November 15-18, 2015
Nov 15 09:27 ISIS ahead of schedule? Nov 15 10:04 Kimmel ends legislative campaign Nov 17 01:31 Obama administration's ISIS spin Nov 17 01:59 Speaking truth to power Nov 17 14:18 Adrian Peterson 2012 vs. AP 2015 Nov 18 00:38 Dayton accepts Syrian 'refugees' Nov 18 12:46 Trump's anti-constitutional bias Nov 18 15:52 Chilly Hillary news from Colorado
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Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
ISIS ahead of schedule?
When ISIS first appeared on the world stage, President Obama infamously called them the JV team . Less than a month later, they captured Ramadi, Tikrit and Mosul. To continue the metaphor, Friday night's terrorist attacks in Paris proved that they made a pretty fast transformation from a JV team into a state championship team. With a caliphate established in the heart of Iraq and Syria, ISIS apparently established a new set of goals. This time, they infiltrated the West's refugee system, complete with Syrian passports. Then they travelled to Paris through the Greek Isles.
ISIS can't be taken lightly any more. They committed a well-coordinated terrorist attack hundreds of miles away from their supposed base of operations. By doing so, they proved that they're the best-trained, best-equipped terrorist organization with global reach in the world.
What's worst is that they've achieved global reach with their terrorist threats faster than most people thought possible.
The seemingly synchronized assaults that turned Paris into a war zone on Friday came just days after a bombing targeted a Shiite district of Beirut controlled by Iran's ally, Hezbollah, and a Russian passenger jet was downed over Egypt. The rapid succession of strikes, all claimed by the Islamic State, suggested that the regional war has turned into a global one.
That's a level of sophistication and proficiency that doesn't come from people who are just angry. That's only possible with weeks of training.
President Obama, it's time someone told you this: ISIS isn't a JV team. It never was. Your characterization of them as JV sounded like a lightweight basketball player going through his trash-talking routine.
Posted Sunday, November 15, 2015 9:27 AM
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Kimmel ends legislative campaign
Dan Kimmel, I didn't even get the chance to know and harass you. Now you're gone for saying something similar to what Palestinians say all the time. Palestinians have said that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. It's a ridiculous statement that isn't rooted in the truth but it's something that Palestinian leaders have said the last twenty years.
What Kimmel said that got him run out of the race is that "ISIS isn't necessarily evil. It is made up of people who are doing what they think is best for their community. Violence is not the answer, though."
DFL Party Chair Ken Martin issued this statement , saying "Earlier tonight a candidate for the Minnesota House made comments that do not reflect the views of the Minnesota DFL and have no place in our party. On behalf of the Minnesota DFL, I strongly condemn his comments. I ask Dan Kimmel to apologize to all the families who have been torn apart by the terrorist organization and their senseless violence. In this time of enormous grief, we shouldn't be making excuses for this barbaric behavior."
Make up your mind, Chairman Martin. Is ISIS more evil than Iran? If you think they are, explain how ISIS is more evil than Iran. Iran has staged terrorist attacks against Lebanese Christians and Israeli Jews. Israel deals with terrorist attacks virtually every day, thanks in large part to one Iran proxy (Hezbollah) or another (Hamas/Palestinians).
This can't be emphasized enough. ISIS is evil. Its reach has just extended to Paris, where the city and the nation are grieving. Still, are the tears of France more sincere than the tears shed daily in Israel?
The DFL did the right thing from a PR standpoint but that's it. They still have a terrorist sympathizer problem that they haven't substantively dealt with. This isn't nearly enough:
Posted Sunday, November 15, 2015 10:04 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 17-Nov-15 06:43 AM
You did not flag it, but the offensiveness in the Martin comment is the unstated premise, candidates must reflect the party line or they are unwelcome.
Gary, why do you not yourself get in line with your party's doctrinal mandates, McCain and all the dictates out of Washington, DC?
Candidates should have a conscience and speak their mind. And that is lacking these days. Your endorsed SD36 special election candidate was vetted with uncertainty by Inner Party, because he had spoken his mind and that made some uneasy.
Bernie does that, speaking his mind and pointing out ways the machine is broken. Clinton will be the party choice, etc.
You, as with Romney, will be told, "Jeb!"
Obama administration's ISIS spin
When President Obama told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that ISIS was contained hours before ISIS' sophisticated terrorist attacks in Paris, it was done in response to people's concerns that President Obama's strategy wasn't working. What it revealed, however, is how dishonest the administration is.
