May 1-3, 2020
May 01 02:48 The final FBI-Flynn fight? May 01 04:14 MSM vs. Lt. Gen. Flynn May 02 03:34 Justice Kavanaugh's apology May 02 15:15 The FBI's extreme corruption May 02 20:03 Kistner endorsed by MN-2 GOP May 03 03:35 SC Times sucks up to Gov. Walz May 03 03:42 Protests vs. lawsuits May 03 10:13 Paralyzing COVID-19 fear May 03 16:42 Gov. Walz, Speaker Hortman don't want the people to have a voice
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The final FBI-Flynn fight?
Anyone thinking that the (Comey/McCabe/Strzok/Page) FBI-Flynn fight will be the final fight is kidding themselves. Chuck Grassley's tweet sounds like he's just warming up:
New DOJ/Flynn docs are stamped w SCO as in Special Counsels Office
Did Mueller have these docs? Why did his team sit on them? What else is Mueller team that cost taxpayers $30+ million hiding? The ppl deserve answers 2restore faith in federal law enforcement agencies
- ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) April 30, 2020
Random thought: Sen. Grassley is a serious senator. Unlike some of the Democrat show horses, Sen. Grassley brings a lunch pail when he starts asking questions. He's extremely thorough and he gets to the bottom of things. If I was Mueller, I'd start worrying.
Another person who shouldn't be taken lightly is Kim Strassel. She's as persistent as Sen. Grassley. This is the first tweet of a lengthy multi-tweet string:
1) To really understand how outrageous are these new Flynn docs, you have to add to everything we already know. And key is remembering that the FBI had no REASON to interview Flynn. It already had transcripts of his conversations with Kislyak.
- Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) April 30, 2020
Rather than embedding the other tweets in this chain, I'll just post the texts of those tweets:
- The new docs show FBI had already cleared Flynn of ludicrous claims that he was agent of Russian power; it moved to close that investigation on Jan 4 2017. But then DOJ cooked up the absurd Logan Act claim, the notion Flynn had violated an obscure 1799 law.
- Again if they thought he violated Logan, all they had to do was prosecute. They had the transcript. Their problem? They knew such ridiculousness would never fly. So how else to nail Flynn? As the notes show, Logan just became the pretext for interview.
- The real goal was trap him into saying something at odds with transcript, to "get him to lie." And the evidence of that strategy is everywhere. We have Comey bragging that they went around WH legal counsel, so Flynn would have no representation.
- We have a new email from Lisa Page asking how FBI can get around issuing to Flynn the standard admonition against lying, suggesting Strzok just "casually slip that in."
- We have McCabe docs showing he discouraged him from getting lawyer. FBI decided to get rid of standard admonition altogether. Also did not tell Flynn he was being interviewed in an "investigatory" context, suggesting this was a chat between gov officials.
- As for liberal commentators/legal scholars saying all this is "routine," well, let's sure as hell hope not. The FBI exists to investigate cries--not create them.
Actually, it isn't routine. Thank God for old-fashioned liberals who fight for civil rights:
I have been a criminal defense attorney for decades. I have seen abusive tactics. However this is one of the most thuggish records I have seen. Most concerning is that they were trying to create a crime, not investigating a crime. The use of Logan only highlights that bias.
- Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) April 30, 2020
There was a time when networks like MSNBC and CNN argued for civil liberties and against such abuses. Now, because such principles would benefit Trump, there is just a shrug with a common mantra "everyone does it." Yes, abuses occur but that is not license for their commission..
- Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) April 30, 2020
When Flynn is either exonerated or pardoned, expect Sidney Powell or some other high-powered attorney to file a lawsuit against Comey, McCabe, Strzok and Page. Expect Gen. Flynn's wealth to be restored -- and then some.
Posted Friday, May 1, 2020 2:48 AM
No comments.
MSM vs. Lt. Gen. Flynn
Aaron Rupar's article is a perfect example of the MSM attempting to destroy a man's reputation. Rupar started by writing that "President Donald Trump on Thursday seized upon new developments in the Michael Flynn case to reinvigorate his pet conspiracy theories about Obama-era law enforcement and intelligence community officials conspiring to bring him down."
