October 6-9, 2018
Oct 06 02:46 A spine is detected Oct 06 16:58 Prosperity congress or investigation congress? Oct 07 09:00 Natalie Ringsmuth's hit piece Oct 08 11:14 Dumb Democrat arguments Oct 09 02:47 President Trump's apology Oct 09 05:28 What is truth? Oct 09 11:37 Democrats' dilemma deepens
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A spine is detected
If I'd approached you 2 weeks ago and told you that Judge Kavanaugh would be confirmed and that he owed it to a fiery speech by Lindsey Graham and a powerful speech by Susan Collins, I'm betting that I would've won lots of bets.
The truth is that people are figuring out that Republicans have developed a spine at just the right time. What we do with that newly-detected spine is up to us. And by us, I'm talking about the full spectrum of Republicans. Or, to steal Lindsey Graham's newly-coined phrase, the past 2 weeks have brought together Trump Republicans, Bush Republicans, Romney Republicans, McCain Republicans, Libertarians and vegetarians.
Think about this :
Watching the Republican Party come together - and seeing senators who have personified the weakness of the GOP stand up for what's right - has been a revelation. If you had told me last month I would be praising Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Collins, I would have thought you were crazy. Yet here we are and all three have been beacons during this fight, and delivered when under extraordinary pressure.
Watching Sen. Jeff Flake, R-AZ, sulk into an elevator, refusing to stand up to partisan hecklers, was dispiriting. But Collins' speech Friday was an inspiring reminder of what the Senate is supposed to embody, a place where lawmakers give a thoughtful and reasoned presentation of the facts before us, in this case regarding Judge Kavanaugh.
Then there's this:
Collins' speech was important and valuable. And for those of us who support President Trump and have been extremely critical of the GOP establishment, it was a reminder of what we can accomplish working together. President George W. Bush and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were very active calling senators urging them to confirm Kavanaugh's nomination, which likely made a big difference.
President Trump, working with his original supporters and establishment Republicans, have made a significant 'down-payment' on making America great again. Imagine if we held onto our House and Senate majorities, then started working together to accomplish the rest of President Trump's agenda.
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Let's understand that these midterms aren't just about continuing President Trump's agenda. I want that to happen but that isn't why these midterms are so important. They're important because Democrats have gone off the deep end. When they send 3,000 coat-hangers to Sen. Collins' office, that's proof that Democrats have totally lost their minds. That debate is finished.
It's time for Republicans to provide leadership. It's safe to say that Democrats can't provide any leadership. Finally, does anyone seriously think that Nancy Pelosi will produce better results than what we're getting right now? I don't.
Posted Saturday, October 6, 2018 2:46 AM
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Prosperity congress or investigation congress?
This NYTimes article highlights one of the major differences between a Republican majority in the upcoming House or a Democrat majority.
The article opens by saying "House Democrats will open an investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct and perjury against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh if they win control of the House in November, Representative Jerrold Nadler, the New York Democrat in line to be the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said on Friday. Speaking on the eve of Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation vote this weekend, Mr. Nadler said that there was evidence that Senate Republicans and the F.B.I. had overseen a 'whitewash' investigation of the allegations and that the legitimacy of the Supreme Court was at stake. He sidestepped the issue of impeachment. 'It is not something we are eager to do,' Mr. Nadler said in an interview. 'But the Senate having failed to do its proper constitutionally mandated job of advise and consent, we are going to have to do something to provide a check and balance, to protect the rule of law and to protect the legitimacy of one of our most important institutions.'"
Do we want a congress that's focused on investigations all the time or on making people's lives better by getting government out of the way? Put another way, do we want a revenge congress or a prosperity congress? Nadler has cast his vote. He'd prefer a revenge congress. No thanks.
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This shows what the Democrats' priorities are. Their priority isn't the American people. Their priority is destroying President Trump. That's because they hate the fact that President Trump is demolishing President Obama's legacy. The American people don't mind because there's more money in their wallets than during the Obama administration.
Posted Saturday, October 6, 2018 4:58 PM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 07-Oct-18 07:01 AM
You know what it will be. Sad thing is if they had anything on him, it would have been leaked or Mueller would have indicted him already and yet they keep on trying. If congress couldn't pin anything on ol lady Clinton when there was proof of illegal actions, not sure what they can do to Trump.
Natalie Ringsmuth's hit piece
When A.J. Kern announced that she was primarying Tom Emmer this past summer, the St. Cloud Times forced her to quit writing her monthly column for them. The Times must selectively enforce their policies because Natalie Ringsmuth is running for the ISD 742 school board but she's still writing her monthly column.
