Well, it’s official – at least a few of us are going to be meeting out at the Riverside Oasis Café in Stillwater tomorrow morning at 8 AM.

Our goal, of course, will be to put our appetites where our mouths are when it comes to the left’s whingeing about the café putting a “minimum wage fee” on their receipts, showing customers the impact of the DFL’s minimum wage hike on their bill.

The DFL – including Gov. Mumbles – have reacted to this “affront to employee dignity” by ranting like spoiled toddlers and threatening to boycott the restaurant, throwing the benighted employees of work.
So I’ll take my First Amendment with the side of hashbrowns, please.

And if you happen to be in Stillwater at 8 AM tomorrow, stop on by.

EVERY LIBERAL IN MINNESOTA:  “Clearly the owner of the cafe hates his employees, because he’s making the minimum wage an issue on his receipts.  So we’ll show our concern for the employees by boycotting the place and trying to put the employees out of work”.

(And SCENE)

…when liberals actually realize they have to pay for the “progressive” legislation they demanded.

A cafe in Stillwater tacked on a “Minimum Wage Fee” to their bills, to show their customers – this being Stillwater, mostly DFLers – what their “generosity” with other peoples’ bottom lines was costing everyone. 

Sally Jo Sorenson – one of the handful (literally – maybe five, no more than ten) liberal bloggers in Minnesota who don’t belong under police surveillance – just doesn’t like those peasants getting uppity:

The restaurant industry had tried–but failed–to make the case to the Minnesota legislature for a “tip credit” system under which wait staff could be paid less than the new minimum wage. New legislation raised the state’s minimum wage to $8.00/hr on August 1, with new raises for workers until the wage is $9.50/hr in August 2016.

Accurized:  The restaurant industry’s case had no more chance of being heard in a legislature dominated by a DFL that owed their union benefactors big bucks than Ice Cube has of getting applauded at a Ted Nugent concert.  The minimum wage was going to pass, no matter what. 

And once the DFL has spoken, to the left (via Sally Jo Sorenson), people should just shut up and forget all that “free speech” and “protest” crap. 

The cafe in question should oughtta be careful, of course; next, it’ll be the IRS. 

Reading the smug, PC commenters (as if Sorenson deigns to print any other kind) is just precious.

I’d like to find out what the cafe is, so I can grab breakfast there this weekend and thank them for forcing the Minnesota left to marinade in its own cowardly hypocrisy.

The Minnesota Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance has spent the past few weeks compiling its biennial legislative report card.

As, for that matter, have a lot of Minnesota activist groups. It’s election season, after all.

But I’m going to guess not very many got a response like a GOCRA volunteer got from Minnesota state representative Ron Erhardt (DFL, HD 49A) of Edina:

“No more surveys! You come near me, I’ll blow your head off” was Erhardt’s  response, according to GOCRA.  I have sent Rep. Erhardt an email asking for elaboration.

I’m trying to imagine what’d happen if a pro-life Representative had said that to a volunteer from Emily’s List?  If a fundamentalist Christian rep had said something like that to a gay marriage advocate?

I’m not saying that only Democrats have this sense of depraved entitlement.

Just that only Democrats can get away with it in this state.

Note to Aaron Rupar, Rachel Stassen-Berger and Tom Scheck:  Boy, wouldn’t this be a big, juicy story to report on!

(Note to the Dario Anselmo campaign:  Merry Christmas)

Nobody is going to “impeach” President Obama.

Oh, some fringers will write angry demands for impeachment; some overwrought but underinformed people on the far outskirts of the political mainstram will take up the call, wave their signs, buy their T-shirts and bumper-stickers – the usual stuff.

But there’s not going to be an impeachment, because it is legally and practically impossible.  While the House might hypothetically be able to write, vote on and pass “Articles of Impeachment” – sort of what an indictment would be in a criminal case – the Democrat-controlled Senate would never vote to impeach a sitting Democrat President. 

The GOP on Capitol Hill knows this.  So does everyone on both sides who paid attention during civics class. 

That’s a class that apparently doesn’t include a lot of wealthy, ignorant Democrats (ptr):

President Obama and the Democratic Party are presently peddling a conspiracy theory that Republicans have a secret plan to impeach him from office. Their reason for selling this theory is nakedly self-interested: to raise money from gullible donors and drive turnout from excitable but poorly informed voters who may be unhappy with the President’s job performance but remain personally loyal to him.

