Thank you for the accolades, but what we really need are more informed, clear thinking individuals with the cahonies to confront the ever-increasing onslaught, the constant bombardment of bullshit coming from the Left and repeated by the mindless trolls in the media. The biggest mistake ever made by the Right was acquiescing to a Progressive takeover of our educational system and Conservatives have been fighting an uphill battle for the minds of our youth ever since. The universal draw of 'Something for Nothing', no consequences for your actions and no acceptance of personal responsibility are difficult to combat when your target audience is currently exercising many of their Rights inherited under the umbrella of freedom whose lifeblood IS the acceptance of personal responsibility they have been taught to reject.

BTW, one of my paragraphs above got messed up in typing (or copy and pasting from Word) and should have read, "Like several other of our founding fathers, Jefferson was a student of philosophy, of the enlightenment and history among other disciplines but the concept of Natural Law was not one of his original thoughts. One of the many writings found in his personal library at Monticello - a work that was obviously very influential to his thinking - was a work by St. Thomas Aquinas entitled, SUMMA THEOLOGICA, which combines philosophy and theology and is considered the most profound work on the Christian religion (besides the Holy Bible) ever written. In it, Aquinas perfects the concept of God, examines the relationship between God and Man, of Man and the Law, the Rights of Man, the Seven Deadly Sins, etc. Aquinas was one of several philosophers (including Cicero, Aristotle, and Solon) who proposed the concept of Natural Law – that the Rights of Man (Human Rights) are ours by virtue of our existence as members of the Family of Man – and which Rights are referred to as “Human Rights” because they are gifts from our Creator given to us as individuals at the moment of our individual creation or conception."

Your past perspective from the practical side of education is a valuable one to have. I know a few of the "Old Guard" educators from secondary education who were driven into retirement or just out of the system by nonsensical changes in curriculum and methods. All that is "change" is not necessarily progress.

We live in Iowa. When my father came home to Iowa from WW ll (I was born in a Naval Hospital in Vallejo, CA during his last year in the Navy), he ran for school board, served 4 terms as its President, accomplished the consolidation of the one-room school houses into one unified school district with a new K - 8 building in 1953, oversaw the building of the new High school in 1956 and set academic standards that would lead to our school district being #1 in the state at a time when Iowa was #1 in the nation in education. Now Iowa ranks 10th - 14th (somewhere there about) after falling to the middle of the pack at one point. I have experienced education in other parts of the country as well, but will always be grateful for the Class A education I received before college. It has also been a point of focus demonstrating where the detour to modern day mediocrity began.

Conversations on OPP are both frustrating and enlightening when you encounter a number of people (especially on the Left) who just go through life day by day, living, enjoying, developing usually baseless opinions through news entertainment and not learning anything of substance as a result of their having lived all those years, because they failed to learn, to take note and apply logic to solving problems.

If I seem to be a little behind in answering, it's only because you are shoveling the B.S. faster than we can bury it. Leftist propaganda venues like SNL with Tina Fey combined with the complicity of her RINO running mate (who made the mistake of marginalizing her rather than embracing the winning Conservatism she brought to the ticket) AND the Left-wing media partisans enabled the repeated lies of the Left to take on an aura of truth. When you acknowledge that the majority of Leftists, some Independents and some Republicans get their "deeply intellectual" political analysis from any comedic or late-night entertainment source that doesn't interfere with their relaxation, you begin to understand how effective the combination is in appealing to weak, distracted minds

YOUR shallow analysis, for example, in mentioning what you feel is the extent to which Judeo-Christian beliefs and values affected our founders and are reflected in our founding documents, shows a careless if not reckless disregard for the obvious principles displayed both in the founders' backgrounds and in the drafting of the charter of government they willed to us - the SAME principles you on the Left eagerly seek to change through denial and misinterpretation but benefit from on a daily basis.

In the important context of the time (during the oppression of British rule under King George lll and following the defeat of that empire's army - the most powerful army in the world at that time - by an armed force consisting primarily of Militia and irregular volunteers), the coalescing of the minds of some of the brightest, most gifted and well-educated intellectuals of the period who were our countrymen, resulted in the declaration of revolutionary views on the origins of the Rights of Man, and reflected in principles which they were able to incorporate into a unique system of representative self-government never before seen on the face of the Earth.

