Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Down With Tyranny has a fine post with an extended quote about aging Dem leadership as a worry.

Howie Klien writes,

The Ossification Of The Democratic Party Establishment Is Part Of The Problem
The L.A. Times Nicholas Goldberg asked timely question before dawn yesterday: Are Joe Biden and Dianne Feinstein too old to do their jobs? “Feinstein, who turned 89 last week,” he wrote, “has kicked off a heated national debate by refusing to step down from her job even as people begin to clamor about her age and competence… Incumbency turns out to be a very pleasant place, and power an aphrodisiac that is difficult to give up— to the point that the word ‘gerontocracy’ has suddenly become common.”
Goldberg sees the problem. “In Feinstein’s case, it is especially so because of the parade of reports on her cognitive diminishment” with a “rapidly deteriorating” memory and increasing “befuddlement.” [...] And he worries that two slow old men, Trump and Biden are thinking about running for president again. “Call me ageist, but I’m not the only one worrying about this. A recent article said that Democratic leaders all over the country are concerned about Biden’s age, vigor and political viability and that many don’t want him to seek another term. If he were to win, he would be 86 at the end of it. Trump would be 82. A recent YouGov poll found that 58% of Americans support an age limit for elected officials.”
Right now 33 seantors— a third of the body— are over 70 and only one, Jon Ossoff, is under 40. “Studies suggest that between 15% and 25% of people over 65 suffer from mild cognitive impairment. But physical problems also need to be considered… One way to address these problems would be to enact an upper age limit for public officials. The Constitution already sets lower limits. [...]
Yesterday Philip Bump followed a similar, but not identical, path in his Washington Post column, The last of the institutionalizes are the leaders of the Democratic Party. Referencing Biden’s disappointing speech after the Dobbs v Jackson decision overturned Roe, exhorting people to vote, Bump wrote that “The response to his speech was not effusive. For one thing, voters could be forgiven for remembering that they had, in fact, voted in support of candidates who would protect Roe: They’d done so in 2020 to elevate Biden to the presidency and to secure a Democrat-run House; they’d done so in 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2021 to give Democrats a majority in the Senate. For another thing, Biden and other Democratic leaders were seen as (or admitted to) being less outraged about the decision than their party’s base, particularly its younger arm. [...]

Then Howie quotes:

The White House was pressed on Biden’s response over the weekend. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked whether Biden supported “reforming the court,” a phrasing that often implies expanding its size to reshape its composition.
“That is something that the President does not agree with,” Jean-Pierre replied. “That is not something that he wants to do.”
[...] Public opinion polling, incidentally, shows that confidence in the court is at a historic low and that the decision to overturn Roe was seen as political. But hobbling forward with a damaged institution was seen as preferable or equal to changing it.

This encapsulates how the leadership of the Democratic Party appears to view the current political moment. In part because its leaders have been on the job for so long— Biden has been in politics with limited interruption since 1973, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi since 1987 and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer since 1981— they retain some obvious confidence that the system will work out its own kinks.
That’s probably been reinforced by a period of American politics in which former president Donald Trump and his allies have repeatedly targeted the solidity of those same institutions. The left has somewhat incongruously been pushed into the role of defending the establishment [the definition of conservatism] as the right exploits its loopholes— making the left less likely to embrace similar exploits in favor of demonstrating fealty to How Things Ought To Work.

The post continues. Again, this link to read the full item.

All eggs. One basket?

Strib carrying a WaPo feed-

Democrats across the country are seizing on the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, with state and federal candidates seeking to turn anger about the decision into support at the ballot box, even as Republicans aim to keep attention on rising prices and crime less than five months before the midterms.

Led by President Biden, who declared Friday that "Roe is on the ballot" and "personal freedoms are on the ballot," Democrats on the front lines of the fight to keep the party's slim congressional majorities have cast their campaigns as key parts of a larger battle to restore abortion rights and prevent the rollback of other liberties. Democratic candidates for governor, attorney general and offices at the state level, where abortion laws will now be fully determined, pledged to put the issue at the forefront of their campaigns.

"We are facing a watershed moment for our constitutional rights," said Cheri Beasley, the Democratic Senate nominee in North Carolina, a key battleground and a state that could draw more women seeking abortions from nearby states barring the procedure. Speaking on Friday at a park in the capital of Raleigh, Beasley warned, "I hope you all know that this doesn't end this, that the threats don't stop here." She urged supporters, "This November let us run, not walk, to the polls."

Republicans have largely praised the ruling, but some suggested different matters, such as the economic challenges confronting Americans, should take precedence, while others cheered the power of states and lawmakers to decide the future of abortion laws, amounting to a wider range of responses than Democrats, more united in their anger, have offered.

"Roe doesn't change settled law, and it won't distract voters from unaffordable prices, rising crime or the border crisis," said Adam Laxalt, the Republican Senate nominee in Nevada, which has a state law legalizing abortion.

The contrasting reactions reflect the broader midterm calculations of each party. Democrats trying to overcome Biden's low approval ratings as well as high gas prices and violent crime have been searching for ways to shift the focus to other issues and give voters second thoughts about replacing them with Republicans. Republican leaders, who have long felt well-positioned to make gains, are wary of refocusing on topics that could diminish their advantage.

While it is unclear whether the ruling will change the contours of the midterms, the Friday decision that overturned the constitutional right to abortion established nearly 50 years ago has added a new element to some of the biggest races across the country.

[...] Senate Democrats saw a significant spike in grassroots fundraising immediately following the Supreme Court ruling, making for the best day of online fundraising to date this cycle, said an aide to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose internal fundraising trends.

Biden on Friday urged voters to elect more members of Congress so that abortion rights can be codified in federal law. But unless that happens, abortion laws will be decided by each state, giving greater significance to races there this year.

Strib adds a separate post, local content - that story playing out in Minnesota -

"There is a route to protect access to safe and legal abortions, and that is through elections," said Sarah Stoesz, the longtime CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States. "We need to act swiftly to elect leaders who will protect those rights."

Minnesota's state Supreme Court established its own constitutional right to abortion in the 1995 Doe v. Gomez ruling, so the U.S. Supreme Court's decision won't immediately change abortion access in the state. In St. Paul, abortion agendas have sat stagnant under divided government, but that could change if either side holds all the levers of power after the election.

"We believe we'll see New York-style reproductive rights legislation or a codification in law of Doe v. Gomez if we lose the House and the Senate and the governor," said Scott Fischbach, executive director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life. "It could be devastating for us if we don't have one of those three, and of course the reverse could happen."

Democrats are worried about the opposite — GOP control of government — in a year where their party is facing stiff headwinds at the national level. All 201 seats in the Legislature are on the ballot this fall in Minnesota and first-term DFL Gov. Tim Walz is facing GOP challenger and former state Sen. Scott Jensen. While Walz has said he will defend the right to abortion in Minnesota, Jensen has said he'll work to ban abortion if elected.