 

Democrats, of course, are just cynically exploiting anything that can help them gain partisan advantage. What is much more disappointing is the media playing along with this agitprop campaign, in particular by hounding Republican candidates across the country to discuss impeachment and then turning their answers into “Republicans talking about impeachment” stories even if they strenuously deny that they’re interested in such a thing (or, as commonly happens, if they duck the question or offer vague answers designed to avoid alienating voters who might very much like to see the President impeached or at least see something tried).

It reminds me of the “when did you stop beating your wife”-style beginnings of the “War on Women” meme two years ago; the Democrats and media (ptr) began wagging the public dog on the issue, conjuring up a non-existent movement just in time for election time.

Expect an avalanche of this in the next two years.

Alison Grimes, the Democrat candidate to try to replace Mitch McConnell, said (with emphasis added):

Obviously, Israel is one of our strongest allies in the Middle East, and she has the right to defend herself,” Grimes said. “But the loss of life, especially the innocent civilians in Gaza, is a tragedy. The Iron Dome has been a big reason why Israel has been able to withstand the terrorists that have tried to tunnel their way in

You know what would happen if a Republican woman had said that, right?

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

President Obama praises Muslims for contributions in building the very fabric of America.
Really? Name three.

Much as I support recognizing immigrants’ contributions, I got nothing.

In the whole history of pop music, the whole “hypstr chicks warbling out-of-tune protest-y songs over campfire-style guitar-strumming” is the third worst genre ever hatched (behind only “hypstr chicks warbling out-of-tune protest-y songs over plinky pianos” and, worst of all, “hypster chicks warbling out-of-tune protest-y songs over ukuleles”).  Wanna call that part of the “war on women?”  I’m OK with that.  The genre is that bad.  Someone’s gotta say it.  I’ll take the hit for the betterment of humanity.

On the other hand?  If you are a progressive, this song is the call to action you need…:

…because if you are a “progressive”, Elizabeth Warren – Cherokee chieftain that she is – is the only intellectually honest choice for President in 2016.

You don’t have to believe me. The out-of-tune chick warbling partly in-tune over the politely-strummed, co-op-approved campfire guitar has spoken.

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

They completely missed the real scandal, which is President Obama’s imperial disregard for the law, but at least this is a step in the right direction. Sorry about the annoying survey pop-up, no wonder nobody reads that newspaper.

Gun-running to Mexico and refusing to enforce the borders don’t bother the editors. Closing the ocean is no problem. Targeting Americans for drone strikes is fine. But sneak a peek at a journalist’s email and they turn on you like savages.

Better late than never.

Joe Doakes

it’s hard to come up with even a short list of things that’ve disgusted me about this administration, and about this country during this administration, but on the very short list would have to be the fact that the media only act like watchdogs when the media, itself, is affected.

There needs to be in accounting for that, someday.

Woman in Los Angeles, deep in the throes of labor, prevented from crossing street get to the hospital because of King Barack’s motorcade.

Peasants must know their place.

A guided missile shoots down a Malaysian jetliner carrying over 200 people including almost 2 dozen Americans, is apparently shot down over a proxy war zone.

The President observes the “tragedy” briefly, and then goes back on script to demand Republicans build more airports. 

It’s tiresome to keep repeating “if it’d been any Republican, can you imagine how different the media response would be”.  But it’s still true.

Malaysian jet carring 23 Americans shot down – possiblly by Russian surface-to-air missile fire – over Ukraine.

Isn’t it just about vacation time for the Resident in Chief?

To: Progressives
From: Mitch Berg, Peasant
Re:  Your Only Intellectually Honest (heh) Choice In 2016

Dear Progressives,

Your only intellectually honest choice for President in 2016 is Elizabeth Warren. 

Please, please please please nominate her. 

Let me know what I can do to help.

Thanks.

That is all.

…for this story, obviously, is racism.

But what difference does it make, at this point?

To:  African-America
From: The Democrat Party
Re:  Can We Still Be Friends? (Meaning: Please Keep Voting For Us)

 Dear African-America:

We – the Democrat Party – know, we know, we know:  Fifty years of the “War on Poverty” have left Afro-America poorer, but has immensely enriched the political class.  Fifty years of “Affirmative Action” have left you underrepresented in general society, but been great for transferring wealth to our lawyer friends.  Thirty years of “War on Drugs” have left your neighborhoods scarred and a disproportionate number of your male population in jail.  14 people weren’t killed last weekend in the white parts of Chicago!  Of course, the economy under President Obama has been vastly worse for African-Americans than any other segment of society. 

And now, the current wave of illegal immigration is hurting your corner of the economy worse than anyone else’s. 

Why is this happening? 

