November 16-24, 2018
Nov 16 07:35 Kamala Harris, America's grandstanding laughingstock Nov 16 09:07 Ron DeSantis, Governor-Elect Nov 16 14:28 Florida's giant sucking sound Nov 17 09:14 Will Leftists protest this? Nov 19 10:26 Investigating Florida's recounts Nov 19 15:04 LFR's 14th blogiversary Nov 21 15:55 The deportations start Nov 23 08:21 The anti-Pelosi scam Nov 24 13:00 Democrats' stagnation strategy?
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Kamala Harris, America's grandstanding laughingstock
Just when I didn't think Democrats couldn't get nuttier, they prove me wrong . This time, Sen. Kamala Harris, (D-Calif.), showed her nuts-beyond-belief credentials while questioning Ronald D. Vitiello, who is President Trump's nominee to become the permanent ICE director.
Here's the exchange between Sen. Harris and Director Vitiello:
Minutes later Ms. Harris, a California Democrat who's eyeing a 2020 presidential bid, said there are 'many' people who perceive ICE officers as similar to KKK thugs in using violence and intimidation. 'I'm very specific about what I'm asking,' she said. 'Are you aware that there's a perception that ICE is administering its power in a way that is causing fear and intimidation particularly among immigrants and specifically among immigrants coming from Mexico and Central America?'
'I see no perception that puts ICE in the same category as the KKK,' Mr. Vitiello retorted.
What type of grandstanding jackass thinks that ICE and the KKK are perceived the same way? This isn't a serious interrogation because ICE is nothing like the KKK. First, the KKK tried striking fear in the hearts of minorities because they wanted the US to stay segregated. Next, the KKK hated the people that they intimidated. They thought that African-Americans were subhuman, which gave the KKK permission to torment them. Finally, the KKK intimidated African-Americans while breaking the law and while hiding their identities.
ICE enforces the law. They don't hate illegal aliens and they certainly don't hide their identities. Other than that, they're nothing like the KKK.
Sen. Harris is disgusting. She's grandstanding and she knows it. She's trying to stand out from the other nobodies running for the Democrat presidential nomination.
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Posted Friday, November 16, 2018 7:35 AM
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Ron DeSantis, Governor-Elect
Lost in all the shouting about Brenda Snipes' ineptitude and corruption was the fact that Florida completed its gubernatorial recount on time. Lost in the shuffle is the fact that Ron DeSantis is the all-but-official Governor-Elect of Florid a. He isn't officially the Governor-Elect until Florida's Secretary of State signs the document saying he's Florida's next governor.
It's worth noting, though, before going forward that Broward County missed the recount deadline by 2 minutes even though they completed the machine recount a little after midnight Thursday night. (The deadline was 3:00 pm ET.)
While we're at this point in history, it's time to inspect all the flaws in Florida's election system. The most important thing that must be done is to rewrite the recount laws. For example, in the governor's race, 8,000,000+ votes were cast. DeSantis' margin of victory was .41% or 33,000+ votes.
Let's admit that there isn't a snowball's prayer in hell of overturning an election with a margin that big. Further, let's admit that machine recounts are the most accurate recounts known to man. Finally, let's admit that, while .41% sounds close, it isn't when you're talking about 8,000,000 votes.
I'd even argue that .25% on a statewide race is beyond overturning. In the Florida Senate race, Bill Nelson trails by 12,603 votes or .18%. There isn't a snowball's prayer in hell that Nelson will close that gap in any meaningful way.
The lesson is that Florida should rewrite their statewide recount laws to say automatic recounts aren't triggered unless the margin is less than 1,500 votes. Even then, it's doubtful that they'd overturn that election.
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While we can't outlaw the term 'count every vote', it's totally acceptable to highlight the fact that nobody opposes the counting of legally cast ballots. Highlight the fact that Democrats can't provide proof that any vote anywhere hasn't been counted. Question Democrats on the details. Ask them if any of the ballots in any county in Florida, whether they were absentee ballots, early ballots or ballots cast on 'Election Day' weren't counted.
Finally, Florida and other states should put in place strict rules for interpreting a voter's intent on undercounts or overcounts. Trying to diving the voter's intent is as trustworthy as picking winning lottery numbers.
Congratulations to Gov-Elect DeSantis for keeping Florida in Republican control.
Posted Friday, November 16, 2018 9:07 AM
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Florida's giant sucking sound
When H. Ross Perot talked about NAFTA , he talked about a "giant sucking sound." Apparently, he was right about that. That isn't what I'm talking about, though. I'm talking about the last gasps coming from Sen. Nelson's political career .
