September 2-5, 2018
Sep 02 06:11 The difference between a Democratic Socialist & a progressive Sep 03 10:30 DFL liars, Part I Sep 03 13:29 DFL liars, Part II Sep 03 23:04 The Kavanaugh conundrum Sep 05 09:59 Jon Kyl returns Sep 05 10:32 When will Schumer get axed?
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
The difference between a Democratic Socialist & a progressive
The biggest difference between Democratic socialism and progressivism is the spelling of the words. According to Wikipedia's definition of Democratic socialism , Democratic Socialists "hold that capitalism is inherently incompatible with the democratic values of liberty, equality, and solidarity; and that these ideals can only be achieved through the realization of a socialist society."
By contrast (?), progressives believed "that progress was being stifled by vast economic inequality between the rich and the poor; minimally regulated laissez-faire capitalism with monopolistic corporations; and intense and often violent conflict between workers and capitalists."
During his prolific life, Milton Friedman vehemently disagreed with both economic philosophies. In fact, he wrote a book about it titled Capitalism & Freedom . In the book, Dr. Friedman argued that "with the means for production under the auspices of the government, it is nearly impossible for real dissent and exchange of ideas to exist."
In this interview, which I've posted often, Friedman schools Phil Donahue on the virtues of capitalism vs. socialism:
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The point behind this is that Democrats are trying to pretend that they're progressives, not socialists. Is there a difference between single-payer health care of Bernie Sanders and the "universal coverage" of Tim Walz? I wouldn't bet on it. If there is a difference, it'd be miniscule.
The other point I want to make is that the economy is running strong right now. Why screw it up? That's what a Speaker Pelosi would do. I know that because that's what she did the first time she was Speaker. It didn't take long for the economy to shrink. It took only a little longer for President Obama's Democratic Socialists to implement Obamacare.
Thankfully, the American people came to their senses and got rid of Obama's and Pelosi's stupidity. Now, the economy is growing, people are finding the jobs they want and their 401(k)s are growing, especially if they're invested in the NASDAQ.
Posted Sunday, September 2, 2018 6:37 AM
Comment 1 by Crimson Trace at 02-Sep-18 10:07 AM
Welcome back, Gary! It's great to have you back...and that you have our backs!
Comment 2 by Liz Baklaich at 02-Sep-18 02:18 PM
Hi Gary! Welcome back we missed you.
Comment 3 by eric z at 02-Sep-18 03:08 PM
Welcome back. Good to see ideas I do not agree with, since it sharpens my outlook beyond Wardlow and Ellison being the yin/yang of blind faith vs. secular reason. (Figure which attribute of the two I give Wardlow.)
YOUR POST: Your point is that Walz is a reincarnation of Karl Marx?
That is like saying there's no difference between Trump, and National Socialism?. I would never say anything so extreme. Few would take that seriously. I thought you meant something else, but am not clear what.
Shades between define things. Government owning all means of production is one polar end. Mob rule, war lordism, is the opposite. Between are varying degrees of regulation. And provision of public goods.
If you are saying there is a gap between Walz and Johnson, at least Pawlenty's back in the beltway, or is that a supposition without a basis? He triangulated away from both Walz and Johnson. Bless his defeat early in the process; like Jeb Bush's. Detritus swept away.
John McCain proposed unbundling cable TV. The private sector answer is bundling it will be, like it or love it. There exists cause to miss McCain. He had some bend to him, at times. You don't support bundling, do you?
Response 3.1 by Gary Gross at 02-Sep-18 06:38 PM
Eric, you've overthought things on this. First, Walz's economic ideas reject capitalism, which is the only economic system that gives the masses an incentive to work hard & achieve. It was capitalism that brought about the industrial revolution that created the middle class. Socialism couldn't have done that. Not in a million years.
Comment 4 by Patrick Mattson at 03-Sep-18 04:57 AM
Gary
Welcome back, missed you.
Comment 5 by eric z at 06-Sep-18 11:57 AM
Back, good. Back with a vengeance, per the string of Kavanaugh posts. Don't burn out from the wear and tear of such a pace.
Staying on this post, unregulated capitalism yields the best politicians money can buy. Tim Pawlenty and K-Street; the Podesta brothers, Vin Weber, the Clintons. Dark money slushing all around DC. All those emigre Russian oligarchs populating the floors of Trump Tower. To me, those are unappealing things.
