September 4-6, 2020

Sep 04 00:03 Voter fraud vs. election integrity
Sep 04 05:31 Iron Range mayors: the DFL left us
Sep 04 08:55 Rocketship recovery continues
Sep 04 10:55 Dems despairing over jobs report

Sep 05 04:17 Will the debates be the first time Joe Biden gets asked real questions from real journalists?
Sep 05 10:26 Gazelka talks to Iron Range Democrats

Sep 06 01:32 Is this the death of killing the Minneapolis Police Department?
Sep 06 07:02 Instead of supporting BLM, support urban capitalism & opportunity scholarships
Sep 06 22:30 Kim Kardashian, Alice Marie Johnson and the power of prayer

Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Voter fraud vs. election integrity

Democrats proposing a massive overhaul of the federal election system a week before early voting starts apparently don't care about election integrity. For that reason alone, universal mail-out ballot systems should be scrapped permanently. Townhall editor Katie Pavlich highlighted the rampant fraud happening across the nation, saying "the left has been ignoring the fact that there are multiple cases of voter fraud that we've seen over years in a number of elections. They're ignoring and burying their head in the sand with the most recent primary election in New York with Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who's the House Oversight Committee chairwoman, so I don't think there's much concern."

Our voting system was the world's gold standard literally for 2 centuries. Then Democrats started pushing voting 'reform' measures. Yesterday's peaceful transfer of power, which was the world's envy, is turning into today's chaotic, lawyer-filled transfer of power. This isn't unintentional. I've been blogging long enough to remember George Soros's Secretary of State Project :
Among its founding members and donators were billionaire George Soros, Peter B. Lewis, Susie Tompkins Buell, trial lawyer Guy Saperstein, trial lawyer Fred Baron, movie director Rob Reiner, Norman Lear, Drummond Pike, Rob McKay, Rutt Bridges, Patricia Stryker, Rob Glaser, Rob Johnson, Anne Bartley, Jonathan Heller, Charles Rodgers, Gail Furman, Davidi Gilo, Rachel Pritzker Hunter and the Service Employees International Union.

Financially well off individuals who were approached about donating to the Democracy Alliance-endorsed think tanks and political advocacy groups were required to make an initial pledge of $200,000 per year for five years. Recipients of these donations were sworn to secrecy not to disclose from whom these donations came from, or how much. Progressive political organizations that were known to have received financial assistance from the Democracy Alliance include ACORN, Media Matters for America, EMILY's List, and the Center for American Progress, among others.

George Soros makes his money by destabilizing nations. He's the ultimate globalist. But I digress. Back to Katie Pavlich's comments on voter fraud:
Pavlich added that "the media has been covering for Democrats who say that voter fraud just doesn't exist, that mass mail-in voting is just fine despite whether states have cleaned up voter rolls and that they are sending ballots to eligible voters, people who are still living, and people who aren't getting two ballots or ballots from people who previously lived at certain addresses."

Let's be exceptionally clear about this. What's needed for optimal election integrity without sacrificing ease of voting is a 2-week no-excuse-required voting period, a vote-by-mail system for people living in long-term-care facilities and, as the cornerstone, in-person voting at the person's precinct. Pay attention to videos like this:
[Video no longer available]
This is all you need to know that the potential for voter fraud exists :
Judicial Watch filed suit for the Maryland voter list data after uncovering that there were more registered voters in Montgomery County than citizens over the age of 18 who could legally register (Judicial Watch vs. Linda H. Lamone, et al. (No. 1:17-cv-02006)).

Ruling in Judicial Watch's favor, Judge Hollander said:
Judicial Watch need not demonstrate its need for birth date information in order to facilitate its effort to ensure that the voter rolls are properly maintained. Nevertheless, it has put forward reasonable justifications for requiring birth date information, including using birth dates to find duplicate registrations and searching for voters who remain on the rolls despite 'improbable' age.


