Scott Walker

Open Thread

Mark Noonan88 Comments

Seems that Mueller’s people obtained a lot of documents and computers relating to Trump’s transition – trouble is, getting that stuff might have been illegal. Once again: shut it down. Whole thing stinks of corruption.

Don Surber goes over just how rotten this whole thing is – really, we’re talking about an Obama Administration attempt to undermine an incoming American President. That’s the subject which needs to be investigated.

Hollywood sucks. We all know that – but Michael Walsh goes into some details about why it sucks. Greed and stupidity, mostly. They simply don’t make movies – they make comic books on film for money, and then some nauseating, Progressive tripe for the Oscars. Of course, good movies could be made – if anyone wanted to make them. They wouldn’t be global blockbusters (or, at least, they probably wouldn’t – but you never know what might catch on), but they would make money, I bet. All it would take is some talent. I’ve even got some subjects that I think could be great movies:

Soapy Smith: this guy was like the ultimate con-man of all time. You could do it for laughs, or you could do it serious. Either way, its a compelling story which would be interesting to see.

Ernest E. Evans: posthumous Medal of Honor for his actions as skipper of the USS Johnston in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The man had Native American blood, so you can play that angle. His ship was commissioned on October 27th, 1943 and sunk on October 25th, 1944: the crew was mostly recent-civilians but, my goodness, they fought and fought and fought until their ship was shot out from under them. You could research to find the stories of the men who served and have this fantastic combination of interesting characters and stunning battle scenes.

Ann and Josie Bassett: old west ranchers and associates of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. They were being pressured by cattle barons to sell out, and the outlaws helped them fight off the pressure. You can make all kinds of good stories out of that.

But, Hollywood won’t make the movies…because Hollywood sucks.

Governor Walker forges ahead with the complete reform of Wisconsin government – now tackling welfare reform. We’ll see what comes after Trump, and Pence is building up a lot of good will for a future White House bid. But we could do a lot worse than getting Walker as our President one of these days.

Trump wants to repeal the misbegotten Johnson Amendment – that law which supposedly prohibits all religious groups from engaging in politics, but which actually prohibits Conservative religious groups from engaging in politics. It was in the tax bill, but now has been taken out. Once again, Trump is seen as pushing for the more Conservative reform, while the supposedly True Conservative Congress is undermining his efforts. Some how or another, we’ve got to get 6 or 7 more GOP Senators next year so we can just overwhelm the Fredo-Cons.

Out and About on a Friday

Mark Noonan34 Comments

Much argument these days on what a Conservative actually is – my two cents: a Conservative is someone who understands and believes the fundamental dogma of Original Sin. You don’t actually have to be a believer to hold this (though it’s easier if you are), but if you don’t work on the assumption that people can, even from the best of motives, get it wrong then your own policy ideas will eventually fall apart.

Trump is going to get crushed in an epic landslide – or, maybe not.

You know me – I’m not really in favor of all these late night, no-knock raids by police…but Belgium’s policy of no raids between 9pm and 5am is, well, stupid.

Georgia is debating a bill which would provide just a tiny bit of protection for those who want a conscience exemption – you know, not having to do things like hire people to work at the Church school who openly disbelieve in Church teaching and that sort of thing. Now, pay attention, Conservatives: Big Corporation is stoutly opposed to this. Big Corporation is even threatening boycotts of Georgia if the people there have the nerve to demand freedom of conscience. Big Corporation – and the so-called Capitalist system it lives in – is against us, folks. They are allied with liberals – and please let that sink deep into your heart.

Australia banned guns – and this led to the end of guns in Australia and everyone is now happy and peaceful! Just kidding – it has actually generated a violent black market in guns.

Scott Walker thinks that brokered convention will lead to a non-candidate getting the nod. I can think of at least one person I’d rather have than either Trump or Cruz. Can you? After all, if we are doomed to President Grifter, then I’d rather have us lose under an honorable banner.