It is June. Before the August primary in Minnesota. The immediate focus should be wherever a primary choice for a more progressive candidate exists, go for it.

See how the single focus idea plays out between now and later August, once any primary doubts are resolved. Between then and November, product differentiation will continue, details to be determined.

_________UPDATED_________

TED CRUZ - It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

RawStory:

Ted Cruz hit with 15-page ethics complaint seeking to have him disbarred: NYT

In part:

Citing the suspension of Rudy Giuliani's law license by the state of New York, an activist organization seeks to have Sen. Ted Cruz disbarred over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
"The complaint against Mr. Cruz, filed by a group called the 65 Project, focuses on baseless assertions by Mr. Cruz about widespread voting fraud in the weeks between Election Day in 2020 and Jan. 6, 2021, as well as his participation in lawsuits protesting the results in Pennsylvania," The New York Times reported Wednesday.
"The 65 Project’s advisers include the Hillary Clinton ally David Brock and Paul Rosenzweig, a conservative and former Republican who worked on the Ken Starr special prosecution team investigating the Clintons. The 65 Project was formed to hold accountable lawyers involved in a series of lawsuits seeking to undermine President Biden’s victory in 2020."
The complaint argued, "just as Mr. Giuliani has been disciplined for his conduct, so should Mr. Cruz."
The complaint also noted a case involving "coup memo" author John Eastman.

[...]

Web search = 65 project ted cruz

Pop the popcorn. It ain't over until it is.

UPDATE: The 65 Project seems to be lawyers seeking sanctions against other lawyers. From The Pittman Firm, P.A. -

Aug 8, 2013

One of the most misunderstood literary phrases of all time came from Shakespeare's "Henry VI." Shakespeare's character, Dick the Butcher, was a follower of Jack Cade. Cade was the head of an army of rabble who wanted to overthrow the British government so Cade would become king. Dick said to Jack Cade, "First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." Cade agreed.

At first glance, those words might seem to reflect today's popular sentiment since lawyer bashing seems to be common sport, except when one needs a lawyer. Yet, Shakespeare was actually giving a great compliment to a profession that is the front line defense of democracy and the protector of our individual rights. Cade and Dick knew that only if they killed all the lawyers, they could destroy the law and impose their own will on the people.

Today, there are many Jack Cades. They are the powerful insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry, big banks, chemical manufacturers, and oil companies, all seeking to manipulate the laws for their own financial and political benefit. Despite their presence, the underdog can win. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright, the landmark Supreme Court case in which the court affirmed the "noble ideal" that everyone is equal under the law because even an indigent criminal defendant has a right to be represented by a lawyer. That case began with a trial lawyer in Bay County, Florida. His name was Fred Turner.

This is also the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, an order that led to freedom for millions. It was delivered by a trial lawyer. His name was Abraham Lincoln. On a daily basis, they fight for equality and justice and to hold the Jack Cades of today accountable. It is a relentless, uphill battle fighting for the individual's rights, but when one person's rights are protected, everyone benefits. A salute to Shakespeare!

Bluestem Prairie, frequently offering a good read, hits two out of the park home runs. Read each there.

Trenchant work, even while Matt Birk stretching truth is not a surprise. But Sorensen makes it a proof of the expectation, which is a neat item of work. Examining online 990s. And there's an embedded video, as the cherry atop the entire post. Matt Birk now looks so differfent from when he played. It is striking. Do you suppose he took something to bulk up to play? Would he admit it if he did?

Second, Sorensen writes of the nationwide nature of voter suppression; Kim Crockett in particular being in the crosshairs of an aim to inform.

Don't scan read. If you follow the links, a promise, you will learn who Cleta Mitchell is, if you do not already know. The name was new to me. I admit to that ignorance, since corrected thanks to Sorensen's posting. For others like me, Wikipedia -

Until January 2021, Mitchell was a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Foley & Lardner,^[7]^[8]^[9] resigning due to its concern about her involvement in the call Trump made to attempt reversal of the Georgia certified votes in the 2020 election. She has served as legal counsel for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the National Rifle Association.^[7]^[8] She has represented Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), and Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK).^[9]^[1] She has also represented Tea Party Republican candidates Sharron Angle of Nevada and Alaska's Joe Miller.^[1]
She is on the boards of numerous conservative organizations, including the Bradley Foundation,^[14] the National Rifle Association (NRA) (where she has also been a lawyer), the American Conservative Union Foundation,^[15]^[16] and the Republican National Lawyers Association, of which she is a former president.^[7]^[8]^[9] As a board member of the American Conservative Union (ACU), Mitchell played a major role in efforts to expel GOProud (a pro-gay rights Republican group) from the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a major annual right-wing convention organized by the ACU.^[10]
Mitchell has been a leading critic of the IRS, accusing the agency of targeting tea party groups.^[17]^[18] She testified before Congress in 2014, asserting that "the commissioner of the IRS lied to congress".^[18] She called for the IRS to be abolished.^[17] Investigations by Congress and federal agencies later concluded that there was no evidence that the IRS targeted conservative groups.^[17]
Mitchell represented Donald Trump in 2011, defending him against accusations that he had violated federal election laws in an exploratory campaign for president.^[19]
Mitchell was the trustee of EPA administrator Scott Pruitt's legal defense fund. As trustee of that fund, she sought donations to the fund by individuals who had interests before the EPA.^[20] In 2019, she represented Stephen Bannon's nonprofit, Citizens of the American Republic.^[18]

All that, and under my radar. Shame on me. Hat tip to Sorensen.

UPDATE: Back to Birk. Whoever scripted the guy's prompt screen did him wrong. He is second spot on the ticket. With his anti-abortion clinic center being annually publicly funded as Sorensen proves, his top spot Scott guy arguing to kill Minnesota income taxation is, in effect, saying defund such stuff as Birk's script touts.

Not good, so lie.

When Birk played, an infraction not whistled gained no penalty. Sorensen and the other author Sorensen cites, they blew the whistle on Birk's foul (his boldface lie).

So penalize him. It's a major infraction, juggling the truth, so fifteen yards and loss of down. Throw him out of the game. Pile it on. Saying it is privately funded because the co-candidate is doing a tax demagogue ploy is really pretty raw when the truth is annual regular mid-six-figure public funding as the unmystified truth which Birk has to know because in the video, he admits he is on the clinic's Board. He knew or should have known the truth. With knowledge of the truth, he lied. If it is should have known but did not, that is inexcusable gross negligence.

Either way - It is a game ejection penalty.

And Birk is no dummy. He is a Harvard finance grad. Not a justifiable status for "should have known." The only sensible guess - He lied.

