October 1-4, 2018
Oct 01 00:55 Which future will you pick? Oct 01 22:54 Klobuchar's double standard Oct 02 00:06 The 'Uppity Peasant Candidates' Oct 02 09:20 The Democrats' nightmare? Oct 03 00:15 Housley vs. Smith, Ellison Oct 03 10:56 Did Dems lose suburban women? Oct 03 16:55 Do-nothing Tina Smith Oct 03 23:02 Policies don't matter? Oct 04 14:54 Heitkamp's impending defeat
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Which future will you pick?
Nostradamus isn't required to find out what will happen in 2019 if the Democrats get control of the House and/or the Senate. The policies that Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and other Democrat Socialists will destroy the positives that President Trump and the GOP have put in place.
I'll stipulate that Republicans like John McCain, Jeff Flake and Susan Collins haven't been a great help to President Trump's agenda. With that said, there's no disputing that replacing McCain with Jon Kyl, Flake with Martha McSally, Bob Corker with Marsha Blackburn, then replacing Joe Manchin, Joe Donnelly, Jon Tester, Heidi Heitkamp and Claire McCaskill with solid conservatives would be a major step in the right direction.
We've seen what happens when environmental activists and socialists get their way. You get a lost decade like we had under Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, then Barack Obama. Companies left the US. Income inequality increased. Economic growth stagnated. Is that the future you want?
Fast forward to January, 2017. President Trump took over. With the help of the Republican Congress, President Trump rolled back billions of dollars of anti-coal and anti-mining regulations that the Democrats had installed. Though Sen. McCain sunk our attempt to repeal and replace the ACA, President Trump and the Republicans revamped the tax code, unleashing the animal spirits of an economy stalled for too long.
The result? Small business and consumer confidence soaring. Capital investment increasing for the first time in years. In other non-economic areas, we're confirming solid judges that think it's a sin to act like legislators but who see interpreting the Constitution as their primary function.
This past week, Democrats showed that they're only interested in obstructing everything that President Trump stands for. Will Republicans fight with President Trump? Or will we let evil triumph? As for myself, I plan on fighting until I drop.
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Republicans, it's time to get fired up and kick some electoral ass.
Posted Monday, October 1, 2018 12:55 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 01-Oct-18 11:46 AM
Hoping for that Blue Wave, Gary. It would wash out a lot of detritus Trump dumped.
Comment 2 by Chad Q at 01-Oct-18 04:04 PM
Eric must either be a government employee or recipient of government services to want a blue wave and all the destruction that comes with it.
Response 2.1 by Gary Gross at 01-Oct-18 10:29 PM
He's neither. He's just a Bernie-crat.
Klobuchar's double standard
Last week, Sen. Klobuchar, along with other Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats, called on Judge Kavanaugh to remove his name from consideration as a Supreme Court justice. Never has she insisted that Keith Ellison remove his name from the ballot after he won the DFL primary for AG. After the mid-August primary, there was plenty of time for Ellison to remove his name from the ballot.
What's more is that the DFL is using the same standard that Republicans have tried using with Judge Kavanaugh:
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - An ex-girlfriend's allegation that Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison once physically abused her could not be substantiated because she refused to provide video she said she had of the incident, an attorney with links to the state's Democratic party who was hired to investigate the claims concluded in a draft report obtained by The Associated Press.
The party launched an investigation after Karen Monahan alleged in August that the Democratic congressman dragged her off a bed by her feet while screaming obscenities at her in 2016. Ellison, also a deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has denied the accusation.
This is getting dizzying. With Judge Kavanaugh, all that's needed are uncorroborated allegations from 36 years ago to demand his removal from consideration for the Supreme Court. With Keith Ellison, medical documents, text messages between Ellison and Karen Monahan and a 9-1-1 transcript rate a look of disinterest from the DFL.
Neither Amy Klobuchar nor Tina Smith have shown signs of interest in #MeToo victims. What they've shown tons of interest in is holding onto their seats. Further, they've shown utter disrespect for the Kavanaugh family, especially the Kavanaughs' daughters and Judge Kavanaugh's wife.