This month, Ringsmuth's column reads more like a hit piece against Liz Baklaich, who is a city council candidate. Early in her hit piece, Ringsmuth said that she "is always up for a good community conversation -- and not just one where everyone agrees with me."
Actually, that's pretty much the only kind of "community conversation" that Natalie prefers. The only other kind that she prefers are where her ideological opponents are outnumbered by a wide margin.
Ms. Ringsmuth doesn't have the integrity to step aside from her column. She'd rather still use it to attack people who oppose her #UniteCloud agenda. That's Ms. Baklaich's 'sin'. She'd much prefer Steve Laraway, a spineless councilman, to represent St. Cloud's 2nd Ward on St. Cloud's City Council. Laraway has totally bought into #UniteCloud's agenda. Why wouldn't Ringsmuth run interference for her ally?
The truth is that the Times should apologize for this decision. Further, they should immediately publish a rebuttal to Ringsmuth's hit piece.
Posted Sunday, October 7, 2018 9:00 AM
Comment 1 by k omalley at 08-Oct-18 11:19 PM
I opine that due to her deep and long association with UniteCloud Ms. Ringsmuth is unable to have a clear headed view of any issue pertaining to the Refugee Resettlement Program so dear to her heart.
Whereas Ms Baklaich has no iron in the fire so to speak and is very rational, does in depth research and seems to be a woman with a great deal of common sense.
Ringsmuth owes Baklaich an apology for her biased article. Perhaps it is time the St. Cloud Times replaced Ringsmuth with someone who is not heavily involved, financially and personally with the RRP. It is easy to throw out accusations of racism, islamopobia and so forth. But how about doing something constructive for the refugee muslim women who are sold as child brides, forced to have their genitals mutilated, under Sharia law are worth half of a man among other things. This is America where women are considered to have value and are treated with kindness and respect. It is time the muslim women were educated on how the western world views the female gender. Why does UniteCloud not get involved here e.g. a bill was passed by the Mn House regarding the female gender mutilation but is stalled in the Senate...this is one very serious issue and needs to be addressed.
Comment 2 by Mary T Dombrovski at 11-Oct-18 04:45 PM
I penned a rebuttal to Natalie Ringsmuth's column for the "Your Turn" column in the St. Cloud Times. My response from them is that there were a lot of letters this time of year. I am guessing it will not be printed so I will share it here and all over Facebook!
In the current age of Fake News and Media Bias I would like to call out the St. Cloud Times for their contribution to it by giving a current political candidate a public platform to criticize other political candidates.
I'm referencing a recent opinion column by school board candidate Natalie Ringsmuth published October 13th of this year. To be clear I am only referencing Ms. Ringsmuth' s article and how it was written and not the meeting itself as I was not in attendance. The column was laden with disparaging comments, incomplete truths and dosed with plenty of innuendos.
Ms. Ringsmuth stated the forum was 'Interesting' being billed only as a local discussion inferring featured speaker Phil Haney, a former of the DHS and from the DC area, was not local and therefore irrelevant to the forum. In truth the forum was billed as 'A Local & National' discussion making Haney's presentation quite relevant.
Ringsmuth continues with comments such as; the forum was to be an 'open conversation' and not all questions turned into moderators were asked including her own. Typically, in a Q & A segment there is not time for all questions asked. I recently witnessed this in the School Board Candidate forum hosted by the League of Women Voters where there were as many questions as there were people in attendance. With time restrictions, only a handful of those questions were posed to the candidates; quite typical in that setting.
The reason I question the motive of the Times to print the article is that two of groups organizers Ringsmuth specifically criticizes, are City Council candidate; Dr. John Palmer of ward 1 and Liz Bakliach of ward 2.
Apparently Dr. Palmer ended the Q & A session without asking all the questions that were turned in, Ringsmuth's included. I will not presume why all the questions were not asked although again quite typical in a forum setting. Had I been honestly concerned my questions specifically were not asked, I would have brought that concern up to the moderator.
The innuendos were solely pointed at Ms. Bakliach. Ringsmuth wrote that Ms. Bakliach 'seemingly' glared at me and that she 'seemed really angry I was there'. In her article Ringsmuth also states that she handed her question to Ms. Bakliach who then 'read the question to herself' and then 'seemed' to laugh.
From the St. Cloud Times guidelines stated for 'Your Turn' columns; 'should focus on timely local, national or international issues of concern to people in our community' Ringsmuth's column certainly did. Another is to 'State your opinion and use facts: to support it'. Much of the column was not backed up by facts; 'Seemingly' this and 'Seemed like' are not factual. That wording style tends to be written to give the reader the impression the statements are factual when writer cannot honestly say they are. Another requirement stated is to use 'about 600 words' Ringsmuth was given a generous allotment of 825 words: .curious I would say.