_______FURTHER UPDATE_________

Back to Cleta Mitchell, beyond the prior Wikipedia quote the site continues -

Attempt to overturn the 2020 election
Main article: Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election

Mitchell is chair of the conservative activist group Public Interest Legal Foundation, which is known for making claims of voter fraud.^[22] She has claimed that Democrats engage in a "very well-planned-out assault" on election systems.^[22] Prior to the 2020 election, she organized legal efforts to challenge mail-in ballots cast in the election.^[23] Mitchell has worked closely with Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, in the Council for National Policy to organize efforts to keep Trump in power, and The New York Times reported that it was Mitchell who "enlisted John Eastman, the lawyer who crafted specious legal theories claiming Vice President Mike Pence could keep Mr. Trump in power.”^[24]
After Joe Biden won the 2020 election and President Donald Trump refused to concede, Mitchell claimed that dead people voted in the election.^[25]
On January 2, 2021, she participated in the hour-long telephone conversation between Trump and Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, during which Trump pressured Raffensperger to investigate unsupported claims disputing the results of the 2020 presidential election based on doctored videos and unsubstantiated rumors from right-wing media. Following that telephone call Mitchell accused Raffensperger, of saying things "that are simply not correct" about the presidential results in Georgia.^[26]^[27] Two days later, after Mitchell's participation in the call was reported, Foley & Lardner released a statement saying that the law firm's policy was not to represent parties seeking to contest the results of the 2020 election; that the firm was "aware of, and concerned by" Mitchell's participation in the telephone call; and that the firm was "working to understand her involvement more thoroughly".^[28] Mitchell resigned from Foley & Lardner the next day; the firm said that Mitchell "concluded that her departure was in the firm's best interests, as well as in her own personal best interests".^[19] Mitchell blamed a purported "massive pressure campaign in the last several days mounted by leftist groups via social media" for her resignation.^[29]

Our Republican friends, Matt and Cleta. Cleta stretching things about her resignation. Matt stretching things about his touted clinic's funding. Too much elasticity with truth is not a good thing.

FURTHER: CNN reports of "The 65 Project" (homepage) which has filed a number of ethics complaints including one against Cleta Mitchell, among others:

https://the65project.com/ethics-complaint-against-trump-attorney-cleta-mitchell/

CNN notes -

The group – which includes on its advisory board former Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Roberta Ramo, a former president of the American Bar Association – says some of the conduct the group has identified could warrant disbarment, while other attorneys may be appropriately punished with lesser penalties, like reprimands or suspensions.

The 65 Project’s name is a reference to its count of lawsuits that were filed seeking to overturn the election. The group is sifting through a list of 111 lawyers who signed on to legal pleadings, though Teter acknowledged that only some of them may attract requests for disciplinary proceedings.

The CNN item has noted -

The Trump allies who have been targeted by ethics complaints filed by the group say it’s a politically motivated endeavor meant to chill lawyers from representing clients with political views it doesn’t like.

Pop the popcorn. It ain't over until it is.

Monday, June 27, 2022

Strib doing an AP carry, the Supremes at it again. Last two paragraps, merged, "Three justices on the court attended public high schools themselves while the rest attended Catholic schools. The case is Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, 21-418." UPDATED

Link. The case was "resolved;" 6-3 majority. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a dissent joined by Justice Stephen Breyer and Justice Elena Kagan.

Federalist Society's favorite Knight of Malta, Leonard Leo, must be peeing in his pants, in joyous happiness. Repeatedly. Each time a new one comes out the chute, he pees. In rapturous pleasure. Just can't hold back.

This case involved a public high school. Not a catholic school. Public. As in everybody's school. Not limited to a bloc or faction; not married to any dogma; from Rome or elsewhere, other than from the Washington State Department of Education which by law holds undivided jurisdiction except for local secular school board input.

updated by slight revision and extension

_____________UPDATE____________

The item has been updated to where the final two paragraphs read -

Three justices on the court — Breyer, Kagan and Justice Samuel Alito — attended public high schools, while the other six attended Catholic schools.

The case is Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, 21-418.

That such a clarification was added was not noted as such, by Strib.

Sunday, June 26, 2022

For What It's Worth. UPDATED

Strib top of homepage, screen capture, Sunday, 6/26/2022 -

Click the image to enlarge it and read about the lady politicians on the war path. Even Amy beyond her usual take-it-safe-and-easy torpor. It's such a no-brainer to flog the issue.

"Battle lines being drawn, . . . stop Children, what's that sound? Everybody look - what's going down."

How else does the song go?

Young people speaking' their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind

Right. What's going down is a focus on the Supremes' Roe kill. Making it the preeminent 2022 midterm issue, yes/no? With the practical implication, student debt burden will be back-burnered. Suck it up, kids.

If it works out that way, the predicted Dem bloodbath is assured. The young vote is needed.

SO --- Weaponize abortion rights please. It will do its GOTV share.

But if you hang the young out to dry the young will stay home, primaries and general election. They are needed to primary in progressives, and in the general, to keep the House, and take the Senate w/o two DINO roadblocks giving Biden an excuse. Then Biden will really be on the hot seat, since his excuse for inaction would be nullified.

BOTTOM LINE: A GOTV of the young will be necessary to avoid a GOP sweep.

The deep pocket donor class will not care either way since they own both parties.

Progress will be forestalled, the abortion fight perhaps lost in more States, and the chance to legislate the Roe standards into federal law - gone. For now, if not for good.

The donor class will not care. Abortion is not their key issue, tilting the playing field more in their favor is their game, and soaking the kids and putting them and women behind the 8-ball (in terms of assertion of rights lessening when other plights press), that is keen in line with deep pocket donor goals.

With a GOP sweep, perhaps another tax cut for the rich, with the likely Minnesota Scott/Birk GOP ticket already telling the rich that the State's income tax is on the table.

Gotta GOTV across the DFL spectrum in Minnesota. That means abortion drum beating. For sure. However - It also means fixing the student debt shithole. Which has to be done at the federal level. Executive order. Not a bandaid, but meaningful reform of the obscene status quo for low income young getting educated after high school graduation. So Amy and Tina, press the White House.

Or not, and instead let the GOP have its way, have the power and spoils. Statewide in Minnesota, Walz, Simon and Ellison should still win. But both legislative houses are on the line. Nationally, House and Senate.

The Crabgrass view. Being able to later say, "Told you so," would be no comfort. The time is now, the path is clear.

Politicians, get it done. Boost GOTV, all segments.

___________UPDATE___________

Old folks - those with still well honed memories - you remember, of course, Paul Ryan as Speaker, wanting to take away or take a first big chunk out of your SOCIAL SECURITY. Pay heed. Put a Republican in as Speaker, and the same shit will begin again. Curb it by keeping the House Democratic. In Minnesota, in particular, MN1 is up for grabs so grab it for the DFL, the party that would not dare mess with your Social Security. In effect, GOTV from young to old. Full spectrum, DFL effort.

