade schools to get their acts together. The Democrats' plan wouldn't require universities to stop hiring excessive numbers of administrators while shorting students of professors in classrooms.
What's worse is that the Democrats' plan wouldn't require universities to drop junk degrees that don't give students the likelihood of getting a high-paying job when they graduate. Simply put, this is the Democrats simply throwing money at a problem without fixing that problem. Most likely, the Democrats' proposal will make things worse.
Glenn Reynolds has literally written the book on the higher education bubble. He talks about that in this interview:
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As usual, the politicians are 5 years late and wrong besides. That means that Democrats are using this proposal to buy young people's votes. This won't fix the problem. It might make it worse. What's worst is that this proposal incentivizes universities to keep doing what they're doing wrong already.
The good news is that parents and students have figured out a better way of making higher education a better investment. Reformers like former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels are making that possible :
Waiting for Mitch Daniels to pick up a call to his office in West Lafayette, Indiana, you hear a recording of Purdue's marching band followed by a hard-to-believe statement: "Purdue has frozen tuition at 2012 levels through 2019 for all undergraduate students."
Daniels, the president of Indiana's flagship public university, then gets on the phone and says something even more startling: In inflation-adjusted dollars, Purdue costs $4,000 less per year for out-of-state students than it did when he took the job in 2013. In-staters pay nearly $3,000 less, at just under $23,000 this academic year for tuition, room, board and expenses.
While politicians like Crazy Bernie propose programs that don't fix things, reformers like Mitch Daniels are showing leadership in fixing the problems that politicians created, proving that irony can be pretty ironic.
Posted Monday, June 24, 2019 5:35 AM
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What Trump's allies get wrong
I wish that President Trump's allies (think Tucker Carlson and Steve Hilton) would get their Iran policy right. Unfortunately, they're constantly getting it wrong because they're thinking about Iran as another nation that plays by the rules . That's foolish, perhaps even foolish.
Hilton cited a conversation he had with President Trump:
Steve Hilton: I want to read you something Lindsey Graham said, your friend Lindsey Graham. He was in a magazine profile, and he reported on a conversation that he had with you. He said that you said to him, "The trouble with you, Lindsey, is you want to invade everywhere except the places I want to invade.'" So my question is where does he want to invade? But more importantly, where do you want to invade?'
President Trump: I want to invade, if I have to, economically. We've created a much stronger country economically than when I took it over ... We have tremendous power economically. If I can solve things economically that's the way I want it.
From that exchange, Hilton surmised the Trump Doctrine:
President Trump's preferred weapon is economic. As he showed last week, he is not casual about military conflict, unlike the inhuman establishment geniuses who'd send other people's children, in their eyes, the deplorables' children, into war at the drop of a policy memo.
That's fine if you're dealing with rational people who care about the people they lead. The Iranians don't fit that description. President Obama once thought that the Iranians would use the money they got back from John Kerry's negotiations to rebuild Iranian infrastructure. Instead, the Iranian ruling mullahs used that $150,000,000,000 to ramp up terrorist proxy operations throughout the Middle East. Tightening the sanctions only hurts the people President Trump wants to embolden.
If idiots like Hilton think that tightening the screws will cause Iran to stop funding terrorist proxies, they're idiots. That isn't just stupid. It's downright dangerous. It's nice showing restraint to an extent but it's dangerous at some point. It's time for pacifists like Hilton and Carlson to realize that they need to think things through better. They should read their history books, too. To the Iranians, President Trump's decision to call off the raid is proof of his weakness.
Posted Monday, June 24, 2019 6:21 AM
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We aren't a nation of laws, Mr. Biden
In this opinion piece , former VP Joe Biden wrote that "We are a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants." He continued, saying "Our country is made up of hard-working, aspirational people from every culture, from every nation - and that is an indisputable strength. There's no better example of the richness that's possible when the United States is closely knit together with our neighbors in Latin America and the Caribbean than the city of Miami."
After that, Sleepy Joe gets a little confusing. He said "That starts by recognizing that DREAMers are Americans, and Congress needs to make it official. The millions of undocumented people in the United States can only be brought out of the shadows through fair treatment, not ugly threats." Which is it, Joe? Are we a nation of laws or are we supposed to ignore people that are now flooding into the US due to loopholes in our asylum laws? Those folks aren't DREAMers. They're an entirely new categorization of illegal immigrants.
Our asylum system needs to be improved, but the answer is to streamline and strengthen it so that it benefits legitimate claims of those fleeing persecution, while reducing potential for abuse.
