May 23-26, 2018
May 23 09:17 The Promise Program scam May 23 14:33 Strong economies vs. 'blue waves' May 23 17:57 Gov. Dayton gives 'the rich' huge tax increase, Speaker Daudt unloads May 24 00:48 Dayton spin machine gets to work May 24 09:40 Gov. Dayton admits that he's a strident partisan May 25 08:50 Gang of 8 uproar is overheated rhetoric May 25 10:30 Socialists endorse Erin Murphy May 25 15:13 Speaker Daudt blasts Gov. Dayton May 26 11:37 GOP opportunities expanding
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
The Promise Program scam
Written by Rambling Rose
Unthinkable. Despicable. Kids learned to "play" the system. Obama "played" the students, teachers and parents. We all lost. Will we stand by again or will we act?
While we all would like a 'second chance' when we err, students with the PROMISE plan for school infractions quickly learned that it is a sham that they can (able) and may (no consequences so permission is implicit) exploit. They learned how to play the system for countless second chances. What happened to the expectation of teaching the next generation responsibility and accountability? What happens to an academic program when discipline is absent from the classroom, the school building, the school district?
We have learned the answer - more and more school shootings by mentally disturbed, glory-seeking individuals who have gotten by with other acts of violence in the schools and fear no consequences in those 'gun-free' zones. The get-out-of-jail-free card is not restricted to the board game Monopoly. That seems the foundation of the whitewashing discipline program PROMISE.
While Obama promised to heal the racial/ethnic divide in this country, the truth is that he skillfully set up more barriers between groups. One such tool of division and unrest is the PROMISE program. It was instituted ": by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education in 2014, [and] includes a call for schools to ensure that they are not involving law enforcement in routine disciplinary issues. It also put schools on notice that they may be in violation of civil rights laws if their disciplinary policies lead to disparately high discipline rates for students of color, even if those policies were written without discriminatory intent." With such threats from the federal government, it is not surprising that school districts "embraced" the mandate: often with no public disclosure of those changes unless someone knew to investigate the discipline handbook of their community's district. But who would look? Until the shooting at the Parkland High School, the public knew little or nothing about the PROMISE program to whitewash students' infractions.
Following the massacre in February 2018 in one of the Broward County district schools, Parkland High School, people asked if the shooter (name withheld to not add to his notoriety) had ever been arrested, which would have denied him the right to purchase firearms. The suspect was known for violent acts, including the killing of small animals for sport and the vandalism of a school bathroom while yet in middle school. The sheriff's office had been called to his home dozens of times. Both the school deputy and the FBI received tips that this disturbed individual was planning a school shooting. The school had even recommended an involuntary mental evaluation. But nothing was done by officials to intervene and prevent the tragedy. They were following the Obama directive and needed to protect the image of the school.
In the culture of leniency of PROMISE, violators of the same infraction 10 times are treated as if it were the first offense. The South Florida Sun Sentinel reviewed the district's discipline policies and reported in early May:
- 'Students can be considered first-time offenders even if they commit the same offenses year after year.
- The district's claim of reforming bad behavior is exaggerated.
- Lenient discipline has an added PR benefit for the district: lower suspensions, expulsions and arrests along with rising graduation rates.'
The shooter was suspended some 67 days during a year and a half in middle school and continued to have problems in high school. However, his record didn't show that. The administrators use the numbers to market their school. They do not want their school to be perceived as dangerous. Parents would not send their children to those schools if the truth were known. Only after tragedy hits the school, does the community learn the awful truth. Their children became the innocent victims of those who have enjoyed endless second chances to whitewash their school records.
How many more innocent students, teachers and school personnel will be sacrificed on the PC altar before the culture of leniency is revoked and personal accountability for personal actions is restored? Although the identity of the first person to make this statement seems to be debatable, its truth is widely repeated, 'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.' Who will do nothing? Who will act?
Posted Wednesday, May 23, 2018 9:17 AM
Comment 1 by John Palmer at 23-May-18 09:38 PM
Make sure you ask your local police/sheriff department and local school district if they are following the letter/spirit of the "Promise Program". I think you will find many departments and school districts right here in MN are in fact following the "PROMISE" guide.