According to the Washington Post, "Florida's two largest counties completed hand recounts in the state's hotly contested U.S. Senate race on Friday morning, dispatching the meticulous process with startling speed." Sen. Nelson's chances were virtually nil at the start of the hand recount so this isn't startling from a win-or-loss standpoint. The writing was on the proverbial wall.
What this means, though, is that Sen. Nelson's best counties for gaining votes just disintegrated. By tonight or tomorrow afternoon, Sen. Nelson will be forced to concede. This press availability just makes Sen. Nelson and Sen. Schumer look like blowhards:
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It's impossible to take either man seriously. Sen. Nelson knows that Florida's governor plays virtually no role in recounts, only entering the picture after the recounts are finished and the Secretary of State has signed the election certificates. Sen. Schumer nodding approvingly while Sen. Nelson was making his asinine statements just makes him look like an out-of-touch partisan.
A judge tossed out one of Sen. Nelson's lawsuits , too, which is another indicator that Sen. Nelson is running out of opportunities to reverse the voters' verdict. I suspect pressure is building that will require Sen. Nelson to admit defeat within the next 12-18 hrs.
Posted Friday, November 16, 2018 2:28 PM
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Will Leftists protest this?
Perhaps the more accurate title of this post should be ' When will Leftists protest these civil rights'? FIRE's Susan Kruth's article on Education Secretary Betsy DeVos's revised regulations outlines changes to Obama administration's anti-due process regulations.
Let's be clear. The Obama administration's Education Department was anti-civil rights. When it came to dealing with alleged sexual assault on campus, the Obama administration's Education Department "encouraged schools to have a single investigator adjudicate sexual misconduct cases through a series of separate meetings with the parties and witnesses." By contrast, the DeVos-proposed regulations pertaining to alleged sexual assault "requires that schools 'must provide for a live hearing' when adjudicating a case."
In other words, universities must allow a cross-examination of the accuser. Nameless, faceless accusers won't have their 'day in court'. Kruth continues with this:
Having a live hearing ensures that all parties can see exactly the same evidence and testimony that the fact-finder is seeing, so that he or she can rebut that evidence and testimony as fully as he or she is able.
The department's new rules go on to require a typical and critically important feature of live hearings: cross-examination of all witnesses, including the parties. The Supreme Court has called cross-examination the 'greatest legal engine ever invented for the discovery of truth,' and it can be especially paramount in cases that hinge on witness testimony, as the Sixth Circuit emphasized just two months ago.
How an administration that swore an oath to uphold the Constitution can deprive people of this basic civil right is startling. Further, it's time to admit that leftist Democrats are now fascists and/or anarchists. IF you think I'm kidding, check out Eric Swalwell's proposal :
In a USA Today op-ed entitled "Ban assault weapons, buy them back, go after resisters," Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., argued Thursday that prior proposals to ban assault weapons "would leave millions of assault weapons in our communities for decades to come."
Look at the mental gymnastics Rep. Swalwell employs to justify this confiscation:
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You're probably wondering what gun confiscation has to do with due process rights. That's a fair question. They're both part of the Constitution's Bill of Rights. The right to keep and bear arms is a sacred right. I prefer referring to it as the right to protect myself and my family. It's a natural right. The Supreme Court has called the right to due process and to confront your accuser the "greatest legal engine ever invented for the discovery of truth."
It isn't supposition to say that Democrats have opposed the right to protect yourself and your family from burglars and criminals as vigorously as they've opposed the right of people to cross-examine their accusers. What other constitutional rights do Democrats want to sacrifice on the altar of political correctness?
Posted Saturday, November 17, 2018 9:14 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 19-Nov-18 09:52 AM
In light of the unfair move against the U MN, Twin Cities football team members for an off-campus incident where due process cried for attention, and the Clayes firing (to be replaced by Joe Rah-Rah who loses games rowing boats), these are fair reforms. On a different matter, any thoughts about:
https://theintercept.com/2018/11/13/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-sunrise-activists-nancy-pelosi/
That's the same Pelosi your GOP guys are constantly running against, instead of honestly running against opposition candidates. Any U.S. House thoughts, helpful or otherwise, now that the majority's shifted?
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 19-Nov-18 11:08 AM
There's no doubt that Pelosi is a skilled politician in terms of keeping her troops together. These newly-minted progressives will challenge her abilities.