Montgomery County, Maryland isn't the only county with more registered voters than there are citizens who are eligible to vote. Check this out :
The basis for McEnany's claims is a 2017 lawsuit brought by activism group Judicial Watch, which stated that Los Angeles County and 10 other counties in California had more registered voters than eligible adults. Contrary to what the Washington Post headline stated, Los Angeles County did have more registered voters than eligible adults.

A political party that's willing to do anything accumulate or increase power, including through threats and intimidation, is willing to steal ballots, then fill them out to win elections. Just because people haven't found proof doesn't mean it doesn't exist. When Mark Ritchie was Minnesota's Secretary of State, he'd say that he hadn't found proof of voter fraud. At that time, I coined the phrase that "It's impossible to find what you refuse to look for." That phrase is as true today as it was then.

Posted Friday, September 4, 2020 12:03 AM

Comment 1 by eric z at 04-Sep-20 12:56 PM
Barr sure is portly and jowly. Like Mitch.

Iron Range mayors: the DFL left us

Last week, 6 DFL mayors issued a statement that they were endorsing President Trump's re-election . This week, 3 of those mayors officially endorsed Jason Lewis's US Senate campaign . While both gentlemen still face uphill fights to win a statewide election in Minnesota, the odds keep improving.

One of the mayors that's endorsed both the Trump-Pence ticket and Jason Lewis is Babbitt Mayor Andrea Zupancich. She joined with Virginia Mayor Larry Cuffe and Eveleth Mayor Robert Vlaisavljevich in a roundtable discussion with Lewis. After the event, Lewis said "I've been on the Iron Range countless times since launching our campaign a year ago and I'm proud to be back today chatting with outstanding leaders like these Mayors. I am humbled to have the support of Larry, Bob, and Andrea in my campaign to represent Minnesotans and the Iron Range in the United States Senate. It speaks volumes about how radical Democrats in D.C. and St. Paul have become when even lifelong Democrats here on the Iron Range are willing to stand up and endorse Republicans for federal offices."

Mayor Zupancich was interviewed by Tammy Bruce Thursday night. Bruce was filling in for Laura Ingraham. Here's that interview:
[Video no longer available]
It's long past time for the Iron Range to flip from bright blue to red. The DFL is controlled by the Metro DFL, which means anti-mining environmental activists. The DFL's anti-mining activist wing of the party hate Iron Rangers. They tolerate Iron Rangers only to have a chance of holding House or Senate gavels.

This article highlights part of the letter endorsing President Trump:
"Today, we don't recognize the Democratic Party. It has been moved so far to the left, it can no longer claim to be advocates of the working class. The hard-working Minnesotans that built their lives and supported their families here on the Range have been abandoned by radical Democrats. We didn't choose to leave the Democratic Party, the party left us."

President Reagan once historically said that he didn't leave the Democrats, that they'd left him. The DFL isn't the party representing farmers and laborers. The DFL has become the party that's dominated by environmental activists and white collar elitists. Republicans now represent farmers and laborers.

I wrote here that President Trump won the 4 rural congressional districts by comfortable margins:
In 2016, Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by a 54%-38% margin in Minnesota's Eighth District. That year, In 2016, Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by a 61%-31% margin in Minnesota's 7th District. Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by a 52%-38% margin in Minnesota's First District. Finally, Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by a 59%-38% margin in Minnesota's Sixth District.

It's time to recognize the GOP as the Blue Collar Party. These Iron Range mayors reflect that change.

Posted Friday, September 4, 2020 5:31 AM

No comments.

Rocketship recovery continues

This article is definitely music to President Trump's ears. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, aka the BLS, reports that " U.S. employers added 1.4 million jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell to 8.4% ." This isn't just a recovery. To use President Trump's terminology, it's a rocketship recovery. In a campaign speech in Latrobe, PA, he said it isn't just a V-shaped recovery. It's a super-V. At its worst, the unemployment rate hit 14.7%. In the 4 months since, that rate dropped to 13.3%, then to 11.1%, then to 10.2%. This month's unemployment rate dropped to 8.4%.

