No Republican should vote for anything in this Specisl Session until Governor Walz relinquishes his dictatorial and arbitrary control of the state.
Participation is acquiescence.
Acquiescence is surrender.
Joe Doakes
I couldn’t agree more.
House and Senate GOP caucuses – give us a reason to get passionate about supporting you in 2022.
After a session of being neutered and stripped of their leadership positions by the increasingly metro-dominated DFL, there’ve been rumors bouncing around CD8 circles that Senators Bakk and Tomassoni were going to bolt the DFL.
And according to Tom Hauser, that may be in the near offing…:
…although not quite to the point of joining the GOP.
Rumors are bouncing about as to which party the “Independent Caucus” will work most closely with – but either way, Bakk and Tomassoni are going to be the most popular guys on Capitol Hill when the session starts.
It doesn’t seem a stretch that on issues of mining and gun rights – and, likely, a few more – the Senate has gone from 34-33 GOP to 34-31-2, and the DFL agenda just got even farther out of reach.
What’ll it mean for Governor Klink’s emergency powers?
My guess – and it’s only a guess – is that the House DFL will dig in harder and get more extreme.
Thoughts?
I’d like a list of the 25 former GOP members who crossed the aisle to keep Governor Walz’ one-man-regime in power, in exchange for endorsements from trade unions who will benefit from the spending bill.
Please include home addresses, so I can send fruit baskets to thank them for selling out the people of Minnesota.
Joe Doakes
Not gonna lie – and if you are a MNGOP staffer, by all means feel free to pass this on to Jennifer Carnahan, Paul Gazelka and Kurt Daudt – but the whole “acting like DFLers” thing wasn’t amusing even before the state got swallowed up in a DFL coup.
It’s not been an easy few weeks to be a Minnesota Repubican.
Republicans agreed to police reform bills in the second special session. This is a mistake.
There should be NO legislative action, on ANY proposal, until Dictator Walz relinquishes his totalitarian control over the entire state back to the peoples’ elected representatives in the legislature.
Otherwise, it never ends. Ever. And in that case, why do we need the Legislature at all?
Joe Doakes
Couldn’t agree more.
Not one bill.
And if the GOP caves on the bonding bill – or any bill while the emergency is in effect – I’m going to have to reconsider why I vote GOP at all.
He’s mad so he’s suing because the primary election ballot has limited choices. Party officials decide who we get to vote for.
You’re just figuring this out, now? Never heard of the smoke-filled back room?
The entire point of a political party is so that voters won’t have to study every candidate’s slate of ideas. Instead, if some is endorsed by the Marijuana Reform Party, voters can be assured the candidate will support reforming the laws governing marijuana.
There isn’t a penny-worth of difference between all the Democrat candidates so running all of them makes no difference to eventual party success. “Vote for [insert name here]” would work just as well because in the end, they all vote in lock-step for the same things.
The Republican party has come around in the last three years. They now want Trump to win so naturally, they’re not interested in other candidates stealing his donations of time or money. They don’t have a serious primary challenger and don’t want one. That’s the party’s choice. If you don’t like it, join a different party or form your own.
The Supreme Court ought to throw out the lawsuit as meritless but since it’s a chance to bash Republicans in general and Trump in particular, I could see the court ruling that Republicans violated the spirit of the intent of the concept of democracy by restricting voter choices and therefore all Republican candidates must be stricken from the primary election ballot. And since that means Trump can’t win the primary, he can’t be listed as the candidate in the general, so Biden wins Minnesota by default.
Joe Doakes
I started laughing – until I remembered Berg’s 21st Law: “When it comes to “progressive” policy, yesterday’s absurd joke is today’s serious proposal and tomorrow’s potential law.”
I’m’ not laughing any more.
When you’re a Republican, especially in a bluish-purple place like Minnesota, you hope you can vote for Republicans who’ll hold the line on taxes – even to the minimal level of not proposing new ones.
Sadly, we’re disappointed – as I discussed with Liz Mair on the show over the weekend. Senator Howe is proposing a tax on electric vehicles.
Here’s the interview:
I get the logic, sort of – it’s to replace some of the gas tax revenue lost by the increasing efficiency of cars the greater number of people driving electrics, and the people dropping out of the commuting force as telecommuting picks up speed.
But a Republican should be proposing fewer, not more, taxes.
And if we could see to some of that unsustainable spending, that’d be a cherry on the sundae.
Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:
A friend complains that the Republican Congress has accomplished nothing worthwhile in the last two years and as Democrats take the House, gridlock is the best we can hope for. He blames Trump Derangement Syndrome and says it truly is disgusting that a boorish, childish, selfish egomaniac is the best example of conservative leadership we have.
First, he’s judging the President by the wrong standard. A wise, mature, gracious statesman was not on offer in the last election. The alternative to Trump was Hillary. The correct standard to apply is: “Has Trump become Hillary yet?” No? Then he’s good to go. Carry on.
But he’s right about Congress. We can’t have a border wall, we can’t confirm conservative judges, we can’t fill executive branch positions, because of people like Senator Never Trump And To Hell With The Nation Flake, to name just one.
If Trump announced today he’s not running in 2020, which nationally prominent Republican would you pick to replace him?
Sorry to say, with Scott walker out of office and never nationally problem to begin with, I’m already out of ideas…
To: Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka
From: Mitch Berg, Ornery Peasant
Re: Line In The Snow
Senator Gazelka,
This morning on the lesser talk station, the host – Drew Lee – asked you about the approach your caucus, with its one-vote majority, was going to take regarding gun control in the coming session, given incoming Speaker Hortman’s statement that gun control is going to be her first priority.
(In a state with a muirder rate among the lowest in the nation – truly the extremist tail wagging the dog).
Your repliy seemed to indicate the proper response was to work with the opposition to find “a solution”.
I’ll make it simple; the solution is fight crime. Take everything that burdens the law-abiding gun owner off the table.
End of sentence.
The DFL – beholden as they are to millions of dollars in Bloomberg money for their wins in the election – will fight you on it.
We – the good guys, the law-abiding gun owners – will fight you a lot harder if you screw us.
Don’t screw us.
That is all.
An accident at the Steamboat Days parade in Carver County yesterday left GOP Secretary of State candidate John Howe and his campaign manager Tim Droogsma injured.
The float had just completed the Steamboat Days parade and was heading to back to the staging location when the accident occurred, according to Amy Koch, the campaign manager for Republican candidate for Senate Karin Housley. Koch said the tractor pulling the float sped up and hit a curb.
John Howe, the candidate for Secretary of State said he was thrown to the pavement along with his campaign manager, Tim Droogsma. Howe spoke to MPR News while being transported by ambulance to Hennepin County Medical Center. Howe said it appeared the flatbed trailer ran over Tim Droogsma his campaign manager.
Here’s the part I thought was interesting: when the accident happened, GOP Senate candidate Jim Newberger – a paramedic when he’s not in the State House – responded. Amy Koch directed traffic, Other GOP officials and candidates stepped in with their own expertises.
If this had been a DFL float accident, the place would have been flooded with grief counselors and personal injury attorneys.
Sometimes, I’m glad to be a Republican.
UPDATE: and sometimes I’m even happier that I’m just not a Democrat:
Howe got this response:
Remember – Democrats are the party of compassion.
A little checking turned up that the “woman” sending this charming Mrs. is a Hennepin county employee – a rent seeking DFL client.
Dario Anselmo is the lone Republican representing Edina.
Now, considering the Democrats that run in Edina these days – Anselmo beat Ron Erhardt, after all – it might be fair to say that of the options available, Anselmo passes the Buckley test (the most conservative candidate who can win) under the circumstances.
But as we’ve noted in the past, Anselmo is a prominent turncoat on the gun issue. He’s one of few Republicans found at Moms Want Action events; the sole gloss of “bipartisanship” in the extreme-left gun control movement.
But if he’d hoped that his accomodationalism would buy him any favor from Big Gun Grab (a wholliy owned subsidiary of Big Left?)
Well, what do you think?
For Anselmo, a bitter lesson was learned this week when, after months of supporting limits to Second Amendment rights in order to curry favor with far left gun control advocates “Moms Demand Action,” his opponent, Heather Edelson, was effectively endorsed. Heather wears pearls; you can’t say she doesn’t know Edina. But this endorsement puts paid to the idea that if Republicans only find the illusory “common ground” with the other side, they will be rewarded for their efforts.
Moms Demand Action is part of “Everytown for Gun Safety,” a radical gun control group largely financed by Michael Bloomberg.
So he danced with the devil, and didn’t even get his thirteen pieces of silver, apparently.
Anselmo was frequently the lone Republican at Moms’ rallies at the State Capitol. This garnered him the approval of Democrats in the media like Lori Sturdevant but at the cost of discouraging his base, for which one could be forgiven in thinking Anselmo believes he doesn’t need.