As for the Left's policies, I relish running against them nationally. Here in Minnesota, that's probably another story.
Comment 2 by eric z at 20-Nov-18 09:58 AM
Thanks, Gary. Seeing your new post, 14 years is two more than each of the last two governors. You need term limits.
Have you a value for the total number of posts you've written, since post No. 1? More than Walter Payton's total number of yards, probably.
Response 2.1 by Gary Gross at 21-Nov-18 01:37 AM
I don't top Sweetness' rushing yards but I top Jim Brown's. FYI- I've officially written 12,888 posts in those 14 years.
Investigating Florida's recounts
Don't buy into the notion that the problems encountered during Florida's recount were systemic or mechanical. That's the conclusion I reached after I read this investigative article .
I'm being charitable if I say that Broward County's management is ineffective. I'd call them the 'county that can't shoot straight' but that wouldn't be accurate. Remember that when the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting happened in Broward County, the deputies refused to enter the building, much less confront the shooter.
Think about this: 2 of the biggest stories this year happened in Broward County, FL. The Parkland shooting and the FL recount highlighted Broward County's mismanagement. With the Parkland shooting, Sheriff Israel's ineptitude was highlighted. With the recount, Dr. Brenda Snipes' ineptitude was highlighted.
That said, Palm Beach County's recount wasn't a picture of perfection, either:
'It became evident through the vigorous pace of counting that the machines used for the recount were starting to get stressed,' Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher told reporters last week.
In a further twist, the company behind the Palm Beach machines says official claims that they overheated are false. 'The idea that this equipment is at fault is a mischaracterization,' Kay Stimson, vice president of government affairs for Dominion Voting Systems, told RealClearInvestigations. 'There were no reports of overheating machines during the recount. We had engineers on the ground there, available 24/7, and they heard nothing from anyone at Palm Beach County."
This is fantastic news:
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Good riddance. As a good friend often says, "Don't let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya.' By the time the recount finished, pretty much the only people still supporting Dr. Snipes were relatives. Gov. DeSantis will pick Dr. Snipes' replacement.
Posted Monday, November 19, 2018 10:26 AM
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LFR's 14th blogiversary
Today marks LFR's 14th blogiversary. It's been challenging. It's been aggravating. It's never been dull, though. I'll keep this short by simply thanking you for consistently reading LFR . That's the greatest reward I could've received.
Posted Monday, November 19, 2018 3:04 PM
Comment 1 by Rex Newman at 21-Nov-18 07:59 PM
I wonder how many readers know how much work blogging is, especially to produce one as well-written as LFR. And well-researched. And fair. And even quoted on the Rush Limbaugh show this year!
Congrats!
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 22-Nov-18 09:44 AM
Thanks Rex. I take great pride in my work, including my spelling, punctuation & grammar.
The deportations start
It's great to hear that "34 caravan members [had been arrested] for drug possession, public intoxication, disturbing the peace and resisting police, and they would be deported to their home countries." What's surprising is that Tijuana law enforcement are making the arrests .
These thugs should be deported because they didn't think that the laws applied to them. They crashed through the fencing at Mexico's southern border. They thought about crashing through the fencing of the US-Mexico border until the military installed razor wire to reinforce the border.
It's becoming a difficult situation in Tijuana, with Mexican residents growing tired of the invasion. (That's the Mexicans' words, not mine.) Check out how testy the situation has gotten in Tijuana:
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Now that things are reaching critical mass in Tijuana, perhaps it will pressure the Democrats into actually eliminating immigration loopholes. I can't wait until the Democrat House helps put together funds to build President Trump's wall.
If Democrats want to be known as the all-investigations-all-the-time Party, that won't be difficult. They're already on their way to that status. If House Democrats don't work with Senate Republicans and President Trump, their time in the majority will be short-lived.
Posted Wednesday, November 21, 2018 3:55 PM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 22-Nov-18 08:05 AM
Gary you crack me up when you say maybe this will pressure the dems into doing the right thing. The dems are the party of doing anything and everything to destroy America as we know it and allowing illegals in no matter their background and intentions.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 22-Nov-18 09:43 AM
Chad, I obviously have never shared with you my cliche that Democrats always do the right thing -- when it's the only option left.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
The anti-Pelosi scam
I knew from the first moment that Democrat House candidates said that they wouldn't support Nancy Pelosi for Speaker if they retook the House that they were lying. Now that she's on the verge of winning the Speakership, I can say 'I told you so'. All the big talk was for their protection. It wasn't serious. Here's another prediction: most of the candidates that said they wouldn't support Pelosi will be allowed to vote present so they won't (technically) break their promise.