Colorado’s dope industry is doing well – smoke a blunt for prosperity!

Attacking the Establishment is What 2016 is All About

Mark Noonan15 Comments

I see that Donald Trump got into another fracas with Megyn Kelly and now Ted Cruz has also taken exception to a Kelly line of questioning:

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz was seemingly unhappy with a question on immigration Tuesday night from Fox News host Megyn Kelly, telling her it was something he’d expect to be asked from a “liberal journalist.”

Kelly asked the Texas senator the same question Donald Trump faced on the cable-news network Monday.

“If you have a husband and a wife who are illegal immigrants, and they had two children here who are American citizens — would you deport all of them? Would you deport the American citizen children?” she asked.

Cruz replied that politicians should first tackle immigration by focusing on issues of bipartisan agreement, including stopping illegal immigration and “improve and streamline” legal immigration…

Kelly’s question is just the sort of MSM-Prog question we expect – from the MSM-Prog types. Fox News says it isn’t like that – but here we go. The question is a “why do you hate the children?” sort of question. It is a question which essentially boils down the entire issue to something which is (a) trivial and (b) impossible to answer in a mere “yes or no” manner. Kelly is pretty much holding here that unless Cruz (and, I guess, Trump who was asked the same sort of question by Kelly) states his opinion on whether or not the children should be deported, then he can’t talk about immigration reform. It is a typical liberal trap for conservatives – you either have to show the LIV that you hate the children or you have to anger the GOP base by getting mealy-mouthed on whether or not you’ll deport illegal immigrants. People who are concerned about illegal immigration are not primarily concerned about what we may do regarding those people who have lived here a while and have American-born children – the primary concern is whether or not we, as a nation, will control our borders, at all. Yes, the children of illegal immigrants are an issue and will have to be dealt with as we work out the ways and means of border security and immigration reform…but it isn’t the top issue. The top issue is the number of people flooding across the border today, not the number who flooded across five years ago and now have two American-born children. But, you see, if we start discussing the real issues regarding immigration, then we’ll have to do something about immigration…but if we can emote about the children then we can ignore the real problem…and Democrats and Chamber of Commerce types will get their heart’s desire: open borders.

But, this isn’t really about illegal immigration – it is about the desperate desire of the Ruling Class to get its way in spite of the will of the American people, and the desperate desire of the American people to defeat the Ruling Class. The reason why Donald Trump is surging in the GOP primary and Bernie Sanders in the Democrat primary is because people are fed up. Frank Luntz apparently needed the Establishment Fainting Couch today when he focus-grouped some GOPers and found out they despise the GOP Establishment. This came as shocking news to Luntz, but for you and me down here its old hat…because we all despise the GOP Establishment. We handed them massive victory in November of 2014 and they can’t even defund Planned Parenthood! PP is handed to them on a platter and they can do something which the base would be thrilled about…and at no political cost (the MSM would like to use such a thing to gin up “war on women” for 2016, but they wouldn’t dare because if they did, it would only bring up why PP was defunded; something the MSM has thus far prevented the LIV from learning). For those on the left, they can’t believe they had the whole government for 2 years and the White House+Senate for 6 years and all they got for it is ObamaCare: they were expecting the Progressive Paradise to arrive. We laugh at it, but they really believed Obama when he made his victory speech in 2008…they really thought that getting Obama and a Democrat Congress meant that the sea levels would start to fall. Been a bit of a disappointment, hasn’t it? And now they are told that their only choice for 2016 is a worn-out political hack who drew the lucky straw in the marriage sweepstakes? That isn’t going down any better with Democrats than Jeb Bush has with Republicans.