Response 5.1 by Gary Gross at 06-Sep-18 12:36 PM
Eric, thanx for the welcome back. It feels good to be back making a difference.
I'm not talking about "unregulated capitalism." I'm just talking about less-regulated capitalism.
DFL liars, Part I
Joe Radinovich isn't honest. In this article , Radinovich insists that much of his "15-year history" of traffic problems were mostly "parking tickets mixed with a smattering of moving violations." Whether you call him a liar or simply dishonest, the truth is that he didn't tell the whole truth.
LFR has learned that, among those moving violations was a violation of driving without a license. That further means that Radinovich had his license suspended, though LFR doesn't know for what. Radinovich tried downplaying the situation by saying "It's a series of petty misdemeanors and that's the extent of it."
The notion that driving with a suspended license 4 times, including once this year while campaigning for Nolan's seat, I'll categorize as a big effing deal, to quote our former vice president:
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Trying to downplay this as insignificant infuriates me. In the mid-1970s, I had several epileptic seizures. Each time I had one, I had to wait another full year to have my driving privilege restored. When I finally had my privilege restored, it was 3 years later.
Not once did I violate the terms of my suspension. Not once did I think about violating those terms. That meant I often had to carry 2 large bags of groceries home for almost a mile. For this politician to pass it off as insignificant to drive with a revoked license steams me beyond belief.
A minute+ into this KSTP video, it states that Radinovich was cited for driving with a revoked license and driving without proof of insurance:
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These aren't ancient violations. Many are from 2014-18. It's obvious that Mr. Radinovich is a scofflaw, someone who thinks the laws don't apply to him. That's the definition of a DC swamp critter.
Posted Monday, September 3, 2018 10:30 AM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 03-Sep-18 07:28 PM
Rules, laws, morals, etc. are for other people, not the DFL.
DFL liars, Part II
Recently, the DFL sent out mailers to targeted districts in a desperate attempt to flip the districts. These mailers were subjected to KSTP's Truth Test. Since they were identical in their claims and since their allegations were wildly inaccurate (that's another way of saying that they were outright lies), the mailers got an F . They were so bad that, during the Political Analysis segment of At Issue, Darin Broton said he didn't know why the DFL would send out such a "demonstrably false" mailer.
To show how much it takes to get Mr. Broton to not defend the DFL's talking points, consider that, later in the segment, he said that it's impossible to know if the Trump/GOP tax cuts have helped. The fact that the economy is booming and wages are rising, benefit packages have improved, bonuses to non-executives have been paid, etc., it isn't too soon to say that the Trump/GOP tax cuts have helped. But I digress.
According to the mailers, Kathy Lohmer, Dario Anselmo and Jim Knoblach "voted to give legislators a 45 percent pay raise.' That statement is false." Tom Hauser continues, saying "It is true that Minnesota's 201 state legislators received 45 percent pay raises last year. However, the raises were recommended by the 'Legislative Salary Council.' The council was created after Minnesota voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2016 creating the council and putting it in charge of recommended whether the legislature deserves a pay raise. So not only was there no vote by any legislators on the 45 percent pay raise, Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt tried to lead a charge to not accept the pay raise."
In other words, this DFL claim was an outright lie. It didn't have a hint of honesty in it. The second claim was just as bad:
The campaign mailers also claim the Republican lawmakers "voted to give big businesses a $1.3 billion tax break."
This, too, is false. Although House Republicans, along with three Democrats, did vote for a 2017 tax bill that would have cut taxes $1.3 billion, it included a wide variety of tax breaks for Social Security recipients, property tax breaks for small businesses, estate tax cuts, a property tax exemption for a new professional soccer stadium in St. Paul and dozens of other provisions. That bill was ultimately pared down to $650 million when it was finally approved.
Watch the video of the entire segment:
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The DFL is incapable of telling the truth. The Alliance for a Better Minnesota has specialized in telling whoppers for years . It shouldn't surprise people that the DFL continues lying each election cycle in the tightest races. It isn't just what the DFL does. It's who the DFL is.
Posted Monday, September 3, 2018 1:29 PM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 03-Sep-18 07:27 PM
Tell a lie long enough and it becomes the truth. Look at this farce of a Russia investigation that was based solely on a lie.
The Trump tax cuts allow me to keep about $200 more of my money each month so yeah, they are working.
