November 12-15, 2018
Nov 12 03:36 Summarizing Keith Ellison's victory Nov 12 13:26 Joe Mauer, Twins legend Nov 13 04:16 Recount fact & fiction Nov 13 12:55 The Democrats' real agenda Nov 14 06:39 Maxine Waters' leftist haters? Nov 14 08:23 The Democrats' smear factory Nov 15 07:04 Jeff Flake's final grandstand?
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Summarizing Keith Ellison's victory
Last Tuesday night, Keith Ellison was elected to replace Lori Swanson as Minnesota's Attorney General. In this post , I wrote about Skip Humphrey and Walter Mondale's op-ed endorsing Ellison for the AG position.
Prior to that op-ed, I'd thought of them as terrible on policy but somewhat of a family legacy. After that op-ed, I'm forced to admit that they're just like most DFL politicians. They're a pair of political hacks who put the DFL ahead of what's best for Minnesotans. They're a pair of losers, too.
Skip Humphrey's biggest claim to fame isn't that he's Hubert Humphrey's son. Skip Humphrey's biggest claim to fame is that he's the politician who finished last to this clown:
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Jesse 'The Body' Ventura defeated Norm Coleman but he thrashed Skip Humphrey. After that thrashing, Skip had gone into hiding. He would've been better off if he'd stayed out of the limelight.
Walter Mondale's biggest claim to fame is that he's the only politician who's lost elections in all 50 states. In 1984, he lost 49 states in President Reagan's re-election victory. Mondale won Minnesota's 10 electoral votes and DC's 3 electoral votes that year. President Reagan won the nation's other 525 electoral votes. After Paul Wellstone's tragic death in a plane crash in northern Minnesota, the DFL recruited Mondale to run against Norm Coleman. That's when Mondale lost in Minnesota. BTW, everyone my age and older remembers this moment:
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Those moment have been eclipsed by Skip Humphrey's and Walter Mondale's endorsement of a man who has frequently supported cop-killers. Keith Ellison is a low-life who isn't qualified to be Minnesota's AG. It's quite telling that the DFL hasn't shown any remorse for endorsing a man credibly accused of beating his ex-girlfriend and who has begged the Castro government not to release Assata Shakur back into US custody.
Posted Monday, November 12, 2018 3:36 AM
Comment 1 by Eric z at 12-Nov-18 09:36 AM
Whine. Whine. Whine. It's unbecoming. As if girding up for 2020 by further distancing the Never Trump embracing of days gone. Ellison won for many reasons, but the major thing is how bad Doug Wardlow stinks. Admit it. It's so out there obvious that only a zealot would disagree.
Comment 2 by Chad Q at 12-Nov-18 05:01 PM
Can you name one reason other than the DFL would vote for a piece of shit if it had a D behind its name? With the election of the cop killing supporting, domestic abusing (allegedly), anti-Semite, the DFL party has shown who they really are. No reason to believe Ellison or any other progressive liberal stands for anything but themselves and the power they can obtain.
Comment 3 by eric z at 12-Nov-18 10:46 PM
Gary and Chad Q - If you guys really think Wardlow is that strong a personality do you think about the GOP running him against Tina in 2020? Not that I'd want to see that, with Trump again running to nail down your base, and Wardlow to cement it, but it would fit an overall GOP ticket. You guys don't have John McCain to kick around anymore, but that combo, Trump national, Wardlow local, it would energize your base. Tina had a lightweight this time, and will likely not, 2020. Whoever it is. Who knows? At a bet, the GOP could run Jeff Johnson against Tina. He lost to Swanson, to Walz, and it's a chance at a trifecta of second place. Who else have you got, in Minnesota? Ellison will simply solidify his holding the AG, as Swanson did after her first term. Jeff Johnson might chase that office again, he did not do too badly against Swanson. Pawlenty keeping a carpet bag packed? Or is he too liberal for "the base?" Yes, two years away, but who have you got?