Despite that major drop in the unemployment rate, ABCNews did its best to characterize the drop this way:


The "unemployment rate dropped slightly"? Seriously? As usual, Ed Morrissey nails it with this analysis :
All in all, it's a fantastic report, especially given the predictions of collapse when the CARES Act expired. There may still be some need for targeted stimulus, but it's become clear that we do not need broad-based helicopter cash to keep the economy on track now. What we need is broad-based support for getting the rest of America reopened.

Earlier this week, the ADP report predicted a much smaller increase in jobs :
Private payroll growth came in well below expectations for August, according to a report Wednesday from ADP, whose job tallies have differed widely from the government's during the coronavirus pandemic. Companies added 428,000 jobs during the month, well below the 1.17 million estimate from economists surveyed by Dow Jones though a leap above the lackluster 212,000 that ADP measured for July.

They were only off by 1,000,000 jobs created. There's nothing disappointing or lackluster about August's jobs report. This article takes an optimistic view of things:
"We are still moving in the right direction and the pace of the jobs recovery seems to have picked up, but it still looks like it will take a while, and likely a vaccine, before we get back close to where we were at the beginning of this year," said Tony Bedikian, head of global markets at Citizens Bank. " We continue to be optimistic that the economy has turned a corner and that we'll continue to see steady progress . "

This isn't good news for the Biden campaign. It isn't good news for Nancy Pelosi's negotiations on another stimulus package. This says that targeted relief is more in order rather than tons of cash just dropped indiscriminately to everyone.

Posted Friday, September 4, 2020 8:55 AM

Comment 1 by eric z at 04-Sep-20 12:53 PM
8.4 percent is one in every twelve seeking work not finding it. Big deal.

Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 06-Sep-20 08:10 PM
It's a huge deal considering the fact that it was one-in-seven just 3 months ago. Further, durable goods orders are up and inventories need to be replenished. Add to those things that housing starts are on fire & you have the conditions that are ripe for a stronger-than-usual recovery.

Compare that with the Obama-Biden recovery, which was the weakest recovery in US history.

Dems despairing over jobs report

MSNBC's Steve Rattner has a difficult responsibility today. He had the unenviable task of explaining why today's jobs report wasn't great news. Let's just say that he gave it the good old college try:
[Video no longer available]
Rattner said "The good news is that we added 1.4 million new jobs. The bad news is that we added fewer jobs than the previous month and way fewer jobs the month before that." Steve Rattner isn't an idiot, though he apparently plays one on MSNBC. Of course, the job creation numbers this month are way down from the report 2 months ago, when a record 4,800,000 jobs were created. Still, it's the 4th largest job creation figure behind June, May and July of this year.

This article takes a similarly negative tone:

Employers added another 1.4 million jobs to the US economy in August, as the jobs recovery continued to slow.
This was in line with expectations, and down from 1.7 million jobs added in July and 4.8 million in June. Every person who can go back to work is a win for the recovery from the unprecedented jobless crisis the Covid-19 pandemic has brought on. However, America is still down 11.5 million jobs from February. This means millions of families are still in need of benefits to make ends meet while Congress continues to argue about the next stimulus package.

The needs should be met by targeting areas of need. Naturally, Nancy Pelosi insists that everything is terrible :
The August jobs report highlights the continuing urgent need for action as the economic recovery stimulated by Congress's early and robust investments continues to slow down. More than six months into this crisis, tens of millions are still out of work , particularly in communities of color, with more than 1 million Americans having filed for pandemic and initial unemployment claims for 24 straight weeks, and millions more are facing food insecurity, unsafe schools and workplaces, and the devastating prospect of eviction and homelessness.