When Ben Rhodes, President Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser, was interviewed by CNN's Jake Tapper, Rhodes said "What we've been able to do is stop that advance and reclaim territory, going on offense with our partners on the ground, most recently retaking the strategic town of Sindjar, which cuts off the supply line between Raqqa, Syria and Mosul in Iraq."
Let's be clear about this. While the US military has performed valiantly, this administration has tied their hands with counterproductive restrictive rules of engagement. Further, it's dishonest to hear Deputy Rhodes distract attention away from the important consideration of whether ISIS terrorists have the capability of conducting sophisticated terrorist attacks anywhere in the world. It's nice to hear that ISIS is contained geographically. It's important that we know that ISIS can't inflict mass casualty terrorist attacks in Paris or Washington, DC.
Finally, the truth is that President Obama hasn't contained ISIS geographically. ISIS has temporarily chosen not to expand geographically, devoting more of its resources to killing western infidels than on expanding its geographic footprint.
That isn't a soothing final thought.
Posted Tuesday, November 17, 2015 1:31 AM
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Speaking truth to power
Daniel Stavrum's LTE in the St. Cloud Times efficiently rebuts Sarah Starling's diatribe on who voted against the St. Cloud Tech bonding referendum. One of Ms. Starling's first accusations was that "about 8,000 of you went into our schools, many of you looked our children in the eyes, and told them they did not deserve a higher quality of education because you don't want your property taxes to increase." That's shredded by one of Mr. Stavrum's first points.
It's the point Mr. Stavrum made when he said "Let's be clear. I favored the school levy approval. But I voted no for several reasons. First, we were not given enough detailed information on the new school nor what improvements Apollo needed, nor the plans for old Tech."
Later, Ms. Starling said "We have failed our children and our entire area's future. People refuse to live in the St. Cloud area because our schools are horrendous - yet we refuse to improve them. To the people who voted no, why don't you care about our community?" I wonder how she'd respond to Mr. Stavrum's saying "Finally, I was amazed by the reduction of polling places from 65 to 13. The Times Editorial Board called this a 'mistake.' No, it was a deliberate strategy to disenfranchise rural and elderly voters who might tend to vote no . For example, I live in a rural township, my normal polling place about 1 mile away. The levy plan, however, had me and my neighbors driving nearly 14 miles to vote. Area voters aren't stupid. School district officials shouldn't treat them like they are."
I wrote this post on Sept. 13. I wrote then that "For instance, the school district combined the 2 projects (refurbishing Apollo, building a new Tech HS). The way it's worded, you can't vote down the Tech proposal and vote for the Apollo refurbishing. That's a sly way of forcing people who want to refurbish Apollo to vote for the Tech project, too. That's a sly way of forcing people who want to build a new Tech HS into voting for the Apollo refurbishing.
It's pretty obvious why it's set up this way. That isn't the same as saying the school district should get away with forcing taxpayers to vote for both projects if they only support one of the projects. This is a scam propagated by the school board. This isn't a mistake. It's a feature! It's intentional."
I'd like to personally thank all of the Daniel Stavrums of the world for voting against the $167,000,000 bonding referendum. It's the only way we'll get the ISD 742 School Board to interact with St. Cloud taxpayers.
Posted Tuesday, November 17, 2015 1:59 AM
Comment 1 by Rex Newman at 17-Nov-15 05:30 PM
I had dismissed the reduction of polling places as reasonably pragmatic given it was schools only etc. Thanks to Mr. Stavrum (and LFR!) for showing me the true impact - driving 14 miles to your polling place. It being more difficult for "no" voters to reach the polls, I think the rebuke given the Board was worse than the tally indicated.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 17-Nov-15 11:42 PM
Thanks Rex. The truth is that Sarah Starling's temper tantrum was more about venting frustration than it was a serious attempt at understanding why no voters were frustrated. The lengthy list of legitimate worries was dismissed by Ms. Starling and the 'education community'. That's before starting the conversation on how overinflated the price tags were for building the new Tech and renovating Apollo. The School Board's proposal had more fatal flaws in it than there are in President Obama's strategy to destroy ISIS.