Having contempt for the people who put you there – even if you don’t really know that – is a bad, bad plan.
Question: wonder if Lori Sturdevant will castigate the Action Moms for their lack of bipartisanship?
Tim Pawlenty is officially in the Governor’s race, surprising nearly nobody that’s been paying attention for the past few months.
Ideological conservatives are unimpressed, of course. Being an ideological conservative myself, I completely get it. Pawlenty wasn’t and isn’t a doctrinaire conservative. He’s the sort of pragmatic center-right small-c conservative that is a product of a career in the legislature, rather than as a doctrinemonger.
But remember – just four years before he was elected governor, the Minnesota Republican party had gotten Arne Carlson elected. Carlson may have been to the left of the liberal, Rudy Perpich, that he beat in his first bid for office on many bedrock Republican issues.
Is Pawlenty “conservative enough?” Of course not.
Is Minnesota going to elect a doctrinaire conservative? Highly doubtful (although I do hope for a Wisconsin-like miracle one of these days).
Indeed – is conservatism in and of itself a winning ideology, statewide, in Minnesota? I have my doubts.
I follow the Buckley doctrine – elect the most conservative Republican who can win.
I’m still open to being convinced.
Trump, and a GOP controlled Congress that hasn’t upheld Republican principles since the mid-nineties and seems to be herniating itself to out-Trump Trump in terms of giving goodies to populist bases, has just passed a budget bill that only Chuckles Schumer could love.
Note to Trumpkins in the audience: the Growth Fairy will only reduce the deficit if you stop spending money faster than you can create wealth.
In a video circulated among Republican activists last week, State GOP deputy chair Dave Pascoe said that if the platform resolution barring Muslims from participation in the MNGOP passed, he’d resign.
All due respect to Deputy Chair Pascoe, but I”m not resigning anything. I’m going to fight the know-nothings in the party just as hard as I do the know-nothings outside the party.
American conservatism is built around *rejecting* the ideal of collective guilt. Anyone who says “All Muslims…” do, believe or act on *anything* as a group (even if the argument is based on sound information or even logic, which these days it’s not – it relies on “information” from a series of fever-swamp websites and the sorts of “experts” you run into at last call at bars in areas with no real problems) is no better than the most worthless DFL social justice warrior and their blabbering about identity.
Think about it, if you’re so inclined; we demand (justly) that Muslims assimilate to our society. Then we tell them “But not with us!”
The idea that the soul of the party of Lincoln, Reagan, Buckley and Goldwater would be taken over by people who subscribe to collective guilt is too much to handle.
Anyone bringing this moronic resolution at SD65 is going to get their face singed.
And that, as they say, is all.
UPDATE: And to everyone out there who says “You stand for tolerating Muslims? So, what – you want to live under Islam?” That is, and you are, too stupid to bother answering. Shut up.
Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:
Senate Republicans can rejoice that the pervert lost. They should rename themselves The Purity Party: only the truly virtuous may apply. If they get choosy enough, they can save on convention expenses – meet for coffee at the local Denny’s, plenty of room for The Chosen Few.
92% of Democrats voted, only 50% of Alabama Republicans. Disheartened? The Establishment, the media, everyone against them, and some people probably had legitimate concerns about the allegations. Still, it was close. Democrats learned the tactic will work but they need to adjust the timing. Republicans learned . . . what?
What everyone in The Purity Party forgets is that Democrats vote as a unified monolithic block, marching to the same party line with no thought of principles or morals. Senate Republicans are like herding cats, which is why even with a majority they can’t get anything accomplished. One fewer person in their saintly congregation isn’t going to make it easier to roll back Obama’s successes.
Which makes one wonder: do Rockefeller Republicans care about that?
Joe Doakes
On the one hand, I’d very much like to see the GOP get a lot better both at vetting candidates (if Moore did do what’s been alleged, I find it hard to believe it surprised everyone) and defending against this sort of thing (why did Moore not sue every single accuser for defamation, as fast as possible, if only to get their statements – perjured statements? – on record immeidately?)
On the other? I thinks this is a continuing lesson to Republicans that are paying attention – especially if the charges against Moore wind up being frauds. I say “continuing”, because the election of Donald Trump itself proves that an awful lot of voters are starting to ignore the noise machine.
Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:
Never-Trump senator from Arizona, retiring. Blasts Trump for setting a bad tone in politics.