You, like so many of your uninformed contemporaries, attribute the many fortuitous events, happenings and circumstances to "chance" or "coincidence". You likely feel that Jefferson was solely responsible for the incorporation of the concept of Natural Law into the Declaration of Independence - if you even know what the concept is and how critical it is to the existence of the freedoms you enjoy today.
A recovering alcoholic who worked for me once told me this: “There are no such things as ‘coincidences. Coincidences are Miracles that God performs anonymously.” Let’s take a look at what that might possibly mean with respect to our founding.

Like several other of our founding fathers, Jefferson was a student of philosophy, of the enlighteA THEOLOGICA, which combines philosophy and theology and is considered the most profound work on the Christian religion (besides the Holy Bible) ever written. In it, Aquinas perfects the concept of God, examines the relationship between God and Man, of Man and the Law, the Rights nment and history among other disciplines but the concept of Natural Law was not one of his original thoughts. One of the many writings found inhis personal library at Monticello - a work that was obviously very influential to his thinking - was a work by St. Thomas Aquinas entitled, SUMMA THEOLOGICA, which combines philosophy and theology and is considered the most profound work on the Christian religion (besides the Holy Bible) ever written. In it, Aquinas perfects the concept of God, examines the relationship between God and Man, of Man and the Law, the Rights of Man, the Seven Deadly Sins, etc. Aquinas was one of several philosophers (including Cicero, Aristotle, and Solon) who proposed the concept of Natural Law – that the Rights of Man (Human Rights) are ours by virtue of our existence as members of the Family of Man – and which Rights are referred to as “Human Rights” because they are gifts from our Creator given to us as individuals at the moment of our individual creation or conception.

This concept was incorporated into our founding (paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Declaration) and is the cornerstone of the foundation protecting our Rights, and why the Supreme Court has consistently held that ALL of our Rights (and most recently and most notably our 2nd Amendment Rights) are individual Rights: We were created as individuals – not as a group.

The concept of the Separation of Church and State IS NOT FOUND in the Constitution. It was a phrase used by Jefferson (in 1803 - long after the Constitution was ratified) in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Church in Connecticut and referred in context to the Constitutional concept of preventing the MERGING of religion with government through the “establishment” of a state approved or sponsored religion.

The First Amendment which protects the freedom of individuals to the “free exercise thereof”, reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; …” It clearly refers to the ban of favorable treatment of an already established religion by an act of Congress but has been intentionally misinterpreted as the influence of government over education has been expanded through programs, food supplementation and other links financially.

The incompatibility of government-run education (through the establishment of the Department of Education) with the original concept of Limited Government and the subsequent (consequential) violation or diminishing of our Rights is most perfectly demonstrated here, as is the incomparable wisdom and foresight of the founders. Through this encroachment we have seen the banning of prayer or any mention of Christianity or Christian principles (like the 10 Commandments) in our schools, replacing them with failed philosophies of Moral Relativism, Secular Humanism and Values Clarification under a banner of approval for what is in effect a new State-approved religion.

From the supplication of George Washington through fervent prayer at Valley Forge and on the eve of many battles, to the many examples history shows us were likely the result of Divine Intervention, America has come into existence and survived, in spite of its fools and because of God’s Grace.

I am truly surprised Permafrost can't understand the purity of your analysis. You've managed to sum up this Socialist intellectual minimalist in short order! Great post!

Look, you can break the vote down seven ways from Sunday and make all the claims you want about the intelligence levels of the various voting blocks. It makes little difference in your analysis if you don't include a perspective detailing the state of public education that has created the mindset that makes it possible to manipulate the minds of the voting public so easily.