Comment 2 by Rex Newman at 24-May-18 07:57 PM
Very good explanation of this program. By its logic, I should be able to "step out" on my wife once a year ... ?
Response 2.1 by Gary Gross at 24-May-18 08:10 PM
You can try that, Rex, but I'm afraid that the outcome might resemble Marjory Stoneman-Douglas High School's this past February.
Strong economies vs. 'blue waves'
IBD's editorial on the state of the economy is great news for Republicans' midterm hopes. It opens by saying "A new report shows that the median household income has climbed 3% since President Trump took office. It's another sign of a strong economy, and at least one poll shows the public credits Trump for the good news. Should Democrats wave bye to the Blue Wave?"
After that, it mixes in statistics to strengthen its point. For instance, included in the article is the fact that the "latest IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index is 53.6. This index has been in positive territory (anything over 50 is optimistic) since Trump took office. The Quality of Life Index, meanwhile, hit a 14-year high in May and the Financial Stress Index is at an all-time low. Gallup's tracking poll shows that 67% now say it's a good time to find "a quality job in the U.S.," which is the highest since Gallup started asking this question 17 years ago. The best this measure ever got under Obama was a paltry 45%. CNN's poll finds that 57% now say 'things are going well in the U.S.,' up from just 49% in February. The latest CBS News/YouGov poll found that 64% rate the economy as somewhat or very good."
This isn't cherrypicking the only good news out of a gloomy economic report. This is reporting one bit of economic good news after another. The most important part is that President Trump and Republicans are getting the credit for these improvements:
But what must really concern Democrats is that 68% of the public now says Trump's policies deserve at least some of the credit , according to the CBS poll. Thirty-five percent say he deserves a 'great deal' of credit for the current economy , while only 11% say he deserves none at all.
That isn't good news for Democrats but that isn't what should worry Democrats most. Here's what Democrats should be most worried about. They don't have a defense for unanimously voting against the Trump/GOP tax cuts. When the calendar flips to October and politicians make their final push towards the election, Democrats won't have a legitimate defense for voting against the tax cuts. That's precisely when most voters will finally start paying attention to the election and making their final decisions.
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By the time the polls register that change, it'll be too late for Democrats. Their political ship will have already hit the proverbial iceberg. Good luck with that.
That same poll found the Democratic advantage in the "generic ballot" at only +2 points. The latest Reuters poll has Republicans up by almost 6 points. As recently as March, Democrats had an average 9-point lead on this question, which is seen as an indicator of the enthusiasm for the two parties going into the midterm elections in November.
We're heading into Memorial weekend. By the time Labor Day weekend rolls around, we'll likely be looking at a significantly improved situation -- for Republicans.
Posted Wednesday, May 23, 2018 2:33 PM
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Gov. Dayton gives 'the rich' huge tax increase, Speaker Daudt unloads
By vetoing the GOP tax conformity bill, Gov. Dayton has just given corporations a major tax increase . Gov. Dayton didn't like the bill because, in his words, " the bill didn't penalize companies who move foreign profits back to Minnesota harshly enough."
This shows just how incompetent Gov. Dayton is and how little he understands economics. If you punish corporations for bringing their profits back to the USA, they'll keep their profits in other countries. These corporations don't have an incentive to repatriate their funds if Gov. Dayton's policy is to punish them. Gov. Dayton's shortsighted and ideology-driven policies have led him to veto the legislature's tax conformity bill.
That's foolish both economically and politically. Thanks to Gov. Dayton's veto of the bill, lots of businesses will get hit with significant tax increases. Further, those businesses getting hit with significant tax increases now have a motive to vote for Republicans this fall. Thanks to Gov. Dayton's veto of the tax conformity bill, entrepreneurs have additional incentives to vote against DFL legislators and the DFL gubernatorial candidate. Of course, Gov. Dayton had to make a foolish statement after vetoing the bill:
"They wanted a bill that was going to fail," Dayton said at a morning news conference. He accused House Republicans of cozying up to "special interests."