__________FURTHER UPDATE___________

More of the same. A political DFL email. And yes, say it again, abortion as an issue is likely to be major, but everybody already has a viewpoint there, and GOTV focused only on the loyalists on abortion will get them out, but it will not sufficiently move the needle.

The email -

What this campaign is really about.

Hi,

My name is Teresa Mozur and I'm the Communications Director for the Murphy for Senate campaign. I live in Saint Paul where I'm the mother of a four year old. She had birthday this week, she loves animals, drawing, and going swimming.

I found out the Dobbs ruling came in while at her four year wellness visit. I sat stunned - we knew this was coming but you never know how it will really hit you when the moment finally arrives. I looked at her and realized this very body her pediatrician was making sure was growing healthy and strong would no longer be hers, a body she no longer has full autonomy over. From now on, she would not have full rights to decide her reproductive future.

My daughter is my source of joy and the reason why I fight for a better, brighter future than the one we've currently got. This fight is more than just one single issue, and bigger than one single person or candidate. The only way we win is to win together. To give it all we have. To refuse to lose hope in what we believe is possible.

This is, at its core, the reason why I continue to be committed to this campaign: it's not about the election, it's about building power, together. About doing the necessary organizing work to develop a deep bench of organizers, volunteers, activists - leaders - who will show up to every fight in order to make Minnesota the very best version of itself: one rooted in community, in values, invested in our shared future. I want to build power with leaders who are in this fight, committed to the real lives of people, unwilling to leave Minnesotans behind.

The fall of Roe means my daughter will not hold the same rights I once had. But I remain hopeful because I have to. I know there are so many Minnesotans like you and like me who won't forget the many ways our rights have been chipped away at, and each time it happens we choose to turn to each other rather than walk away.

That is what this campaign is about. Us, the collective power we hold when we come together, and never losing sight of what is possible. Contributing your time or money to this campaign means investing in organizing, in voter turnout, and in developing leaders. Today might not be the day you're ready to dive into the work, but when you are, I hope you join us.

Your friend,

Teresa

P.S. - We are starting a new Joy Fight Win Instagram account to celebrate the people who power this fight and share ways to get involved this election cycle. Follow us here.

First, that last P.S. is a Mega link - Facebook in effect, and others like me hate Facebook. Tone deaf that way. And, tracking links suck. Don't give me tracking links to Facebook, please. Grow beyond that.

Most importantly - That -- the abortion issue alone -- is not what the election will be about. It will be off-year, no Presidential contest, broad-spectrum GOTV or lose.

.........................................

Somebody who knows Ken Martin should give him a kick in the ass and say, GOTV hinges on multiple blocs. Suggest Martin yank Biden's chain and say, meaningful student debt relief or bloodbath; and if Biden demurs, as we should expect, at least Ken gave it the good try.

And, SOCIAL SECURITY threatened under Paul Ryan needs mention, more than once. Ken can push that theme here, apart from Biden, but he'd have to be heard.

Vouchers. Do you want your child's public school education robbed? By private schools. Catholic schools. Charter schools are bad enough, don't bleed more public school cash into dead ends and/or less-accountable private special interests.

So, abortion, student debt relief, social security, and education - a spectrum of GOTV blocs, with each needing attention.

Shake Paul Ryan's ghost at the old folks. They are good always on GOTV, but ring their bell.

Fix the obscene student debt situation now in place. Executive order, and the other side will take it to court, and that will be seen, however the judge shopping works out. We want to make it easier to have a top-flight educated populace, in the world economy and in the voting booths.

And remind people that K-12 education is in peril, with representative democracy bedrocked upon an educated electorate. Look at what we have instead, and that says fund it better and close off the leakage from public coffers in order to make public K-12 schooling as effective as feasible.

It has to be multifaceted to win. Yes, again, abortion is the biggest issue. But a narrowly focused GOTV approach is begging for grief. Yes, maximize that issue, and stress contraception is the next target to where Congress will have to legislate something close to preemptive Roe v Wade standards as federal statutory law.

Meaning a need for majority power, both houses of Congress.

Give the medical providers coverage, comfort, and let the system work as it has for the last thirty years. Whiners on the other side be damned, they are a clear minority, and pro-abortion people have to be shown to be open to others with differing views being able to live as they'd prefer- our side, not wanting to tell them what to do, how to run their lives; "Just get out of my face with your biases making you want to run my life."

Live and let live is a good tight way to say it. That covers gay marriage and LGBTQ+ questions. Blocs can unite behind live and let live.

Respect my privacy and my right to run my life, as you can run your own. Who'd not see that as the Golden Rule? What better than the Golden Rule do Republicans have?

Enough. Eyes on the prize, yes, but the prize is spectrum-wide GOTV better than the Republicans do on their GOTV front, not winning on one single focal issue, but losing on overall vote count.

Remember -

The home run only counts if you touch each base.

___________FURTHER UPDATE___________

That Teresa letter, another thing - a four year old. Years to reach puberty, a problem in the distance, while there are more immediate things. Yes, women of child bearing age getting into unwanted pregnancies, that is today. Baby four year old has space and time. And the homeless - now. Students making rent, food, and debt service, or barely missing, but with the future, the immediate future now and next month, etc., under the burden of worry causing them to be less vocal and judgmental citizens. Rolling with the punches instead of prospering. Lady, your four year old, I likely will have croaked before abortion availability and contraception is a daily concern for her. Between then and now I'd like saner medical care, eh?

Teresa seems a self-indulgent case. If she is communications director for a campaign, it will be the candidate's accumulated cred that will carry things, or it is a safe DFL district. But that one communication was a giant self-focused turn-off.

Keep at it Teresa. Push the federal elections, to get majorities in both Houses in order to fix abortion availability nationwide and by statute. Sanctuary abortion states is hardly the best option, but it is today, and your candidate's success, today, will keep Minnesota a sanctuary state. Moreover - Good you are committed long term. But for most people today and next week means more, and when Republicans piss on about pump price shock, they are on today's wavelength, however you see it.

Little baby four year old - at least a real human. Not a tissue mass surviving only via a placenta-cord combo, which the Christofascists keen about endlessly and with hypocrisy because they don't give one real shit about real living people getting fucked by their system.

Sicko folks that way. Little tissue things a woman wants removed mean more to them than the daily suffering of real sentient humans. Real sickos. Alito. The oil baron's daughter, out of the Notre Dame faculty. Ginni's spouse. Sick.

People suffer, well, that's God's way. Horseshit. It's naked, mean, capitalism's way and those hypocritical creeps are facilitator politicians who are pompous in their hundred page sophistries. There is nothing supreme about that. It's meanness. No matter how many pages get churned out by the Court clerks, it's mean. It is perpetuating an engineered non-level playing field between the privileged and the rest. Screw workers. Love embryos. Get real.