I realize the article was an opinion piece, however, it being written BY a local candidate and again criticizing two other local candidates. In my opinion it rightfully calls into question the motives of both Natalie Ringsmuth and the St. Cloud Times.
This is the opinion of Mary Dombrovski, longtime resident and a concerned citizen of the St. Cloud area.
Mary Dombrovski
Dumb Democrat arguments
Last week, Democrats insisted that then-Judge Kavanaugh's emotional defense of his family and his professional reputation proved that he didn't have the right temperament to be a Supreme Court justice. This past weekend, Jerrold Nadler told the NYTimes that the Senate Judiciary Committee and the FBI didn't perform a proper investigation of Justice Kavanaugh so the House Judiciary Committee would perform one if Democrats retake the majority in the House.
Now Juan Williams insists in his latest column that Republicans can't govern, asking "Can anyone unite the bitter, dysfunctional GOP House conference, which remains at the heart of the federal government dysfunction and has the lowest public approval rating of any branch of government?"
For a reporter, Williams certainly hasn't noticed that the government got funded on time, they passed a bill to deal with the opioid crisis and that the economy is humming along thanks to the bills that they've passed. Other than that, they haven't gotten anything done.
This is proof that the Democrats' excuses keep getting more ridiculous each day. What a sad bunch. Here's Juan Williams telling the FBI how to do its job:
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Perhaps, he should work harder at his craft and trust the FBI more.
Posted Monday, October 8, 2018 11:14 AM
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President Trump's apology
Tonight, President Trump apologized to Justice Kavanaugh and his family for the grief that Senate Democrats put them through. Saying that it was unusual is understatement. Then again, it isn't everyday that a political party tries destroying a public figure without corroboration. That's what the Democrats tried doing.
Trump began by saying "On behalf of our nation, I want to apologize to Brett and the entire Kavanaugh family for the terrible pain and suffering you have been forced to endure. Those who step forward to serve our country deserve a fair and dignified evaluation, not a campaign of political and personal destruction based on lies and deception. What happened to the Kavanaugh family violates every notion of fairness, decency, and due process. In our country, a man or a woman must always be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty."
Sunday, Sen. Mazie Hirono disagreed:
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Sen. Hirono said that Dr. Ford should be believed because Dr. Ford said she was 100% certain it was Judge Kavanaugh. That belief plus a dollar is worth a dollar. Belief without corroboration is worthless. So is Dr. Ford's word.
The lesson isn't that guys don't trust women. It's that guys don't trust women whose stories don't add up. Why should I trust a woman whose testimony has as many holes in it as Swiss cheese?
I don't doubt that President Trump's apology made liberal heads explode. That's what they get for playing the win-at-all-costs game. They haven't learned that if they're gonna take a shot at the king, they'd better take him down with the first shot.
Here's the video of the ceremony:
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Personally, it was especially moving when President Trump addressed Justice Kavanaugh's daughters. That was particularly special.
Posted Tuesday, October 9, 2018 2:47 AM
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What is truth?
Written by Rambling Rose
What is truth?
Christians know that Jesus Christ is the Truth. But they and He are rejected in the post-truth world of today. So readers, researchers and journalists (term used loosely) quickly turn to electronic sites to arbitrate 'the truth.'
But every day we learn more of the bias coming from the Silicon Valley and the agencies that are engaged more with indoctrination than with information. That bias has earned the name 'Speech Code Cartel,' including Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Apple and Amazon.
Why is this a concern? In the second quarter, the Soros Fund Management based in New York City and owned by ultra-liberal billionaire George Soros purchased 159,200 shares in Facebook (valued at $31 million), 250,000 shares in Twitter (valued at $11 million), and 54,500 shares in Apple (valued at $10 million). Soros has ties to more than 30 mainstream news outlets, including The New York Times, Washington Post, the Associated Press, NBC and ABC, according to Media Research Center. He is known to be an ultra-leftist that aspires to influence the future of this country and the world.
Some of that influence is manifested when conservative posts are censored and deleted from social media. Some people are even banned. Just last month, that included blogger Elizabeth Johnston, also known as "The Activist Mommy," PragerU, and Dr. Robert A.J. Gagnon of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Johnston summarized the basis for the attacks and censorship in these words: "The truth is, Facebook is owned and run by radical leftists who intentionally keep the community guidelines very subjective and vague, which gives them unlimited power to silence and marginalize anyone whose voice they want to shut down. The Left fears our voices because we are effectively persuading and dismantling their lies about abortion, homosexuality, Islam, radical feminism, and a host of other issues that are an all-out assault on our Christian values."