Sen. Klobuchar has led the fight against Judge Kavanaugh, even asking why he wouldn't demand an FBI investigation if he thought he was innocent. It'll be fun to see how Sen. Klobuchar spins things when the FBI investigation shows no new evidence. What will Sen. Klobuchar say then? In this interview, Sen. Klobuchar was virtually incoherent:
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Early in the interview, Sen. Klobuchar, one of the senior Democrats on the Committee, said "It's important that the FBI get to the bottom of the evidence." That sounds reasonable except for one thing: after 36 years, there isn't any evidence. There aren't any fingerprints. There isn't any DNA to examine. The people that Dr. Ford insists that were eyewitnesses to the alleged assault each refute Dr. Ford's accusations.
It isn't likely that Tina Smith or Amy Klobuchar will admit that they're using a double standard when it comes to rape. Still, that's what they're guilty of. Furthermore, they're both guilty of ruining families' lives.
Especially in the #MeToo era, that's inexcusable.
Posted Monday, October 1, 2018 10:54 PM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 02-Oct-18 05:11 PM
If it wasn't for double standards, democrats wouldn't have any standards.
The 'Uppity Peasant Candidates'
Jenny Berg's article is one of the best articles I've seen in the SC Times in quite a while. Congratulations, Jenny.
Ms. Berg's article highlighted the 3 candidates running against incumbents this year. John Palmer is challenging incumbent Dave Masters in Ward 1. Liz Baklaich is challenging RINO Steve Laraway in Ward 2. Paul Brandmire is running against John Libert in Ward 3. Each of the incumbents are part of the city councilmembers that I disparagingly 'nicknamed' " the 5 ostriches ".
Laraway, Libert and Masters would each rather bury their heads in the sand than listen to their constituents. They're bought and paid for by special interests. By contrast, I've known Dr. Palmer, Mr. Brandmire and Ms. Baklaich a total of easily more than 20 years. Here's what they told Ms. Berg:
Many of the candidates taking on incumbents - John Palmer in Ward 1, Liz Baklaich in Ward 2 and Paul Brandmire in Ward 3 - resoundingly said they don't think the process was transparent.
"I know (Mayor) Dave Kleis has said it's been transparent, that they put out the word but I didn't see anything," said Brandmire, a retired U.S. Air Force officer who works for Schill Trucking. "All of a sudden it was announced that this was happening and boom - the next thing you know the trees are down."
Those three candidates also said they don't feel the council members listened to the concerns of residents who wrote to the candidates or spoke at public hearings.
"What a tragedy," said Palmer, a former St. Cloud State University professor. "I think that's a reflection of the freedom of the people being suppressed. I think it's a perfect example of what should unite us as citizens and demand a more thoughtful, open process."
Residents who spoke at a Feb. 12 public hearing relayed concerns about losing parkland and trees, as well as the notion that selling parkland could be seen as bad public policy.
Laraway, Libert and Masters aren't interested in listening. They've shown their spots. Those spots aren't changing because they won't listen to We The People. Once that happens, it's time to find new leadership. This year, I'm recommending that voters elect this trio, along with Mike Conway, to sweep out this batch of ostriches:
Originally posted Tuesday, October 2, 2018, revised 03-Oct 3:48 PM
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The Democrats' nightmare?
Had the Democrats simply vigorously opposed Brett Kavanaugh during the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearing, they wouldn't have nationalized these midterm elections. Instead, they turned the hearings into a spectacle, thereby turning the midterms into a referendum on the Democrats' inability to govern.