Trump still isn’t the man we need – but he’s going to keep leading in the polls until some GOPer out there figures out that fighting the Establishment (all of it, everywhere – even, and especially, those parts of it which claim to be on our side) is the only way to go. I think Ted Cruz has figured it out – I think that Scott Walker has partially figured it out (though his basic Establishment background is preventing him from doing it right – and he’s actually hurting himself right now by being all over the map rather than finding a point and sticking to it). Cruz doesn’t spend any time attacking Trump – there’s no point; all that does is make him more of a hero…but getting into a fight with Megyn Kelly? Good politics (I know a lot of conservatives think highly of Megyn Kelly – I’m unimpressed. I’ve never heard so much of a word out of her which indicates a deep level of thought about things…of course, I barely ever watch Fox News or, indeed, any televised news other than local stuff to catch the weather report, so maybe I’ve missed something…and if someone has a quote from Ms. Kelly which is impressive, I’m ready to hear it). Megyn Kelly is part of the Establishment – she’s the opponent. It isn’t for a GOPer to get along with her, but to challenge the basis of her lines of questioning…and so, too, with all other MSMers asking us questions, because not one of them is on our side. And the people – especially the GOP base – wants to hear that. We don’t want to know what Cruz – or anyone – will do about the children of illegal immigrants…we want to know what Cruz will do about the people flooding nearly unimpeded across our border on daily basis…and we want the reporters, if they are such, to ask the Democrats what precisely they propose to do about stopping the flow (we know they won’t – but until they do we’ll treat with monumental contempt any MSMer who presumes to ask a “gotcha” question of a GOPer on the issue).

I really haven’t the foggiest notion how this will all come out in the end – I don’t know who will win the respective party nominations, and no idea who might wind up getting elected. It could get very, very messy – even having both conventions becoming brokered as no one in either party wins a first-ballot majority (still highly unlikely – but in the 5% chance range unlikely, rather than existentially impossible, as it normally is). But from what I have read and heard, the people are just sick of this nonsense. They voted for hope and change in 2008 and all they got was business as usual, a stagnant economy and a world spinning out of control. There is no trust any longer – and as there is no trust, people will go for anyone who expresses their distrust of the Establishment. Yes, even an Establishment guy like Donald Trump – because even though he’s of it, he’s fighting it (he wouldn’t be the first Ruling Class politician in human history to eschew his own…Pericles and Caesar did it thousands of years ago in Athens and Rome). You want to keep Donald Trump out? Then don’t attack Trump – do a better job than Trump is at attacking the system.

Debate Open Thread

Cluster149 Comments

Carly Fiorina did very well in the early debate. She is a formidable candidate. Can you imagine a Trump/Fiorina ticket? Speaking of Trump, if he can dial down his ego, add more details to his ideas, and act presidential – he just might run away with this. This will be a fun night, well at least for us political junkies.

Out and About on a Tuesday

Mark Noonan

Biden to get in? He should. No Democrat should be on board a coronation of Hillary Clinton. It is un-American. One thing I have learned – I have some young relatives who are on the Progressive side and they despise Hillary…she’s going to have far more trouble than everyone expects.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump is just soaring in the polls. I have to say that this is entirely unexpected by me. But when you look at it, you see why: the GOP base has been treated with utter contempt by the GOP Establishment. Trump is taking the base seriously and speaking to at least some of their real concerns. The GOP – if it doesn’t want Trump to hang around for quite a long time – had better figure out a way to out-Trump the Donald.

400 families are responsible for 50% of all campaign cash raised so far this year. This is what we’re ticked off about, GOP Establishment. I’m hoping that Walker or Jindal keys in on this sort of thing. Robert Reich notes the rising revolt against the Ruling Class from the Progressive point of view – pity there isn’t a Progressive out there who will actually fight the Ruling Class (no, Sanders isn’t fighting anything – all his programs call for more money and power to flow to the Ruling Class to be doled out to the good little Proles who do as they’re told…but he is talking the game of fighting, and that is why he’s drawing support away from Hillary…same way that Trump is drawing support away from Walker, Cruz and Jindal…especially Walker, who really has fought and beaten the Ruling Class). There is 65% of the vote just sitting there for any candidate who will really fight against those who are destroying this nation. We’ll see if anyone wants it.