The needs that are urgent are shrinking. Thankfully, Joe Biden's policies weren't in place. If they were, we'd have a major crisis. President Trump continues to bring manufacturing companies back from other countries, which strengthens the US economy while strengthening our national security. Ms. Pelosi sees the economy pick up momentum. If she doesn't negotiate a deal, fast, President Trump will get most of the credit. Here's more Pelosi BS:
'Sadly, Republicans continue to demonstrate their utter contempt for the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans who are being devastated by Republicans' deadly inaction. The White House and Senate Republicans have made clear that they still do not comprehend the scale of this disaster or the urgent needs of our communities and the American people. House Democrats have come to the negotiating table willing to compromise, and we will continue reaching out until we achieve a fair agreement that meets the needs of all Americans.

Thank Larry Kudlow for some sunshine:
[Video no longer available]

Posted Friday, September 4, 2020 10:55 AM

Comment 1 by eric z at 04-Sep-20 12:52 PM
All those part-timer census takers, count each and every as if a new, decently paying permanent job, with healthcare paid and other benefits.

THE FACT IS: Temp Scut-work is not a real job, and there's still the fifteen buck minimum effort afoot.

Thank's a lot, Larry babe. Try next for quality. And - still lagging behind the pre-pandemic levels, so, Larry, gear it up!

Will the debates be the first time Joe Biden gets asked real questions from real journalists?

It's obvious that Joe Biden's press availability Friday was scripted. It was so scripted that Chris Stirewalt noticed it . After Biden criticized President Trump for the comments he didn't make in France 2 years ago, Biden launched into another attack on what Biden calls a "K-shaped recovery." According to Biden, the Trump economy makes the rich richer while making the poor poorer.

That's been disproven multiple times by Larry Kudlow alone but Democrats don't care about facts. Facts aren't stubborn things to Democrats. They're irrelevant to today's Democrats. The first question was posed by The Atlantic's Edward-Isaac Dovere about The Atlantic's article that accused President Trump of calling dead WW I soldiers suckers and losers. Dovere asked "When you hear these remarks -- 'suckers,' 'losers,' recoiling from amputees, what does it tell you about President Trump's soul and the life he leads?"

The next set-up question was asked by CNN's MJ Lee, who asked this leading question:
I wonder if you worry that this kind of language that comes from the president of the United States can deter some Americans who are tuning into him to not wear masks.

Next was Ed O'Keefe's two-fer:
CBS News correspondent Ed O'Keefe squeezed in two questions for Biden, the first of which asked what the former vice president thought of Trump's supposed suggestion to voters that they should vote both by mail and in-person. The second question asked why Biden wasn't "angrier" at Trump's reported comments about the fallen soldiers.

Then there's this:
ABC News correspondent Mary Bruce also questioned Biden about Trump's attempts to discourage mail-in voting but invoked Russia's efforts to "sow doubt" in the electoral process and whether Biden was "concerned" that such messaging may be working to disenfranchise his own supporters.

After that, Stirewalt entered the discussion:
So seldom do reporters get to ask Joe Biden questions, so seldom do reporters -- this is the second time really in quite a while ... and that was shamefully embarrassing," Stirewalt told "Outnumbered Overtime". "I mean, there were two questions in there that maybe could have been considered adversarial but that was as bad as when Trump calls on some niche pro-Trump publication to ask him how magnificent his magnificence is."

Stirewalt singled out O'Keefe for the question about why Biden wasn't "angrier" about Trump's reported comments, sarcastically calling it his "favorite." "I'm just sitting here listening thinking, 'Don't you want to know about his plans? Don't you want to know about the controversy surrounding his plans? Don't you want to know anything?'" Stirewalt exclaimed. "The closest we got to adversarial questioning was when they were asking him about whether he got his coronavirus test up his nose or whatever."