Ever since his justified diatribe during last Thursday's hearing, Lindsey Graham has nailed the Democrats in one interview after another. Last night, he appeared on Sean Hannity's show to talk about the status of the FBI's investigation into Judge Kavanaugh. At one point in the interview, Hannity asked him what would happen if Kavanaugh's confirmation fell a vote short. His answer was nothing short of brilliant, in my estimation:
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Here's the partial transcript of Sen. Graham's reply:
First of all, I don't think we will because I don't think we'll find out anything new in this investigation. I think Sen. Collins and Sen. Murkowski just wanted to make sure that the FBI did their homework to check the Committee's work. Now, what would happen if something really weird did occur and we're 1 vote short on the Committee? Here's what I'd tell the President. I would appeal the verdict of the Senate to the ballot box. This good man should not be destroyed. If you legitimize this process by falling 1 vote short, woe be unto the next person. I'd hate to be the next person nominated. I would renominate him. I would take this case to the American people and I'd ask voters in Indiana, Missouri and North Dakota and other places where Trump won and see if the voters want to appeal the verdict of their senators.
That's exactly the right strategy. The Democrats have been totally unfair throughout this process. Let's see if those states' voters are as unfair as their senators. I'm betting they aren't. I'm betting that those voters will boot out those red-state Democrats.
In fact, I'm betting that Democrats have already gone too far with these hearings. When Sen. 'Spartacus' said that anyone supporting Judge Kavanaugh was "complicit in evil", he fired up voters. When Mazie Hirono told men to shut up and do the right thing for once, she fired up voters even more.
The thing, though, that really fired people up was the Democrats constant insistence that Judge Kavanaugh wasn't entitled to the presumption of innocence because this wasn't a court trial. The presumption of innocence isn't just for court trials. It's the basis for simple fairness. Democrats emphatically implied that Judge Kavanaugh wasn't entitled to fairness.
This article lays out nicely what's at stake for red-state Democrats:
Senate Democrats up for reelection this year in deep-red states face a nightmare decision on how to handle Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Vulnerable Democrats are hoping Republicans will force him to withdraw his nomination, allowing them to avoid politically divisive votes.
Their worst nightmare came one step closer when Judge Kavanaugh defiantly said "you might defeat me but I'm not going anywhere."
The Democrats' behavior is way over the line. They've been despicable, especially Amy Klobuchar, Dianne Feinstein and Mazie Hirono. Those women (I'm using that term exceptionally loosely in that instance) don't have a bit of integrity combined.
Why has Sen. Klobuchar endorsed accused woman assaulter Keith Ellison but crucified Judge Kavanaugh? The woman who was allegedly assaulted by Keith Ellison has published a doctor's report. The woman who's accused Judge Kavanaugh doesn't have anything in terms of forensic evidence.
Posted Tuesday, October 2, 2018 9:20 AM
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Housley vs. Smith, Ellison
Don't let anyone kid you about Karin Housley's chances for victory 5 weeks from today. Running against Tina Smith is a tough challenge. Running against Smith and her millstone, aka Keith Ellison, give Sen. Housley a better shot than just running against Smith.
I'm not overstating things when I state that Keith Ellison acts like a millstone around Tina Smith's neck. Ellison will continue to be a millstone around Smith's neck as long as Smith doesn't distance herself from Ellison .
First, Housley said Smith has "been critical of Kavanaugh. Smith called Kavanaugh 'a serious threat to women's freedom. Yet Judge Brett Kavanaugh denied his allegations under oath,' she said. 'Democrats, when it's one of their own, it didn't happen. To use this for political power is disgusting,' Housley said. 'I had to call the attorney general to do an investigation [of Ellison].'"
Let's be clear about this. Karin Housley is exactly right when she said that Democrats don't want to talk about this when it's one of their own. They'd rather focus on Brett Kavanaugh. At the end of the interview, though, Hannity say something that I think will be prophetic. Check this out:
Housley brought up a good point when she said that Smith is still campaigning with Ellison because Ellison "categorically denied" the charges. Then Housley highlighted the fact that Judge Kavanaugh categorically denied the charges against him, too. What's the difference?
Expect Keith Ellison to be hung like a millstone around Smith's and Klobuchar's necks the rest of this campaign. At the end, Hannity replied "Karin, you can win this race. This is now a game-changing moment for the country and I wish you all the luck in the world."