Take that statement with a block of salt. Forget about a grain of salt. You'd need one of these:
About 2:30 into this video, Speaker Daudt said something profound. When asked by Pat Kessler why they didn't separate out the bills, Speaker Daudt said "You know, even when we did separate things out -- I'll bring your attention to the deputy registrar money -- we sent that by itself. The Governor vetoed that and then put in his veto letter that he vetoed it because it wasn't part of a bigger bill. I'm just -- I don't even have anything to say. I can't answer for how illogical this governor has been the last 2 weeks -- and beyond that."
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There's no question that Gov. Dayton has been erratic the last 2+ weeks. There's little question that he's no longer mentally fit to serve as governor anymore. Just look at the things that've happened recently. MNLARS is a major administration failure that's hurting deputy registrars. It's putting some of them out of business. Others are losing their homes. Fox9 reported about massive amounts of fraud in the child care welfare system. Gov. Dayton's response was that he found out about it via the station that broke the story. Earlier, it was reported that seniors living in elder care facilities had died because the people abused them or neglected them altogether.
Sen. Karin Housley put a bill together to insist on accountability. Naturally, Gov. Dayton vetoed that, too. Gov. Dayton accused Republicans of cozying up to "the special interests." What does Gov. Dayton have to say about his protecting SEIU with his veto of the senior care accountability bill? Did he do that because it was the right thing? Did he do it because he's protected his political allies all the while he's been in office? (I suspect it's the latter.)
Perhaps Speaker Daudt's most stinging shot came when he said "I've worked with this governor as the leader of my caucus the last 6 years, the last 4 years as Speaker and every opportunity, this governor will choose politics over people every time." In fact, throughout the 24+ minute video, Speaker Daudt cited example after example of Gov. Dayton not being engaged in negotiating bills.
In fact, it wasn't just Speaker Daudt that criticized Gov. Dayton. Check out Roger Chamberlain's statement on Gov. Dayton's behavior :
The governor behaved like a toddler - emotional, impulsive, and unreasonable. Vetoing everything and bringing the session to a crashing halt because he couldn't get exactly what he wanted is just another temper tantrum. It has become a recurring theme with this governor; it is a legacy of chaos and failure.
The truly sad thing is the governor's selfishness will have a devastating impact on Minnesotans. His vetoes tell us he doesn't care about protecting students from the next school shooting. That he doesn't care about saving the next victims of opioid abuse. That he doesn't care about people struggling with mental health emergencies. That he doesn't care about victims of elder abuse. The list goes on and on and on. These people don't care about the governor's political games. They just want to live their lives and the governor turned his back on them today.
Senate Republicans cited specific reasons why Gov. Dayton shouldn't have vetoed these bill. Here's part of Sen. Karin Housley's statement :
The governor's veto of the supplemental budget is disappointing and irresponsible. The bill included new, needed protections for elderly and vulnerable Minnesotans, and his veto puts thousands at risk. Instead of standing with the people of our state, the governor chose to cement his legacy as a chief executive whose administration has been marred by scandal and obstruction.
The elder care provisions included in the bill represented a bipartisan compromise that would have allowed the use of electronic monitoring, strengthened resident protections, better prevented retaliation, prohibited deceptive marketing, and enhanced provider accountability.
Sen. Chamberlain is right. Gov. Dayton acted like a spoiled brat. I wrote about Gov. Dayton's behavior many times during this session and the budget session. This isn't something that wasn't totally visible. It was there in plain sight the entire time. That being said, the Twin Cities media did their best to not cover it. Even in today's press conference with Speaker Daudt, the questions were veiled attempts to defend Gov. Dayton. It didn't work. Speaker Daudt was prepared and loaded with specifics.
Posted Wednesday, May 23, 2018 5:57 PM
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Dayton spin machine gets to work
If fair-minded people read this WCCO article , they'll wonder who's paying this reporter's paychecks. The article opens by saying "Minnesota Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed Wednesday the biggest tax and spending bills of the year. The move leaves the 2018 Legislature with few accomplishments, and a long list of grievances."