He followed that up by writing "First, some brief backstory. After being fired from his position as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency by President Obama in 2014, Flynn cozied up to Russia and became one of Trump's more prominent campaign surrogates. Trump ignored advice Obama gave him during their November 2016 White House meeting and tapped him to be his first national security adviser, but Flynn planted the seeds of his own undoing before he even started the job by having secretive communications with Russian officials during the transition period ."
That's sloppy journalism. It took me much less than a minute to find Gen. Flynn's DIA bio . Here's what it said about Gen. Flynn:
Michael T. Flynn graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 1981 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in Military Intelligence. His first assignment was as a paratrooper of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Since then, he has served in a variety of command and staff positions to include, Commander, 313th Military Intelligence Battalion and G2, 82nd Airborne Division; G2, 18th Airborne Corps, CJ2, CJTF-180 Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan; Commander, 111th Military Intelligence Brigade at the Army's Intelligence Center at Fort Huachuca, Arizona; Director of Intelligence, Joint Special Operations Command with duty in OEF and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF); Director of Intelligence, United States Central Command with duty in OEF and OIF; Director of Intelligence, the Joint Staff; Director of Intelligence, International Security Assistance Force-Afghanistan and US Forces-Afghanistan and Special Assistant to the Deputy Chief of Staff, G2. He most recently served as the Assistant Director of National Intelligence for Partner Engagement before becoming the 18th Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency on 24 July 2012.
Someone with that much experience within the IC knows that there's no such thing as "secretive communications with Russian officials" at any point. That's standard protocol. Rupar isn't too bright if he thinks that Flynn wouldn't know this. Then there's this BS:
FBI leadership was already aware at that time that Flynn had phone calls with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition period. In those calls, Flynn advised Kislyak not to respond to new sanctions the Obama administration placed on Russia for interfering (on Trump's behalf) in the just-completed presidential election. Intercepts of Flynn's conversations with Kislyak raised concerns within the bureau that Flynn had violated the Logan Act, a law that prohibits unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments.
Jonathan Turley, one of the top constitutional law professors in the nation, has a significantly different view of things :
The new documents also explore how the Justice Department could get Flynn to admit breaking the Logan Act, a law that dates back to from 1799 which makes it a crime for a citizen to intervene in disputes between the United States and foreign governments. It has never been used to convict a citizen and is widely viewed as flagrantly unconstitutional .
Serious people don't take the Logan Act explanation seriously. First, there's the question of its constitutionality. Next, there's the question of whether the Logan Act fits with people who are the incoming national security adviser.
Let's return to something else from earlier in Rupar's article. Rupar wrote that "Trump ignored advice Obama gave him during their November 2016 White House meeting and tapped him to be his first national security adviser." Why would a smart person trust any foreign policy advice from President Obama? He's the idiot who authorized John Kerry to negotiate, then sign the JCPOA. In case Democrats haven't noticed, President Trump shredded all of President Obama's economic and national security policies pretty much on Day One. They were that awful. In many ways, Trump is the anti-Obama. Obama is the cool kid that didn't get anything done. President Trump is the guy nobody likes until they see everything he's accomplished.
Personally, give me the guy with the lengthy list of accomplishments over the smooth talker.
Posted Friday, May 1, 2020 4:14 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 01-May-20 02:34 PM
What was the actual substance/context of Flynn's lie[s] to the FBI? That's the plea deal he took, so it must be true.
Or are you contending it was a lie, to plea to lying?
It looks as if the pardon papers are written, only the signing time remains unclear.
The Logan Act has nothing to do with it being criminalized to "lie" to the FBI. With that on the books, it seems the wise course would always be to decline talking at all to the FBI, even about the day's weather.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 02-May-20 02:30 AM
Actually, Eric, the FBI agents who interviewed/ambushed him thought that he didn't lie to them. They planned on shutting down the program, officially named Crossfire Razor, until Peter Strzok texted an unknown agent (redacted) & said Crossfire Razor shouldn't be terminated.
Lying to the FBI is illegal. The thing is that the agents thought that Flynn hadn't lied. Flynn plead to lying to them because they threatened to put his son in prison & bankrupt his son if Flynn didn't agree to the deal.
Justice Kavanaugh's apology
In 2018, Democrats insisted that then-Judge Kavanaugh shouldn't be presumed innocent. Sen. Schumer, the Democrat Minority Leader, said that in this press availability:
[Video no longer available]
By comparison, Nancy Pelosi insisted that Joe Biden be afforded due process rights:
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Let's be clear about this. Democrats are world-class hypocrites. During his disastrous interview with Mika Brzezinski, Joe Biden said that his life "was an open book." Then he said that he wouldn't let his congressional records be searched for any records related to Tara Reade. Biden insisted that they wouldn't find anything because "it never, ever happened."
