November 26-28, 2017
Nov 26 02:54 Franken's apology/denial; where's Franni? Nov 26 10:11 Friedman vs. corporate welfare Nov 26 14:17 Gov. Dayton hasn't changed Nov 27 00:03 Franken's stunning admission Nov 27 14:00 Franken's press conference Nov 27 15:24 Democrat shield deployed Nov 28 01:27 Why trust a habitual liar? Nov 28 22:21 Judge sides with Trump, Mulvaney
Prior Months: Jan Feb ~ May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Franken's apology/denial; where's Franni?
Amber Phillips' article about Sen. Franken's attempt to either apologize to the women he groped or his attempted denial nails it in terms of highlighting the conflicting messaging coming from him. For instance, Ms. Phillips quoted Sen. Franken as saying "I'm a warm person; I hug people. I've learned from recent stories that in some of those encounters, I crossed a line for some women - and I know that any number is too many."
Ms. Phillips' commentary highlights Sen. Franken's hypocrisy, saying "If you're confused by what he's trying to say here, you're not the only one. Franken's attempt at clarifying what happened only raises more questions, the central ones being: Did he grab these women's buttocks or not? If he did, how, exactly, was it unintentional? Were the women mistaken?"
I'd question whether Sen. Franken was trying to deny these women's accusations or whether he's trying to rationalize their accusations away. Another thing that I'd wonder is why Franken's wife Franni hasn't said a thing through all this. Her silence is deafening. If she knows that her husband is being wrongly accused, why hasn't she defended him? If she's seen him act this way before, she should torch him and let him rot in hell.
Further, it's impossible to trust Sen. Franken after this:
"Some women have found my greetings or embraces for a hug or photo inappropriate, and I respect their feelings about that. I've thought a lot in recent days about how that could happen, and recognize that I need to be much more careful and sensitive in these situations."
By contrast, his accusers left no nuance about what happened: Franken's hand clearly grabbed their buttocks, they say, when they were expecting a professional photo with a politician.
Lindsay Menz didn't mince words. She certainly didn't talk about being turned off by Franken wanting to greet her:
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It's a poorly-kept secret that Sen. Franken is a disgusting person and a pervert with a nasty temper.
Posted Sunday, November 26, 2017 2:54 AM
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Friedman vs. corporate welfare
This LTE explains in very personal terms why tax simplification is required. A few paragraphs into the LTE, it says "But the tax reform proposal introduced by the U.S. House could undo much of that success. It breaks a bipartisan deal agreed to at the end of 2015 to phase down the wind energy Production Tax Credit by 2020. House lawmakers are looking to re-write the rules in the middle of the game, and that puts our economy and U.S. workers at risk."
There's no disputing that the new tax legislation will put some businesses at risk. Entrepreneurship requires taking risks. Why should a renewable energy business not face risk but farmers live with the prospect of getting wiped out every minute of their lives?
It's time that the federal government got out of the corporate welfare business. If a product is a quality product and it's essential to enough people, it will succeed. If it isn't that essential, people might ignore it, in which case the company will soon be bankrupt. That's capitalism and it's the best economic model in the history of mankind. Here's what Milton Friedman thinks of capitalism:
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Congress developed the PTC to help wind developers gain access to the private investment capital they need to build wind farms. That in turn keeps U.S. factory workers busy making new wind turbines, and it keeps construction businesses like ours stay busy installing them. Our workers depend on these orders, and the PTC has helped keep our construction queue full.
What this company is apparently lobbying for is lower corporate tax rates and corporate welfare, too. Taxpayers shouldn't shoulder the burden on whether a company succeeds or fails.
This is crony capitalism at its worst. For the foreseeable future, companies will introduce studies that highlight the benefits of corporate welfare:
That's why American wind power added jobs nine times faster than overall economy last year, and keeping the investment policies stable will create an additional $85 billion in economic activity through 2020, according to Navigant Consulting. It will also grow an additional 50,000 American jobs, including more 8,000 jobs at U.S. factories, by the end of President Trump's first term.
With all due respect, we don't know that. I'm certainly not willing to trust a self-serving report. Companies that commission these types of reports frequently can't survive without corporate welfare.
It's time to cut this cord.
Posted Sunday, November 26, 2017 10:11 AM
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Gov. Dayton hasn't changed
Scott Johnson's commentary on the Dayton-Legislature standoff is telling. In his article, Johnson quotes from Erin Golden's article in the Star Tribune . Specifically, Johnson highlighted the fact that Gov. Dayton said that he's finally willing to cave.