As for the pay raises, the DFL is probably sending those mailers to people who voted for the council and now don't know any better. Maybe the DFL should go after the MPLS park board where they want to raise salaries by double or more or how about Alondra Cano who is trying to hire or did hire Ilhan Omar's brother to be an aid for $90k/yr.
The Kavanaugh conundrum
Since the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh, Democrats have complained that they're getting stonewalled in terms of documents in addition to making claims that Kavanaugh will overturn Roe v. Wade or side with President Trump in determining that presidents "are above the law." BTW, that might be the Democrats' most ridiculous allegation.
The Democrats' latest line of complaint is that they aren't getting all of the documents they're entitled to. Chairman Grassley demolishes those arguments in a New York minute in this interview:
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When Chairman Grassley stated that "this is more documents than the last 5 Supreme Court nominees have had in total", he totally obliterated the Democrats' arguments. Then Chairman Grassley polished them off by saying "They should say 'Praise the Lord. We've got more to ask for.' Besides, don't forget, 307 opinions he wrote and both Schumer and Leahy have said in the case of Sotomayor, "We know what you stand for because you've got a lot of opinions." It's the best basis for making your objective judgment to be on the Supreme Court."
This nomination fight is over. The Democrats lost. The Constitution wins. Hooray. Kavanaugh isn't a wannabe politician in a black robe. He's a judge . That's what Democrats hate about him. That's part of the Kavanaugh conundrum.
Posted Monday, September 3, 2018 11:04 PM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 04-Sep-18 04:45 PM
Just let Klobuchar ask her " Who is your favorite Twilight Character" question like she did to Kagan or Sotomayor and lets get on with it already. The democrats are making fools of themselves.
Jon Kyl returns
After the passing of Sen. McCain, it was well-established fact that Gov. Doug Ducey, (R-AZ), would name someone to serve the rest of Sen. McCain's term. I'm thrilled that Gov. Ducey picked Sen. Jon Kyl to serve the rest of Sen. McCain's term.
The key part of the article said "Under Arizona law, Gov. Doug Ducey (R) named McCain's successor to serve until the 2020 election. The winner there will serve the remainder of McCain's term, until the 2022 election. If Kyl leaves before the 2020 election, Ducey would make another appointment." It then continues, saying "Ducey said he opted to 'pick the best possible person, regardless of politics. There is no one in Arizona with the stature of Jon Kyl,' Ducey said, noting how Kyl has been working with the White House over the past few months to advance the nomination of Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh. 'Now Sen. Kyl can cast a vote for Kavanaugh's nomination.'"
Speaking of today's confirmation hearing, Sen. Sasse's speech is must viewing:
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It's a history lesson on the Democrats' tactics at SCOTUS nominees' hearings. It's especially brutal after hearing Amy Klobuchar's attempt to lecture senators on the importance of the rule of law right before Sen. Sasse's speech.
Hearing Sen. Klobuchar lecture people on the rule of law after she sat silent after Mollie Tibbets was murdered by an illegal alien is more than a little rich. The good news is that Sen. Kyl is a real senator, not a showboat like St. Amy of Hennepin County, my nickname for Sen. Klobuchar because of her pristine image.
Posted Wednesday, September 5, 2018 9:59 AM
No comments.
When will Schumer get axed?
Based on this article , it sounds like Chuck Schumer's days as 'minority leader for life' might be numbered. Early in the article, it says "Progressive groups have a blunt assessment of Sen. Chuck Schumer's work to defeat Brett Kavanaugh's nomination: 'You are failing us.' Thirteen liberal groups have signed on to a letter, delivered Wednesday morning, that pans the minority leader's strategy of stopping President Donald Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court. They say that 'the Democratic Party's progressive base expects nothing less than all-out resistance to Trump's dangerous agenda,' and question whether Schumer is delivering it."
That's just part of it. It continues, saying "But Schumer is grappling with multiple challenges: a base that wants him to stop Kavanaugh even though Republicans can confirm him without Democratic help, as well as a brutal midterm map and vulnerable incumbents who are under pressure to support Trump's pick. Senate Democrats have largely united behind Schumer's strategy of demanding documents and disrupting the Judiciary Committee's hearing. But liberal groups say it's not enough."
Do these people look like they're capable of processing complex questions?
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At this point, I question whether they're capable of arriving at 4 when adding 2 + 2. Whether Schumer gets axed or not is beyond my control. Watching the fireworks, fortunately, isn't.
Posted Wednesday, September 5, 2018 10:32 AM
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