Because African-Americans are no longer the biggest minority, and we Democrats have to be planning for the future.  And Latino votes count as much as yours do, except, of course, there’s more of them, so…

…anyway, hope you keep voting Democrat!

Thanks,

The Democrat Party

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

President Obama wants to get tough on immigration but those darn Republicans won’t let him.  He has asked Congress to let him borrow an extra $3.7 Billion to beef up border patrols and speed up deportation cases.

No mention of the President’s career-long opposition to immigration reform, his decision to sue Arizona in 2010 to stop the state from getting tough on illegal immigrants, or his decision four weeks ago to stop deportations and give work permits to millions of student-aged illegal immigrants.  Here’s where the money goes, 90% for resettlement and public defenders so illegal immigrants can stay in the country.

I wonder why Republicans don’t believe this latest offer is sincere?  They must be racisssssssssssssss

Joe Doakes

What other answer could there be?

No, seriously – after almost six years, you’d think they could come up with another defamatory deflection…

Victor Davis Hanson has as detailed an accounting of the chickens Obama has sent forth, foreign-policy wise, that are now coming home to roost, as any I’ve seen.

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

If we establish a national park to let people see Nature as God intended but then it rains, who decides what repairs are required to raise God’s handiwork to Federal standards? If you want a sanitized wilderness with handicapped-accessible pathways, go to Disney World.

Joe Doakes

Yet another reason to get jet packs built sooner than later.

The chairbeing of the Minnsota 6th District DFL calls daycare and personal care workers who fought against forced unionization “human parasites”

On the one hand, I suppose we should be thankful he called them “human” at all.  On the other hand, I’m sure the irony escaped him.

If there were ever a reason to keep the DFL in the 6th CD in the minority, this is one.

For that matter, independent businesspeople statewide need to read and absorb what this hamster really means; if you’re not chipping into the public employee unions, you’re not contributing to society

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

The largest airplane in the world is Russian.  They also have a working space program from which we beg rides, and they just took over the Crimea when we abandoned Eastern Europe.

 Does it seem to you that the America-Russia pendulum is swinging, and not in a good way?

 Joe Doakes

I’m a little upset that Obama seems to want to make so many of our sacrifices during the Cold War vain.

No, I’m not being funny.

Union leaders have having a hard time talking about last week’s Harris v. Quinn decision – largely because their case involved extorting money from people who had neither the need nor the desire to be in unions in the first place:

After all, it’s not easy to make to a convincing argument that labor organizations should have the right to extract money directly from the paychecks of people who don’t want to be union members in the first place, which is ultimately what Harris v. Quinn was about.

As a result, the responses to the ruling from people like AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, Service Employees International Union President Mary Kay Henry and Center For American Progress President Neera Tanden all claimed the decision was a blow for working families without ever mentioning that the plaintiffs in the case were eight people from working families that just didn’t see a need to be in a union.

I’m not anti-union – in fact, unlike most Democrats, I’ve been a union member.

But the drive to force home daycare and personal care workers into unions against their will (using “elections” that were as rigged as any Chicago alderman’s race) should be seen as a catastrophic blow to whatever moral case Big Labor might think it still has.

In the past, I’ve “joked” that anyone with an Ivy League degree should be disqualified from “public service”. 

It’s a “joke” – I keep using the scare quotes, because it’s only barely a joke – because over-educated fools have First Amendment rights, too. 

But to paraphrase Dennis Prager, it takes years of the “finest” education this country offers to make someone as ill-informed as Representative Ryan Winkler, who represents west-metro Saint Louis Park.

Winkler – known to many on and off Capitol Hill as “The Eddie Haskell Of The Legislature” – rocketed to national fame last year by calling Clarence Thomas an “Uncle Tom”, after which the Harvard-educated legislator pled ignorance that it was considered a racist insult. 

This week?  Big strong Harvard lawyer Ryan Winkler needs to tell those dumb widdle wimmins who watch babies and change bedpans all day how to run their businesses.  This from Twitter on Monday, in re the SCOTUS decision on childcare provider unionization:

@RepRyanWinkler: Union organizing is our best hope for equal pay for women and creating living wage jobs. Five activists on the Supreme Court can’t stop it.

Bear in mind, Winkler is speaking about unionizing daycare and home care providers – people (largely but not entirely women) who have created their own living wage jobs,with pay that varies but is enough to keep a lot of people doing the work for years and years; nobody gets drafted into the daycare business, right? 

Our friend Nancy LaRoche – chair of the 5th CD GOP – took at whack at Winkler’s reasoning.  