Ms. Golden's article said "DFL Gov. Mark Dayton, heading into his final year in office, says he is ready to make a major concession to Republican leaders in the Legislature in order to win approval of several major initiatives on his wish list. The governor said he will no longer insist that they repeal some recently enacted tax cuts and policy provisions in order to restore the House and Senate operating budgets. Dayton line-item vetoed those budgets in May, triggering a constitutional standoff. He said he'll still fight against the GOP's tobacco tax reductions and other provisions he opposes, but he made it clear he's ready to restore the Legislature's full funding. 'I don't want to protract this,' Dayton said in a wide-ranging interview with the Star Tribune. 'We have the people's work to do.' Instead, the governor wants to shift the focus to issues like expanding prekindergarten access in public schools, passing a public works construction package and overhauling standards for senior care."
Johnson questions what the point of this was. I have a theory on that. In July, 2011, I wrote this post about that year's budget impasse. In that post, I noted "Pg. 2 of this document tells quite a story. What it represents is an offer by Gov. Dayton, aka MBD, that doesn't include a tax increase." Later, Gov. Dayton reneged on that promise, insisting that a budget agreement had to include a tax increase.
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Then as now, Republicans said no to Gov. Dayton. Eventually, Gov. Dayton agreed to a budget that didn't include a tax increase. A special session was called. The budget was passed and signed into law. The longest government shutdown in Minnesota history ended with a whimper coming from the Governor's office.
To summarize, Gov. Dayton listened to the radicals in the DFL. They insisted that the budget had to include a tax increase. Republicans listened to the people. They immediately and continually rejected the DFL's tax increase proposals. Eventually, the DFL caved. This is the DFL's predictable predicament. The DFL's ideological appetite is insatiable. Couple that with Gov. Dayton's inability to play nice with others and you get the mess that we've witnessed the past 7 years. The final budget didn't include a tax increase. After a 16-day government shutdown, Gov. Dayton signed a budget that he could've signed without a shutdown:
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In 2017, Gov. Dayton has been defeated again . He thought he could pressure Republicans into giving into his demands. Again, Gov. Dayton was wrong. This isn't surprising. It's part of a well-established pattern for Gov. Dayton and the DFL.
Seriously speaking, Gov. Dayton frequently misreads Minnesotans. They aren't as liberal as he wants them to be. He thinks that the DFL's base represents a majority. Clearly, the DFL's base isn't a majority in Minnesota.
Posted Sunday, November 26, 2017 2:17 PM
Comment 1 by JerryE9 at 27-Nov-17 09:17 AM
The crazy thing about the Strib article is that it basically says that Dayton is willing to get everything he wants if the Legislature will just submit to his blackmail efforts. What a deal. Seems to me the legislature ought to meet, vote to restore their own funding and zero out the Governor's office. Make it a show vote. Then wait.
The other approach I like is for them to simply meet for 5 minutes, and adjourn for lack of money, sending all staff to the unemployment lines. THEN maybe the Supreme Court would put an end to this farce.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 27-Nov-17 04:55 PM
Actually, the Strib article says the opposite of what you said. Gov. Dayton still wants some of the tax cuts repealed but he's willing to restore the legislature's funding. Without that leverage, Gov. Dayton is screwed. Republicans won't cave on taxes.
Franken's stunning admission
Al Franken's opportunity to put these sexual harassment charges behind him was a failure. During his interview with WCCO-TV's Esme Murphy, she asked him if he'd ever grabbed "a woman's butt." Rather than tell her that he's misbehaved, Sen. Franken left the door wide open. More on that later.
In his interview with MPR's Cathy Wurzer, Sen. Franken opened by saying "Well, first of all, I just want to that this whole thing has been embarrassing and it's been difficult but part of that is that I want to respect a woman's experience. Very often, there are these kinds of things and um allegations that I believe women should be respected and listened to. This is what I'm doing. I'm taking responsibility. I've apologized to the women who've felt disrespected and to everyone I've let down. That's a lot of people, people in Minnesota, my friends and supporters, my colleagues and everyone that counts on me to be an ally and a champion for women and that's been the focus of a lot of things that I've done in the Senate and that I'm proud of and I'm going to continue to do."
The most insulting part of Cathy Wurzer's article was when Sen. Franken said "I'm someone who, you know, hugs people. I've learned from these stories that in some of these encounters I have crossed the line for some women."
Then there's this :
Three women have also accused Franken of touching their buttocks while taking photos with them.
Here's Sen. Franken's reply:
"I would never intentionally do that," he told Wurzer on Sunday.
A man who's groped media personalities while they slept and allegedly grabbed women's butts now wants us to trust him when he says he'd never intentionally touch women's butts.
UPDATE: It's been confirmed that Franken's communications team asked for and received Esme Murphy to interview Sen. Franken.
UPDATE II: This part of the interview is stunning:
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Here's the exchange between Murphy and Sen. Franken:
MURPHY: Are they mistaken that their butt was grabbed is that what you are saying?