First, Biden painted himself into a corner by saying that his Senate documents contained speeches from the Senate floor, in addition to white papers and other work-related documents. That means that the documents aren't his. They belong to We The People.
Next and most importantly, Dr. Blasey-Ford's friends didn't offer corroboration that substantiated Dr. Ford's allegations:
It wasn't the quality of the allegation that led to this reaction. Blasey Ford had no evidence she had ever met Kavanaugh, much less that he had tried to rape her. She wasn't sure about any detail related to the event other than that she had precisely one beer and that Kavanaugh had tried to rape her.
She didn't know how she got to the alleged event, where it was, how she got home, or whose house it was. None of the four witnesses she identified to reporters as having been at the event in question supported her claim. That included her close friend Leland Keyser, who was pressured by mutual acquaintances to change her testimony that she had no recollection of the event in question. Kavanaugh had an army of close friends and supporters who testified to his character throughout his adolescence and adulthood.
Compare that with Tara Reade's accusation:
For instance, Reade has evidence she met Biden. No one disputes she worked for him in 1993. Further, she has incredibly strong evidence that she told multiple people that Biden assaulted her at the time she claimed it happened. Her own mother called into CNN's Larry King show to discuss the matter in 1993!
Democrat women senators unanimously insisted that Kavanaugh wasn't fit to serve on the Supreme Court. Those same Democrat senators aren't wavering a bit about Creepy Joe Biden:
[Video no longer available]
The big question is whether those Democrat senators, starting with Mazie Hirono, will "shut up and step up", then do the right thing. It's time that she, especially, should apologize for her unhinged antics.
Posted Saturday, May 2, 2020 3:34 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 03-May-20 10:04 AM
When beaten on policy and performance, sling mud. Not to say Biden is without fault. The Hunter Biden thing, the Kushner 666 Fifth Ave. thing, things did happen. Mud slinging avoids looking for real things. Biden has not paid six figure hush money to any bimbo - as far as we know the facts Trump clearly did buy preelection silence, for his fornicating a porn star during his wife's pregnancy. Or are facts different than that?
But so what? Neither is running to be a moral paradigm. We'd be in sad shape if either was, given the two party running of DC and presidential politics as an ATM machine for consultants who are abusive and arrogant and corrupt in too many cases, both parties? Roger Stone, you like?
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 03-May-20 10:26 AM
Don't lie like that, Eric. Biden said that he's running to restore America's dignity. That makes his lie that much more disgusting.
The FBI's extreme corruption
While some corrupt Democrats insist that the released Flynn documents aren't a smoking gun, fair-minded Democrats say the opposite . Norman Eisen, the apologist for corrupt Democrats, wrote that "A review of these internal FBI communications, however, shows none of the wrongdoing that Mr. Trump would like to see. But no matter: The mischaracterization of these documents as evidence of FBI misconduct, and by extension, absolution of Mr. Flynn, signals that the president will escalate his abuses of power in the run-up to the 2020 election." That's quite a trick. A hand-written note from Bill Priestap asked "What is our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?" The FBI should be in the business of investigating crimes, not manufacturing crimes that they hope to use to impeach and remove a president they don't like.
Mr. Eisen, it's sad that you don't recognize corruption when you see it. Eisen wrote "The Michael Flynn scandal was one of the first to reveal the pattern of lawlessness that has characterized the Trump administration. In December 2016, Mr. Flynn, in a phone call, successfully implored Russia to moderate retaliation against the United States for sanctions imposed because of the attack on U.S. elections. The conduct raised serious questions under the Logan Act, which prohibits private parties from conducting U.S. foreign policy."
Flynn wasn't a private citizen at that point. He had already been named President-Elect Trump's National Security Adviser. Calling foreign ambassadors is what NSAs do as part of their job. Mark Penn has a different opinion of what Priestap's hand-written note represents:
The new documents are in effect the "smoking gun" proving that a cabal at the FBI acted above the law and with extreme political bias, targeting people for prosecution rather than investigating crimes.