The Washington big-shots still don’t get it. We didn’t vote for Trump because he was crass, we voted for him even though he was crass. We voted for him because he wasn’t Jeb or Mario or any of the other appeasers quietly going along with Hillary’s coronation. We voted for him because he was willing to push back against the endless slanders issued by Democrats, the media, academia and Hollywood against ordinary, decent, law-abiding, hard-working, tax-paying Americans.
Trump is not the swamp, senator, he’s the guy we hired to drain the swamp and you’ve been standing in his way. Don’t let the door hit you . . . .
Joe Doakes
Hard to pick who to like less.
Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:
President Trump got skunked in the Spring continuing resolution – no money for The Wall. He was busy with the Supreme Court nominee so okay, let that one go. But in this next deal, he absolutely must get some money for The Wall or he’s never going to get it. If the Resisters beat him on his signature issue, his presidency will be lame duck all the way down.
Trump should start tweeting now, warning citizens to prepare for a shut-down if the money’s not in the resolution. The people who elected him want that, first and foremost. He’s got to deliver.
Doesn’t have to be much money. It could be a symbolic $1.00, just as long as Congress votes for it. Trump must make them cry “Uncle” because after that, we’ve established the principle and we’re only arguing over the amount.
Frankly, Democrats are not the problem. They continue to serve the interests of the dead people and illegals who elected them. But the Never-Trump RINOs have no excuse so why not go after them? Because we need them. We need every one of their votes and as tempting as it might be to name names while kicking behinds, a different tactic is warranted on this side of the aisle. On that side, we know Democrats will never break ranks so there’s no harm in savaging them.
Of course, Liberals will complain that funding The Wall is a budget-buster. We can’t afford it. There are higher priorities. Get out in front of that argument early. Start by proposing to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts and shift that funding to The Wall. Trump gave up his salary this year, but he could offer to redirect his salary as President toward The Wall next year. Divert federal aid from sanctuary cities to The Wall. Revenue neutral, no additional funding required, completely affordable if we would only make national security a higher priority than frivolities.
And blame Democrats for the shutdown, starting now. Send a tweet every day. “Democrats make Grandma eat dog food; shut down!”
“Democrats end school lunch: shut down!” “Democrats squander dollars, pinch pennies: shut down!”
This is not a political problem or fiscal problem, it’s a marketing problem. Trump has to rally the troops to swing the polls so finger-licking moderates can feel the change in the wind and cast a vote to fund The Wall. There will never be a better time.
Joe Doakes
Electoral fear is both sides’ best weapon. Trump has the initiative. Will he use it?
As good an article as I’ve seen (hard to believe it’s from the MinnPost) about the people who keep showing up to try to make the GOP work in places like Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:
Governor Dayton signed the budget bills, but vetoed funding for the legislature because he didn’t get the bills he wanted.
Some might think Dayton’s move was petty and vindictive. I disagree. It was genius. In chess terms, he’s put the Republicans in a fork – agree to a special session to give the governor what he wants in exchange for funding the legislature, or take your complaint to a court packed with judges appointed by Democrats. Both are losing moves.
Joe is absolutely right.
When all the moves are losing moves, refuse to play the game. The Republican Speaker of the House should say “We convinced Governor Dayton to cut spending for a third of state government, which is a good start. Since he’s defunded the Legislature, we won’t be coming back into session and that means the rest of the government will shut down when this current budget runs out in two years. Meanwhile, I plan to enjoy a well-deserved vacation.”
And Joe is even more absolutely right.
Of course he wouldn’t mean it. But it ups the ante. Every time somebody says “but what about” you point them to the Governor and say “Sorry, the Governor shut us down. Take it up with him.”
Joe Doakes
I dream of a world where Minnesota Republicans have that kind of political killer instinct.
To: The MNGOP Legislative Caucuses
From: Mitch Berg, Peasant
Re: You Never, Ever Learn, Do You?
Deaar MNGOP Legislative Caucuses – House and Senate
Today, after months of wrangling, word dribbled out that the Stand Your Ground and Constitutional Carry bills were not going to get a floor vote. While the bill wouldn’t pass into law, we wouldn’t need to re-argue it next session – which would be a huge benefit, especially given (cough cough) it’s an election year.
It was a kick in the teeth for Second Amendment voters.
Which is a bit of a problem. Can you think of a group in this state that has done more, with less outstate support, than the shooters? That did more to get your majority?
Thanks for nothing.
I get it – politics are complicated. Compromises happen. It’s just that as for me and a lot of people like me, you made the wrong one.
So – not another dime. Not another phone call. Not another minute of time until you get your collective head right.
That is all.