FRANKEN: I am not saying that. As I said, I take thousands of photos. I don't remember these particular photos.
MURPHY: With all due respect, people are going to find it hard to believe that someone such as yourself wouldn't know that they were grabbing someone's butt.
FRANKEN: I can understand how some people would see it that way.
MURPHY: But have you ever placed a hand on some woman's butt?
FRANKEN: I can't say that it hasn't happened. In crowded chaotic situations, I can't say that I have not done that. I am very sorry if these women experienced that.
These 7 words will haunt Franken the rest of his life:
I can't say that it hasn't happened.
Franken had a chance of coming clean during this interview. He failed. Saying those 7 words, then saying "In crowded chaotic situations, I can't say that I have not done that " is pretending. Rather than saying that he's behaved badly, Sen. Franken essentially said he might've accidentally and unintentionally grabbed women's butts.
Posted Monday, November 27, 2017 12:03 AM
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Franken's press conference
During Sen. Franken's DC press conference, he re-apologized for the umpteenth time, saying that he'd "let a lot of people down, people of Minnesota, my colleagues, my staff, my supporters and everyone who has counted on me to be a champion for women. To all of you, I just want to again say I am sorry. I know there are no magic words I can say to regain your trust and I know that it's going to take time. I am ready to start that process and it starts with going back to work today."
Notice who Sen. Franken didn't apologize to. He didn't apologize to the victims of his predatory behavior. When Sen. Franken stuck his tongue into Leeann Tweeden's mouth, it wasn't accidental. It came after he'd stalked her until she yielded to him. On that subject, he again used the line that "I recall that differently from Leeann but I feel that you have to respect women's experience."
That's meaningless mush. Leeann Tweeden didn't imagine an alternate universe experience. When she said that Sen. Franken stuck his tongue into her mouth, it's because Sen. Franken stuck his tongue into her mouth. It wasn't because women see things differently than men. For the record, men and women see things differently but they don't see foundational facts differently.
Here's the video of Franken's mini-press conference:
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The purpose of this news conference, IMO, was to check off another box so Sen. Franken can say he's addressed the DC media and to speak to women in a very emotive tone. It was filled with DFL buzzwords. What was missing was the sincerity of a man who wanted to change. This was, in many ways, a spin-off of Bill Clinton's 'I'm going back to work for the American people' speech after the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. At this point, Sen. Franken sounded like a man who wanted to get DFL women to support him again.
The press conference itself took less than 6 minutes. His answers didn't change from yesterday's interviews. It's obvious that Sen. Franken's disappearance from the public was to come up with politically crafted answers to get him through this crisis. That time away from the media didn't have anything to do with soul-searching or committing himself to being a respectful man with women. This had everything to do with weathering a political crisis.
Posted Monday, November 27, 2017 2:00 PM
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Democrat shield deployed
After reading this NY Times article , it's exceptionally clear that the media's protective covering of the Democratic Party is deploying. According to the NY Times, "Senator Al Franken, addressing reporters here for the first time since reports emerged that he had groped several women, said on Monday that he was sorry and would be getting back to work to try to regain the trust of women, voters and his colleagues." The title of the article is "Al Franken, Battling for His Political Life, Apologizes for Groping."
That isn't sloppy reporting. That's an intentional lie. When talking about the accusation Lindsay Menz made that Sen. Franken grabbed her butt while they took a photo together, Sen. Franken's go-to line is that he's a hugger, that it's often chaotic so he can't say that it's never happened, etc. Sen. Franken has also said that we need to view these things through a woman's perspective. Sen. Franken frequently says that he's sorry, though he specifically avoids saying what he's sorry about.
People have said that Sen. Franken has issued a non-apologetic apology. I disagree with that characterization in the sense that he's offered non-specific non-apologetic apologies. By comparison, Amber Phillips nailed it when she wrote "Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) has waded into the murky waters of trying to apologize for inappropriately touching women - while asserting that he didn't intentionally do anything wrong. And yet Franken hasn't denied any of the accusations against him, leaving the door open to the possibility that he is a serial groper."
Later, she wrote "If you're confused by what he's trying to say here, you're not the only one. Franken's attempt at clarifying what happened only raises more questions, the central ones being: Did he grab these women's buttocks or not? If he did, how, exactly, was it unintentional? Were the women mistaken?" Still later, she highlighted Sen. Franken's problem, saying "By contrast, his accusers left no nuance about what happened: Franken's hand clearly grabbed their buttocks, they say, when they were expecting a professional photo with a politician. Here's Lindsay Menz, who told her story to CNN about posing for a photo with Franken at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010: 'He put his hand full-fledged on my rear. It was wrapped tightly around my butt cheek. It wasn't around my waist. It wasn't around my hip or side. It was definitely on my butt.'"