Then Penn wrote this:
The principal evidence that prompted the FBI to open the overall investigation into Trump has been definitively determined to be the Steele dossier. We now know, based on recently disclosed footnotes in the Horowitz report, that the dossier was discredited by its own sources and may even have been deliberate Russian disinformation. After receiving this information, the FBI's top brass, even after learning that the dossier was paid for by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign, opened a broad investigation into Trump and his campaign.
What was this "broad investigation" predicated on? The fact that the Steele Dossier was Russian disinformation? Was the FBI attracted to it because its authors discredited the report? Former federal prosecutor Trey Gowdy was visibly upset when what the Priestap note represented:
[Video no longer available]
I'll take the thoughts of a former federal prosecutor over the words of a Democrat political operative anytime. Eisen is a Democrat political hack. Trey Gowdy is a former federal prosecutor who never lost a case in his career.
Posted Saturday, May 2, 2020 3:15 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 04-May-20 06:47 PM
Gary, giving things thought, I understand the politics of being critical of Walz Covid-19 policy, but do not let this question of federal adherence to rule of law languish over a different story. Surely Barr will be doing his thing, but the FBI and other agencies should be held to standards intolerant of Deep State abuses. At a guess the Biden cramdown will lead to four more Trump years, where Trump and Barr might have a chance to fix something off kilter. It will be interesting to watch. It will be called a political bumping of heads by many, but it is important that the stench and practices of J. Edgar end at some point in time. Barr now ostensibly is boss over the FBI, so again, if there is a second Trump term what happens will be indicative of actual will within an administration that might care. A Biden win likely would effectively quell things. Whatever the truths are, they should come out and not be buried.
Kistner endorsed by MN-2 GOP
This afternoon, Tyler Kistner won the endorsement of Second District Republicans in Minnesota's Second District. Tyler Kistner said:
I am truly honored to have earned the endorsement of the delegates and the Republican Party in the Second District. I'd like to thank Regina Barr and Erika Cashin for running a spirited campaign.
Now, our party must unite together to beat Angie Craig in November. These are not ordinary times, and the stakes have never been higher. Our country is facing an unprecedented enemy in the form of this pandemic and a record number of families and small businesses are hurting. I will fight for the people of Minnesota and work with President Trump to get our country and our economy back on track. I will stand up to the deceptive practices of China. I will be a steadfast leader in the fight to rein in our debt and deficit and get our fiscal house in order.
Angie Craig has already broken her promises to the Second District by taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from special interest groups in Washington DC. She has become nothing more than a puppet to Nancy Pelosi, Ilhan Omar, and the progressives that run her party.
I served Minnesota and our country as a Marine, now, I ask for the honor of going to Washington to serve you again.
Minnesota's Second District is one of the races targeted by the NRCC. We can't afford to let 'Let them eat expensive ice cream' Nancy Pelosi serve another term as Speaker. We can't afford to have Jerry Nadler and Adam Schiff lead one faux impeachment investigation after another while totally ignoring the infiltration of the Wuhan coronavirus with nary a bit of interest from Schiff, Pelosi or Nadler.
Pelosi negotiated while literally letting small businesses die while tens of millions of people filed for unemployment. Schiff impeached a president based solely on allegations. I don't want any citizen tried solely based on allegations. While Pelosi negotiated and literally tens of millions of people lost their jobs, Angie Craig didn't speak out. When Schiff impeached President Trump based solely on hearsay testimony, Angie Craig voted to impeach President Trump.
It's clear that Craig's talk about small businesses is just talk. It's clear that Craig's talk about civil rights is selective at best. It's time to throw her out this November.
Posted Saturday, May 2, 2020 8:03 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 03-May-20 10:15 AM
You mention Kistner's name only three times and do not say zippo about who he's been, his background, what he's done and said over time. Facts matter. Where's he from, what's he done, how is he "Congressional" beyond being able to fog a mirror? (A Republican mirror.) In CD7 we at least know a track record. While we might view it differently, we know who MF is and what she's said and done. We can judge her against having the incumbency of the Chair of the Ag. Committee.
SC Times sucks up to Gov. Walz
The SC Times isn't a newspaper anymore. It's just a mouthpiece for progressive causes. This Our View editorial is proof of that. It starts by saying "Agree with him or not, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz deserves credit for matching his actions to what he's been saying all along about the state coming out its COVID-19 quarantine. His message: It isn't going to happen fast, it's going to be based on science, and it's going to prioritize saving lives over reviving the economy."