Joe Mauer, Twins legend
It isn't overstatement to call Joe Mauer a Twins legend. He's the first Minnesotan taken with the first pick in the baseball draft. The only other Minnesotans picked in the upper part of the first round of the MLB draft are in Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame; Paul Molitor was picked third overall by the Milwaukee Brewers while Dave Winfield was picked 4th overall by the San Diego Padres. It's worth noting that Molitor and Winfield were drafted after playing for the Minnesota Golden Gophers while Joe Mauer was drafted first overall right after high school.
Joe Mauer is the only catcher in MLB history to lead the Major Leagues in hitting. He's also the only catcher to win 3 batting titles in his career. Add to that Joe's defensive skills and you've put together the ingredients for a once-in-a-generation type player and a future first ballot Hall of Famer. Here's video of one of Mauer's legendary defensive plays:
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I remember that play. I remember thinking to myself "Are you kidding me? No other catcher in MLB history was capable of making that play." I'm still convinced of that. This play was pretty good, too:
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As good as those plays were, this is the best, in my humble opinion:
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This article wouldn't be complete without talking about Joe Mauer's hitting ability. In his Twins career, Joe reached base more often than any other Twin. That's quite a statement considering the fact that Rod Carew, Tony Oliva, Kirby Puckett and Harmon Killebrew each had lengthy careers with the Twins. Joe retires as the Twins' leader in doubles, too.
Finally, the 2019 Twins will miss Joe's leadership, talent and professionalism. Good luck, Joe.
Posted Monday, November 12, 2018 1:26 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 12-Nov-18 03:58 PM
Fox Sports Network today had a "hitting" session - discussion between Oliva, Carew and Mauer, with a moderator, about stances, bat grip, foot placement in the batter's box, and it was informative, e.g., Carew adopting a partial crouch because Nolan Ryan was always striking him out with high fastballs and the crouch made Ryan's high strike have enough downward drop to follow it better, and he began hitting Ryan to where one game Ryan yelled, "Stand up straight," and Carew just kept the stance for all pitchers. Also, hitting adjustments with two strikes was a discussion topic.
I think among all outstanding catchers Bench had the best throwing arm among the moderns. Mauer was offered college quarterback scholarships, so his throwing arm was no slouch; best infield arm currently, Sano, best outfield arm ever, Clemente.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 12-Nov-18 05:05 PM
I agree with you on Bench. Mauer didn't have Bench's arm but it was pretty good. It's important not to omit Jim Sundberg & Pudge Rodriguez. Sano has the best third base arm, though I'll argue that Gary Gaetti's arm was pretty special, too. Clemente's arm was special, too, though I'd put Willie Mays' arm up there, too.
Recount fact & fiction
Ed Morrissey's post on the Florida recounts should become required reading. As Ed highlights in his posts, changing the outcome of statewide races is virtually impossible.
In his post, Ed highlights the fact that "According to an analysis by the nonpartisan group FairVote, which advocates for electoral reforms that make it easier to vote, out of 4,687 statewide elections between 2000 and 2016, just 26 went to a recount. Of those 26, just three recounts wound up changing the initial result of the race: The 2004 Washington governor's race, the 2006 Vermont state auditor's race and the 2008 Minnesota U.S. Senate race."
While I don't have statistics on recounts of legislative races, the odds aren't high. I have experience with legislative recounts. It isn't extensive but it's something. In 2008, I was part of a team working on the recount of a state senate race. In that race, with over 35,000 votes cast, the margin of victory was reduced by 1 vote. In 2010, my state legislator won by 13 votes. That margin didn't change.
The only way to change the victor is to illegitimately expand the universe of ballots to be counted. Once the Broward County judge ordered the reports published, the Senate recount essentially ended. Based on the reporting, it looked like Marc Elias, Sen. Bill Nelson's recount attorney, tried doing exactly that. That's why Rick Scott's decision to file a pair of lawsuits last week was so important.
Gov. Scott didn't hesitate like Norm Coleman did in 2008. The importance of those lawsuits, which required Broward County elections supervisor Brenda Snipes to hand over the vote totals reports to authorities, determined how many ballots had been cast. That eliminated the possibility of 'finding' additional ballots. Once those reports became public, Bill Nelson and, especially, Andrew Gillum, were sunk.
