June 3-4, 2015
Jun 03 01:17 DFL deceit, Thissen edition Jun 03 04:13 It's already late, Hillary edition Jun 03 13:22 EPA vs. private property rights Jun 04 00:26 Criticizing Dayton's UPK solution Jun 04 00:48 The Totalitarian Left's crisis Jun 04 13:40 Mosby's silencing strategy Jun 04 23:55 Rand Paul's recklessness
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
DFL deceit, Thissen edition
Rep. Paul Thissen, one of the slipperiest DFL operators in the House of Representatives, is at it again. Thissen's statement is typical DFL tax cuts for the rich boilerplate:
'Speaker Daudt said today that an additional $25 million for our kids was a 'line in the sand' he would not cross. It is nearly beyond comprehension that Republicans would be willing to force a government shutdown over a refusal to invest an additional $25 million in Minnesota's kids in order to save nearly $1 billion for their top priority: corporate tax giveaways.
Thank goodness Governor Dayton has been there to fight for Minnesota's kids and their families all session long. He has dragged House Republicans kicking and screaming from their initial position of forcing teacher layoffs and larger class sizes in a time of surplus to a $525 million investment in our schools. Nonetheless, Republican intransigence means we are missing a historic opportunity to invest in our earliest learners and change the trajectory of the lives of so many Minnesotans.
We will await further details, but remain disappointed that Republicans have left so much work undone, and all to satisfy their desire for tax giveaways for corporate special interests and the wealthiest Minnesotans next year.'
President Reagan expressed my reaction to Rep. Thissen's deceitful accusation that the Republicans' top priority is "tax giveaways" to the wealthy:
It's time that the DFL just stop dead in its tracks with this lie. Whether it's said by Gov. Dayton, Rep. Thissen or a former nobody legislator, the accusation that Republicans' highest priority is giving multinational corporations huge tax breaks is disgustingly deceitful.
Enough with that lie. Let's talk about how it took Speaker Daudt and Art Rolnick and the Minnesota School Board Association and other education organizations to drag Gov. Dayton kicking and screaming away from
Rep. Thissen, why do you still support a major property tax increase to suburban voters? Is all your talk about helping the middle class all talk? What do you have against private early learning centers? Is it because you want Education Minnesota to grow so they pay more dues which, in turn, leads to more money for DFL campaigns?
Finally, are you so cold that you put your political needs ahead of the children's and parents' needs?
Posted Wednesday, June 3, 2015 1:17 AM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 03-Jun-15 07:33 AM
For Thissen and the DFL, the ends justify the means and they will lie, cheat and steal to get what they want even if it means burying the low and middle class in taxes for something even the schools don't want.
Comment 2 by J. Ewing at 03-Jun-15 11:29 AM
You are asking logical questions that DFLers simply never get asked or even ask themselves. Remember the marvelous ability they have of divorcing their policies, in their own minds, from any and all realities? They think Universal Pre-K is a good thing, therefore we should spend money on it, and it simply does not matter how much it really costs or whether or not the way in which the money is spent guarantees the opposite of the desired result. They INTEND that this is be a good thing, therefore that is what will happen. And once the legislation passes, they have no further interest in the subject. Problem solved.
Comment 3 by Gary Gross at 03-Jun-15 01:07 PM
Jerry, you're right that the DFL won't honestly answer tough questions. That doesn't mean, however, that I'll stop asking tough questions. I want to expose the DFL as being unwilling to answer the people's questions. That's the only way I can ask the follow-up question of why they're unwilling to answer tough questions.
The goal is to step-by-step paint them into their own dungeon.
PS- Laura Brod was brilliant at doing this.
Comment 4 by walter hanson at 03-Jun-15 03:09 PM
Gary:
Was there a typo in your post or is Thissen dumber than I thought. If I read the quote right Thissen said that the Republicans were not spending $25 million on education so they could cut taxes by a billion dollars. Um shouldn't that be they wanted to cut taxes by $25 million not a billion?
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 5 by Gary Gross at 04-Jun-15 08:32 AM
There's no typo, Walter. Initially, the GOP tax cut plan was for $2,000,000,000. That was their bargaining position figure. They quickly dropped that demand to $1,000,000,000.
At the end of the regular session, there was a $25,000,000 difference in spending on the education bill. Thissen's figures were right.
Comment 6 by walter hanson at 04-Jun-15 01:43 PM
Gary:
The reason why I think it's a typo Thissen is trying to make the argument that the Republicans wanted to cut the education budget by $25 million to get a billion dollars in tax cuts. That is not logical unless Thissen lists the other $975 million that is not being spent by the Republicans in other programs to get the billion dollars. Still I can imagine the commercials.
Democrats think that $25 million = $1 billion. Since we know that why do we want any Democrat trying to run the state of Minnesota. Vote Republican!