What the Times doesn't address is Gov. Walz's unconstitutional decisions. For instance, the Times highlights "Walz's Executive Order 20-48 requires non-critical businesses 'to develop a written COVID-19 Preparedness Plan for each of their work places.' Each plan must address key health and worker protection components laid out by the state, and they also must comply with CDC and OSHA guidelines." The minute that EO is challenged in the Eighth Circuit is the minute it becomes a dead-man walking proposition. That EO isn't legislation that would have the force of law. In courts, executive orders have the authority of suggestions. They don't have the force of laws.
That's because the people haven't had their say. An EO is the voice of the autocrat. A law is the voice of the people because it's voted on by the people's representatives. EOs is the voice of a single autocrat, which means that it doesn't pass constitutional muster. Why doesn't the Times recognize that? Are they that constitutionally illiterate? Built into the Constitution are checks and balances. Also built into the Constitution is the Bill of Rights, specifically the First Amendment.
When autocrats like Gov. Walz overstep their authorities via EOs, the only check is via the judiciary. If the House has a partisan DFL majority, then checks and balances effectively disappear.
The DFL can stifle the will of the people to a point but it can't last forever. If Republicans won't react, then small businesses and other citizens will start filing lawsuits saying that their voices haven't gotten heard. In federal court , that's all that it'll take. The First Amendment states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances ." With an EO and a partisan DFL, there isn't a path to redress our grievances.
This says everything:
Businesses also are required to sign their plans, share them with staff and post them throughout the workplace. And employers must do health screenings of employees upon entry each day and keep that data confidential. Even the governor himself noted the state will not be inspecting nor enforcing its expectations of businesses and consumers. Rather, the state is trusting all Minnesotans to do the right thing.
If Gov. Walz won't inspect or enforce his EOs, then isn't it true that they're utterly meaningless? Why would a business pay attention to Gov. Walz whatsoever? If I owned a business, I'd thumb my nose at Gov. Walz. Either that or I'd flip him the finger. He isn't worthy of my respect. He's disrespected our Constitution so why should I respect him?
Then again, why should I respect Republicans like Tim O'Driscoll, who wrote "As we continue to use social distancing and other common sense safety measures, we also need to begin looking at how to gradually and carefully re-open our main street businesses." I've got a better idea. Why don't GOP legislators in the House and Senate push bills that require Gov. Walz and the DFL to either say no to reopening businesses immediately while requiring social distancing and wearing masks in public or to cave to GOP demands? The GOP's passive response while our rights are taken away isn't ok.
Gradually dying economically still leads to a depression. That's there thanks mainly to Gov. Walz and the DFL. If Republicans won't start fighting like its citizens, then they shouldn't expect the voters' help.
Posted Sunday, May 3, 2020 3:35 AM
No comments.
Protests vs. lawsuits
In case Republicans haven't figured it out, protesting at state capitol buildings is fun but it isn't effective. I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't protest Gov. Walz's questionable decisions. What I'm saying is that GOP activists shouldn't limit themselves to just protesting. Saturday afternoon, the DFL issued this statement criticizing Kurt Daudt:
Today, Minnesota House Republicans have made it clear that they would rather play politics than help Minnesotans get back to work. By pledging to block Governor Walz's Local Jobs and Projects Plan, Representative Daudt and House Republicans are standing in the way of thousands of hardworking men and women in the construction industry building our critical infrastructure throughout the state. Once again, Minnesota Republicans say one thing and do another - they say they want to pass an infrastructure bill but when the time comes to actually get it done, they stick it to working people who desperately need these jobs.
Representative Daudt's foolish temper tantrum goes against the advice of public health experts, the wishes of the vast majority of the American people, and the guidelines for reopening states issued by the President of Daudt's own party. Representative Daudt's gambling with the health and economic well-being of Minnesotans everywhere proves just how unfit Minnesota Republicans are to lead, especially during times of crisis.
It's time for the gloves to come off. It's time to expose the DFL as the party who shut down Minnesota's economy based on a model put together by our DFL governor and Jan Malcolm, his clueless commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health and the U of M. That model was off by orders of magnitude. Gov. Walz tried frightening Minnesotans by telling us that 74,000 Minnesotans would die if we did nothing. That's an outright lie. As of Saturday night , May 2, there were 6,228 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota and 395 deaths related to COVID-19 in Minnesota.