The degradation of education began in the early half of the 20th Century with the implementation of Progressivism, but really got a shot in the arm when the Hippies of the 1960's rejected social and moral norms and restrictions on decent behavior, exchanging them for all forms of radicalism, the embrace of Communism and freedom from responsibility. Any person with an ounce of intellectual curiosity, common sense and critical thinking ability could have shot holes in that type of thinking immediately. No one did. Perhaps the seductive appeal of "sex without consequences" which was offered by a new development called "The Pill" was too strong to resist and appealed to older adults, too. It should be obvious that there can be NO FREEDOM without the acceptance of personal responsibility.

Whatever the reasons, Conservatives and Republicans (when confronted by Hippies and other moral relativists with the verbal challenge to any attempt to maintain a basic level of morality or inculcation of standards in our student youth) had no answer to the frequently asked question, "Whose values are you going to teach? Yours?" Consequently, over two generations of people have grown up with no moral guide posts with little ability and less desire to tell right from wrong. This has played a major role in the decline in intellectual quality of adults today.

Hollywood and all facets of the entertainment industry with its appeal to the weak-minded is another thing to consider. Rather than improve the quality of education, educators and politicians alike embrace new technologies and entertainment media, using them as a channel to communicate with kids on their level instead of demanding they grow up and communicate like adults. The amount of self-absorption, moral destruction and media focus cannot be denied when you see a group of people more interested in filming a drowning for posting on YouTube than in saving the drowning individual. Sickening ...

Without interjecting a Racial component to this election cycle, one would have to admit that there is a more-than-adequate supply of "Stupid Low Information" Caucasian voters who participated in this last election, too (most have the party designation "D" on their voter registration cards). I will agree that the Illegal voters you've brought up should be a decidedly worrisome concern to ALL American citizens ... NOT just Republicans.

GMAFB !! Why are you in such a big hurry? And what "excuses" does he use to explain away any lack of success? Half of the electorate voted for Hitlery and, but for the Grace of God and the Electoral College, we would have HER as President and STILL be mired in and slogging through the muddy road toward a Socialist oblivion.

The painfully partisan, bigotedly biased news media, which first supported Trump during his Primary hunt for the Republican nomination with 96% positive coverage against the other 16 members in the field, turned aggressively anti-Trump with 92 - 95% continuously NEGATIVE coverage following his selection at the convention that continues today ... 2 1/2 years later!!! A lessor man would be distracted and dismayed by this constant negativity, as well as the total LACK OF COVERAGE of the massively successful policy initiatives of his administration.

The only things making me the slightest bit impatient are #1: The constant negative media drumbeat (proving that lies told often enough become truths in the minds of the targeted audience ... which would be anyone with a mind weak and indiscriminate enough to be able to discern indoctrination from valid information) and #2: The less-than-total dedication to principle and support for Trump initiatives being displayed by many Republicans in Congress. It is that lack of support along with the mixed messages they send that cost the Republicans control of the House in these mid-terms.

“Give me an asshole who can play …”

This is a famous quote from iconic drummer, Buddy Rich. Buddy only wanted the best on stage with him. He didn’t care about their “moral character” or if they were pleasant to be around. He didn’t even care if he, himself, liked them. He hired only guys who could burn the room down with him … not boy scouts who were mediocre. Hence, the famous quote.

President Donald Trump appears to be in trouble. A series of confessions and convictions, of and by people around him, are casting a strange, dark light on his presidency at the moment. There is a perception (at least) that shady stuff has gone on around this guy. And when shady stuff constantly goes on around someone in charge, you have to conclude that the guy in charge is okay with shady stuff.

Has he hung around tax evaders and money launderers? Clearly. Did he pay off porn stars and Playboy Playmates to keep their dalliances quiet? I think we can safely conclude that he did. Is he a petulant child in the Twitter-verse? One hundred percent. Does he say things in public my mother would slap me for saying? Literally, every day. Did he conspire with a foreign power to win an election? Maybe. Will any of this make a difference to his supporters? That’s a complicated answer.

Let me explain …

I have a theory that all presidential elections are reactions to the sitting president at the time. I’m old enough to remember Jimmy Carter getting elected (in large part) because he was a wholesome, moral breath of fresh air in an atmosphere of corruption and scandal created during the Nixon years. I was only a kid, but I distinctly remember entire churches being excited to go out and vote for an openly Christian man for president. Then, after four years of that disaster, I remember those same people breaking speed limit laws to get to the polls to vote for Reagan as fast as they could.