November in election years does not have to be a lesser evil time. It is people like Leonard Leo and his packed court creep-show that make it such, and each party has too many of that kind, which is why November in election years is lesser evil time, for now, as it was during my lifetime. It can be fixed, but those owning the power now will go to war to stop it being fixed. That is today's reality.

That is why they love student debt loads as a pacifier. Giant mortgages, as a pacifier. Excessive housing rental rates, as a pacifier. Things are engineered full of pacifiers. It is not haphazard. It is by design. Mitch McConnell has an advanced degree in Human Misery Engineering. Working on his PhD. Manchin on the same program. Pelosi, Hoyer and Clyburn already have their PhD. Paul Ryan, Bill Clinton, W, retired professors of Human Misery Engineering. They hone and tune their replacements.

Nuclear weapons in the hands of people like that. Those thinking "End Times" may not be as entirely wigged out as they at first blush seem. Who is to say?

___________FURTHER UPDATE_________

It has been explained to me you do not make your strongest argument stronger by adding a weak argument. What Teresa is doing is personalizing her strongest argument to make it stronger. Personalizing is used by journalists and others to set a stronger hook than attaches via a depersonalized presentation. A young couple with one kid, a daughter, being double income daycare payers, practicing contraception and perhaps thinking abortion availability, I favor it even with it being for others, might, with the personalization Teresa provides, shift to thinking when my girl matures, I want her protected. The hook is set strongly. That is what personalzation will do. NOTE that personalization is not weak added to strong, but making strong a more targeted emotion-evoking arrow.

One can view the suggestion of multi-bloc GOTV as somehow "cheapening" the powerful emotional impact of the Roe kill as a GOTV primary motivation. My outlook might be wrong, and the tactic of pounding away on Roe having been buried in sophistry, (which we can all see for what it is), doing that single focus strongly, consistently, and alone, might be best. Strategically, there are other issue blocs in the population, and ignoring them might be unwise. It is not clearly one or the other.

Saturday, June 25, 2022

June 11, 2022, NYTimes and DailyMail on the Dump Biden theme. Never mind earlier, this is weeks ago.

NY Times:

Should Biden Run in 2024? Democratic Whispers of ‘No’ Start to Rise.
In interviews, dozens of frustrated Democratic officials, members of Congress and voters expressed doubts about the president’s ability to rescue his reeling party and take the fight to Republicans.

By Reid J. Epstein and Jennifer Medina --- June 11, 2022
Midway through the 2022 primary season, many Democratic lawmakers and party officials are venting their frustrations with President Biden’s struggle to advance the bulk of his agenda, doubting his ability to rescue the party from a predicted midterm trouncing and increasingly viewing him as an anchor that should be cut loose in 2024.
As the challenges facing the nation mount and fatigued base voters show low enthusiasm, Democrats in union meetings, the back rooms of Capitol Hill and party gatherings from coast to coast are quietly worrying about Mr. Biden’s leadership, his age and his capability to take the fight to former President Donald J. Trump a second time.
Interviews with nearly 50 Democratic officials, from county leaders to members of Congress, as well as with disappointed voters who backed Mr. Biden in 2020, reveal a party alarmed about Republicans’ rising strength and extraordinarily pessimistic about an immediate path forward.
“To say our country was on the right track would flagrantly depart from reality,” said Steve Simeonidis, a Democratic National Committee member from Miami. [...]
Democrats’ concerns come as the opening hearing of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol made clear the stakes of a 2024 presidential election in which Mr. Trump, whose lies fueled a riot that disrupted the peaceful transfer of power, may well seek to return to the White House.
For Mr. Biden and his party, the hearings’ vivid reminder of the Trump-inspired mob violence represents perhaps the last, best chance before the midterms to break through with persuadable swing voters who have been more focused on inflation and gas prices. If the party cannot, it may miss its final opportunity to hold Mr. Trump accountable as Mr. Biden faces a tumultuous two years of a Republican-led House obstructing and investigating him.
Most top elected Democrats were reluctant to speak on the record [...]

Daily Mail coverage begins with a listing -

Fifty top Democratic officials interviewed by the New York Times said Joe Biden should not run for re-election in 2024 president
Many were pessimistic about Biden's leaderships, which is marred with failures
Biden failed to pass his $1.8 trillion Build Back Better agenda and voting rights expansion bill, and faced backlash over the chaotic exit from Afghanistan
The administration continues to face challenges from record high gas prices and soaring inflation, and a possible end to the federal abortion rights
Many Democratic leaders also worry about the presidents age, who was the oldest man appointed to office at 78 last January
Democrats are also at a loss of who should take control of the party as Republicans are expected to rack up major victories in the coming midterms

The body of the Daily Mail report, in part -

Among the big ticket issues are record-high inflation that's the heighest its ever been in more than 40 years, surging gas prices - which hit $5 per gallon on Saturday, the lingering pandemic and the possible [now certain, with the formal opinion release] end of federal abortion rights as the Supreme Court is poised to end Roe V. Wade in the coming weeks.
Also stinging was Biden's failure to pass his $1.8 trillion Build Back Better agenda and voting rights expansion, which faced opposition from his own party, and the chaotic U.S. military exit from Afghanistan last summer.
While David Axelrod, the chief strategist for Barack Obama's winning campaigns, argued that Biden has done well given the unprecedented challenges he's faced as a result of the pandemic, he fears the president's age might be a deciding factor on whether or not he can attract enough support to launch a successful re-election bid.
'The presidency is a monstrously taxing job and the stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue,' Axelrod told the Times.
Biden became the oldest American to be inaugurated as president when he was sworn in at age 78 in 2021.
The campaign strategist said that while many would be able to tout the victories Biden has achieved to brighten his image, the president lacks the ability to boast believably.
'He looks his age and isn't as agile in front of a camera as he once was, and this has fed a narrative about competence that isn't rooted in reality.'
[...] The question remains of who would be poised to replace Biden in this highly polarizing political climate as Democrats fear Trump might launch his own re-election campaign for 2024.
Few of those interviewed by the Times said they did not expect Vice President Kamala Harris to run.
Harris has faced her own failures in office, primarily through the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border despite her being appointed as the border czar.
Many of the interviewed Democrats instead touted U.S. senators Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Corey Booker, as well as U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Texas gubernatorial hopeful Beto O'Rourke.
Faiz Shakir, Bernie Sanders' campaign manager in 2020, [...] told the Times that while he believed Biden could beat Trump in a 2024 rematch, the outcome could be different if Republicans instead nominate a rising star in their party, like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The low enthusiasm concept reaches to Harris. She's not exactly loved and revered. In fact, Republicans seem attuned to that, Gary Gross having written days after the Times, on his Blog from St Cloud, MN:

If Joe Biden doesn't run for re-election, it won't surprise anyone. Still, Democrats face a difficult decision in picking his replacement at the top of their ticket in 2024. VP Harris has earned 2 unflattering nicknames that say everything about her chances: the Cackling Pantsuit and Biden's Insurance Policy.
If Harris is the Democrats' nominee in '24, Democrats will lose with fewer than 150 electoral votes. Republicans might finish Election Night 2024 with a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate if Ms. Harris is the nominee.
If Mayor Pete is the Democrats' nominee, the bloodbath will be roughly the same as the Harris bloodbath. Mayor Pete's mishandling of the baby food shortage and the supply chain shortages have exposed him as a identity politics candidate. His work ethic will be challenged, too, after taking 2 months off after adopting 2 children. He isn't a top-tier candidate.
Biden's failed presidency will tie a millstone around the Democrat nominee's neck. He's failed in every major policy category imaginable. The biggest failure of the Biden administration, though, is that he's doubled down on his jihad on fossil fuels. Whenever people fill up their car, they grit their teeth. Each time they pay their monthly utility bill, people get upset.
[...] The current group of prospective Democrat presidential candidates are unimpressive, socialists or both. The only guy that's sane is Joe Manchin. Unfortunately for Blue Dog Democrats, he'd be rejected by the Squad.

Yeah. Manchin is Republican lite. Gary picks up on that. He is party-true. Everybody else in Dem circles thinks Manchin is a big-time throbbing hemorrhoid. Painful that way. Insistent. Unyielding.

Last, the feeling at Crabgrass is less kind to Biden than the two coverage reports. Biden signed onto what would strike the populace as popular, even with misgivings, and had Manchin as his figleaf for not delivering. Blame the other Joe, not Status Quo Joe in the White House. Easy escape from responsibility for stuff not passing into law as people wanted and were lulled into believing from the Biden campaign site.

Moreover, with Trump the option in 2020, lesser evil ruled. Joe did not need to promise much except to not be as bad. And he has not been.

Big deal, but when the 2024 November vote gets cast, lesser evil will again be the name of the two-party game. You in "haven't I seen this before" mode. Grumbling.

And how that will cut is easy to foresee. Trump/DeSantis/Cruz/Pompeo/Haley/other, pick the brand, it will be worse, and you will not be happy about it. But the inner parties, both sides really don't care how you feel, except wanting four years of executive power and the spoils going with it; cash flow flowing; with the donors owning each party and happy either way.

Do you think nine-figure Peosi wealth cringes when Republicans cut taxes for the nine-figure wealthy? Grow up and go figure. Perceive. Understand.

Money on the table, take it, enjoy it, keep up showtime. Cluck as appropriate. Dye the hair. Drive the Porsche more carefully, next time. Nice Napa second home.

The earlier leaked Roe killer opinion is now out in spiffed-and-final form. There are considerations beyond the most obvious.

The slip opinion of the to-be published opinion, online here. As turgid as what was leaked.

With surveillance state capabilities at today's levels, never mind tomorrow, read about privacy being a post-opinion consideration; here, here and here.

Perhaps not now, but who knows, there may be developed a way to track wire coat hangers, every one with a serial number, and an RFID.

Sleep well. Eat healthy. And stock up on condoms before they're outlawed.

__________UPDATE_________

SANITY AND DECENCY: Strib, here and here.

In November, vote the straight DFL ticket. It is how you protect reproductive decision making freedom. The other side, the dark side, is against you if you want to be free to make your own lifetime and lifestyle decisions.

And public education always stands at risk of voucher mongers.

Vote Dem. It's not always great, Biden is Biden, but if lesser evil is all you've got, use it - or lose it. The coup can be just around the corner. Jan 6 can be akin to a failed beer hall putsch. Trump may be writing a long memoir about his struggle. If so you don't want it to become required reading.

Cover the big fat ass. Minimize the risk of a criminal sanction. Deny pardons to perps. Then they have exposure, and can plead the Fifth. [UPDATED]

The Trump facilitators, the lawyers, John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani, Sydney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Jeffrey Clark; were they to testify the fat ass could fry. Ditto for staffers. Ditto for Ginny Thomas. Proud Boys. Oath Keepers. Members of Congress who facilitated.

Not a single pardon. Why?

Well, thrown under the bus, each and every, they can and can be expected to plead the Fifth Amendment, refusing self-incrimination. And that fits Numero Uno.

You can't incriminate Numero Uno, if you decline to say anything.

So, pardon not a one. Hang them out to dry, so that they are not in a position to hang Numero Uno out to dry. Makes sense, if you use people.

And when the Justice Department sees a stonewall, what then. The munchkins get their premises SACKED, and can whine to FOX. Collateral damage, sad.

Tucker can take umbrage, puff and huff, but Tucker's ratings ploys give cold comfort. Jeffrey Clark, outraged, Murdoch's paper picks up FOX story.

Saving a thousand more words -

_________UPDATE__________

Remember, the special prosecutor got Nixon on the coverup, i.e., what happened after the break-in crime. Raiding Clark's electronics, phone, laptop, the haul will cover pre-Jan 6 things not deleted (or deleted but forensically recoverable) and what got added from Jan. 6 to the present. If there was communication about, "Jeez, we better all hang together or we'll hang separately, here's what we'll say - and - You, not me, were the one closest to Trump and did such and such, he hatched the idea to promote me to AG, I loved it, but then did not pardon a one of us, etc., and so forth," with replies and further contact that is a step up to admitting an ongoing conspiracy, not separated acts, so stir it all into the pot and serve the soup.

BOTTOM LINE: If there was coordination after Jan 6, to minimize the story and to coordinate explanations, it will appear to be cover-up land to the prosecutors, and that gets back to Nixon's storybook's plot.

Also, by not giving pardons so the Fifth would apply, Trump minimized the likely scope of any post-Jan 6 cover-up shenanigans. Just each declining to cooperate, each when pressed either facing contempt or taking the Fifth. Bannon going the contempt route; Eastman and Clark taking the Fifth.

Will there be an October surprise? We'll have to wait to see. What is likely is the Jan 6 committee having at it in full, now, since after the 2022 midterm elections the Dems may not have a House majority, and the GOP then will get to segue into Hunter's laptop content. Running the country by backroom agreements and stalling tactics, with plenty of theater to distract and divert attention of the masses.

What will remain constant, Garland as AG, an interesting thing after his being denied a Supreme seat by Republicans during Obama's last year. He will have a script from the hearings, and the FBI to get more warrants beyond Clark's electronic array, so there may be two ongoing distracting stories at play. Grand Jury leaks, trials, in parallel to the Hunter laptop show. What a way to govern, this century, when getting better instead of worse or remaining the same is the expectation.

Ramsey MN - and statewide. Early voting opened Yesterday, 6/24/2022, for the August primary.