Simply put, this guy's a creep:
The question now looming isn't whether Sen. Franken resigns. The question now is whether the DFL will continue defending this pervert or whether they'll drop him like a hot potato. Until today, there was a question as to whether the MSM would protect Sen. Franken. That question was just resolved.
Posted Monday, November 27, 2017 3:24 PM
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Why trust a habitual liar?
After reading this KSTP article , in which Sen. Franken regurgitates the same scripted lines about regaining people's trust, about how he let people down "who expect me to be a champion and who have looked at me to be a champion of women." Sen. Franken repeated some other oldies but goodies about how he hugs people but can't remember grabbing women's butts because he takes "thousands of pictures with constituents, with people around Minnesota", too.
The lines are scripted. It's obvious that they're scripted because he didn't know what to say when Esme Murphy challenged him . Murphy had just cornered Sen. Franken when she said "With all due respect, people are going to find it hard to believe that someone such as yourself wouldn't know that they were grabbing someone's butt." After pausing to think of an answer, Sen. Franken replied "I can understand how some people would see it that way."
That was the only time in his multiple interviews that Sen. Franken didn't follow his script. Here's the video of Murphy's interview of Sen. Franken:
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Sen. Franken said that he wants to regain Minnesotans' trust. Personally, I can't trust him. Part of the process to regaining the people's trust is to get people to forgive the offender. At this point, I can't forgive him because he isn't repentant.
Hypothetically speaking, let's suppose that you caught a friend lying to you. Further, the friend insists that he isn't lying even though you have proof that he's lying. Why forgive a person who insists he hasn't done anything wrong?
Let's transfer that object lesson back to Sen. Franken's situation even though they aren't identical. Sen. Franken insists that he's sorry for something he doesn't remember doing but that he can't rule out doing because taking pictures at the State Fair or at fundraisers or other outings is chaotic. What is Sen. Franken apologizing for? Do people apologize for doing things they don't remember doing? Further, why would Sen. Franken accept the words of total strangers as fact?
I think Sen. Franken remembers his deeds. I think Franken's apology tour is his attempt to smooth-talk himself out of a difficult political predicament. Just like this isn't about becoming a man of integrity, this isn't about anything other than keeping his office. As I noted in this post , Sen. Franken "apologized for the umpteenth time, saying that he'd 'let a lot of people down, people of Minnesota, my colleagues, my staff, my supporters and everyone who has counted on me to be a champion for women. To all of you, I just want to again say I am sorry.'"
Notice that he never said a word about the victims of his attacks. Nothing says fake contrition louder than not apologizing to the victims. I refuse to forgive a person who isn't repentant. That's what I demand and that isn't changing. Ever.
Posted Tuesday, November 28, 2017 1:27 AM
Comment 1 by Rex Newman at 29-Nov-17 09:00 PM
On Air America Franken started each hour reading a sneering 10 minute screed someone else wrote. But when the script ran out, so did his smooth, authoritative delivery. The rest of the hour he floundered and stammered, which is why Katherine Lampher co-hosted. Without scripts to read, simple bromides to chant, and of course the sanctimonious name-calling, he was lost. Deja Vu...
Judge sides with Trump, Mulvaney
Judge Timothy Kelly sided with President Trump in the lawsuit brought by Leandra English in her quest to be the Acting Director of the CFPB.
According to the article, "A U.S. District Court judge in Washington on Tuesday handed a big victory to President Donald Trump, ruling in favor of the administration in its bid to install White House budget director Mick Mulvaney as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Judge Timothy Kelly denied a request by Leandra English, who was named last week as acting director by outgoing CFPB chief Richard Cordray, for a temporary restraining order to block Mulvaney from taking the post. Kelly said there was not a substantial likelihood that the case would succeed on its merits. 'The administration applauds the Court's decision,' White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah said in a statement. 'It's time for the Democrats to stop enabling this brazen political stunt by a rogue employee and allow Acting Director Mulvaney to continue the Bureau's smooth transition into an agency that truly serves to help consumers.'"
Later in the article, Deepak Gupta, English's lawyer, said that he'd "have to consult with his client about the next steps. These could either involve seeking a preliminary injunction or requesting a ruling on a permanent injunction, either of which could be appealed to a higher court."
Based on Judge Kelly's ruling, Gupta can appeal to his heart's content but it likely won't matter. Kelly said "there was not a substantial likelihood that the case would succeed on its merits." The sky-is-falling-alarmists are already out in force:
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It's BS that the fines levied against the banks went to the people who suffered. That money went into the US Treasury. Sen. Mike Lee didn't mince words in talking about his opinion of the CFPB:
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Don't be surprised if the CFPB is abolished by the US Supreme Court in the next 3-5 years. It's just waiting for a lawsuit to be filed questioning its constitutionality.
Posted Tuesday, November 28, 2017 10:21 PM
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