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
It's already late, Hillary edition
Ed Morrissey's post about the latest dismal poll results for Hillary comes with the usual precaution that "it's still early" from Jonathan Capehart. I'd argue that it's later than people think with regards to Hillary. First, here's the video of the segment from Morning Joe:
While it's still early for other candidates who don't have the name recognition that Hillary has, there aren't many people who a) don't know who Hillary is or b) don't have an opinion of Hillary. That's why I don't think there are many bounces left in Hillary's needle. That's bad news for Hillary because she's building a scenario where it's all about turnout, turnout and turnout. If the people she's targeting aren't excited, she'll lose decisively. That doesn't mean she'll lose by a big margin percentage margin-wise or electoral college-wise.
I'm simply saying that if she loses the turnout battle like I've just described, she'll lose lots of swing states by consistent margins. It wouldn't surprise me if the list of swing states is bigger than it was in 2004.
This is worth noting, too:
In fact, Hillary can't fire up enough enthusiasm to find 125 women for a fundraiser - in New York City. At the last minute, organizers had to expand access to men after only 50 women bought tickets for the max-contribution event : but Jazz had more on that earlier today, so you already know that.
There simply aren't indicators that Hillary's coronation as president is anything except a snoozer. The worst enemy of a political candidate is apathy. Right now, that's Hillary's biggest enemy.
Posted Wednesday, June 3, 2015 4:13 AM
No comments.
EPA vs. private property rights
Sen. Jim Inhofe has a warning for everyone. It's a warning he put into this op-ed . Here's Sen. Inhofe's warning:
EPA claims that it now has the right to regulate any water in a 100-year floodplain of a navigable water, any water that is 4,000 feet from a tributary, and any prairie pothole, pool or wetland that EPA has declared a 'regional water treasure,' if it can identify a 'significant nexus' with a navigable water.
EPA defines 'significant nexus' so broadly that this test can be met in almost every instance. If EPA shows that a pond or wetland holds water, EPA can regulate it. If EPA shows that a pond or wetland seeps into the ground to an aquifer that feeds a stream or river miles away, EPA can regulate it. And, if EPA can show that a pond or wetland provides 'life cycle dependent aquatic habitat for a species' that spends part of its time in a navigable water, EPA can regulate it. The 'water' that EPA can regulate does not even have to be wet. It is also defined by 'chemical, physical, and biological indicators.'
What's happening is that the EPA is saying it has the right to regulate land that's previously been thought of as being under the jurisdiction of state government. By expanding this definition, the EPA is redefining what's the state government's jurisdiction and what's the federal government's jurisdiction. If you think I'm making this up, think again. Check this out :
[Andy Johnson] and his wife built a small pond on their rural property using the stream flowing through it. They stocked the pond with trout so that their three small children could fish. The pond is an oasis for wildlife such as ducks and geese passing through.
It is precisely the sort of industriousness that reasonable people and zealous stewards of the environment applaud. But the EPA is made up of neither reasonable people nor zealous stewards of the environment. They are crazed hypocrites greedy for unchecked power and hell-bent on destroying the passions that connect people to the nature surrounding them. Like the Food and Drug Administration in the movie 'Dallas Buyers Club,' the EPA has become the face of absolute power in the hands of blind government bureaucrats.
That is why the faceless henchmen of the EPA have come after Mr. Johnson and his family, charging them with violating federal law and threatening to bankrupt them. These EPA thugs ordered the Johnsons to destroy the pond they built and threatened to fine them $75,000 a day for being in violation of the Clean Water Act .
The Totalitarian Left used to get its way through the judiciary. Once more Constitution-minded judges replaced retiring legislative-minded judges, the Totalitarian Left shifted to the last vestige of totalitarianism: unelected, unaccountable regulators.
If conservatives wanted to return the United States to the proper balance, they'd elect a Constitution-loving conservative president in 2016 and hold onto their majorities in the House and Senate. That's the first step. The next step is to abolish the filibuster so that legislation could pass that eliminates the regulators' stranglehold. Force Congress to vote on every major rule. Major rules would be defined as rules that will cost the people being regulated more than $50,000,000 in compliance costs.
Pass legislation that forces regulators to show why protecting the Delta Smelt, through the Endangered Species Act, is more important than strangling farmers' water rights. In fact, I'd require that the EPA has to use the least intrusive method possible to accomplish their goal.
In other words, I'd put these regulators on the defensive. I wouldn't tolerate the weaponized federal government to put private property owners on the defensive. It's time to fit the federal government into its proper-sized limits. The Founding Fathers wanted to keep as many decisions as close to the individual as possible. What the Obama administration has done is attempt to change that so that government is distant from the people it effects.
The EPA's new rule is a perfect illustration of that.