Various polls have confirmed a great deal of skepticism and distrust among the citizens about the media. 72% believe that the media distort the news with a liberal bias.
What about checking the facts? Yes, like Snopes. Well, that is another facet of the bias.
On September 11, 2018, Joseph Farah, author, journalist and editor-in-chief of the WorldNetDaily, wrote about Facebook's official 'fact-checker.' In his words: 'Welcome to the thoroughly unprofessional, politically biased, widely discredited and scandal-plagued world of Snopes.com - now one of the premier gatekeepers in the wacky and warped world of 'truth detection' Farah coined the phrase 'Speech Code Cartel' to portray the function of Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Apple and Amazon as determined by their founders/owners/shareholders.
Farah outlined the founding in 1995 and growth of Snopes into a recognized source for checking out myths and rumors on the internet. In order to get answers for their questions, David Mikkelson and his then-wife, Barbara, posed as the leaders of 'San Fernando Valley Folklore Society.' The group did not exist but afforded the Mikkelsons a facade, probably not illegal but reveals that Snopes started on a questionable foundation. Mikkelson admitted to the Los Angeles Times in 1997: 'When I sent letters out to companies, I found I got a much better response with an official-looking organization's stationery.'
Initially, the research was done by the duo using primarily secondhand internet sources.
The marriage ended in a nasty divorce in 2015, and legal disputes continue yet today. Barbara charged David with embezzlement and infidelity. The business apparently had prospered since David asked that his salary be increased from $240,000 to $360,000, noting that his work merited compensation of $720,000. The settlement involved millions.
David hired Elyssa Young as an administrative assistant and married her in 2016. In 2004, Young ran for Congress in Hawaii but garnered only 3% of the vote. While employed as an administrative assistant, she identifies as a courtesan.
Some have questioned Snopes lack of any 'standardized procedure' in fact-checking. Mikkelson defends his system of fact-checking in this way: '[It] involves multiple stages of editorial oversight, so no output is the result of a single person's discretion.'
Another legal dispute grew out a business relationship with Proper Media from August 2015 through March 2017. Mikkelson terminated the advertising agreement in hopes of regaining control of Snopes. When Proper Media stopped payments, Mikkelson opened a GoFundMe page that initially generated $665,000, but contributions have dwindled although appeals for funds continue on the SaveSnopes.com website.
Many question if Snopes can be fair, balanced and unbiased. Snopes defends some of its findings for not getting the right answer because they did not get the right question.
Even Mikkelson agrees that 'bias is in the eye of the beholder.' He notes that it is often conservatives that detect bias in the Snopes reports.
And yet, Snopes is the official fact-checker for Facebook and many reporters. That may add credence to the belief that much news is 'fake,' 'controlled,' or at least 'distorted.'
The First Amendment? Censorship? PC? Truth? Let the citizens beware.
Posted Tuesday, October 9, 2018 5:28 AM
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Democrats' dilemma deepens
Bryan Dean Wright's op-ed highlights the pickle Democrats find themselves in after their failed attempt to stop Justice Kavanaugh's confirmation. Particularly scathing is when Wright says "Progressives have no one to blame but themselves, of course. For the past two months, the Democratic machinery has launched blistering attacks on Kavanaugh that have utterly backfired. The media led the way with astonishing speed and inaccuracy, with USA Today going so far as to suggest Kavanaugh was a pedophile. Meanwhile, activist groups organized pop-up protests in elevators and hallways, with cult-like followers chanting back to their leaders how they'd target their next victim. And, of course, hundreds of Democratic officials in the Senate and House pumped out talking points that defied both logic and decency."
This wasn't just a defeat for Democrats. It was a defeat of epic proportions. This is what they were reduced to:
Stuff like teenage farting, ice cubes, and devilish drinking games.
When Sen. Whitehouse questioned then-Judge Kavanaugh about these things, he looked downright foolish:
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That's the quality of the questioning from the Democrats? No wonder people think they're idiots. It isn't surprising that, after that stupidity, the Democrats' chances are collapsing.
This is what ultimately sunk the Democrats:
When America finally heard testimony regarding Professor Ford's serious allegations, the outcome was clear. Not one of the people she identified as attendees of the infamous 1982 party could corroborate that a sexual assault occurred or a party ever happened.
Sen. Hirono might think that men are presumed guilty until proven innocent but the rest of America disagrees. Fighting that fight is an uphill fight all the way.
Posted Tuesday, October 9, 2018 11:37 AM
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