It's impossible to accomplish much when you're working with a governor that puts politics ahead of people's needs. I quoted Sen. Roger Chamberlain in this post because he said "The governor behaved like a toddler - emotional, impulsive, and unreasonable. Vetoing everything and bringing the session to a crashing halt because he couldn't get exactly what he wanted is just another temper tantrum. It has become a recurring theme with this governor; it is a legacy of chaos and failure." Amen to that, Sen. Chamberlain. That's exactly how Gov. Dayton behaved.
If Gov. Dayton behaved like this to give the DFL a political advantage, he failed. By acting like a spoiled brat, he's now forced DFL legislators and DFL legislative challengers to defend indefensible gubernatorial decisions. Vetoing the tax conformity bill because (here's his words) "it didn't punish corporations enough" for bringing their foreign profits home is beyond exceptionally stupid. Punishing them for bringing their foreign profits home incentivizes companies to leave their profits overseas. What type of idiot can't figure that out?
By vetoing the tax conformity bill, Gov. Dayton is forcing DFL legislators and challengers to explain to these businesses why they're getting hit with a major tax increase. Good luck selling that decision to a roomful of upset entrepreneurs.
Notice the slant, though. The almost-reflexive slant is that Gov. Dayton's vetoes are the Republicans' fault. WCCO doesn't contemplate the possibility that Gov. Dayton didn't act in the state's best interests. It's like WCCO thinks that it's only possible that it's the Republicans' fault. Here's a hint to WCCO: it's perfectly possible that it's Gov. Dayton's fault because a) the tax conformity bill was reasonable legislation and b) he vetoed all of the major bills this session.
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If Gov. Dayton had negotiated in good faith, which he didn't at any point during the final weekend, it might be fair to blame Republicans. When the governor won't negotiate but he will criticize everyone except him, then it's his fault that nothing got done. That's if you're only paying attention to this year. I'm paying attention to each of the 8 painful years of the Dayton administration. In 2011, he promised Speaker Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Koch that they had a budget deal that didn't include raising taxes. Zellers and Koch returned to their caucuses to brief them on the details of the deal. When they returned to Gov. Dayton's office, he'd changed his mind. A tax increase was required.
Gov. Dayton's promises are worthless.
In 2015, Speaker Daudt and Sen. Bakk spent 5 days negotiating with Gov. Dayton on a final budget. After 5 days, they were about to leave the Governor's mansion when they decided to hammer out an agreement between themselves. Bipartisanship at its finest. Hooray. We won't need a special session. Not so fast. Gov. Dayton and Rep. Thissen objected to it. Special session, here we come.
This year, the only thing that needed to get done was tax conformity. The House and Senate worked out a bill without Gov. Dayton's input, not because they didn't want his input but because Gov. Dayton was a no-show to negotiations. The bill gets passed with decent bipartisan support. Gov. Dayton vetoes it because he didn't get his emergency school spending. Fine. There's time left. The legislature puts together a $225,000,000 school funding package instead of the $137,900,000 that Gov. Dayton asked for. Gov. Dayton vetoes that, too, saying that the school money didn't include new money.
That's the equivalent of saying 'if it isn't done my way, I'm vetoing it. If people get hurt, that's their problem.' That isn't a leader. That's a spoiled brat. Thank God his reign of foolishness and incompetence is essentially over. Good riddance. Personally, I won't miss him. Frankly, I wish he'd never been our governor.
Posted Thursday, May 24, 2018 12:48 AM
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Gov. Dayton admits that he's a strident partisan
While reading through this MPR article , I discovered a provocative insight into Gov. Dayton's thinking. Specifically, I'm talking about when he said "Divided government has not worked well for Minnesota over the last eight years but it has worked better than it did this time."
This puts the final piece of the puzzle in place to figuring out (to the best that's possible) Gov. Dayton's thinking and attitude. Consider these things:
- In 3 of the 4 budget years, Gov. Dayton either shut government down or pushed things to a special session.
- In 2015, Sen. Bakk and Speaker Daudt spent an entire week negotiating with Gov. Dayton on a budget agreement without success. After their Friday meeting with Gov. Dayton, they took it upon themselves to fashion a bipartisan budget agreement. An hour later, they'd reached agreement.