The truth is that Karin Housley isn't running against Tina Smith. She's running against Tina Smith and Keith Ellison. Factor in the Trump Frenzy effect, too. Tina Smith isn't a lock by any stretch of the imagination.
Posted Wednesday, October 3, 2018 12:15 AM
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Did Dems lose suburban women?
There's no denying the fact that last week's Kavanaugh hearing were a watershed moment in modern political history. Last night, Sean Hannity correctly told Karin Housley that it was a "game-changing moment." This article goes into detail about suburban women's reaction to the hearing.
For instance, Julie Kelly wrote "I asked several suburban moms to share their thoughts about the Democrats' assault on Kavanaugh. Here is a sampling of their responses:
'The whole process was shameful, an obvious political maneuver. Ford clearly had 'something' happen to her, and the Democrats capitalized on her pain. Their disingenuous actions actually hurt the real plight women face. It was a dark day for America on Thursday.'"
She continued:
"What does it say about me as a woman that I don't feel such strong affiliation with the sisterhood that I therefore automatically believe every charge leveled at a man by a woman? Is it my training as a lawyer? I don't think so. I think it is my years of being married to an honorable man, and my parenting of two young men who 'know' what is and isn't expected of them in their treatment of their female peers."
While I expect the RNC Chairwoman to put the best possible spin on what's happening, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee misplayed their hand. This interview is quite telling:
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"Democrats behavior in this process is truly disgusting and childish. I am appalled. I also watched Judge Kavanaugh's rebuttal. I've read comments that 'we don't want a judge with that temperament on the bench!' Really? I work in the legal system and that's exactly the temperament I expect in a judge. I will vote in November no matter what. And there is no way I'd vote Democrat in this political climate."
Republicans will have to play some defense in the next month. Still, they've got the opportunity to go on offense quite a bit thanks to how they've mishandled the Kavanaugh hearings
Posted Wednesday, October 3, 2018 10:56 AM
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Do-nothing Tina Smith
Tina Smith isn't as awful as Al Franken. (We haven't heard that she's groped anyone.) Still, she's a do-nothing politician who needs to be defeated on Nov. 6. Actually, the do-nothing characterization requires an asterisk. When it comes to investigating President Trump's nominees, she's a passionate activist for action.
There's no disputing whether she's pushed for investigating Judge Kavanaugh. That's a stark contrast to her do-nothingism regarding Keith Ellison. Karen Monahan has provided this documentation from a doctor who examined her:
Tina Smith has campaigned with and endorsed Keith Ellison. Ellison is so far out there that President Obama won't endorse him . Think about that a second. Tina Smith is farther left than President Obama. The former Divider-in-Chief steers clear of Ellison.
There's a simple way to cut through the clutter. Vote for the candidate whose values don't change based on which way the political winds are blowing. Vote for Karin Housley. She's the only candidate that's called for a real investigation into Ellison's alleged abuse of Karen Monahan:
Ellison announced last week that he would request the House Ethics Committee look into the accusations he faces. He told BuzzFeed, 'I am taking this step now because I am innocent and eager to see this entire matter resolved." Minnesota's Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party is currently awaiting the findings of an independent investigation it launched two months ago.
But Housley, who is challenging incumbent Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) in the Nov. 6 election, says those investigations are inadequate. "Recent calls for a congressional ethics investigation, made by Keith Ellison and echoed by my opponent, amount to nothing more than political cover," she said in a statement. "Ellison will have left Congress by the time an investigation could be completed.
"These are serious, recent and substantiated allegations that deserve immediate attention and raise significant doubts about Keith Ellison's fitness to serve as Minnesota's chief legal officer," Housley added.
Ellison calling for an Ethics Committee investigation is a sham. In other words, it's like Ellison. Anyone that thinks that this would be a real investigation is kidding themselves.
Tina Smith is satisfied dragging her feet to help Keith Ellison. If she's going to call for a full-fledged investigation into Judge Kavanaugh, she should demand the same of Ellison.