Over at Ace, Maetenloch has a good article to read on the subject of hunting. Do keep in mind that lions, as such, are merely pests who eat cattle and, some times, humans. They have no economic value to the Africans who live near them and unless there is some economic value created for lions, the locals would probably exterminate them. Sure, tourism to go see the lions does help, but so does hunting to go kill the lions. Probably need both activities to keep the locals willing to tolerate the lions. To bring it closer to home, Nevada charges a bucket of money for the privilege of hunting a Big Horn sheep ($1,200.00 for non-residents, just for the tag!)…so few are the permits issued that if you manage to get one, it is a once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing. And if you fail to get a sheep in your hunt, you’re just out of luck. But the money raised by hunting has helped Nevada keep a large, healthy population of sheep in the wild.

Professor makes a post condemning the terrorist group Hamas – student fascists go after him, colleagues head for cover, professor is forced to flee campus. There are people on the left who will destroy all freedom of expression if they can…and for you Progressives out there thinking they won’t come after you, think again…when this sort of thing starts, it is those who hate the most and love oppressing the most who take the lead. You think because you’re a good, little Prog that you’re safe and only bad, old conservatives will feel the heat. Solzhenitsyn had some words for you – “you’ll never believe it until they hiss at you, ‘you’re under arrest!'”.

And, Now, Back to the Fun…

Mark Noonan30 Comments

Yesterday was an experiment and it will become permanent. I spent a day away from the Internet. No Facebook, no Twitter, no reading the news. It was wonderful. I’m thinking that I’ll give up the internet for Lent. Really, boys and girls, if you don’t do it, already, then make it part of your life: unplug from time to time. The ‘net has become like the TV in 1984.

Anyways…

John Kerry says that Iran isn’t allowed to use the bucket of money we’re giving them for terrorist operations. I’m sure you’ll all sleep soundly tonight.

Trump really messed up on his comments about McCain. I’ve got lots of problems with McCain. I hope he draws a TEA Party challenger. I think he’s often a bit of a jerk in the demeaning way he deals with GOP base. But, no matter how you slice it, McCain is a war hero. The recent poll showing Trump leading the primary field nationwide had a little tid-bit in it for the detail-minded: the day after Trump’s insulting comment broke, his support dropped like a rock. He won’t win a single primary and he’ll never be President.

Monk Rock? Well, we Catholics are rather dangerous, transgressive outsiders these days…

Saudi’s threaten military action against Iran. So, Obama has fundamentally transformed us – it is not backwards, corrupt monarchies taking a stand for decency in the world instead of the United States.

The Democrat party has decided that writing off the elderly vote is best – Obama Administration proposes to deny self-defense rights to people on Social Security if third party’s handle their bills.

Walker up by 9 in Iowa. Walker wins Iowa, NH and SC, he’s the GOP nominee.

Scott Walker? Yeah, Just Like Hitler…

Mark Noonan18 Comments

From The College Fix:

University of Wisconsin sociology Professor Sara Goldrick-Rab claims there are “terrifying” psychological similarities between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Nazi leader and mass murderer Adolf Hitler.

In a July 1 tweet, Goldrick-Rab said: “My grandfather, a psychologist, just walked me through similarities between Walker and Hitler. There are so many-it’s terrifying.”…

Indeed, it is uncanny how much they are alike – given that Walker, just like Hitler, has worked hard his whole life, got married, has a normal family, doesn’t blame Jews for anything and is dedicated to working within our democratic republican institutions to effect change. How did we all miss the similarities?

The reality is that she’s a college professor with tenure – and Walker just signed a budget which stops tenure from being a life-long guarantee of employment no matter how stupid or lunatic you turn out to be. Naturally, Progressives are outraged by this. If you ever wondered why our institutions of higher education have become a morass of anti-American, anti-Christian and anti-civilization twaddle while also devolving into fascist enclaves where you are guilty until proven innocent, look no further than tenure. Once our Progressives got themselves set up with tenure, they could do as they pleased in higher education…and ending tenure is key to terminating the Progressive domination of higher education.