Posted Wednesday, June 3, 2015 1:22 PM
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Criticizing Dayton's UPK solution
AJ Kern's monthly column highlights shortcomings in Gov. Dayton's universal pre-K proposal. Here's one incredible statistic from Gov. Dayton's own administration:
We've gone from implementing a scholarship program targeting at-risk 4-year-olds in 2013, universal all-day kindergarten in 2014, to tantrum-level urgency to implement free universal preschool.
Yet in 2013, the Minnesota Department of Education reported 72.8 percent of children were prepared to enter kindergarten. Nearly 73 percent of Minnesota children prepared for kindergarten is hardly a crisis justifying an inflated agenda.
While it's important to prepare all children for kindergarten and beyond, it's foolish to spend billions of dollars on children who are already prepared for kindergarten and beyond. I've often cited Art Rolnick's estimate that Gov. Dayton's proposal will require many suburban schools to expand their buildings. Those new classrooms will cost these taxpayers in excess of $2,200,000,000.
Because the DFL deceitfully wrote the legislation, it's difficult to spot the unfunded mandate. The DFL's legislation requires school districts to provide this service. Then they're told that the state won't pay for the things that the school districts will need to provide this service. That's called an unfunded mandate and it's almost automatically followed by a major property tax increase.
The Daudt-Rolnick-GOP plan spends money on scholarships that parents can use to send their preschoolers to places like New Horizons Academy and other private facilities that are already doing this type of work in modern facilities. That plan doesn't come with well-disguised unfunded mandates. It doesn't impose hidden property tax increases, either.
Ms. Kern highlights this, too:
Universal preschool would require new classroom space, teachers, teaching assistants, transportation, books and materials through questionably long-term sustainable budgets.
It's one thing to require schools to build onto their schools. That property tax increase would have to be approved by voters because it's a capital investment. Paying for "teachers, teaching assistants, transportation, books and materials" is another property tax increase but it wouldn't go before the voters because it's part of the district's operating levy.
The DFL will insist that they didn't raise property taxes while pointing to there not being any taxes in the bill. That's slight of hand. Had the bill passed, it would've set in motion a process that required school boards and districts to raise property taxes.
I'd love hearing DFL legislators and propagandists explain that away.
Finally, I love how Gov. Dayton said that he gave up his demands for universal pre-K. He didn't give anything up. He was defeated because the Minnesota School Board Association and the Association of Minneapolis School Districts fought against Gov. Dayton's proposal. If he hadn't relinquished, the DFL would've gotten trounced in the 2016 election for imposing these property tax increases on their citizens.
Posted Thursday, June 4, 2015 12:26 AM
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The Totalitarian Left's crisis
This LTE highlights just how ill-informed voters are. It's also proof that the DFL's propaganda machine operates 24/7. Check out this paranoid rant:
There is no longer any doubt; the Republican Party has now embraced 'alchemy' as its economic and intellectual reason for being. Daudt, Petersen and Green seem to believe 'gold comes from lead.' They are now using four and five year old children to pay for their tax cuts; so too with our infrastructure. This requires a minimum of intellectual honesty and logic.
The citizen who wrote this LTE obviously didn't do any research into the matter. It's apparent that he simply regurgitated the DFL's chanting points without questioning the DFL's propaganda.
Just once, I'd love reading a well-researched LTE from the Totalitarian Left that's filled with logical arguments and indisputable facts. I won't hold my breath while I'm waiting for that to happen.
Our children, the four and five year olds, will become this nation's future job creators. The Republicans can get a jump start on tax cuts today by using the backs of children in pursuit of alchemy - oops - economic prosperity.
The DFL's chief argument for their programs is fairness. It isn't that the DFL is insisting that their programs are efficient or effective. That would give Republicans too easy of a target to take out.
Check this out:
Then too, we have the religious right's alchemy of gay conversion therapy nonsense (government funded.) Some of these 'righties' just can't stand seeing people they don't know pursuing the right of happiness. Some of them use the Bible and God (literally) as a cop-out to justify fear, angst and hate - 'alchemy.'
The tide is turning. Many among us have finally realized the pandering of political quacks and peeping Toms are losing ground to the 21st Century, YouTube, Facebook and reality.
I frequently say that a little paranoia goes a long way. I don't think that's applicable here because this activist appears to have tons of paranoia. What's frightening is that this activist is the face of the DFL.
Posted Thursday, June 4, 2015 12:48 AM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 04-Jun-15 06:58 AM
All emotion and void of any logic, reasoning, or facts. Yep that sums up your typical low information democrat voter.
Comment 2 by J. Ewing at 04-Jun-15 12:09 PM
I think we should file a civil rights lawsuit against this bozo. Obviously a H8R. The Left's only argument is NEVER that their ideas are better, only that Republicans are terrible people committing terrible crimes. Delusional H8Rs.