Joe's actually right for a change. Our asylum system needs to be improved. Why Biden doesn't tell Democrats to get off their posteriors and help fix the problem is puzzling, though. Thus far, Democrats have done exactly nothing to fix that crisis. Then there's this:
And it's imperative that we secure our borders, but "Build the wall" is a slogan divorced from reality.
National security isn't Joe's strength. The MSM reports it to be but former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said "I think he's been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue of over the past four decades."
It won't stop the flow of illegal narcotics or human trafficking, both of which come primarily through legal ports of entry. Nor will it stop asylum seekers fleeing the most desperate conditions imaginable and who have the right to have their cases heard. Nor will it stem the numbers of undocumented, most of whom overstay legal visas.
This isn't difficult to translate. The Obama-Biden administration did virtually nothing to fix asylum laws. They didn't build the wall, which is essential. (Joe says it isn't. Israel says it's highly successful. I'll side with the Israelis.)
Under Trump, there have been horrifying scenes at the border of kids being kept in cages, tear-gassing asylum seekers, ripping children from their mothers' arms - actions that subvert American values and erode our ability to lead on the global stage.
Joe, it isn't President Trump's fault that the MSM showed pictures of children in cages that were from the Obama-Biden administration. You, not President Trump, locked kids in cages:
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Biden suffers from Democrat Syndrome. Its prominent tell-tale sign is the inability to tell the truth. That's been a frequent problem with Joe. He's a serial plagiarist. He's campaigned by telling blacks that Mitt Romney wanted to "put y'all back in chains":
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The good news is that VP Biden isn't the strongest frontrunner I've ever seen. Then again, he isn't running against a strong group of candidates. This might be the worst list of presidential candidates that the Democrats have ever put forward.
It's indisputable that the US is a nation of immigrants. What's disputable is whether we're a nation of laws anymore. It's disputable because former FBI Director Jim Comey appropriated the authority given to the Attorney General. It's disputable because the FBI used information that it knew was fraudulent to get a warrant to surveil the Trump campaign. Further, the FBI got that warrant by telling the FISA Court that the fraudulent information had been verified.
That isn't what a nation of laws does. That's what a bunch of criminals do.
Posted Monday, June 24, 2019 9:30 PM
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#TheHeartlessBastardsClub
If Democrats aren't hesitating in calling Republicans heartless bastards, then we might as well wear that lie like a badge of honor. Republicans are trying their best to stop illegal alien children from spending their nights in difficult conditions. Despite those efforts, Republicans are getting called one despicable name after another.
"Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday called into question the nation's immigration laws, asking 'What is the point?' of tracking down fugitives ordered out of the country?" To be fair, here's what the entire quote says:
"It's so appalling, it's outside the circle of human behavior, kicking down doors, splitting up families. In terms of interior enforcement, what is the purpose? What is the point?"
Splitting up 'families' is the worst mortal sin a Republican can commit but obeying the laws that Congress passes and the president signs is immoral? What type of tortured logic does Speaker Pelosi employ?
By Ms. Pelosi's definition, I'm a heartless bastard. By normal people's standards, I'm a well-adjusted, thoughtful individual. I'd rather be defined by what people outside the beltway think than by people living inside the Beltway.
I actually think that politicians should know history. For instance, when idiots like AOC or Ilhan Omar think that detention centers are the same as Nazi concentration camps, I'm heartless enough to say that stupidity like that should be punished. Better yet, when Rep. Omar lied to the IRS while filing false joint tax returns , people like me think that Rep. Omar should be held accountable.
According to the Beltway intelligentsia, that makes me either a xenophobe or Islamophobe or both. I'd prefer being called a heartless bastard instead. As a Christian, I'm taught that a) everyone is created in God's own image, b) we should treat others as we'd like to be treated and c) we should love our neighbors unconditionally. Talk about defining a heartless bastard!
Let's get serious for a minute. I won't let a bunch of left-wing reprobates lecture me about American values. Speaker Pelosi knows as little about American values as Rep. Omar, which is virtually nothing. I refuse to accept a lecturing from Speaker Pelosi on American values. I didn't accept President Obama's lectures about who we were or what American priorities were. I won't accept lecturing from other hardline progressives who hate America or constantly apologize for America.
If you've voted Democrat your entire adult life but you're starting to question Democrats, it's time for you to join the #WalkawayCampaign or #TheHeartlessBastardsClub. Better yet, join both. If you're wondering why you should ditch the Democrats, this heartfelt video should explain things perfectly:
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The point is that conservatives aren't heartless bastards. We just believe in living an orderly life that doesn't trample on other people's rights. We just ask that people around us respect our rights too. That isn't too much to ask, is it?
Posted Monday, June 24, 2019 11:56 PM
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