The hyperbole in the left about Walker stems from the fact that quietly, without fanfare and entirely in line with common sense backed by a majority of the people, he is devastating the left’s sources of power in the United States…which are all, bottom line, based upon getting into government or quasi-government positions and essentially using taxpayer dollars to undermine the United States. The left hates Walker with a white-hot passion because of this…and people who work themselves into such a state make mistakes. This, in and of itself, is a strong endorsement of a Walker candidacy for President – our opponents will do stupid things which will alienate LIVs.

On the other side of it, here’s a positive reason for us to go for Walker – he’s actually destroying the left. I still don’t know if it is a conscious plan which he’s just not telegraphing in advance or whether its just a desire on Walker’s part for common-sense reform. But whatever is making Walker take these actions, the actions are tailor-made to not just beat the left at the polls, but eliminate them from the political equation, in the long run. Some on th right are worried about Walker’s waffling on things like immigration reform and ethanol subsidies – but I’m starting to wonder if Walker just knows how to play the game and, once in office, just does what is right?

Life in Liberal-Fascist America

Mark Noonan4 Comments

Here’s the story – you’ll recall that Governor Walker was the target of a completely bogus, politically-motivated hatchet job by an out-of-control Democrat prosecutor. Recently, details of the political motivation for the case were revealed – and what did our MSM do? Ruthlessly track down the source of the revelation, and then smear him.

Do read the linked article – it tells you all you need to know about the real power structure of the United States. It is more nakedly exposed in Wisconsin than elsewhere because in Wisconsin it is more directly under threat…and the liberals believe (correctly) that if they can’t squash Walker, then what Walker has done will spread, thus undermining the whole basis of liberal power (which is, ultimately, that liberals are subsidized by government – and if you take away the government subsidy, then liberals will whither away and die as a political force).

Remember what happened in this particular case – the truth about an out-of-control prosecutor was revealed and the MSM went out not to investigate the prosecutor, but to smear the man who told the truth. If you think that the MSM has any sense of honor or decency, think again – if liberalism is threatened, the MSM becomes the merest arm of political liberalism. And this brings us to the most important lesson: the liberals are at war with us. They want us destroyed. They will not play fair. They will not obey the rules. They will not tell the truth. Unless and until we internalize the message that it is all or nothing, we can’t do what is necessary to win. There can’t be bipartisanship. There can’t be working across the aisle. There can only be unrelenting conflict all up and down the line.

On, Wisconsin!

Mark Noonan22 Comments

According to the polls, Walker will be re-elected (is that the proper term for surviving a recall?) today by the voters of Wisconsin – by 5 to 10 percentage points, depending on which poll you believe (I tend towards the higher margin of victory – not because a poll says so, but because the dynamics of the race are showing increasing GOP support and a collapse of Democrat support).  While various liberal pundits and power brokers have spent the last week or so downplaying the significance of the Wisconsin result the fact remains that the American left poured everything it had in to Wisconsin – first to try and prevent Walker’s reforms from being enacted then in an attempt to undo them, with this recall vote today just being the last gasp.   After all this effort if Walker survives, then this is the death knell for the American left.

The left, since the 1930’s, has used the government to fund the increasing power of the left.  Public sector unions are just this sort of thing on steroids – such unions lobby themselves (essentially) on whether or not government will get bigger while they also ensure that anyone who plays ball with Big Government and the left gets rewarded with wealth and/or political power.  The real reason that government never gets smaller is because the government funds (on a gigantic scale) a vast army of lobbyists who work night and day against the concept of reducing government.  As long as public sector unions have unfettered power to draw money from government workers and use it in support of those politicians who are willing to increase the power and size of government (and thus the power and size of the public sector unions, as well as other leftist groups), so will government continue to grow.   While Walker’s reforms did a lot of things the most important aspect of it was to liberate the workers of Wisconsin government from a de-facto requirement to be a member of the union.