…and I am not, but if I were, I’d bet good money that the headline at the Strib tomorrow will be something like:
Minnesota Republicans Reject Black Chair Candidate
I can honestly say that I’d have voted for anyone in the field – Rick Rice, Dave Hann or Chris FIelds (who I figured would be the final two in the running) or the actual winner, Jennifer Carnahan.
Incoming MNGOP chair Jennifer Carnahan (photo courtesy the Carnahan campaign).
Not to say I doubted Carnahan’s merits; she went from attending her first GOP caucus 14 months ago, to running a very impressive MN Senate campaign in downtown Minneapolis, to the little Chair campaign that could. And I’ve interviewed her, and she is very much a force of nature in person. Not to say I doubted she’d win; I just thought the notoriously pragmatic State Central would make a more mainstream choice, like Hann or Fields.
So I’m surprised, and happy about it all in all.
I would, of course, be lying if I said that I was surprised by the depravity of today’s DFL.
The #mngop loves their tokens. https://t.co/qGQZmUJ1eG
— Jordan R.W. Parshall (@J_Parsh) April 29, 2017
Look, white boy offended by someone calling out GOP tokenism. https://t.co/541LYgUGB1
— Jordan R.W. Parshall (@J_Parsh) April 29, 2017
While I don’t know “Jordan Parshall”, I’m pretty comfortable saying he represents the mainstream of today’s DFL. I think it’s hilarious – right after telling a Korean-American woman not to get uppity, he congratulates none other than…
…wait for it…
…wait for it…
…Alondra Cano.
(And lest you wondered, Urban Liberal Privilege means “never having to apologize for saying something corrosively racist, sexist and entintled”:
Go play cards or something. https://t.co/La6zo0UDV2
— Jordan R.W. Parshall (@J_Parsh) April 29, 2017
But who cares. Congrats to Jennifer Carnahan!
Bill Cooper, former chair of the Minnesota GOP and longtime CEO at TCF Bank, passed away earlier this week at 73.
In addition to leading the MNGOP during the Carlson years, Cooper did two things that made him a hero to me.
Nick-Slapped: Back in 2005, then-Strib columnist Nick Coleman wrote a deeply dumb column wondering how Scott Johnson of Power Line managed to blog during his work day (Johnson was at the time TCF’s corporate counsel), and urging TCF customers to pull their money out of the bank in protest over employing an “out” conservative.
Cooper pulled TCF’s ad money from the Strib – $250K a year – and followed up by cutting off the City Pages as well.
And the whining and carping lulled me to a sound, happy nap. I’d like to think that costing the Strib a cool quarter mill had a lot to do with Coleman’s retirement. For that alone, we should thank Cooper.
Friends: In a more serious and productive vein, Cooper was one of the movers and shakers behind “Friends of Education”, a chain of charter schools that were focused on specific communities and educational models.
Friends of Education schools were, and perpetually remain, among the top-performing charters in the state. And that was in part due to Cooper’s business sense; “Friends” charters that didn’t succeed got shut down; the successful ones carried on.
To: House GOP Caucus, Senate GOP Caucus
From: Mitch Berg, ornery peasant
Re: Focus
Dear Cauci,
Congrats on taking the majority. I’m truly overjoyed.
Now, let’s get real.
Focus: Ever watched someone doing karate? When they do a strike, they focus all their energy, from their waist on down through their hands, into their knuckle. One or two of them. Because that’s how you inflict as much force as possible on your target – focusing the energy.
We’ll come back to that.
Focus Some More: When the Allies landed in Normandy in 1944, it took eight or so weeks of brutal fighting to break through the German defenses.
And when the Allies forced that breakthrough, did they then pause, and redirect to the invasion of Denmark?
No! They focused on driving to Berlin, and destroying any enemy that got in their way!
They focused on the mission at hand!
No. Really Focus: You have the majority in both chambers of the Legislature (if only by a vote in the Senate).
You got it for three reasons:
That is why you have the majority. Not to protect marriage. Not to argue about who goes in what bathrooms.
Heathcare. Economy. Elites.
No more. No less.
I Said Focus, MKay?: It was six short years ago that voters last gave you both chambers of the Legislature. Even with a DFL ideologue for a governor, it was a golden opportunity. You were given that majority because:
What did you – or at least the previous leadership – do?
Well, good work on the budget, to be honest. But that wonky triumph was overshadowed by the national, media-stoked furor over the Gay Marriage issue. The legislature bet a ton of political capital…
…on an issue that had nothing to do with you getting your majority.
Nothing!