This video explains why Floridians will be significantly better off after Gov. Scott officially becomes Sen. Scott:
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Sen. Nelson hasn't done much legislatively to help Floridians in his time in the Senate. Good riddance. BTW, now that he's lost the governor's race, Andrew Gillum will have more time to meet with defense attorneys in his potential corruption trial.
Posted Tuesday, November 13, 2018 4:16 AM
Comment 1 by J. Ewing at 13-Nov-18 08:07 AM
That is Good News! There seems to be no depth to which Democrats will not sink to steal an election. So happy to hear that, at least in Florida, somebody has a cure to the "newfound ballot" problem.
Comment 2 by eric z at 13-Nov-18 09:03 AM
Gary, JE, you've surely got Norm on your side. He's living proof that initial machine-only counts are unreliable.
Response 2.1 by Gary Gross at 13-Nov-18 05:48 PM
Machine recounts aren't unreliable. Marc Elias was just a crooked SOB.
Comment 3 by eric z. at 13-Nov-18 11:18 AM
Today, still 170,000 AZ Senate ballots not yet counted, still, but McSally conceded. So no recount there.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/11/12/kyrsten-sinema-beats-martha-mcsally-arizona-first-female-senator/1984332002/
Comment 4 by eric z at 13-Nov-18 11:25 AM
Real polarized precinct-by-precinct vote splitting in that AZ Senate race:
One AZ precinct, Sinema 82% of votes cast; another McSally at 74%, and from Minnesota mapping I've seen there is nothing that severe a differential across our state.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/11/09/which-precincts-voting-martha-mcsally-and-kyrsten-sinema-maricopa-county-arizona-senate/1944724002/
It surely means that GOTV on both sides, in stronghold territory, was significant. 2020 turnout might not be that much greater??? Any ideas?
Comment 5 by eric z at 13-Nov-18 11:42 AM
Pop the popcorn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kczzU31087U
The Democrats' real agenda
According to this article , House Democrats unveiled their agenda for the first 100 days of the 116th Congress. According to the article, the "Democratic leader in the House, Nancy Pelosi, promises that the first bill voted on by the new Congress will focus on campaign finance and ethics reforms. According to news accounts, H.R. 1 would, among other things, establish automatic voter registration and "reinvigorate" the Voting Rights Act."
Further, House Democrats want to overwhelm Republicans by pushing "public financing of congressional campaigns, with a 6-to-1 government match on small dollar donations." Democrats will certainly define small dollar donations to their advantage.
The reason they'll do that is because, according to Tucker Carlson's op-ed , when "a Republican wins an election, it's fine to question the legitimacy of the process. Democrats have been doing since the days Trump was elected two years ago. That's patriotic. It's your duty. But when the Democratic Party's power is at stake, raising questions about the process is wrong. Indeed it's nothing less than the road to dictatorship."
It's worse than that. Here's Howard Dean talking about this topic:
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In other words, in 2018, Dean vehemently insisted that the nation was in a fight of "good vs. evil" while being convinced that "we're the good" and that Republicans were the evil. That's literally what he said a couple weeks ago. That isn't the first time he's made that statement. When he was DNC Chair in 2005, he said this :
And concluding his backyard speech with a litany of Democratic values, he added: "This is a struggle of good and evil. And we're the good."
Think about that a second. In 2005, Howard Dean thought that George W. Bush was a hardcore conservative who was a religious extremist. Now, he's insisting that President Trump is an extremist who thinks that the US-Mexican border should be protected.
What's funny is that Democrats think that's immoral. That puts the Democrats on the opposite side of the Founding Fathers. In Article I, Section 8, Clause 4 of the Constitution, Congress is authorized to "establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization." It doesn't say that Mexicans and Central Americans will "establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization" in consultation with Congress.
BTW, Democrats insist that the mobile mob making its way through Mexico isn't an invasion. Here's the official definition of invasion :
entrance as if to take possession or overrun:
infringement by intrusion.