The conditions that created a “president Trump” kind of started with Bill Clinton, who led to George W Bush … who led to Barack Obama.

By the time we got to him, Mr. Obama was going to be the antidote to incompetence and corruption and war mongering and, yes …even racism. But a very strange thing happened during Mr. Obama’s presidency. Racism didn’t end. Corruption didn’t end. Wars didn’t end. And incompetence might’ve actually gotten worse. My full day of talking to the customer service agent at the newly created healthcare exchange, did NOT leave me confident.

And what was discovered during Mr. Obama’s 8 years, was that in a free market nation, over-taxing, over-regulating and a leader who constantly berates the business community and supports policies that place more emphasis on celebrating the “diversity” of people groups than on law and order for every individual, and foreign policies that take everything but the nation you’ve been elected to lead into account, simply doesn’t work.

What was also exposed in those 8 years was how feckless and weak Republicans had actually become in their opposition to such things. And with candidates literally talking openly about socialism and nationalizing private institutions, a guy like Trump comes along and promises to re-set the foundation of the nation the way Americans understand it … and the way they want it. Is he really that much of a surprise?

I talk occasionally about the fourth revolution. And Donald Trump is the leader of it.

If you’re appalled at the lewd behavior of your president, you’re behind. That ship sailed when one was getting blow jobs by an intern less than half his age, in the Oval Office … AND NOBODY CARED.

If you wish your president was decent and measured and refused to return fire at his critics, you’re behind. We already had that guy and he was called a war criminal, who should be tried at the Hague (Rosie O’Donnell’s public announcement) and “retarded” (Chris Rock’s word – DEFINITELY not mine), someone who should force his daughters to go to war (Matt Damon’s suggestion) a monster who deliberately broke the levies in New Orleans to drown black people (Spike Lee’s claim) and on and on and on … AND NOBODY CARED.

If you wish your president was upstanding and righteous and said all the right things, you’re behind. Mitt Romney already ran, AND NOBODY CARED.
If you wish your president was a humble and honorable true public servant, without moral blemishes, you’re behind. Bob Dole (a man who gave his right hand to his country) and John McCain (a man who gave both arms to his country) already ran, AND NOBODY CARED.

Donald Trump was the last branch to grab before the nation hit the ground. But he has changed the game in some ways. Nobody believes a nice guy can get it done, anymore. We’ve had nice guys … and nothing changed.

Cutting taxes and repatriating a trillion dollars was the right thing to do. And it’s working. And only a guy who doesn’t give crap about what people think of him could’ve gotten it done. Moving the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem was the right thing to do. It sends a message to the rest of the Middle East and, in turn, creates a stability hard to quantify. Presidents on BOTH sides of the aisle have promised to do it. It should’ve been done decades ago. But only a guy who doesn’t give a crap about what people think of him could’ve gotten it done.

Taking Kim Jong Un on … head on … is looking like it was the right thing to do. But only a guy who doesn’t give a crap about what people think of him would’ve even attempted it.

While Mr. Trump’s lawyers and campaign people were perp-walking in and out of ivory towers, a teen aged girl in Iowa – as middle-America a place as you can find – was being murdered by someone in the country illegally. That creates real world fear for Americans everywhere. We have enough fear of our own citizenry, breaking our own laws. And reasonable Americans don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask people wanting to come to our country …to sign the hell in. They don’t see how that makes them racists. It simply doesn’t compute. And the only elected leader giving them any cover is the flawed president.

So, did Donald Trump collude and conspire with Russians to win an election? Probably not but, what the media and his opponents (and even a lot of Republicans) STILL don’t or can’t or won’t understand is that it doesn’t matter. He didn’t have to collude with anybody. He was going to win either way. He had millions of Americans at “build a wall” and “cut your taxes” and especially at, “I don’t give a crap what people think.”