Comment 3 by walter hanson at 04-Jun-15 04:45 PM
Obvious the LTE writer is somebody who doesn't have kids in the Minneapolis School district or else he would know he is lying.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Mosby's silencing strategy
When Marilyn Mosby made her first public appearance on the Freddie Gray case, she made a huge mistake, saying that she'd "seek justice for Freddie Gray." That's a major mistake because 'Lady Justice' wears a blindfold. There's a reason for that. That's because justice is determined by wherever the facts take investigators.
Ms. Mosby started with the belief that 6 Baltimore police officers were guilty of causing Freddie Gray's death. Now that the autopsy's been finished, Ms. Mosby wants to keep the autopsy's results private :
Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby plans to seek a protective order that would block the release of Freddie Gray's autopsy report and other "sensitive" documents as she prosecutes the six police officers involved in his arrest.
Mosby told The Baltimore Sun that prosecutors "have a duty to ensure a fair and impartial process for all parties involved" and "will not be baited into litigating this case through the media."
But an attorney for one of the officers said the effort shows that "there is something in that autopsy report that they are trying to hide." "Mrs. Mosby is the one who did an announcement discussing what she said the evidence was in a nationally televised speech," said Ivan Bates, who represents Sgt. Alicia White. "Now that it is time to turn over the evidence, to ask for a protective order is beyond disingenuous.
"It's as if she wants to do everything to make sure our clients do not get a fair trial ."
There's no questioning whether Ms. Mosby is fighting dirty. She's made public statements in front of the cameras virtually on a daily basis. It's astonishing that Ms. Mosby is insisting that the information produced by a public employee shouldn't be made available to people who are defending the accused. That's almost Orwellian thinking.
While she's shot her mouth off, she's insisting that the defense shut up. That isn't the pathway to a fair trial. Though I'm not a trial attorney, I can't imagine what justification a judge might cite in upholding Ms. Mosby's gag order. In the end, it's hard to believe that the judge will reject the gag order and order Ms. Mosby to make the autopsy report available to the defense. It wouldn't surprise me if the judge ruled that the defense had the right to conduct its own independent autopsy.
Finally, it wouldn't surprise me if Ms. Mosby lost this high profile case. It couldn't happen to a more deserving person.
Posted Thursday, June 4, 2015 1:40 PM
Comment 1 by Jarrett at 05-Jun-15 09:05 AM
Just another case of selective enforcement/prosecution.Cpmmon in MD actually
Considering its a Baltimoron, there will always be lots more to the story. Majority of Black residents, Majority of Black Students, Black Mayor, Black Police Chief AND they STILL say the problem is because of White people . HMMMMMM Now THAT makes sense too!
Comment 2 by walter hanson at 05-Jun-15 01:14 PM
If Mosby really cared about Justice why hasn't she dragged hundreds if not thousands of people into the courts for the damage they did to businesses.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Rand Paul's recklessness
This week hasn't been a good week for Rand Paul because he's backtracked on a bunch of statements. Sen. Paul's supporters are spinning it that he isn't a polished politician :
After Rand Paul said GOP defense hawks had 'created' ISIS, he told Sean Hannity: 'I think I could have stated it better.' When he claimed some of his adversaries were 'secretly' hoping for a terrorist attack so they could blame him for shutting down the PATRIOT Act, the next day he admitted that 'hyperbole' got the better of him 'in the heat of battle.' And when Paul quipped that he was 'glad' his train didn't stop in Baltimore in the wake of riots there, he later offered 'regret' that his comments were 'misinterpreted.'
As Paul has sought to stand out from the clustered GOP presidential field, he's finding that his freewheeling, off-the-cuff speaking style can cut both ways. His supporters say it's what's refreshing about him: He's not a typical programmed pol who spews the same talking points over and over; there's an authenticity that's rare in today's poll-driven politics, they say.
While it's clear that he isn't the conspiracy theorist that his father's been, it's equally clear that he's a bit paranoid. Accusing fellow senators and Republicans of wanting a terrorist attack so that they can blame him for it is either proof that he's paranoid or it's proof that he's into shooting his mouth off. Saying that Republican hawks created ISIS is just historically inaccurate.
In both instances, he's been reckless.
Americans don't have to agree with their presidents 100% of the time but they won't tolerate a president that they think is reckless. That's because reckless people don't control situations. Situations control them.
'People have to choose what they want,' he told POLITICO this week. 'If they want robots, who say the same thing over and over again, there are plenty of them. If they want something more genuine, where everything is not always perfect - we'll see what people want. I am who I am.'
The fact that he's maintained the same core supporters that his father got indicates that the voters who've sized him up aren't buying what he's selling. Sen. Paul isn't polished but he isn't foolish, either. There's little question that he knows he'll never be president.
Posted Thursday, June 4, 2015 11:55 PM
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