That's a scam, too, because voting present doesn't hurt Pelosi. Pelosi is showing why she's part of the Swamp . The truth is that Pelosi is what's wrong with Washington. She's into what's next on her political checklist. She isn't into what's best for America.
People can't say that the ACA made America more prosperous or produced more security. Medicare For All won't either. They're both items on the Democrats' ideological checklist. Neither item will make America more prosperous or secure. This explains what happens in the Swamp:
Rep. Brian Higgins, a New York Democrat who has criticized Pelosi for months and vowed repeatedly to vote against her in the new Congress , announced his support for the California Democrat.
"It is likely that Nancy Pelosi is going to be the speaker," Higgins said in an interview explaining his change of mind. "To be truthful about it, not only is there not a viable alternative, right now there's not an alternative."
That was always the case. Saying that you wouldn't vote for Ms. Pelosi wasn't honest. It was just a lie, a defensive mechanism, a way to pretend that you were a moderate. Moderates don't exist in the Democratic Party anymore. They're moderates only until Nancy needs their votes on something far left wing. Then they snap to attention:
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Posted Friday, November 23, 2018 8:21 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 29-Nov-18 07:44 AM
She is part of the swamp. Paul Ryan in a skirt. Get her out and a progressive in, and the nation and world will hum and the birds sing sweeter while the sun shines brighter and the air and water will be cleaner. 2020 is next, but between now and then, same old, same old. Pelosi raises big money from the same big money that buys both sides of the aisle.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 29-Nov-18 08:53 AM
Apparently, you haven't noticed that the economy is already humming like it hasn't since Reagan was president. Unemployment for minorities is the lowest it's ever been! Women's unemployment is the lowest it's been since before I was born! Health care still needs to be fixed but single-payer isn't the answer. That's the anti-solution!
Hopefully, the Democrat House majority will be short-lived & we can return to prosperity quickly. Finally, businesses are getting taxed fairly. When President Obama raised taxes on them, they moved overseas to avoid the high taxes. A genius decision it wasn't.
Democrats' stagnation strategy?
I don't think I'm outlandish in saying that the Democrats' economic plan is short on growth and heavy on regulations and socialism.
For instance, the "presumptive incoming speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has vowed to pass this wage floor [$15 minimum wage] in the first 100 hours of the new Congress." Why would she do this?
Even in wealthy Seattle, which passed a $15 minimum wage in 2014, independent researchers at the University of Washington revealed that entry-level jobs and hours worked fell as a direct consequence. As a result of reduced hours, entry-level wages actually fell by $1,500 a year, on average. A minimum wage increase that reduces wages? Just more proof that you can't fight economics. If the $15 fallout was this bad in Seattle, think of the consequences to Main Street and entry-level employees in poorer cities such as Shreveport, Sioux Falls and South Bend.
Voting Democrat is voting against pro-growth economic policies. That isn't to say that all Democrats are illiterate when it comes to economics. My point is that people like Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and other progressive/socialist hardliners, where the energy in the Democratic Party is, hate pro-growth policies.
Hardline progressives/socialists see economics upside-down. They don't get it that cutting taxes increases economic activity. These Democrats don't understand that cutting regulations increases an entrepreneur's incentive to start a new business. For that matter, only entrepreneurs notice that regulations prevent new businesses from starting.
This fall, the one thing I thought was missing was that Republicans didn't make the case in specific enough terms of how voting for Democrats would hurt economic growth. This video is from 3 years ago:
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The path to higher wages is through business-friendly policies. President Reagan, as he frequently did, put it best when he said that that you can't pro-jobs and anti-employer. When President Obama raised corporate taxes, corporations left for other countries. In that instance, 'fairness' hurt American workers.
Why shouldn't we learn that dramatically raising the minimum wage hurts everyone? Seattle's increase to $15/hr. only increased automation while shrinking working hours. That's rather counterproductive.
The Democrats' economic blueprint is a blueprint for stagnation.
Posted Saturday, November 24, 2018 1:00 PM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 25-Nov-18 07:24 AM
The path to higher wages is: having more than a high school education, producing more for the company than what you're being paid, hard work, dedication, etc. What these economically challenged socialists don't understand is that if the minimum wages is raised, all other workers wages have to be raised to keep up with the spike in inflation that will occur and the minimum wage worker will be no better off than they were at $8/hr. Only the government and unions make out better with higher minimum wages.