CNN and Jim Acosta need better dictionaries. More importantly, Democrats need to start telling the whole truth more often:
Gun control was not a big issue in the midterm campaign, despite promises by gun control advocates to make it a centerpiece of the elections in the wake of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting. The issue "evaporated during the final weeks of the election in all but very safe liberal districts," noted Paul Bedard of the Washington Examiner. "But now that the Democrats have won the House," Bedard notes, "leaders feel emboldened to raise calls for expanded background checks and an assault weapon ban."
Gun control advocates tout the fact that 15 House Republicans with "A" ratings from the NRA lost their elections. But gun control advocates lost seats in the Senate. That includes Joseph Donnelly, who lost his bid in Indiana. Pro-gun rights Josh Hawley unseated Claire McCaskill in Missouri. According to the NRA, candidates backed by gun rights group won 106 races, and lost 33 despite being outspent by gun control supporters. This was not the groundswell of support for gun control laws that advocates promised.
These items might gather majority support in polls but they don't excite people. If Democrats pass tax increases in the House and the economy falters after that, they'll rightly get blamed. If the Democrats focus on investigations, gun control and campaign finance reform instead of focusing on keeping the economy going strong, they'll deserve the blame they'll get.
Posted Tuesday, November 13, 2018 12:55 PM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 13-Nov-18 04:32 PM
Sadly the progressives have overplayed their hands many, many times and the uninformed voters keep voting them back into office. It took an extremely horrible candidate in Clinton for Trump to win and here in MN, 8 years of Dayton's incompetence lead to 4 years of Walz and democrat control of the house. While it is becoming an overused excuse for why conservatives keep losing, it is very hard to compete with the Santa Clause party that promises to give the uninformed and ill informed voter everything their little hearts desire with the promise that they won't have to pay for it.
Maxine Waters' leftist haters?
This article reminds me that hard-core leftists don't hesitate in using intimidation and harassment to threaten conservatives.
During the campaign, leftist anarchists attacked 2 legislative candidates in Minnesota. I titled my post The party of hate . I'd hoped that this threatening behavior was confined to Minnesota, though I didn't hold my breath on that considering how violent Antifa, Black Lives Matter and other Democrat-associated hate groups are.
This weekend, Fox News personality Kat Timpf was threatened by other Democrat-associated haters:
Fox News personality Kat Timpf revealed that she was felt so threatened by a woman angry at her for working at the cable news outlet that she left a restaurant to prevent an altercation from ensuing.
From there, things escalated:
But later, another women accosted Timpf when she found out she worked at Fox News. "This girl started going nuts on me, screaming at me to get out of the bar. I found her very threatening," Timpf said.
She indicated that she tried to move to another part of the bar, but the woman followed her and continued screaming at her. Timpf said that the woman appeared intoxicated, and was surrounded by friends who laughed at her harassment. She said she was afraid the incident would escalate, so she left the bar. "It was super uncomfortable and I didn't want things to get physical," Timpf said.
The blame for this incident can be laid right at the feet of incoming Democrat Chairwoman Maxine Brown. Remember this?
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It's time to tell Democrats that Maxine Waters is unfit to be a member of Congress. People are getting intimidated by the Democrats' anarchists. The Democrats' anarchists need to be stopped ASAP before someone gets Scalised again.
Posted Wednesday, November 14, 2018 6:39 AM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 14-Nov-18 04:45 PM
Democrats - The party of tolerance and acceptance unless of course you don't have the same views and opinions they have.
Comment 2 by eric z at 15-Nov-18 06:47 AM
Nothing about the post. Just to say it is good to see you now doing regular posting and getting your readers to respond. It has to make you feel better, Gary, to see Chad Q and others having something to add. While disagreeing, I believe reading your thoughts helps my thinking, and sometimes we do agree. Good luck and good health heading into Thanksgiving. Short cold days and long nights will last awhile, but think Spring.
THINK SPRING!
Response 2.1 by Gary Gross at 15-Nov-18 07:22 AM
Thanx Eric. I've been battling with some excruciating hip pain since just before the election. X-rays show that I have arthritis in both hips & that it's degenerative. Next Monday will be my 14th blogiversary. I started blogging on 11/19/2004.
This is a little highlight for LFR readers: this winter, I plan on writing a book about my Christianity & what I've trusted in to keep me grounded. For the Christians reading this, keep me in your prayers. For the non-Christians, wish me luck.