If you’re a North Dakota or Montana Republican, with a near-permanent majority and an opposition Democrat party that barely qualifies as a party at all, you can spend political capital on anything you want, and there’ll be no consequences. It might even work (long enough to get struck down by the Supreme Court, anyway).
But not in Minnesota, the purplest of purple states.
Focus Focus Focus Focus Focus!: This is not North Dakota. Perhaps if you hold your majorities long enough to bring a quarter century of unbridled prosperity to Minnesota and we might become so lucky. But we’re nowhere close to that yet.
You were elected by a fickle electorate over…what?
Let’s run the list again:
You have political capital – a mandate, indeed.
And like the Allies after D-Day, you need to focus that capital on beating the enemy in front of us; MNSure, taxes, regulations, mining-phobia.
And like Bruce Lee, you need to focus that energy straight to the metaphorical knuckle, as narrowly and overwhelmingly as you can to win on the issues we, the voters, sent you there to win!
For The Love Of God, Focus!: I’ve heard talk of legislators discussing floating some legislation:
GOP legislators: today, you control the agenda in Saint Paul. It gives you a huge opportunity. With the opportunity comes risk; if you take the GOP majority off beam, and bog the party down in a fight that has nothing to do with why you have the majority, fighting a veto you can’t win over an issue that does nothing but focus all of the Big Democrat Money, all their bottomless funding and masses of drooling droogs, over something that the voters that sent you to Saint Paul don’t care about nearly as much as healthcare and the economy, you will deserve to lose again in 2016.
Focus.
Focus.
Focus focus focus.
Kill MNSure. Kill regulations. Lower taxes.
No. More than that. Focus focus focus focus focus focus focus focus focus focus focus focus focus focus focus focus focus focus focus focus focus focus focus focus.
No. More than that.
Sing along with me: Kill MNSure. Kill regulations. Lower taxes. Kill MNSure. Kill regulations. Lower taxes. Kill MNSure. Kill regulations. Lower taxes.
Win the war we sent you there to win.
Oh – and focus.
No. More than that.
Frank Drake is running and extremely aggressive, and fairly tart, campaign against Keith Ellison in the fifth Congressional District.
Will it work? I saw the 1980 Olympic hockey team; I do believe in miracles. I’m a Republican in the inner city, so I have to.
Anyway – Drake provides a list of Keith Ellison’s “accomplishments” in office:
Top Keith Ellison accomplishments:
1) I promise to end these wars, and not start any new wars.
2) Minneapolis is now a UN sanctuary city funded by Minnesotans.
3) I can show up anywhere, and I’m the story.
4) The DNC was impartial. That’s why “Keith’s for Hillary” now.
5) Who’s this Frank Drake dude anyway?
6) Community Action of Minneapolis was a great front and money laundering operation until it was seized by the Government for fraud. Bill Davis remains a trusted advisor. President Obama will pardon him before leaving office.
7) Marijuana remains a Class 1 Narcotic, just like Heroin.
8) Keith Ellison was never involved, in any way, with the overthrow of Syria or the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
9) Unemployment is low, especially in our urban centers. That 4.5% Unemployment Rate is true, despite 1/3 of all Americans not working. Over 94,000,000 Americans don’t work.
10) Our Government is in the business of War. Private prisons are a growth industry.
11) My ideas are proven in Venezuela and many controlled economies.
Keith Ellison’s ideas resonate like a frying pan dropped from a five-story building hitting the pavement.
Drake has a way with words that we could use a lot more of an inner-city Republican politics.
The Strib endorses John Howe for the CD2 congressional seat currently held by John Kline.
Nothing against Howe, who was a capable legislator and an estimable mayor of Red Wing – but this endorsement is a classic example of Berg’s 11th Law:
Berg’s Eleventh Law of Inverse Viability: The conservative liberals “respect” for their “conservative principles” will the the one that has the least chance of ever getting elected.
Jason Lewis is the endorsed candidate, with immense name recognition and a record as the father of modern Minnesota conservatism. Darlene Miller is John Kline’s preferred candidate. The fourth, the putative Trump-supporting candidate Hey Look At Meeeee, along with Howe, rounds out the field.
I’ll be interviewing Jason Lewis this coming Saturday on the NARN, by the way.
In journalism class, my freshman year of college, the professor referred to the classic definition of the difference between news and, well, not news; “Dog bites man” is not news; “Man bites dog” is news.
With that in mind, this story qualifies as “Dog sniffs dog”.
Or maybe “Dog licks self”.