Adrian Peterson 2012 vs. AP 2015
Anyone who's been a Vikings fan the last 20+ years knows that Adrian Peterson's performance in 2012 is a performance for the ages. That's the year Adrian rushed for 2,097 yards, the second-most rushing yards in an NFL season. The reason why that's part of AP's mystique is because he did that less than a year after tearing his ACL in the fifteenth game of the 2011 season. When Adrian announced that he'd start Game One of the 2012 season a week after he had surgery to repair his knee, the experts laughed.
According to the splits for his 2012 season, Adrian is 4 rushing yards ahead of that year's pace this year. Here's the game-by-game split of Adrian's 2012 season:
According to these NFL-certified stats, Adrian Peterson had 957 yards rushing after 9 games in 2012. This year, Adrian Peterson has 961 yards rushing after 9 games. This year, the Vikings finish with a home-and-home series against the Packers, road games at Atlanta and Arizona and home games against Seattle, Chicago and the Giants.
Right now, Adrian is on pace to reach 1,708 yards rushing. In my estimation, that gives Adrian at least an outside shot at breaking Eric Dickerson's single season rushing record. If AP rushes for 2,000 yards, which I think is, at worst, a 50-50 proposition, that'd mean he'd become the only runner to twice top 2,000 rushing yards in a single season. To reach 2,000 yards, it's likely that Adrian would need at least one more 200 yard rushing game.
Right now, Adrian is tied with O.J. Simpson for most games with 200 yards rushing in a single game. They're tied at 6 games with 200 yards rushing. The next time Adrian tops 200, which might be this Sunday against the Packers, he'd break Simpson's record.
Suffice it to say that it's going to be a fun year watching the Vikings, especially with Adrian Peterson having a shot at so many rushing records.
Posted Tuesday, November 17, 2015 2:18 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 21-Nov-15 08:25 AM
I lived in Buffalo during Simpson's prime years. It was not a run focused team, it was a run only team, never amounting to much and never having a quarterback as promising as Bridgewater. Jim Kelly came later. They had guys who could hand off the ball in as skilled a way as Christian Ponder, with fewer sacks and bad throws because they threw less.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 21-Nov-15 09:04 AM
The Polian/Levy years were pretty good in Buffalo. In addition to Kelly, you had Thurman Thomas, a 2nd round pick out of Oklahoma State if I recall correctly, plus James Lofton and Andre Reed catching passes. Those were some excellent, excellent teams.
Dayton accepts Syrian 'refugees'
There was never any doubt that Gov. Dayton, (DFL-MN), would accept Syrian refugees. That hasn't prevented state legislators from raising legitimate concerns about President Obama's Syrian refugee plan. Gov. Dayton quickly said that he'd accept Syrian refugees . In making that announcement, he regurgitated the administration's chanting points, saying "I have been assured by the White House that all refugees are subject to the highest level of security checks of any category of traveler to the United States."
That's actually a telling quote. A security check for a person flying into the United States only requires checking for a weapon, then cross-checking the terrorist watch lists. A security check for someone who's coming here to live is quite a bit more extensive than that.
After announcing that he'd accept Syrian refugees, Gov. Dayton said "the calls from state governors to ban Syrian refugees were 'ludicrous' and political posturing." That's administration spin. The truth is that Republican governors are raising a legitimate question about whether some of the people claiming to be refugees are ISIS terrorists.
Right now, the plan is for 10,000 Syrian refugees to be admitted into the US. Let's say that the State Department verifies that they're all legitimate refugees but then we learn that 3% of them are actually ISIS terrorists. That's 300 potential terrorists that President Obama admitted into the United States in the name of humanitarianism. That's almost 40 terrorist teams potentially.
Next, it's important that we know 8 terrorists killed 129 people in Paris last Friday night. Next after that, it's unlikely that the error rate will only be 3%. It's been verified that 75% of the potential refugees are young men of the age that normally go into the military. Gov. Dayton and the Obama administration should consider the possibility that a high percentage of those 'refugees' are terrorists.
Rep. Jim Newberger got it exactly right when he said "The safety of our citizens is the first priority of any government body. In light of the tragic events in Paris I believe we need (to) join many of the other states in the union and stop of the flow of refugees until we can absolutely assure the safety of our own citizens."
I won't be polite. If there's a terrorist attack in Minnesota, the blood will be on Gov. Dayton's and President Obama's hands.