The Democrats' smear factory
I agree with Townhall.com's Katie Pavlich that the Democrats' smear factory, aka the Senate Judiciary Committee's Democrats, owe Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh an apology . Unfortunately, that won't happen. It won't happen because too many of that Committee's Democrats have presidential ambitions.
Pavlich is right in quoting the Committee's report when it said "After an extensive investigation that included the thorough review of all potentially credible evidence submitted and interviews of more than 40 individuals with information relating to the allegations, including classmates and friends of all those involved, Committee investigators found no witness who could provide any verifiable evidence to support any of the allegations brought against Justice Kavanaugh. In other words, following the separate and extensive investigations by both the Committee and the FBI, there was no evidence to substantiate any of the claims of sexual assault made against Justice Kavanaugh."
It isn't difficult to predict that House Democrats will open another investigation into the FBI's investigation of these charges. Jerry Nadler and Elijah Cummings can't wait to start that investigation. Further, it isn't difficult to predict that their investigations will produce tons more allegations but no corroborated testimony that verifies the women's accusations.
It's difficult to picture the House getting much done during the next 2 years. It isn't difficult to picture them opening dozens of investigations into the Trump administration. I wouldn't be surprised, though, if Pelosi insists on passing a corporate tax increase. Here's why:
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Don't be surprised if House Democrats cause a recession in the next 16-20 months. When Pelosi was speaker the last time, she helped create a financial crisis. We didn't get out of it until unified Republican government and President Trump's leadership produced the current surge in economic growth.
Posted Wednesday, November 14, 2018 8:23 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 14-Nov-18 05:29 PM
You might be correct, Pelosi as 2019 Speaker. You might be wrong. Until they vote, don't presume. When will you guys stop trying to make every contest a Republican candidate against Pelosi? Gary, at least you did not have Wardlow running against Pelosi, I credit you for dumping your load on Ellison, who at least was the DFL candidate. Stauber defeated Pelosi. Hagedorn defeated Pelosi, even Jeff Howe in SD13 defeated Pelosi. She keeps losing per the GOP worldview. You guys run a Pelosi Smear Machine, ya betcha.
Comment 2 by Chad Q at 15-Nov-18 05:02 PM
Pelosi, the lady who said the best way to boost the economy is through unemployment payments. Pelosi, the lady who said we have to pass the bill to find out what's in it. Pelosi, the lady who is the swamp. Pelosi, the best the so called party of progress has to offer. We are in some serious trouble but then again, we get the government we deserve and the people who elected a majority of democrats to the house deserve noting better than this re-tread. Same goes for MN where ugh, I puked in my mouth, Hortman takes over.
Jeff Flake's final grandstand?
In this video, Laura Ingraham interviews Judge Ken Starr and former assistant US Attorney Andy McCarthy about Jeff Flake's bill to 'protect' Special Counsel Robert Mueller:
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I don't know what they put in the water in Arizona but something's making their politicians idiots. It's also making them ignore the Constitution. Why would a US senator think that he can 'protect' an employee of the Executive Branch with a bill that's only passed by one house of Congress? What Sen. Flake is attempting to do is hold up dozens of highly qualified judges until his bill is debated and voted on.
That's the definition of negotiating from a position of weakness. Even if he temporarily stops this batch of judges, he can only do so until the new year. After that, he's no longer a US senator. All President Trump has to do is resubmit these judicial nominees to a larger GOP majority and they'll sail through. By then, too, the spending bills will have been passed.
Finally, let's be honest about something important. The Russia collusion scandal will either be ancient history before the 2020 presidential election or the public will have turned against Adam Schiff by then. Every time Democrats, including Sen. Flake, have accused him of wanting to stop Mueller's investigation, President Trump has said he'll let the investigation run its course.
I haven't kept track but I'm betting that this has pattern has repeated itself more than a dozen times. At what point will Democrats and Flake figure it out that they're seen as blowhards? PS- I'm not even certain that they'll drop this after Mueller's report is in their hands.
Posted Thursday, November 15, 2018 7:04 AM
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