City of Ramsey's elections page-

http://www.ci.ramsey.mn.us/165/Elections

Sample ballot - SoS site = https://myballotmn.sos.state.mn.us/

From that link, you can narrow things based on home address. My sample ballot is for Ward 1 Precinct 1 of Ramsey, which is the precinct in which I live.

PARTISAN BALLOT SIDE: Voters can figure out how they prefer to vote on the partisan side of the ballot. My choice will be Dem primary column = Walz, Simon, Ellison. (The incumbents.) NOTE: You can only vote a single column, no crossover between columns.

(Were I voting the Republican ballot column my choices would be: Sen. Dist. 31 = blank, Guv = blank, SoS = van Michelen, AG = Schultz, (possibly Anderson). However, before I'd even consider the GOP choices I'd coin flip on the mj columns. The Dem incumbents are locks to win there; so going to the GOP column to vote against Wardlow, against Crockett, and against Jensen/Birk would be a tactic. One I pass up. Actually, the inexperienced endorsed GOP AG candidate, Schultz, is not absolutely egregious, i.e., an endorsement surprise. Jensen/Birk, Crockett and Wardlow are bad and sad clown shows.)

NON-PARTISN BALLOT SIDE: Ward 1 is the only Ramsey office having more than two candidates; while offices with two only go directly to the general election.

The two Ward 1 candidates having highest totals go to the general, the third candidate is dropped out. My choice = Grimmer.

(The other primary election on the non-partisan ballot side, County Sheriff. Good luck choosing there among the three candidates. At a guess, Lemnitzer and Wise will be the top two vote-getters; going on to the general election.)

NBA draft news - Timberwolves with the 22nd pick in the 2022 draft pick Walker Kessler, Auburn center who after two years of college ball is already skilled at using the left hand.

Image. From WBRC report, this link.

Thursday, June 23, 2022

Never mind the wrecked Porsche, they can afford that. The old man, snoot full, while Nancy was doing an East Coast graduation speech.

The happy couple (image online here):

87 years old and still dying her hair

Rich folks, not progressives - trading the portfolio while Speaker. You look at that stuff and feel the Bern.

Strib, per an NYT carry; Paul Pelosi had a car wreck, pulling out in front of an oncoming Jeep while driving drunk, and -

The speaker swung into crisis mode. By Sunday afternoon, Larry Kamer, a crisis manager who has a home in Napa and has worked for high-profile clients including Harvard University and Nike, was retained. The family also consulted with John Keker, one of San Francisco’s most prominent defense lawyers, and Lee Houskeeper, a longtime public relations executive for San Francisco political types, including former Mayor Willie Brown.
The newly assembled team had to deal with a few unwelcome certainties: The accident would refocus attention on Paul Pelosi’s troubled driving record, including a crash when he was a teenager that killed his brother. It would also send reporters — from TMZ to The Napa Valley Register — scrambling after every detail.
And it would shine a spotlight on the Pelosis’ California life, where the couple inhabit two homes, including a 16.55-acre gated estate and mingle with other rich residents, at a time when economic hardship is straining many people of lesser means.
Ultimately, a representative for Nancy Pelosi gave a terse statement emphasizing Nancy Pelosi’s distance from the accident.
“The speaker will not be commenting on this private matter, which occurred while she was on the East Coast,” it read.
‘Everybody in San Francisco now has a Napa place’
The Pelosis have had a weekend home in Napa Valley since 1990, when they spent $2.35 million for their property, which came with a Palladian-style villa, guesthouse and pool.

“It’s not a palace,” Brown said. “If you go up there, you will notice that some people have places with caves for the wine and all that kind of stuff. That’s not what they have. They have a place you can actually live in, without servants. You wouldn’t bring the Three Tenors to sing.” But the Pelosis do have a vineyard, from which they sell grapes.
“Everybody in San Francisco now has a Napa place,” Brown continued. “Everybody who can afford it.”

All that damage control expenditure, lawyering up to the gills, in order for what? The advice to say, "No comment." How stupendously clever. Never would have thought of that, myself. There's more -

[...] Among the powerful political and social figures who inhabit the Pelosis’ world, there was abundant sympathy and some protectiveness after what happened over Memorial Day weekend.
A person who witnessed the accident said both cars were totaled, and that Paul Pelosi simply sat in the car, seemingly frozen, for several minutes, until the sheriff and members of the Fire Department arrived moments later.
Neither Pelosi nor the driver of the Jeep was injured.
Some friends felt that Pelosi’s full night in custody at the Napa County Jail after the accident was excessive. Others were puzzled why their friend hadn’t preempted the whole ordeal by simply taking a car service home.
And some local residents suggested that, in an earlier era in Napa, driving after drinking was met with understanding, rather than criminal charges.
“I feel just awful about what’s happened because there was a time when if a thing like this happened, the cops would take you home,” said society doyenne Diane Wilsey, better known as Dede.

Privileged for so long that Dede wonders - why did the cops not simply drive Dad Pelosi home after the unfortunate meeting of two motor vehicles? Things were better back then.

Totaled a Porsche, so give him a lift.

Pick a different color for the next one?

Monday, June 20, 2022

Where Donald Trump belongs, his level of competence. The WWE. Having much in common with Vince McMahon each is aptly placed at that level. And no higher.

First, the pre-Presidential smack-down video, Trump already WWE tested, having shown the needed bullshit spewing (there, on the campaign trail and in the White House).

MOREOVER, McMahon and Trump have more in common. Hush money.

And each with matching gag orders. McMahon paid more, but than Trump's always been a stingy shit. With Cohen the better negotiator; Cohen negotiated six figures twice, vs McMahon, seven figures, once.

Strib noting:

Vince McMahon is stepping down as CEO and chairman of WWE during an an investigation into alleged misconduct involving the longtime leader and public face of the organization.

McMahon will continue to oversee WWE's creative content during the investigation, World Wrestling Entertainment said Friday, and named McMahon's daughter, Stephanie, as interim CEO and chairwoman.

Vince McMahon appeared on "SmackDown" Friday.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that WWE was investigating an alleged $3 million payment from McMahon to a departing female employee following a consensual affair.

"I have pledged my complete cooperation to the investigation by the special committee, and I will do everything possible to support the investigation," McMahon said in a prepared statement Friday. "I have also pledged to accept the findings and outcome of the investigation, whatever they are."

The employee, hired as a paralegal in 2019, has a separation agreement from January that prevents her from discussing her relationship with McMahon or disparaging him, the Journal reported.

The pair fits each other, capable of contesting for most outrageous, most egregious (Trump, as in the much-watched video, winning the title).

UPDATE: Another parallel, for each "the base" is the same. Counterpunch. The feature and the fans, each instance, parallel if not identical. One will never go broke underestimating the intelligence of a WWE fan.