It's time for Kurt Daudt and Paul Gazelka to step off the sidelines. They're playing defense. They should play offense by filing a lawsuit that ends Emperor Walz's reign of autocracy. Question the constitutional validity of Walz's shelter-in-place orders. There's nothing worthwhile about any of them. How many people lost their life savings thanks to Gov. Walz's autocratic decisions? How many people lost their jobs thanks to Gov. Walz's autocratic decisions?
It's time to fight against Gov. Walz and the DFL's autocratic rules. There's nothing reasonable about how the DFL is infringing upon our rights to earn a living. Gov. Walz's decisions has triggered a Minnesota deficit that's likely to exceed $5,000,000,000 next year. That's hiding the costs of draining the Rainy Day Fund and a multi-billion-dollar federal bailout.
Gov. Walz, if we save one life but destroy families upon families' life savings, will it still be worth it? If you say yes to that question, then you're a bleeping idiot.
Finally, We The People have the right to representation on the biggest issues of the day. When it comes to COVID-19 matters, we don't have a say in any matters. That's because Gov. Walz insists on making all of the decisions himself. That isn't a constitutional republic. That's a monarchy. 244 years ago, patriots stood up and fought against tyrants that insisted on controlling our lives. It's time we started our own revolutionary war. This time, though, let's use the courts instead of using muskets.
Posted Sunday, May 3, 2020 3:42 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 03-May-20 10:07 AM
The Republican protesters surely get a royal handshake treatment relative to the shameful way Occupy Wall Street was brutally suppressed.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 03-May-20 10:24 AM
OWS 'activists' were convicted multiple times of rape. I wouldn't hesitate a split-second in suppressing rapists.
Paralyzing COVID-19 fear
Was it Gov. Walz's goal to instill fear in Minnesotans when he first introduced his U of M/MDH model? At the time, many were skeptical of that model. Saying that 74,000 Minnesotans would die if we did nothing seemed ridiculous. It still does. This article highlights how gullible people can be.
It starts by saying "It was a routine trip to the gas station five weeks ago that drove Amy Herzog into seclusion. She hasn't been out in public since. 'I hated my experience,' said the 54-year-old medical administrator from Golden Valley. 'There was a group of young men, and they were getting in the aisle I was in, and they were making really bad jokes about the virus. And I just thought, I'm done. I can't do this anymore. Now, with as much dire news as I've absorbed, I will be very apprehensive about rejoining public places.'"
I feel sad for Herzog but I'm angry with the Twin Cities media. They've published articles citing the MDH model without questioning it. They shouldn't be called reporters. They act more like DFL stenographers. Why would anyone be "apprehensive about rejoining public places"? If you're a healthy person who maintains proper social distancing, there's nothing to fear.
"I think there will be a couple of waves of death," said Dante McKenna, a 23-year-old business analyst from St. Paul. McKenna said he'll continue to self-isolate even after the stay-home order is lifted and suggested that Minneapolis and St. Paul should close their skyway systems, calling them a potential "cesspool" of disease.
"I'm not a paranoid person," he said. "But to me, looking at all the facts, looking at the results from Italy, China, South Korea, it's doing the only thing that makes sense."
Despite multiple scientists saying that most people are fine if they exercise proper social distancing, McKenna insists that he isn't paranoid. I'd argue that he's more than a little paranoid. Then again, he's a Democrat from a major urban area. Expecting them to be emotionally stable is foolish. Then there's this:
Recent polls suggest that a strong majority of Americans agree, consistently showing that 70 to 80% of the country favors a slow approach to reopening. On Thursday, a poll released by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion found that 91% of Americans oppose attending large sporting events without further testing, while 85% think schools should remain closed and 80% don't think it's a good idea to allow dine-in service at restaurants. Two-thirds of Americans, according to the Marist poll, think it's a bad idea to let Americans go back to work without further testing.
This coming from the party that says that we should rely on science to make our decisions. Considering the fact that large portions of the population can't identify our Vice President, why should I trust polling?
Brendan Kennealy of Richfield said he trusts Walz and his team to make the right decisions. "I don't think they would tell us it's safe to go out until they meet those criteria for tests and tracing," said Kennealy, a 36-year-old copywriter and father of Hazel, nearly 2. "I am eager to ease myself back into something resembling my old life, but I won't make any changes until our leadership says it's safe."