Friday morning, the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) issued the August Jobs Report. According to the report, the economy created 1,400,000 jobs in August, an astonishing report. As noteworthy as that is, the headline was that the unemployment rate dropped from 10.2% to 8.4%, the second-biggest percentage drop in history. Not a single question was asked about the jobs report or about Biden's plan to raise taxes. That didn't fit the media's agenda, though, so they asked about President Trump's soul instead.

I won't call these gas-bags reporters or journalists. They're Democrat propagandists. Period.
[Video no longer available]

Posted Saturday, September 5, 2020 4:17 AM

Comment 1 by eric z at 05-Sep-20 12:00 PM
Diogenes is still searching with his lantern for a real journalist. All he finds are vermin underfoot. Cobwebs.

Gazelka talks to Iron Range Democrats

After reading this article , I wasn't surprised to find Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka's tweet:


The article that Sen. Gazelka linked to is hostile to the Iron Range way of life. It essentially says that the metro DFL wants Iron Rangers to live in poverty:
Last weekend, the DFL party officially adopted a resolution calling for a moratorium banning copper-nickel mining projects in Minnesota, according to the DFL Environmental Caucus's Facebook page . The move is the latest sign that the policies endorsed by the party are moving further toward the agenda's of urban environmentalists and further away from the rural roots of the party that support farmers and laborers.

Democrats insist that they are the party that insists on following the science. That's a lie. They've said that it's impossible to safely mine precious metals. I wrote this post in 2013. Here's the major takeaway of the post:
In 1936, Kennecott constructed evaporation ponds to store and evaporate mine water originating from the Bingham Canyon watershed. Over time, additional ponds were constructed to increase capacity, and the area became known as the South Jordan Evaporation Ponds (SJEP). The ponds were used for mine water until 1965 and for periodic storage of runoff water until 1987. SJEP use was discontinued in 1987.

Studies in the early 1990s concluded that there were elevated levels of heavy metals in the soil where the holding ponds had been located. Kennecott took responsibility for the impacts and agreed to reclaim and remediate the SJEP area. The removal work was undertaken pursuant to an EPA Administrative Order on Consent (AOC).

A massive clean-up operation began in 1994 involving the removal of pond sediment and six additional inches of underlying native soil. The material removed from Daybreak was permanently relocated to the Kennecott Blue Water Repository as part of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) clean up. At this time, some sediment, with a low concentration of lead and arsenic but an elevated sulfate concentration were consolidated onsite and capped with topsoil and re-vegetated. In 2001, the EPA issued a Record of Decision stating that the removal action adequately satisfied the remedial objectives and EPA determined that no further action was required. An Operation and Maintenance Plan (O&M Plan) was established to address
further management of the consolidation site.

Pursuant to agreements between the EPA, UDEQ and Kennecott, Kennecott began removing the remaining sediments at the consolidation site under the guideline of the O&M Plan. In 2006, Kennecott, the EPA and the UDEQ entered into an agreement solidifying the unrestricted residential and commercial use clean-up standards for the entire site.

In early 2007, the consolidated pond sediment removal project was completed. In 2008, the EPA and UDEQ issued a Consent Decree for the ground water cleanup efforts.

In other words, the DFL is the party of science except if it gets in the way of their political agenda. That isn't intellectually consistent. The DFL knows about this. Kennecott's example has been thrown in their face multiple times.
Not only does the party platform now officially oppose copper-nickel mining, something mining supporters have long suspected, but it also calls for increasing the use of wind and solar, which require enormous amounts of copper, nickel, and cobalt . The platform also opposes nuclear power, which along with hydroelectric power are the only sources of reliable carbon-free electricity.

How do you rely on wind and solar energy without the raw materials to make wind turbines or solar panels? Does the DFL think that these materials just miraculously appear at the manufacturing plant when they're needed?

Iron Rangers appear to be figuring things out. They're realizing that this is what's happening:

It's time for Tom Bakk and the rest of the Iron Range DFL delegation to flip the metro DFL the bird. The metro DFL doesn't care about Iron Rangers' families. Republicans share their priorities. Susan Kent and Ryan Winkler don't.