Sunday, June 19, 2022

Our Republican friends. There was 2014. There is now. What constituency is their aim?

https://www.diamondfornm.com/issues

Slate. "From Their Cold, Dead Hands -- How 2014 became the year of the gun-toting candidate." By David Weigel - May 09, 2014

February 16, 2018 -- "Congressional candidate for Houston endures backlash for untimely gun ad"

More 2018, video -- report

Marjorie Taylor Greene video, doing it; poor litl' Prius


video embedded here along with one more grotesque and two others

Two can-you-top-this videos, at this 2016 Gawker link - (source of the below image} - TITLE = "GOP Gubernatorial Candidate's Latest Ad Is Just Him Shooting a Machine Gun for 20 Seconds" by Ashley Feinberg - 08/03/16

music

Years ago, Minnesota Catholic Conference recorded it, Matt Birk indirectly telling every open minded, sane person to GOTV in November, for personal freedoms, against bigotry, for lifestyle choice.

This YouTube video. And shoot the fucking piano player.

It starts, "Inside our own parishes."

It leaves no doubt who is propagandizing you with bullshit.

Besides and behind Matt Birk. It says who scripted Matt.

...................................................

They packed the Court and sniped down Roe v. Wade. The majority of our people, poll after poll, want the freedom of choice that Roe enunciated. Yet they used a Court majority to kill Roe.

They will be after contraception next. They are on record even now as wholly opposed to contraception. Opposed to it for anybody, not just within their followers, their "flock."

Shut down that patriarchal dark will of the allegedly celibate to interfere in the non-celibate lives of everybody, not just within their people, but against all others outside of the narrow-minded part of their total set of believers.

Shut it down in November, or wish you had. Vote in November. Encourage others to be sure to vote. Get Out The Vote. For Walz.

A vote for Walz will be a vote for freedom against an attempted patriarchal, constraining, and judgmental tyranny by a minority of the nation's people against a majority viewpoint and related practices.

Saturday, June 18, 2022

Republican Guv Candidate Scott Jensen - At it again. Speaking his mind about how he'd govern, i.e., scorched earth against enemies or antagonists.

PiPress link. Strib link. CBS news, reporting:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen threatens retaliation against medical board

June 17, 2022 / 3:29 PM / AP

MINNEAPOLIS — Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen has threatened to retaliate against the Minnesota board that oversees doctors, which is investigating him for the fifth time, vowing that "this juggernaut will be dealt with" if he's elected.
Jensen is a COVID-19 vaccine skeptic who has called for civil disobedience over masks and promoted alternative treatments such as ivermectin. He has also said Minnesota's Democratic secretary of state, Steve Simon, should be jailed over his running of the state's election system. Jensen won the GOP endorsement last month to challenge incumbent Democratic Gov, Tim Walz, whom he has sharply criticized for his response to the pandemic
Jensen, a family practice physician from Chaska and former state senator, criticized the board at a campaign event Monday and renewed his attack with a video he posted to Twitter Thursday night. Jensen said all five investigations were based on allegations from anonymous critics. Jensen said he has provided information to the board, but has heard nothing back in months.
"I should not have to practice medicine, or run for governor, with this cloud of, if you will, uncertainty hanging over my head," Jensen said in his video. "And yet that's what I'm doing. I'm living with that."
Jensen noted in response to a question about the board at Monday's event that if he's elected, he'll get to appoint members to the medical board. "And I said this juggernaut will be dealt with," he added in his video, describing the board as a "massive, inexorable force" that's been turned against him for political reasons.

"I will not stand for the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice being weaponized," he said.
The governor-appointed board comprises 16 people — including physicians, members of the public and an osteopath — who can serve up to two consecutive four-year terms. All were first appointed by Democratic governors and nine seats are due for appointment or reappointment in the next gubernatorial term. Members generally can be removed only for cause or missing meetings.
"The Minnesota Board of Medical Practice investigates complaints as required by and in accordance with state laws and rules," its executive director, Ruth Martinez, said in an email. "The Board does not have a response to Dr. Jensen's comments."
The board does not comment on any complaint unless it decides corrective action is necessary. According to Jensen, it dismissed the first four complaints against him without action.

But the Minnesota Medical Association, which represents more than 12,000 physicians, residents and medical students, defended the Board of Medical Practice.
"Its duty is to protect the public and is required by law to investigate any complaint it receive, while ensuring due process for physicians," the group's president, Dr Randy Rice, said in a statement. "The MMA opposes any efforts to politicize the work or the membership of the Board."
Democrats also blasted Jensen's comments.
"These despicable remarks are disqualifying," Ken Martin, the state Democratic Party chairman, said in a statement. "Anyone who repeatedly promises to use the governor's office to jail or fire their personal enemies is unfit for public service. The doctors who serve on the board investigating Scott Jensen are not anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists, which is what makes them different from him. Scott Jensen's extremism and disturbing enthusiasm for political retaliation don't belong anywhere near the governor's office."
At least a dozen regulatory boards across the country have sanctioned or investigated doctors for promoting unproven treatments such as ivermectin or spreading COVID-19 falsehoods. Ivermectin is commonly used to treat humans and animals for parasites, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved it to treat or prevent COVID-19.
Jensen confirmed to the St. Paul Pioneer Press recently that he still has not been vaccinated against the coronavirus even though he continues to see patients. He has long maintained that he doesn't need to get vaccinated because he gained natural immunity when he caught COVID-19 in 2020, a common view in the GOP that conflicts with the prevailing medical wisdom.

Knowing better than prevailing medical practice, or an obstinate idiot, you decide. Tim Walz has done a good job. All things considered, Jensen likely is more valuable to our State's society by continuing his Chaska medical practice. Leaving Walz a second term to do as well as he's done in his first term.

Matt Birk, Jensen's running mate, is a Harvard finance graduate, who'd be better concentrating on managing his multimillion football-earned portfolio and having more children.

________UPDATE________

SF Gate carries a June 9, 2022 AP feed reporting Jensen's law and order agenda. Basically he proposes enhanced use of the State Patrol and National Guard in local areas; appointing judges who will give maximum sentences to violent offenders; bail measures making pretrial release less available; while opposing more money being budgeted for local policing and opposing gun regulation. If that seems to you to not hang together, it is what the AP reported.

If Jensen has sound details of more jailing pretrial and longer sentences and expanded use of troopers and the Guard not requiring more money, the report did not detail such thinking. Instead, the SF Gate - AP item ends:

"From opposing universal background checks to the budget deal on public safety, Scott Jensen has shown that he’s unserious about stopping crime and gun violence,” Ken Martin, the state democratic Party chairman, said in a statement.

Dream the impossible dream? Whether "unserious" or "conflicted" or "unrealistic" is the best adjective, it is quaint to see Jensen, a Republican, wanting bigger government without paying for it. The more frequent Republican litany is shrink government and cut taxes, which at least hangs together until looking in detail at what they'd shrink out and whose taxes they'd cut.

Developers are Crabgrass

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