That's frightening. Trusting government to tell you when it's safe is stupid, especially when considering how often Gov. Walz has been wrong. The MDH model that he used to frighten Minnesotans into lockdown now predicts that there will be 22,000 deaths. After 2 months of dealing with COVID-19, the Minnesota Department of Health has recorded 395 COVID-related deaths. Trusting a government that's off by 5600 percent is beyond stupid. Fortunately, there are still sane people:
Lee von Lehe disagrees. Strongly. The extension of Walz's stay-home order, announced Thursday, "has me absolutely furious," said von Lehe, 70, a retired electronics engineer from Falcon Heights. The major problems in the novel coronavirus outbreak, he said, have been in the population that already has health problems. A marathoner and cross-country skier who regularly bikes 1,500 miles each summer, von Lehe doesn't see why healthy people should be under tight restrictions.
The underlying problem to this is that Gov. Walz doesn't trust people to make right decisions. That's the difference between the DFL and Republicans. I'm perfectly willing to trust my neighbors to do the right thing. I won't trust the government to do the right thing. After watching them totally screw up MNLARS, MNsure and our nursing homes, why would I trust the government?
The point is that Gov. Walz hasn't figured it out that different parts of the state should be treated differently. His policies for downtown Little Falls have been the same as his policies for downtown Minneapolis. Why would I trust someone that trusts one-size-fits-all policies?
Posted Sunday, May 3, 2020 10:13 AM
No comments.
Gov. Walz, Speaker Hortman don't want the people to have a voice
Gov. Walz and Speaker Hortman are playing purely partisan games in an attempt to pressure Republicans. House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt has said that "his caucus will block passage of a public infrastructure borrowing package until the peacetime state of emergency Gov. Tim Walz has used to enact the stay-at-home order and other coronavirus response measures comes to an end."
Predictably, Speaker Hortman responded, saying "it is 'disappointing to see the minority leader threaten to block much-needed investments in local jobs and projects in our communities.'" Ms. Hortman, there's a simple solution to this impasse. It's found by letting the people have a say in matters. Leader Daudt laid it out pretty simply:
The Legislature is in session. We believe we should be working with the governor on the response to COVID-19 and keeping Minnesota safe.
I'll put it in simpler terms. Minnesota isn't a monarchy. Tim Walz isn't an emperor. He was elected to be Minnesota's governor, not Minnesota's king. It's time he dropped the monarch act and provided servant leadership.
Speaker Hortman apparently favors monarchies:
Governor Walz and his Administration have served the people of Minnesota well during this crisis, and his thoughtfulness is why Minnesotans overwhelmingly approve of his actions. Ending the peacetime emergency declaration before the emergency has passed would be reckless.
Actually, letting Gov. Walz do whatever he wants is reckless. Power corrupts but absolute power corrupts absolutely. Right now, Gov. Walz is acting like he's got total authority to do whatever he wants. If Hortman wants to campaign that Gov. Walz has the authority to make unilateral decisions and that he's made nothing but good decisions, I can't wait to see her surrender her Speaker's gavel this November.
Gov. Walz and Speaker Hortman, if you want to run as an autocrat and the chief supporter of an out-of-control autocrat, don't expect a gentle reception outside downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul this November. People with common sense don't like authoritarianism. This about it this way. Gov. Walz has decided to 'let' more businesses open. Gov. Walz has 'let' people start fishing again. Gov. Walz has 'let' golf courses open after being pushed by protesters into that decision.
If this is right, the law needs changing:
The state of emergency, currently to end May 13, does not require legislative sign off, though lawmakers can vote to end it. House Republicans have made several unsuccessful attempts to pass legislation rescinding the order. The governor can extend the measure every 30 days with approval from an executive council of statewide elected officials, though he must call back the Legislature if he acts again after it has adjourned. Daudt said he would rather see the Legislature remain in session without a state of emergency past May to approve any virus response measures.
The legislative branch, not the executive branch, is where political disputes should be settled. Further, giving the governor the authority to extend his autocratic decisions theoretically gives him the ability to extend it indefinitely if there's a divided legislature. Giving a governor the ability to make decisions without consulting the legislature is a recipe for disaster. Nobody should ever have that type of authority. The people must have a say in the matter.
Posted Sunday, May 3, 2020 4:42 PM
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