- This year, Gov. Dayton vetoed a standalone bill because it wasn't part of a bigger bill.
- Gov. Dayton vetoed other bills because they were too big.
- Gov. Dayton vetoed a spending bill, saying it didn't have new money in it even though it had new money in it.
These aren't the actions of a rational man. They're either the actions of a man that's falling apart or the actions of a man who's playing political games with people's lives.
It's impossible to deal with irrational people like this. It's like trying to predict the flight pattern of butterflies. It's just simply impossible. These are the people who will get hurt thanks to Gov. Dayton's irrational vetoes:
Gov. Dayton accused Republicans of putting together bad bills for their campaigns. Sen. Gazelka quickly shot that accusation down:
"Everywhere we turn, somebody is impacted, because in the end we are too stubborn to give in," said Gazelka, R-Nisswa. It's unfair, he added, to say Republicans are only interested in their campaigns for re-election, particularly in the Senate, where members are not on the ballot this year. "It feels impulsive, it feels vindictive and it didn't help anybody in Minnesota," he said of the vetoes. "I don't know where we go from here."
Gov. Dayton made that accusation to put the blame anywhere except on him. Like Gov. Dayton, the accusation is the product of Gov. Dayton's impulses and his dishonesty.
The budget bill would have used money from the state surplus to help boost school security, take steps to attack the opioid epidemic, begin addressing problems with the elder care system and more. The tax bill authorized $225 million in spending for schools meant to avert layoffs and program cuts in some districts, but Dayton had called it "fake," because only $50 million of it was new money.
What a blithering idiot. I'm betting those parents and students don't care whether the money is new or tapped from reserves. They care whether they'll be safe next fall.
This is another situation where Gov. Dayton insisted on something, then vetoed the legislation whether it took care of the people's needs. If it met the people's needs but not his demandments, it got vetoed. Wasn't the biggest requirement of the job to make the people's lives better? I don't recall it being that important to make the politicians happy.
Posted Thursday, May 24, 2018 9:40 AM
Comment 1 by Patrick Mattson at 25-May-18 07:33 AM
this guy makes the time Jesse Ventura spent as Governor look good.
Gang of 8 uproar is overheated rhetoric
I know it's hard to believe but Adam Schiff is upset with who attended Thursday's Gang of 8 meeting on Capitol Hill. Schiff released a statement saying "Emmet Flood's presence and statement at the outset of both meetings today was completely inappropriate. Although he did not participate in the meetings which followed, as the White House's attorney handling the Special Counsel's investigation, his involvement - in any capacity - was entirely improper, and I made this clear to him."
What's understated is the fact that Flood made "brief remarks before the meetings started to relay the President's desire for as much openness as possible under the law." The White House statement also said "They also conveyed the President's understanding of the need to protect human intelligence services and the importance of communication between the branches of government." Schiff confirmed that by saying that Flood "did not participate in the meetings which followed."
If President Trump's lawyer didn't participate in the substantive part of either meeting, what's the big deal? It isn't like Flood was handed confidential information by Trey Gowdy or Devin Nunes.
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After the meeting, Schiff said, "Today's Gang of 8 briefing was conducted to ensure protection of sources and methods. Nothing we heard today has changed our view that there is no evidence to support any allegation that the FBI or any intelligence agency placed a spy in the Trump campaign or other wise to failed follow appropriate procedures and protocols."
That statement's got a ton of weasel words in it. An informant isn't the same thing as a spy. Second, Schiff didn't say that the FBI didn't use the informant to gather information about the campaign. They don't have to plant someone inside the campaign to gather lots of information. Third, Schiff left open the possibility that they could've used an informant to gather information while following "appropriate procedures and protocols."
Posted Friday, May 25, 2018 8:50 AM
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Socialists endorse Erin Murphy
Radical DFL front organization TakeAction Minnesota has endorsed Erin Murphy in her campaign to be the DFL's endorsed gubernatorial candidate.