Posted Saturday, September 5, 2020 10:26 AM

Comment 1 by eric z at 05-Sep-20 11:59 AM
Bakk already has moved to the dark side of the force. Years ago. Just not officially.

Is this the death of killing the Minneapolis Police Department?

This article opens with the statement " The Minneapolis City Council's resolve to end the city's police department has lost momentum , the result of the failure to get the question before voters in November and council members' diverging ideas on the role of sworn officers in the future." Apparently, some activist organizations led the push to end the MPD. We find that out when the article reports "Black Visions, formerly known as the Black Visions Collective, organized social media campaigns asking city officials to cut the department's budget and vow never to increase it again."

That didn't go over well with other activist organizations:
"They really did miss the opportunity to create actual change," said Michelle Gross, of Communities United Against Police Brutality. "It's almost as if changing the police is a bad word, and you're supposed to be talking instead about getting rid of police."

That led to this:
City Council Member Alondra Cano was the first to reach out, Omeoga recalled. They talked about the need to do something bold. Soon afterward, Black Visions and its partner organization, Reclaim the Block, connected with other council members and began discussing what promises they might feel comfortable making.

After that, this:
By the time they took the stage, nine council members had agreed to participate: Bender, Vice President Andrea Jenkins and council members Cano, Phillipe Cunningham, Jeremiah Ellison, Steve Fletcher, Cam Gordon, Andrew Johnson and Jeremy Schroeder. They took turns reading from a joint statement that asserted the Police Department could not be reformed. "We are here today to begin the process of ending the Minneapolis Police Department and creating [a] new transformative model for cultivating safety in Minneapolis," they said.

They added that they didn't have "all the answers about what a police-free future looks like" but promised to spend a year engaging with "every willing community member." Without a detailed plan to accompany their pledge, some people turned to statements from individual council members for help interpreting what it meant. Some had promised to dismantle the department, while others focused on boosting funding for violence prevention programs.

After the riots (they aren't "mostly peaceful protests") and after street violence skyrocketed, Minneapolis's minority communities have started taking a harder look at what the DFL-controlled Minneapolis City Council voted to do. These DFL politicians voted to take these minority communities' safety away. If Minnesota flips into the red column for President Trump this time, that action will be rightly seen as triggering the perfect storm. Videos like this won't help VP Biden's cause:
[Video no longer available]

Posted Sunday, September 6, 2020 1:32 AM

Comment 1 by eric z at 06-Sep-20 05:06 PM
Cops in squad cars with dashcams and body cams properly used, driving and watching; and effective 911 dispatching is what's needed for public safety. Desk jobs are a different thing. Defunding some of the desk jobs, buying the cams instead of military hardware, training better and making it a dischargable offense to teach or advocate "warrior" chokehold BS would go a long way to better policing. Getting rid of internal affairs and having citizen review panels with citizen complaints all public record would be another cost-neutral thing allowing more and better squadcare based community protective policing.

Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 06-Sep-20 08:05 PM
Eric, I think those are the basis of legitimate police reform.

Instead of supporting BLM, support urban capitalism & opportunity scholarships

I love reading anything written by Jason Whitlock or Clay Travis of Outkick.com. This article by Jason Whitlock is another in his series "dedicated to educating professional athletes on the real agenda and impact of the so-called Black Lives Matter movement." In the article, Whitlock said "Earlier this week, I renamed BLM, calling it Bigots Love Marxism."

While athletes shout "Breonna Taylor" or "I can't breathe", thinking that they're making a positive change, they're actually just getting duped. Instead of raising awareness to an issue, one of these athletes' favorite buzzwords, they should take a bigger role in improving black lives. According to this article , there are 46 NBA players making more than $25,000,000 a year. Even after eiminating the foreign-born players, there's still 37 players that fit into that category.

