Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Quick Hits: Volume CXCIII

- The occurrence of a circular firing squad pitting U.S. House Democrat leadership vs. proggie darlings Tide Pod Evita Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, et al, it was an undeserved gift to Republicans, particularly President Donald Trump.

Ah, but if we know anything about the White House's current occupant, he just can't stand prosperity.

From a tweet thread put forth by Trump:

So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!

One of the appeals of Trump's 2016 candidacy was that he wasn't the typical politician and, for better or worse, wasn't interested in political correctness. But lack of political savvy is to his detriment here given that you should never interrupt your opponents savaging each other.

As the Dem civil war was raging, I made the comment that all they had to do was portray themselves as just moderately sane and they would likely hand Trump a re-election defeat similar to that of George H. W. Bush in 1992. But the President's latest tweet storm gives the Dems (for now anyways) the moral high ground.

It looks as though 2020 will once again be a scenario where whomever is dumbest last loses.


- On Monday evening, the St. Louis Park City Council reversed a controversial decision where they banned the Pledge of Allegiance prior to meetings.

After recently voting to reduce the recital of the Pledge, the council received significant pushback from community members.

On Monday night, council member Thom Miller started the meeting by moving to reinstate the pledge. Then, each council member took turns speaking on the issue and voted unanimously to reinstate it.

This saga ended up being way more of an ordeal than it needed to be. As I've said before, anyone attending these city council meetings shouldn't be required to recite the Pledge. But to outright ban it almost smacks of a First Amendment issue.

Let's hope the victors here don't get too haughty by shaming those who choose to not recite it or stand during it.


- So what the heck's going on with the Minnesota DHS???

The commissioner of the state's sprawling social service agency abruptly resigned Monday after just six months on the job, producing the first major shake-up of the new administration of Gov. Tim Walz.

Tony Lourey, who left the state Senate to become the commissioner of Human Services in January, wrote a letter to Walz saying his resignation would take effect at the end of the day, stunning some members of the Minnesota Legislature. No reason was given.

Lourey's sudden departure comes after the resignations of his two top deputies last week, raising anew questions about chaos at the top ranks of the $17.5 billion state agency.

When Lourey resigned from the state Senate to accept this post, his former seat went to a special election. It wound being won by Republican Jason Rarick, which increased the razor-thin GOP majority from 34-33 to 35-32. This is an especially big blow to the Walz administration given that Lourey moved on from DHS commish less than six months after proclaiming the job was one which "I’ve dedicated my life to."

Given the rampant fraud which has occurred in multiple state public assistance programs, this chaos couldn't have come at a worse time. Stay tuned I guess.

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2 comments:

Mr. D said...

Not sure I agree that the Democrats have the high ground, Brad. My thoughts are here.

Brad Carlson said...

Hence my disclaimer "for now anyways."