TakeAction Minnesota's endorsement starts by saying "Tonight, Rep. Erin Murphy, former MN House Majority Leader and DFL candidate for governor, was endorsed by TakeAction Minnesota, one of the state's largest independent, multiracial political organizations. The Board of Directors ratified the endorsement recommendation made by TakeAction Minnesota members on Thursday night. 'Erin is winning people over by being her authentic self and it's downright inspiring. She has grassroots energy behind her and it's growing,' said Dan McGrath, executive director of TakeAction Minnesota. 'Erin clearly shares our values and people can tell she genuinely cares about them. She has everything she needs to win statewide."
It continued, saying "Murphy distinguished herself with TakeAction Minnesota members as a state legislator. She fought tirelessly beside grassroots leaders to save health care for tens of thousands of low-income Minnesotans and led the progressive caucus to pass marriage equality, ban the box legislation, and progressive economic policy. 'Erin Murphy is incredibly passionate and authentic," said Bahieh Hartshorn, a St. Paul resident, Political Healer, and co-chair of TakeAction Minnesota's political committee. 'It doesn't matter who you are, Erin Murphy cares about every Minnesotan and sees each of us as whole human beings. Her spirit, combined with her bold progressive values, is unparalleled. We can't wait to work alongside her.' TakeAction Minnesota members participated in the endorsement process in the Twin Cities, St. Cloud, Duluth, and Grand Rapids. Our organization is comprised of 22 people's organizations and 110,000 progressive supporters, leaders, activists, and members."
Follow this link to read the list of Erin Murphy's endorsements.
TAM, aka TakeAction Minnesota, is essentially a socialist organization. In a section titled Work & Wealth , we're told "Our economy works when it serves the needs of people. Unfortunately, it has served us less and less well over the past few decades. The basic promise that working 40 hours per week would at least provide the basic necessities for your family - safe housing, enough food on the table, clothes for your kids with a little left over to save for college - has been steadily and repeatedly broken. We've shifted from a 'Henry Ford' economy where families were paid enough to afford the products they made to a 'Sam Walton' economy where families are paid so little they can barely afford the cheapest goods made overseas. Minnesotans need a new, more equitable economy if we hope to make our future fulfill the promises of our past."
That's what 21st Century socialism is sold as. A vote for Erin Murphy, Rebecca Otto or Tim Walz is a vote for full-fledged socialism.
Posted Friday, May 25, 2018 10:30 AM
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Speaker Daudt blasts Gov. Dayton
Earlier this week, I wrote about Speaker Daudt's stinging criticism of Gov. Dayton in this post . I'm not surprised that I'm not the only one lining up to take a shot at Gov. Dayton. This morning, I got my copy of Harold Hamilton's weekly commentary. Harold didn't pull punches in this week's end-of-session summation.
At the top of Harold's commentary is his "Quote of the Week" section. The first quote, from Speaker Daudt, said "I can't answer why Governor Dayton wasn't engaged during session. He'll have to answer those questions. His parking spot sits empty almost every day - he doesn't even come to the Capitol. He hasn't been engaged at all in his job here." If Gov. Dayton wasn't willing to do the work, he should've resigned so someone else could do the things needed to help Minnesotans.
The second quote also came from Speaker Daudt:
This session wasn't a failure. Our governor was a failure.
The final quote is from Sen. Roger Chamberlain:
The governor is behaving like a toddler - emotional, impulsive, and unreasonable. It is just another part of his legacy of chaos and failure.
Gov. Dayton was poorly equipped for the job. His leadership skills were nonexistent. His temperament was terrible. His ability to work with others was nonexistent, too. What part of that 'skillset' sounds like he's equipped to be governor? That isn't the only criticism of Gov. Dayton in Hamilton's commentary. Here's more:
Once again, Dayton demonstrated that he really isn't up to the job of being chief executive of the state. Thus, he leaves a legacy of failure, a legacy of failing to lead and unite a divided state. Beyond that, he has no legacy. He has no signature achievements he or his liberal brethren can brag up.
He can't brag about MNLARS. On that, he might get tarred and feathered. The nursing home abuse scandal is a dark stain on his 'humanitarian' record because the Office of Health Facility Complaints investigated "just 1% of nearly 21,000 cases ... through on-site investigations when facilities self-reported incidents."