The point is that a group of these players could establish an opportunity scholarship program to get kids out of crappy government schools across the country. They could then give awards to students who used those opportunity scholarships to achieve high GPAs. Another group of players could provide scholarships to HBCUs. That would incentivize students to work hard in school. There's no down-side in that. Another group could help start businesses in places like Baltimore, Minneapolis and St. Louis, thereby returning capitalism to blighted inner cities.

While they're doing that, they can tackle police reform, too. If athletes are serious about that, which I think they are, they should pay a visit to Sen. Tim Scott's office. If they did these things, they'd find President Trump and HUD Secretary Carson fighting right alongside them. They'd also send the unmistakable signal that they're serious about transforming blighted neighborhoods into prospering neighborhoods. That type of public-private partnership could transform our cities and our economy.

This video is must-see TV for athletes:
[Video no longer available]
The question is whether these athletes want the positive press or whether they want to change neighborhoods for the better.

Posted Sunday, September 6, 2020 7:02 AM

Comment 1 by eric z at 06-Sep-20 04:57 PM
Off point - wishing you and readers a good holiday. And a safe one.

Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 06-Sep-20 07:55 PM
Thanks Eric. Right back at you.

Comment 2 by John Palmer at 06-Sep-20 10:33 PM
Gary your suggestions reflect substance not symbolism. Substance requirers putting skin in the game. When the symbolism ends nothing has changed. By putting skin in the game in the manner you describe these athletes will have less money in their wallets but they might get a return on the investment.

Kim Kardashian, Alice Marie Johnson and the power of prayer

This article in Harper's Bazaar is a stirring account of how Kim Kardashian used her celebrity connections to help Alice Marie Johnson out of the most difficult situation in Alice Johnson's life. If you haven't read the article, I can't recommend it strongly enough.

First, Alice Marie Johnson deserves tons of credit for accepting responsibility for what she'd done. Unlike some politicians who make excuses (think Hillary Clinton after the 2016 election and Nancy Pelosi after the salon), Alice Johnson humbled herself, admitted that she'd made mistakes, then turned to the Lord for redemption. I'm certain that Alice's humility and contrition got God's attention, Who then put it on Kim Kardashian's heart to find Alice. After getting to know Alice, the forever bond was forged. Shortly thereafter, Kim posted this tweet:


This videotaped interview is golden:
[Video no longer available]
About 6:00 into the interview, Kardashian-West said "There were people around who said 'are you sure you should go to the White House? Maybe you shouldn't go.' To me, this has nothing to do with politics. This has to do with people."

Think of how much better off the US would be if more people had that attitude. This will sound a little pollyannish but I'll say it anyway. Doing the right thing is always smart politically.

During their first face-to-face meeting, Alice told Kim that she prays for Kim and Kanye daily. That day, her prayer was based on Psalm 105:14-15, which says "He permitted no one to do them wrong; Yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes, Saying, "Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm."

Kardashian-West spoke first with Ivanka Trump, who then arranged a meeting with President Trump. Kardashian-West wasn't worried about resistance or who got credit. She only cared about doing the right thing. President Trump entered their meeting with the same attitude. As a result of that attitude, they got Alice Johnson's sentence commuted and laid the groundwork for criminal justice reform.
President Obama pardoned 231 individuals in December 2016, "many of whom had similar drug-related charges," Mic reports, but Johnson was not one of them. According to BBC News, Johnson "fit all of the criteria" for the former president's clemency project, but was rejected just days before Obama's term ended. The reason why is unclear. Johnson told Mic, "When the criteria came out for clemency, I thought for sure - in fact, I was certain that I'd met and exceeded all of the criteria."

It will be difficult for Biden to explain that away. It's one thing to admit that the didn't commute Alice Johnson's sentence. It's another thing to say 'we commuted these sentences but didn't work on criminal justice reform.'

Posted Sunday, September 6, 2020 10:30 PM

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