Posted Wednesday, November 18, 2015 8:44 AM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 18-Nov-15 01:33 PM
The biggest problem I see is that we may not know for many years after this invasion of refugees has taken place if any of them are terrorists. Terrorists are patient people and are happy to wait years and years to pull a plan together. By then it will be too late to tell the liberals I told you so.
Trump's anti-constitutional bias
Donald Trump's anti-constitutional bias is showing. While it's likely that his supporters will love Trump's brashness, it's almost certain that Constitution-loving people will reject Mr. Trump's foolishness. What type of idiot would say it's ok to shut down mosques, then not expect a future president to shut down a Christian church or Jewish synagogue while citing the Trump precedent?
If the Constitution doesn't protect everyone's constitutionally-protected rights, it doesn't protect anyone's constitutionally-protected rights.
What type of thinking goes into making a statement that a President Trump would shut down a mosque? Shutting down any church, synagogue or mosque would clearly be an impeachable offense since it'd violate one of the most important parts of the Constitution, which presidents swear an oath to protect. Appearing on Sean Hannity's show last night, Trump said things are "happening a lot faster than anybody understands. There's absolutely no choice. Some really bad things are happening and they're happening fast."
Is Mr. Trump getting intelligence briefings that tell him that entire mosques are getting taken over by ISIS jihadists? Or is he just playing into people's fears of terrorists? It's a reactionary reaction that doesn't deal with a specific problem. Most worrisome is that Mr. Trump insists that things are "happening a lot faster than anybody understands." What's Mr. Trump's proof? Is he just venting? How would shutting down a series of mosques solve our terrorist problem? Would shutting down a series of mosques be a gift to the jihadists?
If things are "happening a lot faster than anybody understands", then it's imperative that multiple mosques be shut. This isn't a crisis if only one mosque is radicalized.
Here's some questions to Mr. Trump's supporters:
- Would you support a candidate that wanted to shut down churches or synagogues?
- Is it ok for a presidential candidate to make statements without proof to support their radical proposals
- Does Mr. Trump's diatribe solve any problems or does it just make you feel good that someone's making outrageous statements?
If you're just tickled pink because Trump's diatribes make you feel good, then you're settling for things. That's what liberals do. Conservatives strive for something higher. We strive for constitutionally-supported solutions, especially to this nation's biggest problems.
Any idiot can throw a hissy fit. Gov. Dayton and Mr. Trump are proof of that. It requires intelligence, temperament and discipline to solve complex problems like ISIS. Thus far, Trump hasn't shown he has any of those qualities.
Finally, it's painfully obvious that he never will have the qualities required of presidents.
Posted Wednesday, November 18, 2015 12:46 PM
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Chilly Hillary news from Colorado
Quinnipiac's latest swing-state polling shows Hillary getting crushed by pretty much every top GOP presidential candidate. Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said "As winter moves into the Rockies, Coloradans say the Democratic front-runner would get bruised and beaten by all the top GOP opponents, and absolutely crushed by Sen. Marco Rubio and Dr. Ben Carson," adding that a "chilly if not frigid reception for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her second quest for the White House."
The terrible news for Hillary is that "Colorado voters back any leading Republican contender over Clinton by wide margins." Rubio leads Clinton 52-36 percent. Carson leads Clinton 52-38 percent. Cruz tops Clinton 51-38 percent. Trump beats Clinton 48-37 percent.
In other bad news for Hillary, "Clinton has the lowest favorability rating of any top candidate in Colorado, a negative 33-61 percent." The news for Trump is better but Trump "gets a negative 34-58 percent favorability rating."
Other important findings:
- Rubio has the best score for honesty, 58-28 percent, with Sanders at 56-30 percent, Carson at 57-33 percent and Cruz at 50-35 percent.
- Carson has the lowest grades for having strong leadership qualities, a divided 45-44 percent, with Sanders at 45-43 percent. Trump leads on leadership, with 58-39 percent, followed by Rubio at 56-30 percent, Cruz at 52-35 percent and Clinton at 51-47 percent.
It's time people started noticing that Hillary isn't a top tier candidate like her husband was. She's just the least objectionable option that the Democrats have this cycle. Voters don't trust Mrs. Clinton. Voters don't like her, either. If Mrs. Clinton can't be competitive in Colorado, which Democrats worked hard for a decade to turn blue, then she's in serious trouble in the general election.
Posted Wednesday, November 18, 2015 3:52 PM
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