People died but Gov. Dayton didn't instruct the OHFC to investigate. That either means that Gov. Dayton is a totally heartless SOB or that he'd checked out or both. When people die and the governor doesn't fix things or, at minimum, he doesn't pay attention, then he vetoes a bill that would've established protections, then the fault sits exclusively with Gov. Dayton. Only the executive branch runs things. The legislative branch passes policy bills and funds government. They don't run things. Here's the harshest, most accurate part of Hamilton's commentary:
Once again, Dayton demonstrated that he really isn't up to the job of being chief executive of the state. Thus, he leaves a legacy of failure, a legacy of failing to lead and unite a divided state. Beyond that, he has no legacy. He has no signature achievements he or his liberal brethren can brag up.
He is really left with only the dubious claim that presided over a massive increase in the state income tax, a sort of Holy Grail for liberals that visits upon the successful the misery of bearing their "fair share" of income taxes, which really means somewhere around 70% of the total burden.
Much like President Obama, Gov. Dayton isn't an executive. They're both executives in name only. Also like President Obama, Gov. Dayton's legacy stands a good chance of getting wiped out by his successor.
Minnesota desperately needs a true executive who keeps the trains running on time. If Dayton didn't show up, much less on time, how can we keep the trains running on time? Finally, it's worth noting that Speaker Daudt typically is known as Mr. Calm, Cool and Collected. For him to go Vesuvius like he did Sunday and Wednesday, something serious must've bothered him.
Posted Friday, May 25, 2018 3:13 PM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 25-May-18 06:39 PM
Sadly it doesn't matter how much Daudt blasts Gov. Goofy because the media is still giving the deranged governor cover. There is still more than 1/2 of the state that thinks they imbecil is doing a good job too. Just read the comments on MPR or Minnpost whenever they write a story about the guy.
GOP opportunities expanding
This election cycle, Mitch McConnell hasn't been a profile in optimism. Apparently, that's changing. In a recent interview , McConnell expressed optimism about Sherrod Brown's Ohio senate seat. (Perhaps he got a copy of Salena Zito's great new book and realized that there's a realignment happening?)
Sen. McConnell told the Hill "I saw a survey within the last week in Ohio indicating that race is very competitive. I would certainly add Ohio to the list." A source in Ohio added "Within the past week a number of Republicans have been talking about it behind the scenes. The survey has given Republicans reason for hope. It's internal polling."
Anytime that a source cites internal polling, that's a legitimate reason for skepticism. Still, Jim Renacci is a top-tier candidate who just received President Trump's endorsement. Those can't be ignored whatsoever. The other thing that's impossible to ignore is the fact that President Trump won Ohio by a pretty healthy margin:
These aren't signs that indicate an easy race for Sen. Brown. Rather, as I've argued, I think it points to a legitimate pickup opportunity for Republicans. Sen. Brown is essentially a socialist. He voted against the Trump/GOP tax cuts. Renacci voted for them. Brown is a climate change true believer that supported President Obama's anti-coal regulations.
What part of that sounds like a good match with today's Ohio?
McConnell's growing confidence about the midterm election is fueled by what he says is the most productive record by a "right-of-center" Congress in more than 30 years. "I'm now in my third decade in the Senate. This has been the best period, the best period right-of-center over the last 17 months, in the time that I've been here. It's been a period of extraordinary accomplishment," he said.
"We think we have made a very significant difference for the country in measurable ways," McConnell added. "Conveying that to the voters in places that we have Senate races is going to be a big part of being competitive." McConnell said he wants Trump to do more to talk up the Congress's accomplishments, something GOP senators requested of the president during a recent meeting on Capitol Hill. "I'd like the president to talk about it more often and I believe he will going into the fall campaign," he said.
Trump rattling off Republicans' accomplishments won't just help GOP senate candidates. It'll help push House Republicans across the finish line, too.
I've said this before but it's worth repeating. There's lots of reasons to be bullish on Republicans in 2018. It won't be a great year in the House in terms of gaining seats but it's a far cry from the Democrats' Blue Wave. Here's what I see happening to the House Democrats' Blue Wave in 2018:
Posted Saturday, May 26, 2018 11:37 AM
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