As was reported a few days back, public sector union membership has collapsed in Wisconsin – all due to Walker’s reform which took away the union’s power to deduct dues automatically from and employees pay.  Now the unions have to rely on voluntary subscription…and the workers are showing they want nothing to do with the union.  It was this which really impelled the leadership of the left to go ballistic.  While rank and file liberals are still convinced that Walker just hates workers, the union bosses know that the real issue is whether or not workers like the union.  Events are showing that they don’t – and each person who quits the union takes one more bit of power from the union.  The power to influence elections and lobby for ever larger government is ebbing away from the unions, and thus from the overall left.

This is for the whole ball of wax.  If Walker wins, then the public sector unions are on the ropes – and it then becomes only a matter of time, given our budget crisis, that the rest of government funding for the left goes to the chopping block.  Think about this – the taxpayers provide a great deal of money for Planned Parenthood.  PP spends a great deal of money not only advancing abortion, as a cause, but also attacking Republicans in service of their cause.  Boiled down – though PP pretends to keep the funds separate – the tax dollars of pro-life Americans are being used to fund the political advancement of pro-abortion Americans.  On and on it goes through a whole host of groups…all of them leftist, all of them getting all or part of their funding from the taxpayers, all of them advancing causes which most of the taxpayers oppose.  With fear of the unions gone, more and more politicians will be willing to slaughter liberal sacred cows to balance the budget.

So, get ready first off for a lot of fun tonight – watching crestfallen liberals and making fun of their increasingly bizarre attempts to spin this as not a loss, at all.  But then watch them come blazing back on the attack, knowing that if Obama goes down to defeat, there will be nothing stopping the federal government from duplicating Walker’s efforts.

UPDATE:  So far reports indicate a very high turnout.

UPDATE II:  Still many reports of high turnout and some indications of Democrat ballot box stuffing efforts.  Drudge is saying that early exits indicate Walker by 5 – which is doubly encouraging because it appears that Democrat areas had the higher turnout early on.  It will be what it will be – and I expect Walker will win as his victory margin will be outside the Democrat “margin of fraud”.

Liberal Nastiness Continues in Wisconsin (Updated)

Mark Noonan34 Comments

We have some video:

 

Which side is the side of reason and decency?  We report, you decide.

They don’t seem to realize just how nauseating they are becoming – from 620 WTMJ:

Protesters crowded the street outside Messmer Preparatory School in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood as Governor Walker visited the school Friday to read to children. The protests came just hours after someone vandalized the school ahead of the Governor’s visit.

“Some of these folks super glued our front doors at the prep school,” said Br. Bob Smith, OFM, the president of Messmer Catholic Schools, about the school on the corner of North Fratney and East Burleigh Streets.

He told Newsradio 620 WTMJ that a woman was walking in front of the school Thursday, asking people to protest.

According to Br. Smith, one protester said ” ‘Get ready for a riot,’ because they were going to disrupt the visit.”…

A riot at a Catholic school where the Governor is coming to meet the kiddies and read them a story.  Petty vandalism thrown in, too.  These liberals just don’t understand – they have no sense of proportion or any grasp of how a democratically governed Republic is supposed to work.

You fight out an election and then abide by the results…you don’t keep trying to reverse them with recall after recall, and you don’t make every last aspect of life a heated political debate.  A while back ago the same sort of disgusting leftists disrupted Walker’s efforts to honor the kids of the Special Olympics.  If the left really thinks this will win hearts and minds and get people on board to recall Walker next year, then they’ve got another think coming.  After a while, it is time to admit defeat, and start gearing up for the next election…not keep up an unending drumbeat of political vitriol.

Keep hate alive, liberals…we’ll know how to answer you, next year.