Otherwise, she's just another do-nothing political hack.
Posted Wednesday, October 3, 2018 4:55 PM
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Policies don't matter?
This week, I wrote an LTE that was published in the St. Cloud Times. In the LTE, I wrote "During the Obama administration, economic growth averaged 1.5-2 percent annual growth. When Republicans criticized his policies, President Obama said economic growth of 4 percent was a 'pipe dream.' Now that the economy is growing at 4 percent, Obama is campaigning, saying that this economic revival started during his administration. While the job growth is similar, there couldn't be a bigger difference between administrations on small business investment, small business confidence, consumer confidence and durable goods orders and shipments. In each of those categories, the trend was heading down during the last term of the Obama administration but are skyrocketing during the Trump administration."
In the comments, someone wrote this:
The whole debate over which president has the best record for the economy is ridiculous. The economy does its own thing without regard to White House occupant. Always has, always will. The most any presidential administration does is to nudge the direction the economy is going on its own.
President Trump and the GOP congress hasn't nudged the economy to go in the direction it was already going in. Far from it. They ripped out the anti-growth policies of the Obama administration and implemented pro-growth policies like a major lowering of the corporate and individual tax rates. Since then, money that was hiding in Europe came flooding back into the US.
Congress employed the Congressional Review Act to rip out the anti-coal mining regulations that the Obama administration implemented in the final year of his administration. The US went from being a nation with a semi-dormant energy industry to being "energy dominant." Do these things sound like gentle policy nudges? I don't think so.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has created over 100 new records since Trump was elected. Small business and consumer confidence were both trending downward on Election Day, 2016. Since then, both have started skyrocketing.
That didn't happen just because of a change of administrations. It happened because of a dramatic shift in economic policies. Pretty much everything that the Obama administration did, the Trump administration ripped out. As a result, things are much better today than they were 2 years ago. In fact, it isn't even close.
In fact, President Obama said that manufacturing jobs had left and that they weren't ever coming back. According to this article , "according to today's employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the sector has added 222,000 jobs, resuming a recovery that had paused in 2015 and 2016 amid strength in the dollar and weakness in the U.S. oil and gas industry."
Posted Wednesday, October 3, 2018 11:02 PM
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Heitkamp's impending defeat
At the risk of dating myself, I'll use a joke from Chevy Chase's movie titled "Fletch Lives" to convey this message. It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure it out that Heidi Heitkamp is heading for defeat. Larry Holmes could figure this one out. About an hour ago, Heitkamp announced that she won't confirm Judge Kavanaugh as the next Supreme Court Justice.
Couple that announcement with this weeks polls showing Heitkamp trailing Kevin Kramer by 10 points and 12 points and it's pretty obvious that she's history. Of course, that hasn't stopped her from deploying one of the Democrats' favorite chanting points:
Heitkamp, who is running for reelection in a state won by Trump, said a public hearing where Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, his first accuser, testified raised questions about Kavanaugh's "current temperament, honesty, and impartiality" and has "furthered a national discussion about stopping sexual assault. Our actions right now are a poignant signal to young girls and women across our country. I will continue to stand up for them," Heitkamp said.
This video is worth watching because Chairman Grassley takes the press and Sen. Feinstein to task:
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Back to Heitkamp. She's likely playing for a spot in the next Democrat White House. I predict that she'll have a long wait for that position.
Posted Thursday, October 4, 2018 2:54 PM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 04-Oct-18 05:05 PM
So she's going to continue to stand up for lying sacks of excrement? There's more holes in the 3 accusers stories than there are in a spaghetti strainer.
They thought they could make him withdraw with the false allegations and when that didn't work, they called into question his drinking, temperament, and impartiality. Why is it ok for old lady Ginsberg to drink too much wine and fall asleep during a presidential address and than speak ill of Trump yet when Kavanaugh is defending his good name against baseless allegations, well then he's not fit for the supreme court.