Donald Trump may get impeached or arrested or disgraced or unseated or whatever. But what people had better realize is that if he’s gone, a large percentage of the population will be looking for something or someone JUST like him … to replace him. There’s too much at stake; too many socialists on the horizon, too many empty suits looking for lifetime political gigs, too many “nice guys” with great smiles and weak spines, to take any more chances.

We just want an “asshole who can play”. And with the economy roaring and North Korea neutralized and ISIS basically contained and defeated, it appears that despite all the weirdness that surrounds him, he can, indeed, play.

From Regie’s Blog (whoever the hell that is …)

Huge Hillary-Supporting Unions Flip, Fully Endorse Republican

By Jack Davis
October 29, 2018 at 7:24am

Two unions that were all-in for Hillary Clinton in 2016 have changed their political stripes for the looming mid-term elections and are supporting Minnesota Republican congressman Jason Lewis as he seeks his second term.

Lewis is facing Democrat Angie Craig, a former health care executive, in Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District, the Washington Free Beacon reported. Lewis defeated Craig in their first matchup.

Lewis has garnered the endorsement of the carpenters’ union and International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49.

“In Jason’s time in Congress he has cast repeated votes in support of Davis-Bacon prevailing wage and has led on the issue of changing school curriculum to encourage more people to look at careers in the construction industry,” said carpenters’ union spokesman Adam Duininck.

“Jason Lewis has made an effort to get to know our union, understand our issues, and has taken politically tough stances in support of good-paying union jobs,” Local 49 business manager Jason George said in a statement, according to the Free Beacon.

“We don’t always agree on every issue, but we know that when it comes to supporting our jobs, he has stood with us, and that is why we are standing with him.”

In a commentary piece in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Lewis wrote that the Trump tax cuts of 2017 are in danger if Democrats gain power.

“Even after seeing 1.8 million new jobs created since tax reform, record low unemployment, and worker pay and benefits rising at the fastest pace in a decade, Democrats are promising to rescind the reform because it allows too many people to keep more of their own money,” he wrote.

“Just as in the 1960s, the Democrat Party has been radicalized, and once again voters are facing a ‘rendezvous with destiny’ that will determine the future of Minnesota and the nation,” he wrote.

Not only tax reform could be in danger, he noted.

“If you thought the confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh were good for the country, you’ll love Congress with a Speaker Nancy Pelosi and my congressional opponent in charge (she has taken $30,000-plus from Pelosi). As Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, ‘This is what the so-called “resistance” has become,’ and it’s bound to get worse if some of the most dangerous rhetoric encouraging this brand of reckless politics is rewarded with power,” he wrote.

In a recent debate, Lewis said promoting economic growth is at the heart of his actions in Congress.

“We’ve got the greatest economy since 1969, according to the unemployment statistics. We’ve got median after-tax income up 6 percent, wages going up, bonuses going up, utility bills coming down,” he said, according to Minnesota Public Radio.

At that debate, Craig said the current tax cut favored the wealthy over the middle class.

The two candidates also differ on immigration.

Craig said anyone in the country illegally should have a path to citizenship.

Lewis said President Donald Trump’s border wall must be a part of any long-term immigration solution.

“Let’s secure the border and part of that’s got to be a wall,” he said, according to MPR. “Their side said, ‘Nope, we’re not doing that. You just give us what we want. No wall.'”

Rather than me guessing at what you are trying to say, why don't you try typing that again. Looks like you've had one too many Kava's.

He promised to pay $1 Million to her favorite charity ... if she would take HIS DNA test (a test supplied and monitored by him) and prove she was native American. In spite of the fact her 'favorite charity' appears to be the "Elizabeth Warren Presidential Campaign" which violates in every way the spirit of the wager, she has quantitatively LESS DNA evidence of Native American lineage than the Cherokee Nation, for example, would accept as definitive evidence for tribal membership. The Cherokee Nation to which she specifically and falsely claimed being related, loudly rejected her claim yesterday.

Gee ... MY "fake news" sources say she used it to get preferential treatment when applying to Harvard for a faculty position as well as to another institution of 'higher learning', Penn University. Your "fake news" sources apparently keep that information from you.