In response, Winkler puts on his best Roger Stirling impression in showing those dumb broads their place (emphasis added):

@RepRyanWinkler: @nwlaroche Unions raise wages. Dues are a small fraction of the financial benefit unions provide. Childcare activists are foolish.

I’ll just let that quote rattle around on its own for a bit.  “Childcare activists are foolish”, says the Harvard-trained lawyer. 

Of course, I sat through those hearings, and talked with those providers; the unions provide no “benefit” to providers whatsoever. 

They don’t “negotiate for better salaries” for the workers, because the workers are contractors working directly for families and patients.  There will be no union rep sitting in on the meetings between parents and the daycare providers!

They don’t “provide” any “training” for the providers that they’re not required by state law to provide themselves already to keep their licenses.

They don’t deal with work conditions, because those are already part of their state licensing conditions. 

In short, Winkler is either utterly ignorant, or lying. 

He also replied to a shot from MNGOP chair Keith Downey:

@RepRyanWinkler: @KeithSDowney Nobody is forcing anybody to unionize. Why do you oppose letting child care providers vote on whether to collectively bargain?

Because it won’t just be “child care providers?”  Because the unions have been organizing ringers, people who aren’t licensed providers but who will vote to unionize.   All the DFL’s talk about “letting providers vote” is a sham.  Again – either Winkler is ignorant, or he’s lying.

And again to LaRoche: 

@RepRyanWinkler: @nwlaroche Nothing stops them from running their business, they get to decide on and run a union, and negotiate higher rates. Good deal.

 They already negotiate their rates (and they’re already high; Minnesota has some of the highest daycare costs in the country).  They don’t get to “run” any union; Javier Morillo (of AFSCME) and Elliot Seid (of the SEIU) do.  And while they will have nothing to do with “negotiating” the “rates” that the providers charge, they will be right there collecting those dues, and kicking $2 million a year of them back to the DFL, with Ryan Winkler being a recipient. 

Winkler and the DFL expect you, the voter, especially the female voter who is most likely to be working in home daycare or personal care, are too stupid to know any better. 

On the one hand?  It’s just Eddie Haskell Ryan Winkler.  Nobody who’s political brain isn’t on autopilot – like, apparently, the DFL voters in his district – takes him all that seriously. 

But of the autopilot set?  Winkler is clearly being groomed by the DFL for bigger and better things (or was, until the “Uncle Tom” flap – and the media has buried that story effectively enough for the DFL to start easing Winkler back into the spotlight).

But does the DFL want to identify with this sort of paternalistic sexism? 

I gave myself a chuckle, there.  All sins are forgiven the DFL True Believer. 

Unionization will create not one single daycare job; it will raise no personal care attendant’s pay; it will improve not a single working care provider’s working conditions. Not one.

Walter Hudson smacks Winkler down good.

A recent Quinnipiac poll shows that 33 percent of Americans pick Obama as the worst President since World War 2.  Dubya comes in second at 28 percent. 

So let’s try it this way:  Let’s rank the presidents since WW2.

In the comments, respond with your rankings of the presidents since WW2, in order from worst to best. 

Here’s the complete list:  Re-order them and leave them in the comments.

• Truman
• Eisenhower
• Kennedy
• Lyndon Johnson
• Nixon
• Ford
• Carter
• Reagan
• George HW Bush
• Clinton
• George W Bush
• Obama.

My vote is below the fold.

(more…)

A friend of mine from South Minneapolis emails.  The bad news?  :

Oh great, my favorite local bar and burger place where I have taken many of you is now world famous. The POTUS just had a “Jucy Lucy” at Matt’s. Crap. We’ve been going to this place for decades and now…the place will be known in every corner of the earth. Best kept secret burger joint now will be even more busy. Dang.

The good news?  At least he didn’t go to The Nook.  You thought it was hard to get into Matt’s even before the POTUS’ visit?

The SCOTUS rules 5-4 that forcing private independent healthcare contractors (and, presumably, child-care workers) to join unions violates the First Amendment:

The ruling is a financial blow to labor unions that have bolstered their ranks in Illinois and other states by signing up hundreds of thousands of home health care workers.

 The case was brought by a group of Illinois in-home care workers who said they didn’t want to pay fees related to collective bargaining. They claimed the “fair share fees” violate their constitutional rights by compelling them to associate with the union.

According to a local attorney involved in the case, the opinion distinguishes between actual public employees and those – like daycare providers and Personal Care Attendants (PCAs) that are employed by their customers. 

Minnesota’s PCA/daycare unionization law is a dead issue now – as is the Messinger Dayton administration’s litigation to defend it.

Up next, Hobby Lobby.